Towards an Ethogram of Exploratory Process Mining Behavior

Abstract

Exploratory process mining aims to better understand event logs. However, this is not a clear-cut procedure and relies heavily on the analyst’s cognitive skills. Research has been conducted to better understand the analyst’s behavior, yet an overview of exhibited behaviors during exploratory process mining is lacking. Such an overview would not only facilitate the direct comparison of empirical findings but would also serve as a recording tool for such process mining behavior. Drawing inspiration from the field of (human) ethology, which studies behavior, this paper presents an ethogram of exploratory process mining behavior, i.e., a catalog of behaviors. Via a systematic analysis of published process mining case studies, we developed an ethogram, consisting of 26 distinct behaviors such as “Discover process model”, “Define questions”, and “Explore data”. This ethogram provides insights into analysts’ actions, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of their role.