Process Mining for Situation Awareness: A Review of Current Practices and Future Prospects

In the rapidly evolving landscape of modern organizations, maintaining robust situation awareness is crucial for agility, informed decision-making, and sustained competitive advantage. Traditional approaches often rely on documented processes, which, while useful, may fail to capture the dynamic and complex nature of actual workflows. Enter process mining—a powerful analytical tool that delves into real-time data, uncovering the true flow of tasks, identifying bottlenecks, and predicting future process behaviors. By transforming raw data into actionable insights, process mining offers an unparalleled level of transparency, enabling organizations to anticipate disruptions, optimize resource allocation, and enhance operational efficiency. This review explores the intersection of situation awareness and process mining, providing a comprehensive analysis of how these methodologies converge to offer a clearer understanding of organizational processes. We begin by examining the theoretical foundations of situation awareness and process mining. The paper then reviews existing research on the application of process mining in enhancing situation awareness, highlighting key advancements, use cases, and the transformative impact on decision-making processes. Despite its numerous benefits, the integration of process mining into situation awareness is not without challenges. This review identifies several open issues, including data quality concerns, the complexity of real-world processes, and the need for more sophisticated analytical techniques. To address these gaps, we propose future research directions, particularly in the context of cyber situation awareness. By advancing the state of the art in process mining, we aim to pave the way for more resilient, adaptable, and aware organizations in the digital age.