QPR TaskRecorder

QPR TaskRecorder is a desktop application that records actions done by the user when interacting with applications. The actions can be for example mouse clicks, key presses, UI elements focuses, button clicks, element selections and text input. QPR TaskRecorder collects the UI events to a CSV file, which can be uploaded to QPR ProcessAnalyzer for further analysis.

QPR TaskRecorder is an essential software tool part of task mining, which is a methodology and technologies to collect and analyze actions done by users when executing business processes. Traditional process mining is able to use data stored to different information systems, which in many situations is not enough to analyze all aspects of the business process. This is because some business processes don't use dedicated information systems at all, but the process is based on for example Excel documents or email communication. In addition, even when information systems are used, they may not record time used for the entire user interaction from start to end, limiting what kind of analyses are possible.

QPR TaskRecorder is able to collect also those activities that the traditional process mining cannot record, and give a more complete picture of the business process. In practice, the events collected by QPR TaskRecorder can complement the existing process mining models by adding more detailed types of events or giving additional metadata for the existing events.

QPR TaskRecorder installation

QPR TaskRecorder is a desktop application that can be run in Windows operating systems. QPR TaskRecorder can be installed as follows:

1. Ask the QPR TaskRecorder installation package from your QPR representative.
2. Extract the package into a suitable location, e.g., C:\QPR TaskRecorder. (The package contains two files: TaskRecorder.exe and appsettings.json.)
3. If needed, change settings in the appsettings.json, as instructed in the QPR TaskRecorder configuration section. This step is optional, as in most cases QPR TaskRecorder works with the default settings.
4. If you want to run QPR TaskRecorder automatically when Windows starts, right click the TaskRecorder.exe and select Create shortcut. Press the Windows logo key + R, type shell:startup, then select OK. This opens the Startup folder. Move the shortcut to the Startup folder.
5. You are ready to start using QPR TaskRecorder!

QPR TaskRecorder configuration

QPR TaskRecorder has configuration file appsettings.json available in the QPR TaskRecorder installation folder. The file has the following settings:

• OutputFile: The CSV file containing the recorded UI events. If this setting is not defined, the CSV file is stored to the user's Documents folder.
• LogFile: Locations of the QPR TaskRecorder file log, used for detailed application information and error message. When this setting is set, the application logging is enabled. When not set, the application logging is not done. See more information about the QPR TaskRecorder file log.

Note that as the configuration file format is json, backslashes (\) used in the OutputFile and LogFile settings must be escaped with double backslashes (\\), e.g.,

{
  "OutputFile": "C:\\Logs\\RecordedUIEvents.csv",
  "LogFile": "C:\\Logs\\QPRTaskRecorderLog.txt" 
}

Using QPR TaskRecorder

You can start QPR TaskRecorder by double clicking the TaskRecorder.exe file in the installation folder.

The main dialog of QPR TaskRecorder contains a table of all currently open applications. You can choose which applications are recorded by clicking the checkboxes in the rows. Each application is listed only ones, and when enabled, all running instances of the application are recorded. For example, there may several Word files open at the same time and all are recorded.

When open, QPR TaskRecorder is active and records the selected applications. If there is an error situation, e.g., the CSV file is reserved by another application, the Status field shows more details.

User can add manual annotations during the recording to help analyzing the recorded UI events. Annotations are added by writing the text to the Annotation textbox and clicking the Save annotation button.

Recording is stopped when closing QPR TaskRecorder by clicking the X button in the top right.

See in the Recorded CSV file section how to upload the UI events log to QPR ProcessAnalyzer.

Notes:

• When QPR TaskRecorder is running with user privileges, it's not able to record applications that have been started as administrator privileges.
• The recorded applications is identified by their full path (folder path + executable file name), so different applications that have same file name are not mixed.

Recorded UI event types

QPR TaskRecorder is able to record the following types of UI events:

UI event type	Description
FOCUS_ENTER	Event is recorded when a UI control gets the focus.
FOCUS_LEAVE	Event is recorded when a UI control loses the focus.
WM_LBUTTONDOWN	Event is recorded when the left mouse button is pressed down.
WM_LBUTTONUP	Event is recorded when the left mouse button is released.
WM_RBUTTONDOWN	Event is recorded when the right mouse button is pressed down.
WM_RBUTTONUP	Event is recorded when the right mouse button is released.
WM_KEYDOWN	Event is recorded when user presses a key on the keyboard. If the focused control is a password control, the WM_KEYDOWN events are not recorded.
USER_ANNOTATION	User annotation event occurs when user creates an annotation using the QPR TaskRecorder user interface.
CONFIGURATION	Configuration change event occurs when user changes the recorded applications.

Recorded CSV file

User actions are recorded to a CSV file, that is stored in the user's Documents folder by default, when no other location is set. Otherwise the CSV file is stored to the specified location. The default name of the CSV file is taskrecorder.csv, used when no other file location is specified.

The CSV file can be uploaded to QPR ProcessAnalyzer for analysis using the CSV file import. After uploading the file to QPR ProcessAnalyzer, it's recommended to rename the file or delete it, so that QPR TaskRecorder will start collecting events to a new file. This is to keep the uploaded and not yet uploaded UI events in separate files to avoid importing same UI events twice.

The CSV file has the following columns:

Column name	Description
TimeStamp	The precise time of the UI event. Note that the user workstation clock is used, so this timestamp relies on the preciseness of the workstation clock. This information is stored for all types of events.
UserName	Windows login name of the user performing the tasks. This information is stored for all types of events.
SessionId	GUID identifying the recording session, which starts when QPR TaskRecorder is started and ends when QPR TaskRecorder is closed. This information is stored for all types of events.
EventType	Type of the UI event. For more information, see Recorded UI events. This information is stored for all types of events.
MouseX	For the mouse events, horizontal position of the mouse cursor, i.e. distance from the left border of the screen.
MouseY	For the mouse events, vertical position of the mouse cursor, i.e. distance from the top border of the screen.
KeyCode	For the WM_KEYDOWN events, the key code of the pressed key.
Key	For the WM_KEYDOWN events, the virtual key code of the pressed key. More information about the virtual key codes: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/inputdev/virtual-key-codes.
ModifierKeys	For the WM_KEYDOWN events, the modifier keys pressed at the time of the key press (shift, ctrl, alt, windows).
ProcessName	Name of the application (executable file name).
ClassName	Class of the UI control.
ControlType	Type of the UI control.
Name	Name of the UI control.
Value	Value or text of the UI control.
LabelName	Name of the UI control label.
ElementX	Horizontal position of the interacted UI control, i.e. distance between the left border of the UI control from the left border of the screen.
ElementY	Vertical position of the interacted UI control, i.e. distance between the top border of the UI control from the top border of the screen.
ElementWidth	Width of the interacted UI control.
ElementHeight	Height of the interacted UI control.
ElementHierarchy	UI control hierarchy of the recorded application at the time the UI event is recorded. The value is stored as JSON.

QPR TaskRecorder file log

QPR TaskRecorder writes a file log of its operation. The file log contains information about QPR TaskRecorder application functionality and application errors. Note that the file log is a different file than the recorded UI events CSV file. The location of the file log file is set in the QPR TaskRecorder configuration file. If the location is not set, no logging is done.