According to one embodiment, an electronic device may be configured to perform temporal correlation operations to determine if a plurality of observables correspond to a selected event of interest. The electronic device comprises a memory and a processor. The memory is adapted to store information representing a process template for a selected event, where the process template including a plurality of observation states. The processor is coupled to the memory. The processor is adapted to receive a plurality of observables and to automatically conduct a recursive comparison of time values associated with each of the plurality of observables to timing ranges associated with each observation state to produce a listing that is subsequently used to determine if the plurality of observables are associated with the selected event.