What Is Context Information?

The context in which events occur should be taken into account when analyzing processes. Contextualized event and case data can be used to extend the understanding of the processes and improve the quality of the analysis.

In process mining, both case context information and event context information play crucial roles in understanding and analyzing processes, but they serve different purposes and provide distinct insights:

We differentiate two kinds of information:

Case Context Information

• Information that is related to the CaseID. It is unique and doesn’t change throughout a process instance.
• Case context information refers to the attributes or properties associated with each case or instance of the process being analyzed.
• These attributes describe characteristics of the entire process instance or case from start to finish.
• Examples of case context information include customer ID, order number (often set as the CaseID), case creation timestamp, case completion timestamp, case type, Supplier, MaterialType, Plant, Country, etc.
• Case context information helps in understanding the overall characteristics of different cases, identifying patterns or trends across cases, and segmenting cases based on various attributes.
• It provides a higher-level view of the process, focusing on characteristics that apply to the entire case

 

Event Context Information

• Information that is related to an Event. It is possible that it will change within a case.
• Event context information, on the other hand, pertains to the attributes or properties associated with individual events or activities within the process.
• These attributes describe specific details about each event, such as the Activity Name, Timestamp of the specific activity for that event, resource involved (UserName or Machine), outcome of the activity, etc.
• Event context information helps in understanding the sequence of activities within each case, detecting deviations from expected behavior, and identifying bottlenecks or inefficiencies at the activity level.
• It provides a detailed view of the process execution, focusing on characteristics that apply to individual events or activities.

warning

If you filter on event context information you will only see the regarding events and not the whole processes in the ProcessAnalyzer.

In summary, case context information provides a holistic view of the entire process instance, while event context information offers detailed insights into the activities and events that occur within each case. Both types of information are valuable for process analysis and can be used in combination to gain a comprehensive understanding of the underlying processes and their performance.

Example

Let's consider an example process of "Order Fulfillment" in an e-commerce company, where customers place orders for products online, and the company processes these orders for delivery. Here's how we can identify case context information and event context information:

To explain this more in detail, let's take a look at a production process in a simplified production company that produces in one plant jackets and in the other plant buttons:

Example-Event-and-Case-Context-Information

Some of the context information that can be found in the process are for example: Production Order Nr., Company Code, Product Class, Plant, Product, User Name and Machine. The easiest way to identify what information is event or case context information is to put the additional information in the event log table, as in the following example:

Example event context case context

 

Case context information:

When looking at the production order 4601, the information that does not change throughout a process instance is Company Code, Product Class, Plant and Product. For the production order 4602 it's the same.

1. Order ID: A unique identifier assigned to each order.
2. Customer ID: Identification number of the customer placing the order.
3. Order Date: Date and time when the order was placed.
4. Shipping Address: Address where the ordered items will be shipped.
5. Order Status: Current status of the order (e.g., pending, processing, shipped, delivered).
6. Payment Status: Status of payment for the order (e.g., pending, paid, refunded).
7. Order Value: Total value of the order.
8. Order Type: Type of order (e.g., standard delivery, express delivery).

 

Event context information:

There is also information that does change within a case. Each activity is done by a different machine, but for example, the user doesn’t change in the order 4602. That might happen only in that specific order, so you need to know your data before you assign which information is related to the case or event. As we are looking at the process from the production company view and not from the plant view, the user is also an event context information in this data set.

1. Activity ID: Unique identifier for each activity in the process.
2. Activity Name: Name of the activity performed (e.g., Receive Order, Process Payment, Pack Items, Ship Order).
3. Timestamp: Date and time when the activity occurred.
4. Resource: Person or system responsible for performing the activity (e.g., Customer Support Agent, Payment Gateway, Warehouse Staff).
5. Order Items: Details of the items included in the order (e.g., product ID, quantity, price).
6. Payment Method: Method used by the customer to make the payment (e.g., credit card, PayPal).
7. Shipping Method: Method chosen by the customer for shipping (e.g., standard shipping, expedited shipping).
8. Shipping Carrier: Carrier responsible for delivering the order (e.g., FedEx, UPS).
9. Activity Duration: Duration of time taken to complete the activity

 

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Example Event:

• Activity Name: Pack Items
• Timestamp: 2024-04-17 10:30:00
• Resource: Warehouse Staff
• Order ID: 123456
• Order Items:
  • Product 1 (Quantity: 2)
  • Product 2 (Quantity: 1)
• Shipping Method: Standard Shipping

In this example, the case context information provides details about the order as a whole, while the event context information provides details about specific activities performed during the order fulfillment process. Both types of information are essential for analyzing and optimizing the order fulfillment process.