5 Steps to successful process mining

Process mining has huge potential when it comes to making workflows and business processes in a company visible. However, there are a few things to consider when you aim for effective improvement by process mining. As a software manufacturer, we will tell you today what to look out for.

#1 Avoid perfectionism! 

No matter how fixated you are on trying to find 'the perfect process', you should always remember that a process will never be perfect. Dynamic changes are to be found today more than ever in all departments. Employee changes and corporate restructuring require flexibility repeatedly. With a healthy dose of pragmatism, you have an essential requirement for smooth processes. Anyone who tries to map even the smallest exception is wasting a lot of time and money without achieving any significant added value.

#2 Ensure continuous digital processes!

Without end-to-end digital processes, there are limits to software-based process mining. Because only digitized processes can also be analyzed by the software to reveal possible weak points and bottlenecks. In addition, you should always have a holistic view, the so-called big picture. Because if you accelerate the process chain at one point, there may be increased delays elsewhere, so that the overall process may become slower.

#3 Involve your employees!

Of course, process mining also displays the performance of individual employees and departments. To prevent fingerpointing, it is advisable to involve employees in the process mining project. Data can and will of course be pseudonymized at pi.a analytics. And yet it is advisable to approach the results and possible process adjustments together. The central question in process mining is not: "Who makes mistakes?", But "Why do mistakes happen repeatedly?" And your employees are probably best aware of this.

#4 Ensure the quality of the evaluations!

Nobody knows the company and the processes as well as you do. To be able to make the right decisions for process optimization, the selection and amount of data to be analyzed is decisive. Here it is helpful to think about the following questions in advance:

• Which key performance indicators are really relevant for your company?
• How high is the quality of your data?
• Is log data retrieved properly (for example no different units per column)?
• Which data are read out?

 

If you only look at part of the data, you run the risk of drawing wrong conclusions.

#5 Continuity is the key!

As already mentioned, we live in a time that is accompanied by constant change, such as the rapid increase in home office activities. It is therefore worthwhile to review processes at regular intervals and to make readjustments if necessary. A one-time process mining is therefore only the first step on your way to a long-term increase in efficiency. For this reason, we implement a process analysis tool for our customers that can be continuously developed. We look forward to helping you make hidden process knowledge tangible. Convince yourself with a proof of concept.