Simulation Tool for Learning Action-Oriented Process Mining

Process mining enables companies to reduce costs by identifying bottlenecks, improving processes, or automation potentials, for example. Digital business process data, which can be extracted from information systems and afterward arranged in so-called event logs, allows the visualization and analysis of business processes. Several teaching materials for process mining are offered to learners and teacher. However, the existing data for learning and teaching process mining is static and does not change with specific user interactions, such as the release of invoices in other information systems. This work contributes to a more realistic teaching approach by providing a simulation tool to continuously create business process data reacting to user actions. First, the application scope of process mining projects in the industry is determined to collect use cases of action-oriented process mining from practice. Then, a prototypical implementation is presented that allows the continuous simulation of business process data that allows specific user interventions. A didactic framework is described to apply the simulation tool in the teaching of process mining. Finally, the simulation tool is discussed and evaluated by four experts from practice and academia.