Understanding the process model
You can use the process area of the Model tab to perform the following tasks:
- Analyze the process flow of the selected project
- Analyze the process area
- Analyze an activity in the process model
- View the details of an activity
- View the activity relationship
- Filter for activities that require reworks
Analyze the process flow of the selected project
The process model, which is displayed in the Model page, indicates the flow of a process based on the view options, filters, and case or process variants selected by the user.
The highlighted pane in the following figure illustrates a process area.
The following legend explains each element in the pane:
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| activities highlighted with dark blue color | indicate the most frequently occurring activity |
| bold arrows in the process model | indicate the most frequent transitions between the events |
| the numbers next to the lines | indicate the number of times the specific process transition occurs |
| boxes | represent activities in the process |
| text in a box | indicate the name of the activity and the role who performs the activity |
| multiple dots in a box | indicate that multiple roles are involved in completing the activity |
| number in a box | indicates the number of times the activity is conducted |
| circle in the bottom right corner of an activity box | indicates the model coverage. Hover over the circle to view the model coverage value. Model coverage indicates the number of possible relationships that are visualized in the process model. The level of relations is adjustable. |
| a green circle in the bottom right corner of an activity box | indicates a model coverage of 100%. This percentage indicates that the process model details all possible relationships of that activity. |
You can use this legend to identify the most frequent paths between activities of a process.
Analyze the process area
A process can include multiple activities that spans across the process area.
You can use the following methods to analyze the process area:
- Zoom in and Zoom out
You can use the Zoom in and Zoom out buttons to enlarge or reduce the view of the process model. - Mouse buttons
You can use the middle mouse button or the touchpad to zoom in or zoom out on the process model. You can click and drag the process area to move within the process area.
Analyze an activity in the process model
IBM Process Mining helps you to further analyze the process model.
The following figure illustrates the options available when an activity is selected in the process area. The highlighted elements are described in the table that follows.
| Elements | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | You can use Show activity statistics to view the details of an activity. For more information, see View the details of an activity. |
| 2 | You can use Show activity relationships to view the activity relationship for various view modes. For more information, see View the activity relationship. |
| 3 | You can use Included cases with this activity to add a filter to the process model that includes the cases that are related to the selected activity. |
| 4 | You can use Included cases with reworks on this activity to add a filter to the process model that includes reworked cases of the selected activity. For more information, see Included cases with reworks on this activity. |
View the details of an activity
To show the following Activity statistics window, click the Show activity statistics button.
The Activity statistics window shows the aggregated statistics that are related to the selected activity. For example, you can identify the resources and roles that are involved and the average lead time of the activity.
The visible statistics are for attributes with a cardinality smaller than the threshold. You can set this threshold in Attributes management page in the Manage tab.
To see all values of the attribute,
select the attribute from the list and click Compute statistics. You receive a notification after calculations are complete.
In the Activity statistics window, you can perform the following actions:
- In the View details for cases by list, select the parameter for which you want to view the details.
- In the displayed table, click the corresponding column heading to arrange the data in ascending or descending order.
- To return to the process model, click the close button.
For specific cases, you can click the hyperlink of the case id to view the specific case events, which are shown in the following screen capture:
In the Filtered case window, you can perform the following actions:
- In the displayed table, click the corresponding column heading to arrange the data in ascending or descending order.
- Export the filtered case data by using the Export button.
- To return to the activity statistics window, click "Cancel".
View the activity relationship
The following window opens when you click the Show activity relationships button.
In the Activity relationship window, you can perform the following tasks:
- In the View mode list, select the view type for the selected activity.
- If the view mode selected is Duration, then select one of the following options in the list:
- Select Average to view the average duration of the activity.
- Select Median to view the duration of the activity without outliers. If there are extreme values that are considerably higher or lower than the average, these values are not considered for performance computation.
- Select Minimum to view the minimum duration of an activity and the related activities.
- Select Maximum to view the maximum duration of an activity and the related activities.
- Select Weighted to view the average service and waiting time of the activities and relations that are involved. Note that this view is weighted by the frequency with which these activities and relations occur.
- In the Relationships view list, select one of the following options:
- Select Fan-in only to display all incoming relationships of the selected activity.
- Select Fan-out only to display all the outgoing relationships of the selected activity.
- Select Both Fan-in and fan-out to display all the relationships of the selected activity.
In multilevel processes, the sum of incoming transitions might not be equal to the frequency of the selected activity.
To see the activity relationships in a table, click an activity for which you want to view the relationship.
The table can be sorted by the number of transitions, avarage transition time, and median time.
Included cases with reworks on this activity
You can use the Included cases with reworks on this activity button to display the activities that required rework. If the selected activity was not repeated, then IBM Process Mining displays the error message, No activities found.
The following figure illustrates a sample output that is obtained for Included cases with reworks on this activity.
The small red rectangle with the gear icon in the figure indicates the Automated instance ratio, which is the percentage of automation for the selected activity. Note that each activity in the above figure also indicates the number of cases that caused rework and the average times the activity is repeated during each case.
At some instances, you might also note an arrow that begins and ends at the same activity. Such instances are called self-loop and it occurs when, for the same case, the activity is repeated multiple times but passes other activities, thus causing a rework.
In multilevel processes, you can observe the following instances:
- If an activity related to one process-id or process entity is repeated, then the activity is considered a rework. For example, when the same order has multiple changes
on the delivery date, it is considered a rework.
- If an activity related to multiple process-ids is repeated, then it might not result in rework. For example, when the same order is received at separate instances, it is not considered
as a rework.