How does Process Sphere work?
Process Sphere visualizes an object-centric data model and makes it possible to interact with any process from the perspective of participating objects and events. Objects are the individual items that are processed, such as invoices, sales orders or purchase orders. Events are the process steps relating to those objects, such as approvals, changes, or status updates. With Process Sphere, you can view your process by selecting objects and or events and understand how process execution flows. You can perform process analysis and model the process based on the problem you are trying to solve.
Benefits of Process Sphere
Shorter time-to-insight: Through improved visualization methods, an object-centric data model and additional semantics, complex and hard-to-answer questions that would have previously required lengthy PQL functions can be answered intuitively from the Process Sphere interface.
More accurate and richer process view: The process visualization means that system data is no longer “flattened” and eliminates potential misrepresentations in the visualization. The Data Model also captures real-life objects and events in the way business process owners describe them, delivering a richer process visualization via a brand-new visualization UX.
End-to-end process visualization: You can analyze your entire business and find hidden inefficiencies that live at the intersection points between processes. You can decide the scope of the analysis provided based on your business understanding of the process in a flexible and ad-hoc way by adding objects and events to the graph.
3-dimensional visualization: The 3-dimensional visualization builds on the ideas and concepts of business process model and notation, adding important semantics such as parallel behavior. This makes it easier for you to understand what is happening in the end-to-end execution of processes and to take the appropriate action.
Process Sphere versus Process Explorer
There are two ways to describe the difference between Process Explorer and Process Sphere.
Visualization: Process Explorer visualizes a process through what is called a “directly-follows graph.” This type of graph exposes increasing numbers of variants of the process that filter through the preselected Case ID of the model. Process Sphere visualizes a process through a BPMN graph with exclusive gateway and parallel gateway semantics. Process Sphere looks like a subway map that shows multiple process lines and their intersection points.
Data Model: Process Explorer creates its visualizations using an event log data model. This data model is created by selecting a single case ID as the perspective of analysis. The resulting data model is flattened, or two-dimensional. It analyzes a process from only one perspective, like a Sales Order or Purchase Order. This provides valuable information about the process. However, broadening the perspective of the process horizontally (which customers want to do) requires joining multiple event logs.