Object Centric Process Mining: When Does It Fit?

Use object centric process mining when objects converge; use Multiple Perspectives when they share events but can be analyzed separately. The choice comes down to the case notion: which entity, or group of entities, should each process instance represent?

What a Case Actually Is

A case is the unit you follow through a process. In case centric process mining, each event is assigned to a case, such as an order, invoice, or customer. This gives you a clear process path, but it can distort the analysis when an event relates to several objects or when those objects follow separate lifecycles.

Imagine an order with several items, each shipped separately, and multiple invoices. If you use the order as the case, item-level and invoice-level activity may be flattened into one path. If you use an item as the case, you may lose the wider order context.

Before choosing an approach, ask:

• Which entity does your business question follow?
• Does each event belong to one case, or can it relate to several objects?
• Do you need to analyze those relationships together, or are separate views enough?

Your case notion shapes the event log and the variants you see. For a primer on the fundamentals, read what process mining is.

How Does Object Centric Process Mining Work?

Object centric process mining represents events and their relationships to multiple object types, rather than assigning every event to a single case. The approach is often associated with OCEL, an object-centric event log format. An OCPM object centric process model can connect objects such as an order, its items, deliveries, and invoices.

Consider one customer order with three items. Each item has its own fulfillment lifecycle. The items ship in two deliveries, and the order generates two invoices because one item is backordered. The process involves one order, three items, two deliveries, and two invoices.

With OCPM, an event can link to the objects it affects. You can examine how the order, items, deliveries, and invoices relate without choosing one object as the case for every question. For example, you could ask whether a shipping exception coincides with an invoice delay.

That broader view also adds complexity. Your data needs to capture the relevant object relationships, and a network with many objects and links can be harder to interpret. OCPM is not simply a different chart for a standard case-based log. It depends on how you structure and analyze the event data.

How Does the Multiple Perspectives Approach Work?

Multiple Perspectives organizes process analysis into distinct views. You can define a process and its areas of interest in BPMN, then analyze the available event data through those perspectives.

For the order example, you might examine order fulfillment, item delivery, and invoicing as separate perspectives. Each view focuses on a specific question and the process path that matters to it. You can compare findings across views, but this approach does not represent every object relationship together in one object-centric event log.

This approach fits when you can define the questions you need to answer and want each analysis to stay focused. A model helps guide the analysis instead of relying on one case definition to tell the whole story.

Multiple Perspectives lets you explore a process through focused views. Adjust the model to examine the question at hand, while keeping each view clear for the people who work with that part of the process.

How Do OCPM and Multiple Perspectives Compare?

Both approaches can answer the same business question; they differ in where they put the complexity.

What Does the Three-Item Order Example Show?

The same three questions land differently, depending on whether you can follow the objects.

The difference is where each approach handles complexity. OCPM puts more of it in the data structure and combined analysis. Multiple Perspectives puts more of it in the choice and comparison of views. Neither removes the need to define your question and understand what your data can show.

To understand how process variants help you compare paths, see the process variants documentation.

When Should You Use OCPM or Multiple Perspectives?

Use OCPM when there is no useful single case notion and your question depends on relationships among objects. Order fulfillment across items, deliveries, and invoices is one example. You also need event data that captures those relationships.

Use Multiple Perspectives when you can define your questions in advance, the objects share events, and separate views are enough to answer them. A model can focus each analysis and help explain the results to the people responsible for that part of the process.

If you are unsure, start with the case notion and test both framings on the same dataset. To revisit the basics, start with the definition of a case; for practical guidance on exploring your own data, read how to analyze a process; and to see how perspective-based analysis works in the platform, look at process mining.