Process Mining Spectrum

Van der Aalst's refined process mining framework (sources/2011-vanderaalst-process-mining-book, §10.1), a 3×2 reframing of the classical three-type taxonomy (discovery / conformance / enhancement).

Two axes

Axis 1: what is the model used for? — three activities:

Cartography — build and maintain a map of the process. Includes discovery and enhancement (adding organisational / time / data perspectives). Analogy: drawing the street map.
Auditing — compare actual behaviour against a reference model. Includes conformance checking and compliance. Analogy: checking whether cars obey the traffic rules the map prescribes.
Navigation — use the model prescriptively to guide action: simulate scenarios, predict arrival time for a running case, recommend the next activity. Analogy: TomTom/Google Maps navigating an actual journey.

Axis 2: is the analysis offline or online?

Offline — retrospective, post-mortem analysis of completed traces.
Online — live, as events stream in.

The 3×2 grid

	Offline	Online (runtime)
Cartography	Discover a model from a past log; add KPI overlays	Update the map as the log grows
Auditing	Retrospective conformance report	Online detect: alert on deviations as they happen
Navigation	Simulation, what-if scenarios	Predict remaining time / outcome; recommend next action

The six cells span the whole process mining spectrum. The PPM literature inhabits the Navigation-Online cell; conformance work inhabits both Auditing cells; classical discovery inhabits Cartography-Offline.

The classical three-type taxonomy (discovery / conformance / enhancement) describes inputs and outputs of mining. The refined framework describes use. The latter is what practitioners and tool vendors care about: a ProM plug-in is classified by whether it produces a map, audits compliance, or guides navigation. It also makes the runtime/online dimension first-class, which is what enables concepts/operational-support and downstream PPM.

methods/process-mining-basics · concepts/operational-support · concepts/conformance-checking · concepts/process-discovery · sources/2012-vanderaalst-process-mining-manifesto (older three-type taxonomy)