Service Planning
Identifying Bottlenecks
Data Visualisation
Pathway Analytics

pm4py: process mining for understanding pathway problems


Summary

pm4py is a Python library for process mining that helps healthcare analysts explore how patient pathways, test result flows, and other clinical processes actually unfold. By turning event data into visual process maps, it highlights delays, rework, and variations that can guide service improvement.

pm4py is a library for process mining in Python.

Process mining uses event logs - logs recorded during processes like moving through a healthcare pathway - to discover, monitor, and improve real-world processes. Event logs typically record “who did what, when,” allowing organizations to visualize workflows, identify bottlenecks, and verify whether operations follow intended procedures.

pm4py also supports conformance checking, comparing event logs to reference models to detect deviations, and performance analysis, revealing inefficiencies such as delays or rework loops.

Important

pm4py’s licencing terms are quite restrictive compared to some other packages. Note that you can only use this in closed-source projects if you pay for a licence. If the code using pm4py is released open source under the AGPL licence, no costs apply at the time of writing (November 2025). This information is available at processintelligence.solutions/pm4py#licensing.

Tip

The R equivalents of this package are bupaR (which has its own buparverse including the ability to animate process mining outputs), and the R package pm4py, which provides an interface to the predictive functionality of pm4py in the R world.


Demonstration

You can try the package out in the web app embedded below (it may take a moment to load). You should not upload any real data to the app - a sample dataset is provided.


Project status

Status: Gold

Rationale: Actively maintained and widely used Python library with extensive features and user documentation.