Towards an Entropy-Based Analysis of Log Variability

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Abstract

Process mining algorithms can be partitioned by the type of model that they output: imperative miners output flow-diagrams showing all possible paths through a process, whereas declarative miners output constraints showing the rules governing a process. For processes with great variability, the latter approach tends to provide better results, because using an imperative miner would lead to so-called “spaghetti models” which attempt to show all possible paths and are impossible to read. However, studies have shown that one size does not fit all: many processes contain both structured and unstructured parts and therefore do not fit strictly in one category or the other. This has led to the recent introduction of hybrid miners, which aim to combine flow- and constraint-based models to provide the best possible representation of a log. In this paper we focus on a core question underlying the development of hybrid miners: given a log, can we determine a priori whether the log is best suited for imperative or declarative mining? We propose using the concept of entropy, commonly used in information theory. We consider different measures for entropy that could be applied and show through experimentation on both synthetic and real-life logs that these entropy measures do indeed give insights into the complexity of the log and can act as an indicator of which mining paradigm should be used.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationBusiness Process Management Workshops : BPM 2017 International Workshops, Barcelona, Spain, September 10–11, 2017, Revised Papers
EditorsErnest Teniente, Matthias Weidlich
PublisherSpringer
Publication date2018
Pages53-70
ISBN (Print)978-3-319-74029-4
ISBN (Electronic)978-3-319-74030-0
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2018
Event15th International Conference on Business Process Management - Barcelona, Spain
Duration: 10 Sep 201715 Sep 2017
Conference number: 15

Conference

Conference15th International Conference on Business Process Management
Number15
Country/TerritorySpain
CityBarcelona
Period10/09/201715/09/2017
SeriesLecture Notes in Business Information Processing
Volume308

Keywords

  • Process mining
  • Hybrid models
  • Process variability Process flexibility
  • Information theory
  • Entropy
  • Knowledge Work

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