ProcessChain: a blockchain-based framework for privacy preserving cross-organizational business process mining from distributed event logs

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to design a consortium-blockchain based framework for cross-organizational business process mining complying with privacy requirements.

Design/methodology/approach

Business process modeling in a cross-organizational setting is complicated due to privacy concerns. The process mining in this situation occurs through trusted third parties (TTPs). It uses a special class of Petri-nets called workflow nets (WF-nets) to represent the formal specifications of event logs in a blockchain-enabled cross-organization.

Findings

Using a smart contract algorithm, the proposed framework discovers the organization-specific business process models (BPM) without a TTP. The discovered BPMs are formally represented using WF-nets with a message factor to support the authors’ claim. Finally, the applicability and suitability of the proposed framework is demonstrated using a case study of multimodal transportation.

Originality/value

The proposed framework complies with privacy requirements. It shows how to represent the formal specifications of event logs in a blockchain using a special class of Petri-nets called WF-nets. It also presents a smart contract algorithm to discover organization-specific business process models (BPM) without a TTP.

Citation

Singh, S.K. and Jenamani, M. (2024), "ProcessChain: a blockchain-based framework for privacy preserving cross-organizational business process mining from distributed event logs", Business Process Management Journal, Vol. 30 No. 1, pp. 239-269. https://doi.org/10.1108/BPMJ-11-2022-0558