Events
In object-centric process mining (OCPM), an event is a recorded occurrence of an activity at a specific time, potentially involving multiple objects of different types, such as invoice created, order shipped, or payment received. Each event has a timestamp and can link to multiple objects at once, capturing real-world interactions without duplicating events across cases. Instead of grouping everything into a single instance, OCPM captures the actual relationships between all participating business units. OCPM uses event logs consisting of events and objects, whereby an event can involve multiple objects rather than a single case, as is the classical process mining. This removes the classical constraint that maps each event to exactly one process instance.
Events represent activity occurrences
Events still answer the classic questions:
What happened? (activity name)
When did it happen? (timestamp)
This remains consistent with classical process mining.
Events can be linked to multiple objects
A single event may refer to several business entities simultaneously, for example:
“Create invoice” - relates to an invoice, an order, possibly a customer
“Ship goods” - relates to a delivery, multiple orders, and items
Events describe interactions in the process
Events are related to the objects they affect. An event includes all relevant context by connecting to every object it interacts with.
Event type
The category or name of an activity that an event represents — describing what can happen, not when or to whom.
Place order, approve invoice, make payment, ship goods, send reminder
Event-level attribute
An attribute that describes the event itself — providing context about how, when, and by whom the activity was performed.
Activity, timestamp, cost, location
Object-to-event relationship
The connection between a specific object and an event — indicating that the object participated in or was involved with that event.
Event: Send invoice (timestamp: 11:30)
Involves -> Invoice INV-042 (role: primary)
Involves -> Order O1 (role: reference)