Ideal Process Management

An Ideal Process represents the expected or best-practice flow of a business process. It serves as a benchmark for Conformance Analysis and other FUTUROOT modules.

The Ideal Process Management module allows users to create, view, edit, activate, and manage Ideal Processes. 

Navigating to Ideal Process Management 

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Steps to access Ideal Process Management: 

• Open Process Settings. 
• Click Ideal Process Management.

The screen displays a list of all Ideal Processes that you have access to, along with their status and available actions. 

Creating an Ideal Process

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Steps to create an ideal process:

• Click Create in the top-right corner.
  
• A new process canvas opens with two default activities: Process Start & Process End
  

At the top-right you’ll notice multiple buttons, their functions are as follows: 

• Save Ideal Process – Save the process with a custom name. 
• Reset – Clear all unsaved changes and reset the canvas. 
• BPMN Import and Smart Ideal Process are another two distinct methods for creating an Ideal Process – both are covered in detail in the later sections of this document. 
• Zoom In / Zoom Out – Adjust the canvas view for easier navigation.

NOTE: The process for creating and editing a Smart Ideal Process is identical across both the Conformance and Process Setting modules — both lead to the same creation page. 

Now, back to the centre canvas, you can build the process flow by adding activities and connectors between these Process Start and Process End points.

Adding Activities 

Steps:

• Click on an existing activity.
  
• Select Add Event. 
• Choose an activity from the available event list.
  

The selected activity is added to the process flow

Adding Connectors 

Steps:

• Left-click an activity. 
• Select Add Connector.
  
• Choose the target activity. 

A connector is created between the selected activities. And just like that you can build your entire process map by repeating these steps. 

Deleting Activities or Connectors 

Steps to remove an item:

• Click on the activity or connector. 
• Select: Delete Event for activities, or Delete Connector for connectors.  
  

Custom Events in Ideal Processes 

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In some cases, the required activity may not exist in the event log. To support complete process modelling, FUTUROOT allows users to create Custom Events. 

Steps to create a Custom Event:

• Click Add Event. 
• In the activity selection window, click the “+” button beside the search bar. 
• Enter a name for the new activity. 
• Click Save. 

The newly created activity becomes available for selection and can be used within the Ideal Process. 

Managing Custom Events 

Each custom activity includes: 

• Edit option – Modify the activity name. 
• Delete option – Remove the activity. 

Once added to the process, custom events behave like standard activities and support: Add Event, Add Connector & Delete Event.

Validations

The system performs the following checks:

• Duplicate Activity Names: If an activity already exists – Warning: “Name already exists.” 
• Extra Spaces: If the activity name contains unnecessary leading or trailing spaces – Warning: “Event name cannot have extra spaces.” 
• Deleting Activities: Before deletion, FUTUROOT displays a confirmation dialog. 

If the activity is being used in existing Ideal Processes, the system shows a dependency warning listing all affected processes. 

Impact on Conformance Analysis 

Custom events influence Conformance Analysis as follows: 

• They appear in Ideal Process and Conformance previews. 
• They do not appear in standard Process Maps because they do not exist in the event log. 
• Conformance calculations are adjusted accordingly. 
• Missing occurrences of custom activities are classified as Missing Activities. 
• Additional violations such as Invalid Path, Invalid Start Activity, or Invalid End Activity may be identified depending on the process design

Ideal Process Using BPMN Import

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Use BPMN Import when your organization already has a BPMN (.bpmn) process diagram and wants to quickly convert it into an Ideal Process.

Steps:

• Open Ideal Process Management. 
• Click Create Ideal Process. 
• Select BPMN Import.
  
• Upload the BPMN file. 
• Click Next. 

Mapping BPMN Activities 

The mapping screen allows you to connect BPMN activities to FUTUROOT activities. 

For each BPMN activity: 

• Select the corresponding FUTUROOT activity. 
• Save the mapping. 

Multiple Mappings 

A single BPMN activity can be mapped to multiple FUTUROOT activities. 

Examples are as follows:

PO Changes → 

• PO Line Item Price Increased 
• PO Line Item Quantity Increased 

Many-to-One Mapping 

Multiple BPMN activities can map to the same FUTUROOT activity. 

Example: 

• Create PO 1 
• Create PO 2 
• → PO Created 

Ignoring Activities 

Select Ignore to exclude an activity from the generated Ideal Process. 

Ignored activities will not appear in the final process model. 

BPMN Import Preview Screen 

The BPMN Import screen contains three panels: 

• Left Panel – BPMN Preview : Displays the uploaded BPMN diagram. 
• Middle Panel – Activity Mapping : Allows activity mapping between BPMN and FUTUROOT. 
• Right Panel – Live Preview :Displays the generated Ideal Process in real time as mappings are configured. 

Optional Activities

Activities can be marked as Optional during BPMN mapping. 

Behaviour of Optional Activities:

• They appear in the Ideal Process like normal activities. 
• Skipping them does not create a conformance violation. 
• Process sequence rules still apply.

Example: If Quality Inspection Approved is optional: Cases that skip it remain conformant & Conformance rates improve accordingly. 

Viewing an Ideal Process 

Click anywhere on an Ideal Process row (except action icons) to open the process and view its structure. 

Editing an Ideal Process 

To modify an existing process: 

• Click the Edit icon. 
• Make the required changes. 
• Click Update to save. 

Previously configured BPMN mappings are retained when reopening BPMN Import in edit mode. 

Marking Activities as Optional After Saving 

Optional settings can also be modified after the process is created. 

• Open the Ideal Process in Edit mode. 
• Left-click an activity. 
• Enable or disable Mark as Optional. 

Optional activities are visually labelled with “(Optional)” on the process map. 

Activating and Publishing Ideal Processes 

New Ideal Processes are created in an Inactive state. 

When activated: 

• The process becomes available in Conformance Analysis. 
• It can be used in Workforce Analytics and other modules. 

When deactivated: 

• It becomes unavailable to other users. 
• Existing users receive email and in-app notifications. 
• The process is removed from active Conformance configurations.

After editing an Ideal Process: 

• Publish the updated version to make it available to all users. 
• Users consuming the process receive notifications. 
• Updates are applied automatically across the platform. 

If changes are saved but not published, users continue to see the previously published version. 

Unsaved Changes Protection 

If you attempt to leave the screen with unsaved changes, FUTUROOT displays an Unsaved Changes prompt, allowing you to save your work before exiting.