From Research to Practice: Challenges in Transferring BPM and Process Mining Tools

Research in Business Process Management (BPM) and Process Mining continuously develops new methods, prototypes, and research tools. While many of these artifacts demonstrate promising capabilities, transferring them from academic research into mature tools that can be used in practice remains challenging. Understanding these challenges is important for ensuring that future research not only advances the state of the art but can also create value beyond the academic environment.
In this thesis, you will investigate what prevents research prototypes and tools in BPM and Process Mining from successfully transitioning into practice. Building on existing literature on research-to-practice transfer and practical impact, you will conduct interviews with industry experts and analyze their experiences with academic tools and prototypes. Based on these insights, you will identify and systematically structure the challenges that researchers need to address when developing tools intended for practical use.

The thesis aims to provide a better understanding of the gap between academic tool development and practical applicability and to derive insights that can help BPM and Process Mining researchers design and develop research artifacts with greater potential for successful transfer into practice.

What You Will Do

• Review the literature on research-to-practice transfer, with a particular focus on BPM, Process Mining, and the transfer of research artifacts into practical applications.
• Design and conduct an interview study. Develop an interview protocol and interview industry experts with experience in BPM, Process Mining, or related tools.
• Analyze the interviews using qualitative research methods to systematically identify recurring challenges and experiences related to transferring research tools into practice.
• Develop a structured set of research-to-practice challenges based on the empirical findings and relate them to existing literature.
• Derive implications for BPM and Process Mining research, identifying how researchers can better account for practical requirements when developing future tools and prototypes.
• Write up the findings, discussing their implications for strengthening the transfer of BPM and Process Mining research into practice.

Your Profile

• Genuine interest in business process management, Process Mining, and the practical impact of academic research
• Interest in empirical and qualitative research
• Ability and willingness to plan, conduct, and systematically analyze expert interviews
• Strong communication skills and willingness to engage with industry experts
• Prior exposure to BPM, Process Mining, qualitative research methods, or industry-oriented research is beneficial

This topic is intended for a Master's thesis due to its empirical scope and the required qualitative analysis. The thesis may be conducted in collaboration with an industry partner, providing the opportunity to investigate research-to-practice challenges in a concrete organizational setting and to engage directly with practitioners. The exact research questions, empirical setting, and scope will be aligned during the proposal process before registration.

Please get in touch with a short email including your motivation for writing a thesis at our chair (in the body of your email), your CV, a current transcript of records, and the planned start/finish date: rehse@ifi.uzh.ch.