Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Translating Workflow Nets to Process Trees: An Algorithmic Approach

Version 1 : Received: 29 September 2020 / Approved: 30 September 2020 / Online: 30 September 2020 (10:37:25 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Zelst, S.J.; Leemans, S.J.J. Translating Workflow Nets to Process Trees: An Algorithmic Approach. Algorithms 2020, 13, 279. Zelst, S.J.; Leemans, S.J.J. Translating Workflow Nets to Process Trees: An Algorithmic Approach. Algorithms 2020, 13, 279.

Abstract

Since their introduction, process trees have been frequently used as a process modeling formalism in many process mining algorithms. A process tree is a (mathematical) tree-based model of a process, in which internal vertices represent behavioral control-flow relations and leaves represent process activities. Translation of a process tree into a sound Workflow net is trivial; however, the reverse is not the case. Simultaneously, an algorithm that translates a WF-net into a process tree is of great interest, e.g., the explicit knowledge of the control-flow hierarchy in a WF-net allows one to reason on its behavior more easily. Hence, in this paper, we present such an algorithm, i.e., it detects whether a WF-net corresponds to a process tree, and, if so, constructs it. We prove that, when the algorithm finds a process tree, the language of the process tree is equal to the language of the original WF-net. The experiments conducted show that the algorithm’s corresponding implementation has a quadratic time complexity in the size of the WF-net. Furthermore, the experiments show strong evidence of process tree re-discoverability.

Keywords

process trees; Petri nets; workflow nets; process mining

Subject

Computer Science and Mathematics, Algebra and Number Theory

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