Data mining is a process of sorting through data to identify patterns and establish relationships. Following are the data mining parameters: Association: Looking for patterns where one event is connected to another event. Sequence or path analysis: Looking for patterns where one event leads to another later event. Classification: Looking for new patterns (may result in a change in the way the data is organized but is acceptable). Clustering: Finding and visually documenting groups of facts not previously known. Forecasting: Discovering patterns in data that can lead to reasonable predictions about the future (This area of data mining is known as predictive analytics).