ProCause: Generating Counterfactual Outcomes to Evaluate Prescriptive Process Monitoring Methods

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: De Moor, Jakob, Weytjens, Hans, De Smedt, Johannes
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
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author De Moor, Jakob
Weytjens, Hans
De Smedt, Johannes
author_facet De Moor, Jakob
Weytjens, Hans
De Smedt, Johannes
contents Prescriptive Process Monitoring (PresPM) is the subfield of Process Mining that focuses on optimizing processes through real-time interventions based on event log data. Evaluating PresPM methods is challenging due to the lack of ground-truth outcomes for all intervention actions in datasets. A generative deep learning approach from the field of Causal Inference (CI), RealCause, has been commonly used to estimate the outcomes for proposed intervention actions to evaluate a new policy. However, RealCause overlooks the temporal dependencies in process data, and relies on a single CI model architecture, TARNet, limiting its effectiveness. To address both shortcomings, we introduce ProCause, a generative approach that supports both sequential (e.g., LSTMs) and non-sequential models while integrating multiple CI architectures (S-Learner, T-Learner, TARNet, and an ensemble). Our research using a simulator with known ground truths reveals that TARNet is not always the best choice; instead, an ensemble of models offers more consistent reliability, and leveraging LSTMs shows potential for improved evaluations when temporal dependencies are present. We further validate ProCause's practical effectiveness through a real-world data analysis, ensuring a more reliable evaluation of PresPM methods.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_00797
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle ProCause: Generating Counterfactual Outcomes to Evaluate Prescriptive Process Monitoring Methods
De Moor, Jakob
Weytjens, Hans
De Smedt, Johannes
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Methodology
Prescriptive Process Monitoring (PresPM) is the subfield of Process Mining that focuses on optimizing processes through real-time interventions based on event log data. Evaluating PresPM methods is challenging due to the lack of ground-truth outcomes for all intervention actions in datasets. A generative deep learning approach from the field of Causal Inference (CI), RealCause, has been commonly used to estimate the outcomes for proposed intervention actions to evaluate a new policy. However, RealCause overlooks the temporal dependencies in process data, and relies on a single CI model architecture, TARNet, limiting its effectiveness. To address both shortcomings, we introduce ProCause, a generative approach that supports both sequential (e.g., LSTMs) and non-sequential models while integrating multiple CI architectures (S-Learner, T-Learner, TARNet, and an ensemble). Our research using a simulator with known ground truths reveals that TARNet is not always the best choice; instead, an ensemble of models offers more consistent reliability, and leveraging LSTMs shows potential for improved evaluations when temporal dependencies are present. We further validate ProCause's practical effectiveness through a real-world data analysis, ensuring a more reliable evaluation of PresPM methods.
title ProCause: Generating Counterfactual Outcomes to Evaluate Prescriptive Process Monitoring Methods
topic Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Methodology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.00797