Beyond Tasks and Gateways: Discovering BPMN Models with Subprocesses, Boundary Events and Activity Markers

Abstract

Existing techniques for automated discovery of process models from event logs generally produce flat process models. Thus, they fail to exploit the notion of subprocess, as well as error handling and repetition constructs provided by contemporary process modeling notations, such as the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN). This paper presents a technique for automated discovery of BPMN models containing subprocesses, interrupting and non-interrupting boundary events and activity markers. The technique analyzes dependencies between data attributes attached to events in order to identify subprocesses and to extract their associated logs. Parent process and subprocess models are then discovered using existing techniques for flat process model discovery. Finally, the resulting models and logs are heuristically analyzed in order to identify boundary events and markers. A validation with one synthetic and two real-life logs shows that process models derived using the proposed technique are more accurate and less complex than those derived with flat process discovery techniques.