Process mining techniques are often used when no formal description of the process can be obtained by other approaches, or when the quality of existing documentation is questionable.4 For example, application of process mining methodology to the audit trails of a workflow management system, the transaction logs of an enterprise resource planning system, or the electronic patient records in a hospital can result in models describing processes of organizations.5 Event log analysis can also be used to compare event logs with prior model(s) to understand whether the observations conform to a prescriptive or descriptive model. It is required that the event logs data be linked to a case ID, activities, and timestamps.67
Contemporary management trends such as BAM (business activity monitoring), BOM (business operations management), and BPI (business process intelligence) illustrate the interest in supporting diagnosis functionality in the context of business process management technology (e.g., workflow management systems and other process-aware information systems). Process mining is different from mainstream machine learning, data mining, and artificial intelligence techniques. For example, process discovery techniques in the field of process mining try to discover end-to-end process models that are able to describe sequential, choice relation, concurrent and loop behavior. Conformance checking techniques are closer to optimization than to traditional learning approaches. However, process mining can be used to generate machine learning, data mining, and artificial intelligence problems. After discovering a process model and aligning the event log, it is possible to create basic supervised and unsupervised learning problems. For example, to predict the remaining processing time of a running case or to identify the root causes of compliance problems.
The IEEE Task Force on Process Mining was established in October 2009 as part of the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society.8 This is a vendor-neutral organization aims to promote the research, development, education and understanding of process mining, make end-users, developers, consultants, and researchers aware of the state-of-the-art in process mining, promote the use of process mining techniques and tools and stimulate new applications, play a role in standardization efforts for logging event data (e.g., XES), organize tutorials, special sessions, workshops, competitions, panels, and develop material (papers, books, online courses, movies, etc.) to inform and guide people new to the field. The IEEE Task Force on Process Mining established the International Process Mining Conference (ICPM) series,9 lead the development of the IEEE XES standard for storing and exchanging event data1011, and wrote the Process Mining Manifesto12 which was translated into 16 languages.
The term "process mining" was coined in a research proposal written by the Dutch computer scientist Wil van der Aalst.13 By 1999, this new field of research emerged under the umbrella of techniques related to data science and process science at Eindhoven University. In the early days, process mining techniques were often studied with techniques used for workflow management. In 2000, the first practical algorithm for process discovery, "Alpha miner" was developed. The next year, research papers introduced "Heuristic miner" a much similar algorithm based on heuristics. More powerful algorithms such as inductive miner were developed for process discovery. 2004 saw the development of "Token-based replay" for conformance checking. Process mining branched out "performance analysis", "decision mining" and "organizational mining" in 2005 and 2006. In 2007, the first commercial process mining company "Futura Pi" was established. In 2009, the IEEE task force on PM governing body was formed to oversee the norms and standards related to process mining. Further techniques for conformance checking led in 2010 to alignment-based conformance checking". In 2011, the first process mining book was published. About 30 commercially available process mining tools were available in 2018.
There are three categories of process mining techniques.
Process mining software helps organizations analyze and visualize their business processes based on data extracted from various sources, such as transaction logs or event data. This software can identify patterns, bottlenecks, and inefficiencies within a process, enabling organizations to improve their operational efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance their customer experience. In 2025, Gartner listed 40 tools in its process mining platform review category.22
van der Aalst, Wil (2016). Process Mining: Data Science in Action. /wiki/Wil_van_der_Aalst ↩
van der Aalst, Wil (2011). Process Mining: Data Science in Action. /wiki/Wil_van_der_Aalst ↩
"Automated Business Process Discovery (ABPD)". Gartner.com. Gartner, Inc. 2015. Retrieved 6 January 2015.Gartner Definition. http://www.gartner.com/it-glossary/automated-business-process-discovery-abpd ↩
"Gartner Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2020". Gartner. https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/gartner-top-10-strategic-technology-trends-for-2020/ ↩
Kirchmer, M., Laengle, S., & Masias, V. (2013). Transparency-Driven Business Process Management in Healthcare Settings [Leading Edge]. Technology and Society Magazine, IEEE, 32(4), 14-16. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?reload=true&arnumber=6679328 ↩
Luis M. Camarinha-Matos, Frederick Benaben, Willy Picard (2015). Risks and Resilience of Collaborative Networks https://books.google.com/books?id=DZ-oCgAAQBAJ&dq=process+mining+%22case+id%22+activity+timestamp&pg=PA502 ↩
Symeon Christodoulou, Raimar Scherer (2016). eWork and eBusiness in Architecture, Engineering and Construction: ECPPM 2016 https://books.google.com/books?id=O8uEDgAAQBAJ&dq=process+mining+%22case+id%22+activity+timestamp&pg=PA483 ↩
"IEEE Task Force on Process Mining". Home page of the task force on process mining. IEEE Task Force on Process Mining. Retrieved 10 January 2021. https://www.tf-pm.org/ ↩
"International Process Mining Conference (ICPM) series". Home page of the ICPM conference series. IEEE Task Force on Process Mining. Retrieved 10 January 2021. https://icpmconference.org ↩
IEEE Standard for eXtensible Event Stream (XES) for Achieving Interoperability in Event Logs and Event Streams. ieee. 11 November 2016. doi:10.1109/IEEESTD.2016.7740858. ISBN 978-1-5044-2421-9. Retrieved 10 January 2021. 978-1-5044-2421-9 ↩
"eXtensible Event Stream (XES)". eXtensible Event Stream (XES). IEEE Task Force on Process Mining. 11 November 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2021. http://xes-standard.org/ ↩
"Process Mining Manifesto". Process Mining Manifesto. IEEE Task Force on Process Mining. 2011. Retrieved 10 January 2021. https://www.tf-pm.org/resources/manifesto ↩
Aalst, van der, W. M. P. (2000). Process design by discovery : Harvesting workflow knowledge from ad-hoc executions (Abstract). In M. Jarke, D. E. O'Leary, & R. Studer (Eds.), Knowledge Management: An Interdisciplinary Approach (Dagstuhl Seminar 00281, July 9-14, 2000) (Dagstuhl Seminar Proceedings; Vol. 281). ↩
Aalst, W. van der, Weijters, A., & Maruster, L. (2004). Workflow Mining: Discovering Process Models from Event Logs. IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering, 16 (9), 1128–1142. /wiki/Wil_van_der_Aalst ↩
Agrawal, R., Gunopulos, D., & Leymann, F. (1998). Mining Process Models from Workflow Logs. In Sixth international conference on extending database technology (pp. 469–483). ↩
Cook, J., & Wolf, A. (1998). Discovering Models of Software Processes from Event-Based Data. ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology, 7 (3), 215–249. ↩
Datta, A. (1998). Automating the Discovery of As-Is Business Process Models: Probabilistic and Algorithmic Approaches. Information Systems Research, 9 (3), 275–301. ↩
Weijters, A., & Aalst, W. van der (2003). Rediscovering Workflow Models from Event-Based Data using Little Thumb. Integrated Computer-Aided Engineering, 10 (2), 151–162. /wiki/Wil_van_der_Aalst ↩
Aalst, W. van der, Beer, H., & Dongen, B. van (2005). Process Mining and Verification of Properties: An Approach based on Temporal Logic. In R. Meersman & Z. T. et al. (Eds.), On the Move to Meaningful Internet Systems 2005: CoopIS, DOA, and ODBASE: OTM Confederated International Conferences, CoopIS, DOA, and ODBASE 2005 (Vol. 3760, pp. 130–147). Springer-Verlag, Berlin. /wiki/Wil_van_der_Aalst ↩
Rozinat, A., & Aalst, W. van der (2006a). Conformance Testing: Measuring the Fit and Appropriateness of Event Logs and Process Models. In C. Bussler et al. (Ed.), BPM 2005 Workshops (Workshop on Business Process Intelligence) (Vol. 3812, pp. 163–176). Springer-Verlag, Berlin. /wiki/Wil_van_der_Aalst ↩
"Best Process Mining Platforms Reviews 2025 | Gartner Peer Insights". www.gartner.com. Retrieved 2025-04-29. https://www.gartner.com/reviews/market/process-mining-platforms ↩