Loops¶

The Loops Report Page focusses on those variants and individual cases where a specific activity or a sequence of activities had to be redone before it went forward in the process.

A loop is the repetition of one or more activities and often leads to unnecessary extra work and costs. The loop analysis distinguishes between Loops and Selfloops.

Theoretical Definition¶

Selfloop¶

A Selfloop is an activity/process step that repeats itself. It is depicted as a circle (⟳) in the node of the activity.

In this example Approve PO Level 2 was conducted more than once.

Loop¶

In contrast to a Selfloop, a Loop is a repetition of a sequence of process steps.

In this example, the sequence of Post GR and Post neg. GR was repeated.

(Self-)Loop¶

A (Self-)Loop combines information of process steps having at least one Loop or Selfloop. You will find two attributes in the data model indicating whether there is a loop or selfloop (=1) or not (=0). The two attributes can be found in the Event Log (namely ActivityHasLoopsOrSelfLoops) and in the Cases Table (as HasLoopsOrSelfLoops).

Process Explorer¶

The PAFnow Process Explorer visualizes your business process in a process flow; on the Loops Page the Loops and Selfloops in your process are shown.

The edges highlighted in red are the ones with Loops. To get a clearer picture of the Loops in your process just click on the green button right beside the Process Explorer. This will switch between highlighted selections and only Loops or only Selfloops will be highlighted.

In this example only Loops are highlighted in red in the process flow graph. A total of two Loops are found.

Loops Overview¶

Cards¶

Next to the Process Explorer you can see three different cards which are explained in the table below.

Card	Meaning
	CASES WITH (SELF)LOOPS This key figure shows your absolute number of cases which either have Loops, Selfloops or both.
	LOOPS This key figure shows the absolute number of Loops in your process.
	SELFLOOPS This key figure shows the absolute number of Selfloops in your process.

Area Chart¶

# Cases with (Self-)Loops over Time and Trend

In this Area Chart you can see the development of Loops over time. You can recognize trends or noticeable deviations. The green dashed line is the trend line.

Root Cause Analyzer¶

In case of a process anomaly, you can use the PAFnow Root Cause Analyzer to deliver automatically generated principle insights on root causes of specific process behaviors (such as Duration Times or Loops). Here, you can use it to directly derive actions against the causes of Loops.

The Root Cause Analyzer only starts an analysis when you make a selection in the Report. This ranges from a specific process behavior, choosing an anomaly in a report element (table, pie chart, bar chart, etc.) or the PAFnow Process Explorer. Then the Root Cause Analyzer starts its AI-supported calculation of the causes.

The PAFnow Root Cause Analyzer is explained in detail in the PAFnow Root Cause Analyzer documentation. Below, you find an example on how to use it on the Loops Report Page:

Navigation Bar¶

Ø Lead Time of Cases: PAFnow Duration Card¶

With (Self-)Loops:

Without (Self-)Loops:

These key figures compare the average lead time (LT=LEAD TIME) for the entire process, for business transactions with Loops, and for business transactions without Loops.

This comparison shows you how strongly Loops affect your lead time and if they cause major delays in your process. More information about the PAFnow Duration Card can be found in the PAFnow Duration Card documentation.

Treemap: # CASES by YEAR¶¶

The Treemap can be used to filter your Loop Page by several attributes, see Discovery Page for detailed explanation.

Drilldown¶

This table lists Loops and Selfloops per variant. If you select a column header, the whole table is sorted by this column.