Process Mining – A powerful enabler for Process Improvement and modern Business Process Management

“We know that we have some problems in our business processes, but we are uncertain how to resolve them.”

“We have higher operational costs than our competitor, but we haven´t been able to identify the root causes for this.”

“It has proved challenging to find lasting remedies for the delays that our customers experience.”

Do any of these statements sound familiar, or even all of them? Knowing that something doesn´t quite work the way it should, yet finding the exact root causes turns out a challenging, time-consuming and resource-intensive mission. You are not alone – but there is remedy.

Introducing Process Mining

Process Mining is a technology that emerged as a powerful tool to mitigate these very challenges described above. Notably with tremendous success, given the countless achievements and tangible results that organizations around the globe manage to unlock with applied Process Mining. It has dramatically changed the way how business processes are being discovered, visualized and analyzed – to the extent that many companies incorporated Process Mining as an ongoing practice and an enabler for effective Business Process Management.

Working with cutting-edge technologies, we at Wassching have incorporated Process Mining as a powerful tool to our Process Engineering methodology.

Tangible insights based on data evidence

Process Mining provides unparalleled accuracy and transparency when unravelling how work is done within an organization. Wassching Process Engineers gain detailed insights into an organization´s end-to-end business processes by visualizing and analyzing event logs and transactional data.

Such event logs are extracted from various applications within an IT landscape. Before they can be used and analyzed, they require some preparation, which is commonly referred to as Data Preprocessing.

For example: Event logs need to be cleared of incomplete or misleading data (such as incomplete, or ongoing processes). Multiple event logs from different applications might require to be merged and modelled into a uniform shape to cover an entire end-to-end process. Timestamps originating from different operating locations might need to be converted to one common format. And any irrelevant, distracting data should be removed, such as data that is irrelevant to the analysis.

Once the event log is ready, it can be loaded into a mining software. Process Mining software then visualizes the end-to-end process and offers a range of analysis and dashboarding tools to support in-depth analysis.

Discovering what reality looks like

Discovering processes with this technology offers a transparent, complete view of operations. It enables analysts to both look at a process from a holistic angle or dive deep into a single process instance. These abilities are crucial for pinpointing and resolving bottlenecks and inefficiencies, as well as for identifying opportunities for cost-cutting, streamlining, or even automation.

The rule of thumb is as follows: In addition to the 80% of processes that typically follow expected flows, about 20% deviate from the foreseen “Happy Path”. These deviations, often unknown even to process owners, become fully apparent throughout a Process Mining journey.

Relying on historical process data allows organizations to discover and refine processes based on factual evidence. This full picture is the starting point for in-depth analysis, with the immediate goal of identifying the most relevant, impactful deviations within a process. Once this is done, tailored corrective actions can be designed and implemented in close cooperation with subject matter experts and process owners. Carefully defined performance benchmarks serve to validate and quantify enhancements within a process.

Next-level Business Process Management

Fueled by this success, it’s not at all surprising that organizations tend to make it a habit to iterate on process enhancements regularly and incorporate Process Mining into their Business Process Management framework.

Some of the common key advantages are as follows:

— Organizations benefit from the unparalleled accuracy and speed that Process Mining offers in comparison to manual Process Modelling.

— Process Mining allows for continuous comparison of as-is processes with their documented counterparts, highlighting (potentially risky and non-compliant) deviations and allowing process owners to take immediate corrective action and mitigate operational risks.

— With the right KPI´s in place, processes can be effectively monitored on the aspects that matter most. Automated reporting on these KPI´s notifies stakeholders of potential issues or changes in a process, which can then be investigated and – when required – resolved in due time.

Bringing Process Mining to your organization

By harnessing the power of Process Mining, Wassching is well-positioned to support organizations on their journeys towards Operational Excellence, transform Business Process Management and continuously drive innovation.

Reach out to our Process Engineering Team today and start drafting your tailored approach to Process Mining and modern Business Process Management.