The Mavim Conformance Checker compares your executed process with your process designs. It highlights where the actual process deviates from your design. So how does the Conformance Checker work? It replays each variant over the reference model. If it succeeds; the variant; and all cases that follow the variant; are tagged as conforming. If one of the steps in the variant cannot be executed; the variant and all cases that follow the variant are tagged as non-conforming. You find the Mavim Conformance Checker tab within your Mavim Process Mining report. As an analyst; you are able to parse multiple reference models directly from the Mavim Portal to Mavim Process Mining.
Layout of the Conformance Check tab
The following functionality is available inside the Conformance Check tab:
1. Menu: On the left side of the screen you can navigate between the different standardly available report tabs.
2. Refence model selector: On the top of the screen you are able to select between the available reference model(s).
3. Reference model visualizer: Below the reference model selector; the selected reference model is displayed.
4. Process Visualizer: On the bottom of the screen you are able to work with the process explorer to interact with the event log data.
5. Conforming and non-conforming cases: In the right pane; you see how many cases are conforming respectively non-conforming to the selected reference model.
6. Conforming and non-conforming variants: Similarly; you can view which variants are conforming respectively non-conforming to your select reference model.
7. Activity view: Toggle the button in the lower left corner to analyze which activities are present in the reference model and in the event log.
8. Reset button: Reset to page to start from scratch and reset all applied filters.
This layout is automatically available when you create a new process mining report within the Mavim Portal (Process Mining tab) as the latest template of the report is loaded into the Process Mining Server.
N.B. In case you have NOT parsed any event log or reference model from the Mavim Portal to Mavim Process Mining; the Conformance Check tab remains completely blank.
Conformance checker example
Below you see the results of the Conformance Checker functionality with sample data from a Procure to Pay process including parsed reference model. At the top; you find the reference model of the P2P process; created with the BPMN 2.0 standard. At the right; one can observe that the majority of the cases (546/968) is conforming; meaning that one these cases comply fully to the reference model. Only 422 cases are non-conforming; meaning that the executed process does not following the traces of the parsed reference model.
For example; the activities Approve PO Level 2 and Approve PO Level 3 are executed and shown in the Process Visualizer inside your process mining report; while the BPMN 2.0 design does not state these activities. This means that there are a non-conformances on the process mining variants that contain these activities; as these activities are not present in the reference model.
Prerequisites
If you want to use the conformance checker; make sure you have:
1. Loaded an event log in Mavim Process Mining
2. Process models published to Mavim Portal (BPMN 2.0 or process flow)
3. Mavim Process Mining Developer license
How to apply Conformance Checking
1. Enable Reference models
Make sure the Reference Model functionality in the Mavim Portal is enabled. Only Administrators of the Mavim Portal can enable this functionality.
Mind that only Moderator and Administrator roles are able to 'mark process charts for conformance checking'.
2. Select Reference models
First; select one or more process designs as a candidate reference models in the Mavim Portal. These can be as-is designs; designed to explain the current process; or to-be designs; designed to model the way the process should look like.
In the screencast below; we mark the ‘Procure to Pay’ process in the Mavim Portal as a reference model.
3. Run Conformance Checker
To execute the Mavim Conformance Checker; please execute the following steps:
1. Navigate to the Process Mining tab in the Portal Admin screen.
2. Click ‘Conformance’ in the report of your choice
3. Select which of the candidate reference models need to be used by the conformance checker and click 'Apply’.
4. In the screencast below; we select the ‘Procure to Pay’ chart as our reference model and execute the MPM Conformance Checker.
3. Analyze results
To analyze the results; navigate to your report and select ‘Conformance Check’ from the menu items on the left. Select the reference model in the drop down list. To further explore where the actual process deviates from your design:
1. Filter on ‘Conforming cases’
2. Click the ‘Thumbs up’ icon in the process explorer visual. The entire process explorer will now turn green.
3. Remove the filter on ‘Conforming cases’. You will see some red arrows in the process explorer visual.
All arrows that are not conform to the reference model; are indicated in red. Furthermore; the nodes (displaying the activities) can have the following colors:
- Green: all incoming and outgoing edges are green
- Red: all incoming and outgoing edges are red
- Grey: all others
Are there a lot of cases non-conforming? Switch the toggle-button of the Activity View to see for each activity if it is present in the event log and if it is present in the reference model.
4. Reset Conformance Checker
When you want to compare your executed process to another reference model; make sure to press the Reset button in the lower left corner. The filters set on the graph of the executed model (at the bottom of the screen) are not removed automatically.
Conformance Checker Guidelines
Process designs are created in Mavim Manager and are published to the Mavim Portal. The published process models in the Mavim Portal can be used for Conformance Checker. In order for the conformance checker to understand the designed process correctly; it needs to adhere to the following rules and guidelines:
Supporting process models:
- All activities of the process model should be of the shape Activity (for Flowcharts and CFF) or Task (for BPMN models).
- All activities in the designed process need to have exactly the same name as the activities in the event log. For example; if in the designed process; an activity is named ‘Create PO’; whereas in the event log; the activity is named ‘Create Purchase Order’; the Conformance Checker cannot recognize that these are the same activities.
- Each process should contain a Start and End/Stop shape. The title for this shape will not be recognized as activities; all activities should be of the shape Activity (for Flowcharts) or Task (for BPMN models).
- Each Decision/Gateway shape is assumed to be exclusive; at this moment; AND-gateways are not supported. Also; texts on the gateways are not recognized as activities; all activities should be of the shape Activity (for Flowcharts and CFF) or Task (for BPMN models).
Support
For issues with using the Mavim Conformance Checker and other related process mining questions; please reach out to the service desk (servicedesk@mavim.com).