Are Similar Cases Treated Similarly? A Comparison Between Process Workers

Abstract

In processes involving human professional judgment (e.g., in Knowledge Intensive processes) it is not easy to verify if similar cases receive similar treatment. In these processes there is a risk of dissimilar treatment as human process workers may develop their individual experiences and convictions or change their behavior due to changes in workload or season. Awareness of dissimilar treatment of similar cases may prevent disputes, inefficiencies, or non-compliance with regulations that require similar treatment of similar cases. In this article two procedures are presented for testing in an objective (statistical) way if different groups of process workers treat similar cases in a similar way. The testing is based on splitting the event log of a process in parts corresponding to the different (groups of) process workers and analyzing the sequences of events in each part. The two procedures are demonstrated on an example using synthetic data and on a real life event log.