Skip to main content

Get help for ARIS Process Mining functions and services

Examples

Step-by-Step Usage Examples

Below you will find step-by-step examples that illustrate the typical use of the SUCCESSOR and PREDECESSOR operators. For these examples, imagine a single case with a list of activities in ascending order of occurrence, for example [A, B, C, D, E, ...].

Example 1

Forward Iteration, Single Step 

SUCCESSOR("_ARIS.Activity"."Activity name")

  • Moves one step forward.

  • If the current (origin) activity is A, the result is B.

  • If the origin is the final activity, returns NULL unless a fallback is specified.

Example 2

Forward Iteration, Two Steps 

SUCCESSOR("_ARIS.Activity"."Activity name", steps:2)

  • Skips one matching activity and returns the second one.

  • If [A, B, C, D] are in a case and you are on A, you get C (assuming no filter).

Example 3

Forward Iteration with a Filter 

SUCCESSOR("_ARIS.Activity"."Activity name", filter: "_ARIS.Activity"."Activity cost" > 300)

  • Moves forward through the list of activities, skipping those whose "_ARIS.Activity"."Activity cost" is <= 300.

  • Returns the first encountered activity with "_ARIS.Activity"."Activity cost" > 300. If none is found, the calculation is aborted with NULL.

Example 4

Forward Iteration with LAST 

SUCCESSOR("_ARIS.Activity"."Activity name", steps:LAST)

  • Finds all forward activities that (optionally) pass a filter, then returns the final match.

  • If no filter is given and the list is [A, B, C, D], from A you get D.

Example 5

Forward Iteration with Fallback 

SUCCESSOR("_ARIS.Activity"."Activity name", steps:2, fallback: 'noMatch')

  • If you cannot find a second next activity, returns 'noMatch' instead of aborting the calculation with NULL.

Example 6

Backward Iteration, Single Step 

PREDECESSOR("_ARIS.Activity"."Activity name")

  • Moves one step backward.

  • If the origin is C, you get B.

  • If the origin is the first activity, the calculation is aborted with NULL as the final result.

Example 7

Backward Iteration with Filter, Steps, and Fallback 

PREDECESSOR(
"_ARIS.Activity"."Activity name",
filter: "_ARIS.Activity"."Activity type" = 'USER_TASK',
steps: 2,
fallback: 'NoPrevMatch'
)

  • Looks backward for activities with type = 'USER_TASK'.

  • Returns the second one you find. Otherwise, 'NoPrevMatch'.

Example 8

Using ORIGIN in Filters (Simple Equals Only) 

SUCCESSOR(
"_ARIS.Activity"."Activity name",
filter: ORIGIN("_ARIS.Activity"."Activity type") = "_ARIS.Activity"."Activity type"
)

  • Only considers activities with the same type as the origin.

  • Complies with the rules: simple equals, ORIGIN on one side, and a regular field on the other.

Example 9

Nested Usage of SUCCESSOR/PREDECESSOR 

SUCCESSOR(
CONCAT("_ARIS.Activity"."Activity name", '-', SUCCESSOR(
"_ARIS.Activity"."Activity name"
))
)

  • The inner SUCCESSOR obtains the name of the next activity; CONCAT merges it with the current activity’s name.

  • The outer SUCCESSOR then moves forward again from the origin to retrieve a second “next” result.

  • If the origin is C, you get D-E.

  • Because there are at least two SUCCESSOR calls, this qualifies as a “nested iteration.”

Example 10

Dynamic Steps 

SUCCESSOR(
"_ARIS.Activity"."Activity name",
steps: "_ARIS.Activity"."Dynamic step count"
)

  • Uses a field "_ARIS.Activity"."Dynamic step count" in the origin activity to decide how many forward steps to move.

  • Combine with fallback if needed:

SUCCESSOR(
"_ARIS.Activity"."Activity name",
steps: "_ARIS.Activity"."Dynamic step count",
fallback: 'NoStep'
)

Other examples

Example 11

Forward Iteration with Condition and Concatenation 

CONCAT(
"_ARIS.Activity"."Activity name",
SUCCESSOR(
"_ARIS.Activity"."Activity name",
filter: "_ARIS.Activity"."Activity cost" > 300
)
)

  • Results in [currentActivityName][the next activity with cost > 300].

  • If no such next activity, the complete calculation returns NULL.

Example 12

Backward Iteration with Complex Named Parameter Ordering 

PREDECESSOR(
"_ARIS.Activity"."Activity name",
fallback: 'NoPrev',
steps: 2,
filter: "_ARIS.Activity"."Activity type" = 'X'
)

  • Skips backward until it finds two matching activities of type 'X'.

  • If it cannot find two, returns 'NoPrev'.

Example 13

Nested Usage Comparing Origin Fields 

SUCCESSOR(
CONCAT(
ORIGIN("_ARIS.Activity"."Activity name"),
'-',
"_ARIS.Activity"."Activity name"
),
filter: ORIGIN("_ARIS.Activity"."Activity cost") = "_ARIS.Activity"."Activity cost",
steps: LAST
)

  • Only returns the final forward activity that has the same "_ARIS.Activity"."Activity cost" as the origin.

  • Combines referencing origin fields in the filter with a nested expression in CONCAT.