Delta analysis with workflow logs: aligning business process prescriptions and their reality

摘要

To support and drive a business process with a software system means influencing the way process participants conduct their daily work. An analysis of the relationships between organizational processes, support systems, and process participants calls for a continuous alignment and parallel evolution of the intended business process and the supporting software system. Here, the primary information needed is how process participants work with the new system and where and why they deviate from the intended process. Delta analysis with workflow logs employs workflow logs recorded during system use to compare process enactment with its prescription: log entries are related with instances of business process activities of an explicit process definition, and the timely ordering of these entries is compared with the ordering of the activities implied by the process model. If the orderings comply, the log fits the model. Log entries and activities can be on arbitrary levels of abstraction and arbitrary granularity. The results of such an analysis can be utilized as an unbiased data basis for further discussions. Moreover, compared with traditional approaches such as interviews and observations, time and costs can be saved. The paper presents the concept, a feasibility study, some aspects of the related theoretical challenges, a prototypical implementation, and initial case study results.