What is a Process Variant?

A process variant is a specific, distinct sequence of activities through which a process runs from start to finish. All process instances that follow exactly the same path belong to the same variant.

Why does this matter?

Real processes often deviate significantly from the intended standard flow, producing numerous variants. Analyzing process variants reveals where standardization potential, special cases, and inefficiencies lie.

What does this look like in practice?

Of 12,000 orders, 7,400 run along the path order → credit check → delivery → invoice. That is the main variant. Another 2,100 take the same route with one extra rework step before delivery — already a variant of its own, even though the difference is a single step.

Not to be confused with

Not to be confused with a process instance, which is a single run; a variant is the set of all runs sharing an identical path. Nor with an exception: the most frequent route is a variant too.