What is Conformance Checking?

Conformance Checking is a Process Mining technique that compares the actually observed process flow (as-is) against a defined reference or target model. This makes deviations, rule violations, and compliance gaps visible and quantifiable.

Why does this matter?

Companies must demonstrate that their processes comply with policies and regulations. Conformance Checking uncovers deviations automatically and is therefore a central building block for compliance, quality assurance, and risk management.

What does this look like in practice?

The target model requires dual approval above €10,000. Comparing it with the actual runs returns 214 cases in which the same person both created and approved — with timestamp, amount and owner, rather than a percentage in a quarterly report.

Not to be confused with

Not to be confused with process discovery, which produces the model; conformance checking tests against it. Nor with sample-based auditing, where someone manually checks a fraction of cases — here every case is compared automatically.