AI summaryⓘ
The authors explore how to better use data from organizational systems to understand how things really work by applying process mining, a technique that extracts process models from event logs. They focus on creating Use Case Map (UCM) models, which help visualize user requirements, by extending an existing Python tool called PM4Py. Their new extension, PM4Py-UCM, can automatically generate UCMs, break them down into smaller parts, customize visualizations, and export models to other tools without losing information. They demonstrate this approach using sample data and show how it can aid in early requirements engineering by making process data easier to analyze and use. This work supports making requirements modeling more evidence-based and practical.
process miningrequirements engineeringUse Case MapsUser Requirements Notationevent logsPM4Pymodel discoveryhierarchical decompositionjUCMNavprocess models
Abstract
Given the increasing amount of data available in organizational systems, there is an opportunity for early requirements engineering (RE) activities to be better based on evidence than ever before. Process mining (PM) has been used for over two decades to discover and analyze as-is process models from event logs extracted from such data, with outputs often in the form of Petri Nets, directly-follows graphs, or BPMN models. This paper aims to make Use Case Map (UCM) models, from ITU-T's User Requirements Notation (URN), a first-class output of process discovery, so that mined behavior can be used in URN-based modeling, analysis, and management activities. This paper contributes and illustrates PM4Py-UCM, an open-source extension to the existing PM4Py Python library. This new tool contributes 1) a UCM discovery pipeline, 2) hierarchical decomposition strategies producing nested UCM models, 3) configurable performer mappings for UCM and BPMN visualizations, and 4) an exporter to a URN tool (jUCMNav) that preserves the mined model under round-trip. Using public and synthetic event logs, the paper showcases how the same behavior is rendered under different performer abstractions and decomposition strategies, and discusses how PM can become a practical instrument for model-driven RE.