A Process Mining Software Comparison

www.processmining-software.com is a dedicated website for process mining software comparison and was developed to give practitioners and researchers an overview of commercial tools available on the market. Based on literature review and experimental tool testing, a set of criteria was developed in order to assess the tools' functional capabilities in an objective manner. With our publicly accessible website, we intend to increase the transparency of tool functionality. Being an academic endeavour, the non-commercial nature of the study ensures a less biased assessment as compared with reports from analyst firms

Conformance checking: A state-of-the-art literature review

Conformance checking is a set of process mining functions that compare process instances with a given process model. It identifies deviations between the process instances' actual behaviour ("as-is") and its modelled behaviour ("to-be"). Especially in the context of analyzing compliance in organizations, it is currently gaining momentum -- e.g. for auditors. Researchers have proposed a variety of conformance checking techniques that are geared towards certain process model notations or specific applications such as process model evaluation. This article reviews a set of conformance checking techniques described in 37 scholarly publications. It classifies the techniques along the dimensions "modelling language", "algorithm type", "quality metric", and "perspective" using a concept matrix so that the techniques can be better accessed by practitioners and researchers. The matrix highlights the dimensions where extant research concentrates and where blind spots exist. For instance, process miners use declarative process modelling languages often, but applications in conformance checking are rare. Likewise, process mining can investigate process roles or process metrics such as duration, but conformance checking techniques narrow on analyzing control-flow. Future research may construct techniques that support these neglected approaches to conformance checking

Process Mining for Advanced Service Analytics – From Process Efficiency to Customer Encounter and Experience

With the ongoing trend of servitization nurtured through digital technologies, the analysis of services as a starting point for improvement is gaining more and more importance. Service analytics has been defined as a concept to analyze the data generated during service execution to create value for providers and customers. To create more useful insights from the data, there is a continuous need for more advanced solutions for service analytics. One promising technology is process mining which has its origins in business process management. Our work provides insights into how process mining is currently used to analyze service processes and how it could be used along the service process. We find that process mining is increasingly applied for the analysis of the providers' internal operations, but more emphasis should be put on analyzing the customer interaction and experience

A next click recommender system for web-based service analytics with context-aware LSTMs

Software companies that offer web-based services instead of local installations can record the user’s interactions with the system from a distance. This data can be analyzed and subsequently improved or extended. A recommender system that guides users through a business process by suggesting next clicks can help to improve user satisfaction, and hence service quality and can reduce support costs. We present a technique for a next click recommender system. Our approach is adapted from the predictive process monitoring domain that is based on long short-term memory (LSTM) neural networks. We compare three different configurations of the LSTM technique: LSTM without context, LSTM with context, and LSTM with embedded context. The technique was evaluated with a real-life data set from a financial software provider. We used a hidden Markov model (HMM) as the baseline. The configuration LSTM with embedded context achieved a significantly higher accuracy and the lowest standard deviation

Experience with a Wearable Cardioverter-defibrillator in 436 Patients

The aim of the present study was to review the safety and efficiency of wearable cardioverter-defibrillators (WCDs) under current guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT). We retrospectively analyzed 436 consecutive WCD patients seen in the years 2014-2020. Detected automatic arrhythmia alarm (AA) episodes were validated and classified as correct or incorrect. The positive predictive value (PPV) was calculated. GDMT was optimized in our outpatient clinic to maximal tolerated doses. During a total wear time (WT) of 23,527 days, 3,135 AAs were transmitted from 206 of 436 (47.2%) patients. Visual analysis revealed correct diagnoses of non-sustained ventricular tachycardia (VT) in 38 AAs from 6 patients (total PPV, 1.21%; PPV in VT patients, 41%); the remaining AAs were artifacts. No appropriate or inappropriate shocks and fatalities were recorded. LVEF significantly improved (P < .001) during the WT from 25% (range, 20%-30%) to 40% (range, 34%-46%). Defibrillators were implanted in 109 patients (27%). The PPV for VT of the WCD was very low. There were fewer instances of true VT than previously reported, and no shocks (appropriate or inappropriate) were delivered. The majority of patients greatly improved with GDMT, and device implantation rates were lower than previously reported. Improvements in arrhythmia detection algorithms are warranted. Based on our results, WCDs are rarely needed for lifesaving shocks under optimal GDMT. Keywords: Heart failure; sudden cardiac arrest; sudden cardiac death; ventricular tachycardia; wearable cardioverter-defibrillator

Fourteen years' experience with 501 subcoronary Ross procedures: Surgical details and results

ObjectiveDuring the past decade the Ross procedure using the full root has become the predominant surgical technique. However, progressive autograft dilatation and eventual failure remain a concern. Here we report on the surgical techniques and results of the subcoronary technique over a 14-year period.MethodsA total of 501 patients (mean age, 44.9 ± 12.9 years; 117 female; 384 male) were operated on from June 1994 to December 2007. The follow-up database, with a completeness of 98.2%, was closed on December 2008, comprising of 2931 patient-years with a mean follow-up of 5.9 ± 3.6 years (range, 0.1–14.1 years).ResultsSurgical details are presented. Early and late mortality were 0.4% (n = 2) and 4% (n = 20), respectively, valve-related mortality was 1.2% (n = 6), whereas the overall survival did not differ from that of the normal population. Neurologic events occurred in 22 patients, major bleeding in 9, autograft endocarditis in 8, and homograft endocarditis in 10. Freedom from autograft and homograft reoperation was 91.9% at 10 years. For the majority of patients, hemodynamics was excellent and no root dilatation was observed.ConclusionsMidterm results after the original subcoronary Ross procedure are excellent, including normal survival and low risk of valve-related morbidity. Longer-term results are necessary for continuous judgment of the subcoronary technique

Seven Paradoxes of Business Process Management in a Hyper-Connected World

Abstract Business Process Management is a boundary-spanning discipline that aligns operational capabilities and technology to design and manage business processes. The Digital Transformation has enabled human actors, information systems, and smart products to interact with each other via multiple digital channels. The emergence of this hyper-connected world greatly leverages the prospects of business processes – but also boosts their complexity to a new level. We need to discuss how the BPM discipline can find new ways for identifying, analyzing, designing, implementing, executing, and monitoring business processes. In this research note, selected transformative trends are explored and their impact on current theories and IT artifacts in the BPM discipline is discussed to stimulate transformative thinking and prospective research in this field