Glossary
Process mining, BPMN, modeling, simulation, and platform terms: the definitions used across the ProcessMind documentation.
This glossary collects the terminology used across the ProcessMind documentation. Entries are grouped by area, and every entry links to the page that explains the topic in full.
Two words are worth knowing before you start. Process means both the workflow you analyze and the seat levels that grant access to it (Process Foundation, Process Architecture, Process Intelligence). Case is a single instance of a process — an order, an invoice, a support ticket — and the same word is used for the cases counted by a KPI.
Business Process Management (BPM): The discipline of modeling, automating, monitoring, and optimizing business processes. See How to Implement Process Optimization.
BPMN 2.0 (Business Process Model and Notation): The standard graphical notation for modeling business processes, so that one diagram means the same thing to everyone who reads it. ProcessMind models are built from BPMN 2.0 shapes. See What is BPMN 2.0?.
Process Mining: The technique that uses data from your IT systems to reconstruct how a process actually ran, instead of how it was designed to run. It shows where reality deviates from the model, where time is lost, and where work is repeated. See Process Mining.
Process Modeling: Drawing the intended process as a diagram of activities, events, connections, and gateways, so that it can be shared, documented, governed, and simulated. See Modeling.
Process Model: The diagram you build on the modeling canvas, together with its element settings, documentation, and versions. A model can be mapped to one or more datasets so that the design can be compared with reality.
Activity: A task or step performed in a process. In process mining, activities come from your data; on the modeling canvas they are drawn as rounded rectangles. See Dataset Activities.
Bottleneck: A step where work queues up and holds back the rest of the process. Bottlenecks show up as long waiting times or as a resource that is always busy, and they are usually the first thing a process simulation tests. See Resources and Capacity Planning.
Case: A single instance of a process, such as an order, an invoice, or a support ticket. Every case follows its own path through the process, from its first event to its last.
Case ID: The attribute that identifies a case. It is the pivot of every analysis: all events that share a Case ID belong to the same case. Together with Activity and End time it is one of the three required process mining fields.
Conformance Checking: Comparing the process as it actually ran with the intended process model, to find deviations and their causes. See Conformance Checking.
Data Cleaning and Preparation: Fixing and shaping event log data before analysis: missing values, duplicate events, outliers, inconsistent labels, and personal data. See Data Cleaning and Preparation.
Event Log: The record of events extracted from IT systems, with one row per activity per case. Event logs are the primary data source for process mining. See Supported Data Formats.
Key Performance Indicator (KPI): A metric used to measure how a process performs, such as cycle time, throughput time, first-time-right, or cost. See Metrics.
Process Discovery: Generating a process model automatically from event data, without anyone drawing the model first. In ProcessMind this is Mine Model from Flow Data.
Trace: The sequence of activities that a specific case followed. Traces are what process mining groups into variants: identical traces follow the same path.
What data you need to run process mining: a case identifier, an activity name, and a timestamp for every event.
Attribute: A column of a dataset, with its display name, type, format, visibility, and values. Attributes drive filters, dashboards, and analysis. See Dataset Attributes.
Calculated Attribute: An attribute that is not in the source file but computed from an expression — for example a case duration, a priority band, or a cleaned-up status. See Calculated Attributes.
Column Mapping: Linking the columns the process mining panel asks for (Case ID, Activity, End time, and the optional fields) to the columns your file actually has. See Configuring Your Dataset.
Comparison Dataset: Any additional dataset mapped to the same model after the primary, drawn in its own color so you can compare time periods, regions, or teams. A model has exactly one primary dataset and any number of comparison datasets. See Primary and Comparison.
Data Flow Through: An activity that stays in the mapping but is excluded from calculations, for steps that exist in the process but leave no trace in the data. See Mapping and Unmapping Activities.
Data Mapping: Attaching a dataset to a model and linking its activities to the elements of that model. Only after mapping does the model show real numbers. See Master Data Mapping.
Data Quality: How trustworthy a dataset is: completeness, freshness, attribute coverage, and the activity patterns behind it. ProcessMind scores it and lists what to fix. See Data Quality.
Data Table: The tenant-scoped storage object that holds a dataset’s rows. The API addresses it as dataTableId. See API Overview.
Dataset: An uploaded file (or several upload parts) that has been configured for process mining: mapped columns, attributes, and a global dataset filter. The same dataset is what you map to a model. See Configuring Your Dataset.
Global Dataset Filter: A row filter, written as an expression, that applies everywhere the dataset is used — analysis, dashboards, and simulations alike. See Configuring Your Dataset.
Incremental Data Loading: Adding new rows to an existing dataset as an extra upload part (a delta), instead of replacing the original file. See Incremental Data Loading.
Mapped and Unmapped Activities: A dataset activity is mapped when it is linked to an element of the model. Unmapped activities still exist in the data and are shown translucent, with dotted connections, until you map them. See Mapping and Unmapping Activities.
Primary Dataset: The one dataset that drives a model’s dashboards, KPIs, and most analysis. Everything that needs real numbers starts from the primary. See Primary and Comparison.
Process Mining Fields: The columns a dataset needs. Required: Case ID, Activity, and End time. Optional: Start time, User, Cost, and tCO₂e. See Configuring Your Dataset.
Upload Part: One file in a dataset’s upload history: the original file plus every delta added by incremental loading. See Incremental Data Loading.
Auto-Layout Engine: Arranges a model automatically, horizontally or vertically, optionally following a template. Useful after importing a BPMN file or generating a model with AI. See Auto-Layout Engine.
Element: Any shape you place on the canvas — an activity, event, gateway, connection, VSM shape, or an analytics element. See Supported BPMN Elements.
Element Palette: The list of available elements on the left of the canvas, grouped into Core Elements, BPMN, VSM, Architecture Levels, and Analytics. See Modeling Canvas.
Element Settings: The panel where a selected element is configured: task type, markers, event timing, gateway type, or the resources an activity uses. See Element Settings & Properties.
Global Search: One search box for everything in your environment: processes, folders, elements, roles, versions, comments, and documentation. See Global Search.
Import and Export: Bringing an existing .bpmn file in as a new model, or getting a model out again as BPMN 2.0, PDF, PNG, or image. The catalog can additionally export CSV and BPMN bundles. See Import / Export BPMN Files and Exporting Processes.
Locked for Change: A flag on a process that blocks further edits until it is unlocked. Publishing flows use it to protect a process that has been approved. See The Process Catalog.
Mine Model from Flow Data: Creating or rebuilding a model from mapped data, using a DFB, Simple, or AI miner, with a policy for how gateways are drawn. See Process Mining.
Modeling Canvas: The editor where you build the model: element palette on the left, canvas in the middle, element settings on the right. See Modeling Canvas.
Process Animation: Replaying cases as moving dots over time so you can see the flow, where it slows down, and where it loops. See Process Animation.
Process Catalog: The home page of ProcessMind: a folder tree of every process in the organization, with its level, publish state, and health, plus filters and search. See The Process Catalog.
Process Classification: The confidentiality label of a process — Public, Internal, or Confidential — used for filtering and for what may be shared. See The Process Catalog.
Process Code: A short identifier of up to 20 characters, for example PRC-001. ProcessMind suggests one from the prefix of the process’ architecture level. See The Process Catalog.
Process Detail Level: A canvas control that hides low-frequency elements from the view. It changes what you look at, never the numbers behind it. See What is the Process Graph?.
Process Graph: The visualization of how your cases actually flow: activities, connections with metrics, splits, and parallel paths. It is the starting point of most analysis. See What is the Process Graph?.
Published Version: A model snapshot that is published, so viewer users see exactly that state. A published version stays visible while editing continues on the working model. See Versioning.
Version and Version History: Named snapshots of a model, each with a display name and description, plus the auto-saved versions ProcessMind takes at key moments. Any version can be inspected and restored. See Versioning.
Artifact (BPMN): Additional elements that add context without affecting the flow: data objects, groups, annotations. Do not confuse them with artifacts as attached files. See BPMN Artifacts.
Event: A trigger or outcome that starts, interrupts, or ends a process. Events come as Start, Intermediate, and End events, with types such as timer, message, or error. See Events.
Event-Based Gateway: A gateway that waits for one of several events to happen and continues along the path of whichever event occurs first.
Gateway: A decision point that controls the flow. Exclusive (XOR) gateways take one path, parallel (AND) gateways take all paths at once, and inclusive (OR) gateways take one or more. See BPMN Gateways.
Lane: A subdivision of a pool that assigns work to a role, department, or person. Lanes make it visible who does what. See Pools and Swimlanes.
Marker: A small symbol on an activity that changes how it behaves, such as a loop, multi-instance, or compensation marker. See Element Settings & Properties.
Message Flow: A connection between two pools, showing that messages or information are exchanged. A message flow never continues the sequence of one process on its own. See Connecting Objects.
Pool: A container that represents one participant in a process, for example a company, a department, or a system. Pools set the boundaries of a process. See Pools and Swimlanes.
Sequence Flow: The connections that show in which order activities, events, and gateways are executed inside one pool. See Connecting Objects.
Sub-Process: A group of activities that is collapsed into a single shape to keep a large model readable. Sub-processes can be expanded again to show the detail. See Activities.
Task: The smallest unit of work in a model. A task is a single activity: user task, service task, manual task, and so on. See Activities.
This document introduces the key building blocks, including events, activities, gateways, and artifacts, which are essential for constructing effective process models.
This section explains these elements and how they function within your workflows.
Case Explorer: The panel that opens a single case and shows everything about it: the timeline of its events, its attributes, its statistics, and the raw data rows. See Case Explorer.
Conformance Rate: The share of cases that follow the model without deviating from it. The higher the rate, the more predictable the process. See Conformance Checking.
Coverage: The share of cases that a variant, a value, or a filter option accounts for. A variant with 40% coverage is followed by 40% of all cases. See Process Variants.
CURES Framework: The five dimensions ProcessMind scores a process on: Conformance (how closely cases follow the model), Uniformity (how consistent they are), Rework (how much work is repeated), Efficiency (how quickly work flows), and Smoothness (how steady the flow is). Together they make up the Process Health score. See CURES Framework.
Deviation: A case that does not follow the model — a step skipped, repeated, or executed in a different order than the model prescribes. See Conformance Checking.
Filter: A rule that narrows down the cases an analysis looks at: a time period, a variant, an attribute value, or a sequence of activities. Filters combine, and a useful combination can be saved as a tag. See Using Filters.
Four Eyes Control (Segregation of Duties): A special filter that finds the cases in which the same person or team performed and approved a step, which is a control risk. See Using Filters.
Happy Path: The one variant, or the few variants, that carry the bulk of your cases. Everything outside the happy path is an exception, and often the most interesting part of the analysis. See Process Variants.
Process Bookmark: A saved dashboard view — the filters and settings together — that you can reopen, keep private or make public, and share by link. See Process Bookmarks.
Process Health: A single repeatable score per process, built from the five CURES dimensions and shown in a dedicated health dashboard. See Process Health.
Process Variant: A distinct sequence of activities that cases follow. Comparing variants shows which paths are standard, which are rare exceptions, and where time is lost. See Process Variants.
Rework: Work that is done again within a case, for example when a step that already happened is executed a second time. Rework is one of the five CURES dimensions. See CURES Framework.
Tag: A saved combination of filters, reusable from the filter panel, so you do not have to rebuild the same selection every time. See Using Filters.
Variation Filter: The filter that lists every variant in your data, ordered by how many cases follow it, with its coverage and timing. See Process Variants.
Active Step Share: The part of the measured time at a step that was spent working rather than waiting at that same step. See Time Metrics.
Analytics on the Model: Placing charts and metric tiles directly on the modeling canvas, so a model shows its own numbers next to its elements. Each chart can follow the dashboard filters or always look at all data. See Add Analytics to a Model.
Case Duration: The elapsed time of one case, from its first event to its last. It is the same case-level measure as throughput time, and the basis of the case duration filter. See Time Metrics.
Closed and Open Cases: Cases that have reached an end event (closed) versus cases that are still running (open). Open cases have no throughput time yet, so time metrics are usually limited to closed cases. See Time Metrics.
Custom Dashboard: A dashboard you build yourself by placing charts and tiles on a grid, and that you can edit, copy, and share. See Custom Dashboards.
Cycle Time: The elapsed time of a case, counted once per case. Dashboard titles and tiles use cycle time for the case-level number; per step you measure processing time and waiting time instead. See Time Metrics.
KPI Tile: A dashboard element that shows one number, such as the number of cases, an average time, or a share of cases. See Custom Dashboards.
Metric: A number computed from your data: a count, a share, an average, a median, or a time measure. Metrics are what charts and tiles display. See Metrics.
Norm: A target band set on a chart, so a gauge can show whether a value is good, worth watching, or out of range. See Process Charts.
Process Chart: A chart that visualizes process data: the distribution of activities, time per step, the share of cases, trends over time, and more. See Process Charts.
Process Dashboards: The dashboards that belong to a process. They combine charts, metrics, and filters to show how the process performs, and are the starting point for custom dashboards and bookmarks. See Process Dashboards.
Processing Time: The active working time at a step, counted per occurrence of that step. See Time Metrics.
Slow-Case Tail: The slowest cases in a selection, expressed by comparing a high percentile (P90) with the median. A long tail means many cases take much longer than typical. See Time Metrics.
Sustainability Metrics (tCO₂e): Carbon footprint metrics, computed from the optional tCO₂e column in your dataset, in tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per activity. See Process Charts.
Throughput Time: The elapsed time of a case, counted once per case: the time between its first and last event, or between a chosen From and To element. See Time Metrics.
Total Cycle Time: The sum of the throughput time of every case in the selection. Unlike an average, this number grows as more cases are included. See Time Metrics.
Transition Time: The average time between two connected activities, counted per connection. Every case that traverses the connection contributes one measurement. See Time Metrics.
Waiting Time: The idle time at a step before work starts there, counted per occurrence of that step. Waiting is often the largest part of a long cycle time. See Time Metrics.
Arrival Rate: How often new cases enter the process per time unit. The default is a Poisson arrival of 1 case per hour. See Running a Simulation.
Baseline: A validated simulation that serves as the reference for what-if comparisons: you compare a variant against the baseline, not against the past. See What-If Analysis.
Discrete Event Simulation: The simulation technique ProcessMind uses: the clock jumps from one event to the next, and nothing happens in between. This makes it fast enough to run many cases, up to 5,000,000 events per run. See How the Simulation Engine Works.
Distribution: The statistical pattern that generates random values, such as inter-arrival times or processing times. ProcessMind offers Fixed, Normal, Uniform, Triangular, Poisson, Lognormal, Weibull, Beta, and Pearson VI. See Statistical Distributions.
Inter-Arrival Time: The gap between two consecutive arrivals, drawn from a distribution. Together with the arrival rate it determines how busy the process becomes. See How the Simulation Engine Works.
Monte Carlo Simulation: A simulation technique that draws random samples to estimate uncertainty. ProcessMind’s engine is a discrete event simulation instead: variability comes from the distributions you configure per step and per arrival, not from repeated sampling of the whole process.
Optimization: Adjusting process parameters, resource capacity, or arrival patterns to get the best achievable performance in the model. In ProcessMind you compare what-if runs to find it. See What-If Analysis.
Periodicity: The time rules that decide when a step, resource, or arrival pattern is available, such as each weekday, each week, or each month. ProcessMind evaluates periodicity rules in order, and the first match wins. See Periodicity.
Process Simulation: Mimicking a process with a model, so you can try changes and see the effect on throughput time, cost, and resource load without touching the real process. See What is Process Simulation?.
Queue: The waiting line of cases at a step. Queues appear when more cases arrive than the resources at that step can handle, and they are the main source of waiting time. See Resources and Capacity Planning.
Queue Strategy: The rule that decides which waiting case is served next: first in first out, last in first out, or random. See Resources and Capacity Planning.
Resource Allocation: Assigning resources — people, teams, machines — to the activities that need them, so capacities and costs reflect reality. See Resources and Capacity Planning.
Resource Pool: A set of interchangeable resources that an activity draws from, with a quantity that caps how many cases can be worked on at the same time. See Resources and Capacity Planning.
Rule Priority: The order in which periodicity rules are evaluated. The first rule that matches applies, and a default rule catches everything else. See Periodicity.
Simulation Configuration: One saved set of simulation settings — period, arrivals, resources, and element parameters — that you can run, compare, and re-run. See Running a Simulation.
Simulation Model: The model of your process as the simulation engine reads it: elements, durations, routing probabilities, resources, and arrivals. See How the Simulation Engine Works.
Simulation Period: The start and end date of a simulation run. Only events inside that window end up in the results. See Running a Simulation.
Skip Chance: A percentage that makes an element or a path more realistic by letting a share of cases bypass it. See Simulation Interface Reference.
Throughput: The number of cases a process completes in a period. In dashboards the same idea appears as the number of cases and as throughput time. See Metrics.
Utilization: The share of available time a resource is busy with work: busy time divided by available time. Utilization above roughly 80% usually means queues grow. See Resources and Capacity Planning.
Virtual Event Log: The result of a simulation, structured like a real event log. Because it has the same shape as your data, you can analyze a simulation the same way you analyze reality. See What is Process Simulation?.
Warm-Up Period: An extra stretch of simulated time before the official start date, so the process reaches a steady state before results are collected. Only events inside the simulation period are reported. See Running a Simulation.
What-If Analysis: Changing one or more parameters and comparing the outcome with a baseline, to see which change actually helps. See What-If Analysis.
Architecture Level: A configurable kind of process in your process architecture, such as Enterprise Value Stream, Process, or Subprocess. Each level has its own name, icon, documentation fields, and rules, and one level is the default for new items. See Architecture Levels.
Level Badge: The badge on a model that shows which architecture level it belongs to, so you can see its place in the hierarchy at a glance. See Process Architecture Levels.
Model Quality: A percentage score for a model, shown as a badge directly on the canvas. The score is color-coded in five bands, and opening it lists every check that lowered the score. See Model Quality.
Publish State: The lifecycle status of a process: Draft, Under Review, Approved, Retired, or Archived. Only approved and published processes are visible to viewer users. See Governance & Publishing.
RACI Matrix: The Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed assignment per activity. RACI makes ownership explicit, and roles can be applied as lanes so the model and the matrix stay in sync. See Roles & RACI.
Role Library: The central list of reusable role definitions, each with a level, responsibilities, assignees, and tags. Roles from the library are what you assign to activities and to RACI. See Roles & RACI.
Value Stream Mapping (VSM): A lean technique for mapping a value stream end to end, using its own shapes such as process step, inventory, kanban post, and KPI. See Value Stream Mapping.
Artifacts (Attached Files): Files attached to a task or a documentation section, such as a PDF, image, spreadsheet, or video. ProcessMind preprocesses them so their content can be read, searched, and used as context by the AI assistant. See Artifacts.
Documentation Editor: The editor in which you write the structured documentation that belongs to a model, with configurable sections next to the elements they describe. See The Documentation Editor.
Preprocessing: The background step that extracts usable content from a file you attach or upload: text extraction, OCR for images, and transcription for video. See Artifacts.
Process Documentation: The written layer of a process: purpose, scope, steps, roles, and controls, structured in sections and attached to the model. See Process Documentation.
Process Portal: A read-only surface for people who should see the process but not change it. It publishes catalog, process, and documentation views from within the same environment. See Process Portal.
Semantic Search: Finding content by meaning rather than by exact wording. ProcessMind can search the extracted content of attached artifacts this way, alongside searching the model, elements, and documentation in global search. See Artifacts.
AI Assistant: The chat panel that reads your models and data, answers questions in plain language, and proposes concrete changes. See AI Assistant.
AI Credit: The unit in which AI usage is metered. One credit equals €0.01, credits are pooled per organization, they reset monthly, and unused credits expire. Every plan includes an allowance. See Usage and Credits.
AI Data Recommendations: A scan of a dataset that lists the data concerns found and suggests how to map and improve it. See AI Data Recommendations.
AI Process Generation: Generating a model from a plain-language description of the process, with layout and size options. See AI Process Generation.
AI Summaries: AI-written summary elements on the canvas, covering bottlenecks, compliance, RPA opportunities, trends, and process health. See AI Summaries.
AI-Assisted Simulation: Generating simulation parameters from the model itself, either AI-suggested or observed from mapped data, instead of configuring every value by hand. See AI-Assisted Simulation.
Diff: The before/after preview of an AI-proposed change. Nothing is applied until you accept the diff, and accepted changes can be undone. See AI Assistant.
RPA Opportunities: Steps that the data shows to be repetitive and rule-based, and therefore good candidates for automation. See AI Summaries.
API Key: The credential for the External API. An environment key works in one environment; an organization key can also provision keys for other environments. See API Keys.
API Scope: The permission set of an API key — read, write, uploadData, and sessions. Scopes are chosen when the key is created; sessions is off by default. See API Keys.
External API: The REST interface for reading and writing ProcessMind data programmatically, authenticated with an API key. See API Overview and the API Reference.
Integration: Connecting ProcessMind to other systems. In practice that means the External API, API keys, webhooks, and the MCP server. See API Documentation.
Login Handoff Token: A single-use token, valid for 60 seconds, that signs a user into ProcessMind without an email link. Minting one requires the sessions API scope. See API Keys.
MCP Server: ProcessMind’s Model Context Protocol server, which exposes processes, datasets, and simulation results as tools to AI assistants. Available on the Enterprise plan. See MCP Server.
Webhook: An outbound notification: ProcessMind posts a signed JSON payload to your endpoint when a process, dataset, or simulation event occurs. See Webhooks.
Access Level (Seat): What a user may do in one environment, and at the same time the unit you pay for. The levels are None, Portal Viewer, Process Foundation, Process Architecture, and Process Intelligence. Access is stored per environment, so a user can hold a different level in each. See Users, Roles & Permissions.
Admin Rights: Settings access, separate from the access level: Org. Admin manages the whole organization, Admin manages one environment. A user can be an admin without an access level, and then manages settings but cannot open the catalog, models, or dashboards. See Users, Roles & Permissions.
Audit Log: The admin-only, chronological record of who did what, when, and in which environment. See Audit Log.
Company Profile: The name, website, description, industry, and size of your organization, used as context by AI features such as prompts and summaries. See Company Profile.
Data Retention: What happens to your data over time. Your data is kept when a plan expires, and removing an organization keeps a short recovery window before deletion. See Billing and Payments and Organization Settings.
Enterprise Plan: The highest plan, aimed at organizations that need governance and integration: it adds unlimited portal viewers, the MCP server, and the largest AI credit allowance. See Usage and Credits.
Environment (Tenant): One workspace inside your organization, with its own URL and short name, users, settings, localization, and company profile. Environments keep work separated, for example between business units or between production and test. See Environments (Tenants).
Multi-Tenancy: The architecture that lets one installation serve many organizations and, within an organization, many environments, while keeping their data and settings separate. See Environments (Tenants).
Organization: The top level of your account. An organization holds environments, users, the seat licenses, and the billing plan. See Organization Settings.
Plan: The subscription that sets your seat allowances and included AI credits. A new account starts with a 14-day trial; when it ends the workspace stays available on the Free plan, where one member keeps full process access. See Billing and Payments.
Portal Viewer: The free, read-only access level for people who only need published portal content. Viewers never count against modeling seats: self-serve plans include up to 10 portal viewers per paid seat, and Enterprise can enable unlimited viewer access. See Viewer Users.
Process Foundation, Process Architecture, Process Intelligence: The three tracks the platform is organized in, each with its own access level. Foundation covers viewing, dashboards, and modeling; Architecture adds advanced modeling, governance, and documentation; Intelligence adds analysis, dashboards, simulation, and AI features. See Foundation Path, Architecture Path, and Intelligence Path.
Single Sign-On (SSO): Signing in with Microsoft, Google, or LinkedIn instead of a ProcessMind password. Only your email, name, and profile picture are stored. See Single Sign-On (SSO).
Theme and White Labeling: The per-environment look and feel: branding, general colors, BPMN element colors, VSM element colors, dataset colors, and chart colors. See Themes & White Labeling.
Usage and Credits: The screen that shows how your organization consumes the platform: AI credits plus the other metered categories such as simulations, preprocessing, queries, dashboards, exports, storage, and API usage. See Usage and Credits.
View Analytics: A switch that grants read-only access to dashboards, independent of the access level. It is on by default for paid levels; free portal viewers can open analytics only in Enterprise organizations. See Users, Roles & Permissions.
Settings live under App Settings: users and access levels, environments, company profile, themes, audit log, billing, and usage. This section of the documentation covers the settings and how to configure them.
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