Overview
The Main Duration Pairs calculator analyzes the time between activities in your most common process variants. Unlike the Time Between All Activity Pairs calculator which shows every possible activity combination, this calculator focuses on the main paths that your cases actually follow by filtering out low-frequency activities and rare variants.
This calculator helps you identify the most impactful bottlenecks by concentrating on the activity pairs that matter most to your process performance.
Common Uses
- Focus on duration analysis for the most common process paths
- Identify bottlenecks in your main process flows without noise from rare activities
- Analyze time between directly-following activities in high-frequency variants
- Compare performance across the most traveled process routes
- Prioritize improvement efforts on activity pairs that affect the most cases
- Filter out rare variants and uncommon activities to see the big picture
Settings
Min. Activity Case Frequency (%): Specify the minimum percentage of cases that must contain an activity for it to be included in the analysis.
For example, if set to 10%, only activities that appear in at least 10% of cases will be considered. This filters out rare activities that don't represent normal process behavior.
Variant Case Coverage (%): Specify what percentage of cases should be covered by the selected variants.
For example, if set to 90%, the calculator will select enough top variants to cover 90% of all cases. This ensures you're analyzing the most representative process flows.
Max Variant Count: Specify the maximum number of variants to include in the analysis.
This setting works together with Variant Case Coverage to limit the analysis scope. The calculator will use whichever limit is reached first - either the target case coverage percentage or the maximum variant count.
Min. Pair Case (%): Specify the minimum percentage of cases that must contain an activity pair for it to be included in the output.
For example, if set to 25%, only activity pairs that occur in at least 25% of cases will appear in the results. This filters out uncommon transitions and focuses on the main process paths.
Examples
Example 1: Analyzing Main Process Bottlenecks
Scenario: You want to identify bottlenecks in your order fulfillment process, but you want to focus only on the most common activities and process paths to avoid getting overwhelmed by rare edge cases.
Settings:
- Min. Activity Case Frequency (%): 10
- Variant Case Coverage (%): 90
- Max Variant Count: 100
- Min. Pair Case (%): 25
Output:
The calculator produces a table showing activity pairs with the following columns:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Activity Pair | The two activities in the format "Activity1-Activity2" |
| Activity1 | The first activity in the pair |
| Activity2 | The second activity in the pair |
| Count | Number of times this pair occurs across all cases |
| Case Count | Number of distinct cases containing this pair |
| Case Percent | Percentage of total cases containing this pair |
| Mean Duration | Average time between the two activities |
| Median Duration | Middle value of durations (less affected by outliers) |
| Maximum Duration | Longest observed duration for this pair |
| Stdev Duration | Standard deviation of durations |
| Total Duration | Sum of all durations for this pair |
| Median Absolute Deviation | Measure of duration variability |
Insights:
With these settings, you'll see:
- Only activities that appear in at least 10% of cases (filtering out rare exceptions)
- Only activity pairs that occur in at least 25% of cases (focusing on main paths)
- Variants covering 90% of your cases (or up to 100 variants, whichever comes first)
This filtered view helps you identify the most impactful bottlenecks. For example, if "Check Credit-Approve Order" shows a high mean duration and appears in 60% of cases, improving this transition will have a significant impact on overall process performance.
The high Case Percent values indicate which transitions affect the most customers, while the duration metrics show where time is being spent. Focus improvement efforts on pairs with both high case percentages and long durations for maximum impact.
Example 2: Focused Analysis for Process Improvement
Scenario: Your process has many variations and uncommon activities due to exceptions. You want to analyze only the core process flow that represents the majority of cases.
Settings:
- Min. Activity Case Frequency (%): 20
- Variant Case Coverage (%): 80
- Max Variant Count: 50
- Min. Pair Case (%): 30
Output:
The table shows a highly filtered view of your process, displaying only:
- Activities that occur in at least 20% of cases
- Activity pairs that occur in at least 30% of cases
- The top variants that cover 80% of cases (up to 50 variants maximum)
Insights:
These more restrictive settings provide an even cleaner view of your core process. You might see only 10-15 activity pairs representing the absolute main process flow, making it easy to identify the 2-3 transitions that are causing the most delay.
For example, in a procurement process, you might discover that the transition from "Request Approval" to "Manager Approves" has a median duration of 5 days but only appears in 45% of cases, while "Manager Approves" to "Create PO" has a median of 2 days but appears in 80% of cases. This tells you that approval delays affect fewer cases but might warrant attention, while PO creation is a universal step that could benefit from optimization.
Output
The Main Duration Pairs calculator provides a comprehensive table with statistical measures for each activity pair that meets your filtering criteria.
Key Features:
- Filtered Focus: Only shows activity pairs from common variants and frequent activities
- Case Impact: Shows what percentage of cases are affected by each transition
- Duration Statistics: Multiple metrics (mean, median, max, etc.) to understand timing patterns
- Clickable Rows: Click any row to filter your analysis to cases containing that specific activity pair
Interpreting Results:
- Look for pairs with high Case Percent and high Mean/Median Duration - these are your biggest improvement opportunities
- Compare Mean vs. Median - large differences indicate outliers that may need investigation
- Use Stdev and MAD to understand consistency - high variation suggests unpredictable processes
- Total Duration shows cumulative impact across all cases
This calculator is ideal when you want to cut through process complexity and focus on optimizing the paths that matter most to your business outcomes.
This documentation is part of the mindzie Studio process mining platform.