Process Mining key terms

  • Release version: Washingtondc
  • Updated February 1, 2024
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Process Optimization key terms

    This document outlines essential key terms related to Process Optimization, helping ServiceNow customers understand and apply these concepts effectively in their business processes. The terms provided serve as a foundation for analyzing and optimizing processes within the ServiceNow platform.

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    Key Features

    • Activity: Represents a captured task or action from the audit log, essential for visualizing projects.
    • Audit log: Records operational events related to task performance, including timestamps.
    • Connection: A line that joins two activities in a process map, indicating sequential steps.
    • Finding: Key performance insights identified for a business process, highlighting areas for improvement.
    • Generate: The process of mining data from event logs to reveal trends in business processes.
    • Process map: A visual representation of events from the audit log that illustrates the flow of a defined business process.
    • Route: Represents occurrences of a process where activity sequences differ, showcasing various paths taken within the process.
    • Sliders: Tools on the process map screen for displaying activity and connection details interactively.

    Key Outcomes

    By understanding these key terms, ServiceNow customers can effectively analyze their business processes, identify performance insights, and visualize operations, leading to improved process optimization and efficiency in their workflows.

    Key terms used in Process Mining.

    Table 1. Process Mining Key Terms
    Term Description
    Activity A selection of captured tasks or actions from the audit log that are used for visualizing the project, including tracked fields. An activity consists of one step within a process, or which occurred within a route. A connection runs between activities.
    Attribute of interest Activities that are not visible in the process graph, breakdowns, or in variance stats. These definitions are still available to use in rule findings logic.
    Audit log The record of operational system events or activities that occur when a task is performed, such as date, time, and activity.
    Connection Line joining two activities, or process steps, in a map. A connection reflects a part of a process with two sequential, connected steps.
    Finding Key performance insights discovered for a business process. Findings help you review areas that need further attention.
    Generate The process of extracting or mining data from an operational system's event logs and applying algorithms that reveal trends and a detailed picture of how a business process flows.
    Linked process A connected, or subprocess linked to a main process.
    Process map A project generated after a data extraction has been performed that visually represents events gathered from a system's audit log which are part of a defined business process. The map represents actual events, or routes, consisting of a series of steps taken from a defined start to finish. A process map also compares the actual routes to a defined target route to provide a view of business process performance.
    Project Process Mining term for a configured process model.
    Record A business record of a process cycle (project) that runs through a route. Many records can run through a route. In Process Mining, the number of records can change when filters are applied.
    Repetitions Repeated steps (activities) or step sets (connections).
    Route An occurrence of a process where at least one activity within the sequence of steps differs from all other occurrences of the process. Routes can include an optimally defined successful route, as well as variant or possible routes that may be alternate success paths or faulty exception paths. Several routes can be simultaneously represented on a process map.
    Sliders Activity and connection slider tools on the process map screen for showing process steps. Using the sliders can show sequential connections between them in a more or less detailed view.
    Transition A change of activity state.