There are two types of people who hold management roles; those who wish to improve their company processes to reach organizational objectives and, well, liars.

With everyone looking for ways to improve their organization’s processes, many business leaders have turned to the technological methods of process mining. Process mining allows organizations to analyze their data history and determine their best route of action for refining their procedures and operations. Additionally, HR and leadership can help their workforce staff improve their functionality by understanding organizational processes through automated technology.

By combining HR practices with technological advancements, many organizations have advanced their professional reputations and reached their business objectives. 

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What is process mining?

Process mining is the practice of using process management and data science to analyze event logs and data for improving business processes. By extracting data from event logs found in your business software and IT systems, you can thoroughly investigate your company’s operations. Process mining models can then be used to derive meaningful information about processing techniques and areas of improvement.

How process mining can benefit companies

Refining company processes through process mining can have many benefits to efficiency and business performance. The main advantage of this practice is that it can result in improved business processes that increase company efficiency. This can be done through the analysis of different areas of your business procedures.

One way companies can benefit through increased efficiency is by improving performance management through process mining. Process mining can review a company’s employee performance by analyzing related data. Determining areas that need improvement among staff members can allow companies to reevaluate their management processes to make them more effective.

Process mining can also simplify other business processes. By working with enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) tools to analyze strategies and information, they can create effective process models and organize auditing data. The information derived from this data can then be used to find and remove inefficient processes. By discovering the best ways to carry out organizational processes, you can provide your employees with the right directions to save them time and increase efficiency.

Process mining techniques and examples

Process mining involves three main techniques, process discovery, conformance checking, and enhancement. Automated process discovery consists of extracting information from a company’s event log and visualizing the process models. Conformance checking for deviations compares process models with the actual company processes. Companies can then look for deviations to see if their processes conform with the ideal process model pattern. Finally, enhancement refers to companies enhancing their process model by adding additional information to help improve performance and better analyze the data.

Process-mining software systems can automate this practice, allowing for more straightforward and thorough data analysis. These types of software can carry out process mining automatically and continuously, allowing for a more comprehensive view of an organization’s actual processes. They can also work alongside other HR and business management software that collect data and event logs for an organization, such as ERP and CRM systems. 

The process mining software uses the data from these systems to ensure that all factors are considered when recommending process changes. The software can then make automated case predictions based on history and simulated process models. By utilizing process mining software for your company, you can have a specially formulated business processing plan through in-depth analysis.

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Examples of success with process mining

What’s great about process mining is that you can apply it to businesses and organizations of many different industries. There are countless success stories out there of companies who have used process mining efficiently to see positive change in their business practices. 

South African NGO company World Vision used process mining in conjunction with their performance management processes. They used QPR Metrics process mining software to coordinate their measurement and recording, taking place across different systems. This lack of coordination between their systems made it difficult to utilize their data together and understand it as a whole. With the QPR process mining tool, they connected the data derived through their systems scorecards and metrics to create helpful strategy maps for improving business operations. This also benefited their performance management, as the process mining tool provided them with optimized scorecards that shortened their performance evaluation process and improved their data management.

Another example of effective process mining is AfriSam, a construction and materials industry company in South Africa that used the practice to optimize its risk management processes. Working with the QPR tool allowed the mining software to integrate with other software systems, like their enterprise resource planning system and other devices. This data integration allowed the company to more clearly visualize their performance and optimize their processes based on their risk and performance needs. In addition, improving their supply chain processes based on the information gathered through process mining helped the company update its practices to lower its operational costs.

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A lot of the success of process mining can be attributed to how process mining systems work in conjunction with other software to gain useful information. This can be seen in real-world examples. One example of this would be APG, a Dutch pension firm. They had an issue with excessive time spent on calls with certain clients, which led to increased expenses. Using process mining alongside their other website and CRM software allowed them to use data and information to get to the bottom of the issue. The company could then determine that these clients were mainly divorcees. They developed a plan to satisfy those clients’ need for customer support by gaining more knowledge from historical data about their situations. This resulted in shorter call time and reduced costs for the company.

Effective process mining can create positive change

When carried out to its fullest potential, process mining can benefit almost any organization. By mining your company processes and taking all of your technological software data into consideration, you can find the areas within your organization that need improvement. Removing problem factors, understanding your process history, and mapping out new process plans can improve your company workflow, save costs and time, and increase business productivity. Using process mining is an excellent way to create positive change for your organization.

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