A Practical Guide to

Process Mining
The what, why, and how of using process mining
to become a fully automated enterprise™

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 In this e-book, we’ll cover:

What process How it works What it means for Real world How you can
mining is, and why automation applications get started
it’s important

Let’s get
started.

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 Do you get the impression
that your enterprise Digital footprint of a process

applications are trying to tell

you something? They are. Receive Invoice

Where are your While you try to improve your business processes

processes
through techniques like process mapping, your Pay Invoice Process Invoice
systems store loads of data about how your
processes actually work.
now, and All you have to do is know how to find it.
where do they The challenge is that, until recently, people didn’t

need to be? know how to find it, or didn’t have an easy way
to get it. So that data went undiscovered and
Approve Invoice Final Check of Invoice

unused. Process mining is changing everything.

It takes the digital footprint of a process within
your enterprise systems and automatically makes
it visible to you.

You can see in an instant how your business

processes actually perform, you can see who did Who should read this e-book? We wrote this guide with the
what and when, and you can view every process following people in mind:
variation, bottleneck, and exception. For the Process mining is becoming an integral
first time, you have accurate and up-to-date technology for a growing number of businesses ƒ Automation teams looking to strengthen and
information to make better decisions about how across the globe. Although process teams enhance existing initiatives
you optimize and structure your processes. have traditionally been tasked with process ƒ Continuous improvement teams
improvement and optimization, business users
Sounds like magic, right? ƒ Business leaders and users
are increasingly becoming involved in making sure
Well, it’s not! It’s science and it’s here. their processes work for them. ƒ Internal audit team

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 What is process mining and why is it important?
Efficient processes that are strategically becomes outdated as soon as the
aligned to the business have long been mapping project closes out.
a goal for organizations worldwide.
The secret to increasing productivity, Process mining changes all this by
reducing costs, and driving efficiency, lies tapping into a data source that has
in the ability to get the most from your always been there. Most of your
mission-critical processes. enterprise applications (like SAP and
Salesforce) record every activity and
In the past, there has been one small transaction that happens within each
problem: organizations have struggled to stage of a process. We call this event
gain full visibility and accurate knowledge data, and this data forms the basis for
into how their processes actually process mining (but more on that later).
perform.
Simply put, process mining chronicles
Until now, process improvement for many your process from start to finish,
organizations has involved traditional revealing the various paths a process
business process management takes.
techniques such as process mapping.
Think time-consuming workshops and It gives insight into bottlenecks and
interviews. Such methods are often unnecessary rework, which tells you a
subjective, lack relevant process data, lot about how efficient your processes
and are based on information that are. Or aren’t.

According to AI Multiple, citing a Forrester report, 37% of

decision-makers report delays to their digital transformation Happy path Actual process
initiatives due to misunderstood processes (1).
Figure 1: The expected process vs. the actual process

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 How does it work?
“Process mining Everyone has their unique way of
getting work done, and it’s normal for
Process mining allows you to see the
‘as is’ of your current processes and
Process mining delivers essential
is a foundational people to approach a task in different provides the insights on how to move
benefits including:
ways. That’s not a bad thing, but over it to where you want the process to
imperative for time, you might start seeing excessive be. The analytical capabilities built
ƒ Surveys processes across your enterprise at high scale and
levels of variation in the process, to
any organization the point where it weighs the business
into process mining help you monitor
your key performance indicators (KPIs)
minimal human effort

interested in down. to ensure your process outcomes are

always aligned with your business
ƒ Helps you zero in on automation-ready bottlenecks,
deviations and inefficient processes
orchestrating Leveraging something you already have, outcomes. For instance, a strategic and ƒ Leverages data to boost the ROI from automation
the event data, process mining gives company-wide goal may be to improve
efficient operations.” you the opportunity to shape and create customer retention rates.
ƒ Provides easy-to-understand dashboards for fast reporting to
business stakeholders
efficient processes. And optimized
Prof.dr.ir. Wil Van der Aalst processes provide a better experience With process mining, you can track ƒ Continuously monitors processes to measure impact of
Godfather of Process Mining for your customers, delivered by how long an order takes to process, improvements and ROI
happier employees. your on-time and in-full delivery rates, ƒ Democratizes process data so employees have greater control
pinpointing the exact root cause of over processes
delivery problems, which you can
ƒ Simplifies compliance with full audit trails and reporting
quickly correct or eliminate.
ƒ Provides a single source of process truth, reduces silos
between departments

The goal is to fully understand your processes, fostering a cycle

of continuous improvement that aids transformation initiatives,
primarily through automation.

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 What does process mining mean for automation?
There has been a heated debate for some For this level of automation to be Process mining provides many benefits to
years over the role automation plays in effective, you must have complete automation initiatives:
business and society. That debate is now visibility into core processes. You must
over. The question is no longer ‘should know where the process is today, where
McKinsey, in their 2017
ƒ Provide full context and end-to-end perspective needed to improve
we automate?’ but ‘how can we use you need it to be, and how you can move processes and make sure automations deliver results report “A Future That
automation to maintain and grow our smoothly and effectively between the two
ƒ Identify the most valuable, impactful places to insert automation Works: Automation,
business?’. states. That requires process mining.
within a process Employment, And
According to a Gartner press release, Along with process mining and AI, robotic ƒ Continuously monitor automation performance and ROI Productivity,” estimates
Gartner estimates that almost 69% of process automation (RPA) is one of ƒ Drive better business outcomes by linking business rules with
routine work done by managers will be the foundational elements of the fully automation assessment
that $3.6 trillion of work
completely automated by 2024. (2). The automated enterprise. While each of the
ƒ Improve auditing and compliance through process comparison,
is automatable (3).
benefits of automation have stretched technologies offer incredible benefits to
analysis and validation
past freeing staff by removing mundane an organization, you can realize their full
tasks. It has become business-critical. potential when they are integrated.
Core processes – such as order-to-cash
(O2C) or purchase-to-pay (P2P) – have Firstly, process mining opens the door Enterprise applications that Business processes suitable for
to be as lean, agile and responsive as for RPA initiatives by supplying accurate process mining can connect to process mining (include but not
(include but not limited to): limited to):
possible if your business is to survive. process insights and opportunities for
automation. This enables you to identify
The growing demand of process mining the most time-consuming and inefficient SAP Order-to-cash
Oracle JDE Accounts receivable
signals a new evolution in automation, steps within a process to pass to a Findings in Forrester’s
as organizations transition towards the software robot. As the robot runs, you can ServiceNow Purchase-to-pay
fully automated enterprise™, where see its performance, how it affects your Salesforce Accounts payable
report “Future of Jobs,
robots get to do all automatable tasks. process, and what further automation Oracle Peoplesoft Production 2027: Working Side
Not only are people freed from repetitive ideas you could leverage to maximize
work, they are empowered to create their process efficiency. Using process mining,
SAP Ariba Quality management by Side with Robots,”
Oracle EBS Meter-to-cash
own automations. Integrating artificial you can identify the best path through a indicate that automation
intelligence (AI) and machine learning process, and, when the process changes, Workday HCM Service/Incident management
(ML) into automations improves process the automation can adapt quickly, and Service Max Claims management
will create 14.9 million
efficiency, employee productivity, and remain effective. Lead-to-order new jobs by 2027 (4).
business decision-making.

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Process mining
and automation
in four steps 1. Discover 2. Optimize/Automate 3. Monitor 4. Act

There is no such thing as the perfect The secret to process mining is its ability The visualization capabilities built into You’ve made some changes, so it’s only After monitoring, it’s important to
process. In fact, there’s no such thing to use digital footprints left behind process mining helps you zero in on what natural you’d want to check whether be proactive when it comes to any
as a static process. Your processes are in applications to discover how your should be optimized, how to do it, and it’s made a difference. When you deploy new findings. Why not use an alerting
constantly evolving and changing over processes work. Every enterprise system what the return on your efforts will be. a robot to one part of the process, you framework to immediately inform you of
time. Process mining ensures you’re captures event data related to your But visualization is not enough. What often don’t know the effect on the rest unwanted process deviations? You can
able to deliver processes that meet processes. Process mining reads this data it comes down to is what you do with of the process. That’s where process bring a human or robot into the loop to
your current needs, so you can quickly and automatically transforms it into an your findings. Automation is proven to mining can identify any bottlenecks that quickly rectify process problems. This
and smoothly adapt as your business event log. This event log contains three quickly and impactfully transform your have just been shifted further down the instant and continuous overview of your
changes. key pieces of information vital for process business. There are other measures that process. It provides much needed end- processes gives you a solid foundation
mining: an activity (what happened), can dramatically improve processes, for to-end process context for automation. to remain agile to constantly changing
Integrated process mining and a time stamp (when it happened), and example, retraining people, or removing You can also monitor your processes external conditions. Whether it’s new
automation solutions are designed to a case ID (unique case identifier). From extra steps in the process. Improving using custom business logic, to solve technologies, new legislation, a new
follow these four steps for effective and the event log, process mining visualizes processes before automation will help business problems that are unique to competitive situation, or economic
sustainable transformation. the process in a process graph, revealing you build stronger and more durable your organization. changes, you can act fast and stay ahead
variations, bottlenecks, and exceptions. automations. It’s not always black and of the curve with process mining.
Where previously this would have been white either, you might also need a
a laborious task, process mining does it combination of automation and other
automatically. solutions. Process mining gives you the
complete picture, so you know exactly
what’s required to improve the process. Until recently, process mining has really been the reserve of
process improvement teams, but now the software is helping to
democratize process improvement. By displaying the results
of process mining on intuitive process graphs and dashboards,
business managers and users can take greater control of their
own daily processes and workflows for the first time.

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Real world applications
Every industry can benefit from process mining, with some already
seeing widespread adoption of the technology, including:

Financial Services Telecommunications Healthcare Manufacturing Supply chain and logistics

Every branch of financial services is Telecommunications has become The recent COVID-19 pandemic Manufacturing is undergoing rapid Logistics and the supply chain are set
highly regulated and strong compliance a very customer-focused industry. highlighted the need for extremely change through the application up for process mining. The industry has
management is essential. Process As markets worldwide continue to flexible and digital processes within of disruptive digital technologies. always been tasked with doing things
mining provides immense help in these de-regulate, telecom organizations healthcare to handle vast increases The days of mass production are better and faster while reducing costs.
areas with typical financial processes are increasingly innovation-oriented in demand for testing, treatment, slowly being replaced by carefully The recent pandemic also identified
analyzed including loan approval, to attract and retain customers. With and health services. With more focus managed inventories based around the need for flexibility and resilience.
risk and investment management, short innovation and product cycles, on the patient journey and patient- personalization and customization. Increased digitization within global
fraud, and consultancy. Some leading telecoms companies need highly centric healthcare, process mining This is altering all parts of the supply chains means that each step
companies within the financial services efficient and agile processes, making is helping connect services to the manufacturing process from how within logistics processes has to be
industries use process mining to process mining an obvious choice. patient, improve their experience, and materials are sourced, where and carefully analyzed and improved
surface new cross-selling and upselling Client acquisition, sales and billing optimize performance for hospitals, how products are manufactured, how using process mining – both within
opportunities. management, and service procurement labs, social care, and other healthcare products are delivered to the customer, the organization and with its trading
are just a few of the processes where providers. Process mining is combining and how the customer is serviced. partners and logistics carriers. The
process mining is delivering results.   with automation to reduce or remove Lean processes have been a feature processes where process mining is
manual processes and repetitive of manufacturing for many years so it being applied include order-to-cash,
paperwork to give doctors and medical was clear that process mining can help purchase-to-pay, material, stock
staff more time with the patient. augment and enhance approaches that and delivery processes, and quality
manufacturers were already following. management. 

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Process mining in action: Purchase-to-pay (P2P)
Let’s take a look at how you The high level process looks like this:
can use process mining to
transform the P2P process. Purchase to Goods Delivery Accounts Payable

P2P is a core process for most

Create purchase Create purchase
companies that, when deployed Goods delivery Invoice receipt Payment & billing
requisition order
strategically, drives value and
profitability in the business. It
covers every step that you take from
deciding to purchase an item to
Examples of P2P transformation with process mining and automation
paying the supplier.
After transformation:
ƒ You’ve improved throughput time,
Now, let’s look at a before optimized inventory and safety stock
and after transformation levels
Discover pain points Optimize the process Monitor with Act to keep
scenario: with process mining through automation process mining processes on track ƒ Automation has increased accuracy and
reduced errors, freeing people up to
Before transformation: Long purchasing cycle time due Robot handles PR/PO approvals Purchase order cycle time Alert your purchasing manager
work on other value-added work
Your inefficient P2P process meant to bottlenecks in the purchase below a threshold, a person whenever PR/PO approval is ƒ You’ve improved supplier relationships
requisition (PR) and purchase manages PR/PO approval above above the threshold and needs
that the rest of the supply chain, order (PO) process the threshold manager approval
and in turn, their ability to deliver on
and potentially end customers, time
suffered. The unoptimized process Supplier delivery delays Use findings from process Supplier lead time Alert your purchasing manager ƒ You can now capture early payment
also impacted your ability to manage mining to evaluate supplier whenever a supplier delivers late
performance and share results to On-time and in-full discounts, enhancing the cash position
working capital and cash flow. Manual of the company
create an improvement plan with delivery rate
work, rework and exception handling quantifiable goals
resulted in costly errors, not to
mention dissatisfied employees. Inability to capture early invoice Robot runs the payment process % of discounts captured Alert your accounts payable
payment discounts to ensure payment happens at officer whenever a payment is at
the optimal time Invoice processing time risk of being delayed

Long cycle time to process Robot runs the payment process Invoice exception rate Alert your master data manager
invoices due to incomplete or resulting in higher accuracy and whenever there is an exception
missing data faster invoice processing time Invoice processing time to be handled, for example
missing supplier information

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 Process mining in action: Order-to-cash (O2C)
The high-level process looks like this:
The O2C process is a
core process that starts Order to Shipping Accounts Receivable
with creating a sales
order and ends with Create Sales Manage Fulfill Sales Receive
Order Ship Order Invoice
invoice settlement. Credit Order Payment

Examples of O2C transformation with process mining and automation

Now, let’s look at a After transformation:
before and after ƒ You’ve reduced the time it takes to
transformation scenario: unblock invoices and sales orders from
Discover pain points Optimize the process Monitor with Act to keep
credit block
Before transformation: with process mining through automation process mining processes on track
ƒ There are fewer costly errors
Your O2C process was slow
Bottleneck creating sales orders Deploy an order processing Sales order cycle time Alert the responsible customer in the delivery process
and customers were getting robot service representative whenever
frustrated with your inability to an order hasn’t been processed
ƒ Your customers are happy as they’re
deliver orders on time and in full. by the robot getting their orders on time
Manual hand offs in the process ƒ There are less delays in your wider
Discrepancy between actual Robot creates outbound delivery Overdue outbound deliveries Alert shipping specialist
resulted in unnecessary errors goods issue date vs. planned and transfer order, person picks whenever a delivery is ready to supply chain
and time-consuming follow up goods issue date, delaying the order in the warehouse. be picked ƒ You’ve optimized your invoicing process
for employees. Poor visibility into outbound deliveries Once completed, a robot can
post goods issue for outbound and cash flow
the process meant that systemic
delivery ƒ Your employees are happier
process issues went unnoticed
and worsened over time. Late due to less repetitive and manual work.
Customers not paying invoices Identify the root cause of late Invoice creation and clearing Whenever there is an invoice
processing of customer invoices on time payments, i.e., time between lead time sitting idle, trigger a robot to
obstructed your ability to optimize shipment and billing creation handle invoice processing
is too long, delay in sending Days sales outstanding (DSO)
working capital and cash flow. invoices, disputed invoice
amount, unpunctual customers.
Deploy a robot to generate and
send invoices, so invoices are
always on time
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UiPath. A global leader in process mining and RPA
Everest Group has named UiPath as a Leader Key benefits include:
in process mining in its report “Everest Group
Peak Matrix® for Process Mining Technology ƒ Captures data from widely used enterprise
Vendors 2020” (5). In addition, UiPath has systems and applications, as well as legacy
been recognized by analysts for a number and custom systems
of years as a leader in Robotic Process ƒ In-built data transformation capabilities
Automation (6). without the need for external integrators or
SQL coding
Trusted by hundreds of organizations ƒ 60 pre-built dashboards to accelerate
worldwide, UiPath Process Mining is one of development and process analysis
the most comprehensive and feature-rich
ƒ Integration with UiPath Orchestrator to
available today.
directly trigger bots to handle tasks
ƒ Integration with UiPath Action Center to
directly alert people with human-in-the-loop
UiPath “are ahead in developing superior capabilities
process mining capabilities, with greater ƒ Custom business tags to automatically detect
focus on ease of use for business users, and flag undesirable process behavior
integration with enterprise applications,
ƒ Proprietary process graph for user-friendly
accuracy in process model generation, and intuitive process analysis
and analytics and dashboarding
ƒ Anonymization algorithms ensure data
capabilities … They have a vision to drive privacy and compliance
enterprise performance and improve
ƒ Process-specific connectors and apps
customer experience using a data-driven to accelerate deployment and lower
approach to process mining.” implementation costs
ƒ Full DevOps environment to simplify
The Everest Group
maintainability

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 Creating a 360-degree view What’s next?
of core processes Talk to one of our experts. If you want to
learn what process mining can do for your
SAP SALESFORCE ORACLE business, just reach out to us, we’d be happy
UiPath is one of the very few automation providers with the capabilities to to show you.
combine process mining with task mining. While process mining utilizes the event Process Mining
data from your enterprise applications, task mining allows you to see exactly the Process insights from CONTACT US

activities individual employees are executing within the process. business systems like
ERP and CRM

See how it works. Watch this short and

comprehensive demo video to see how an
integrated process mining and automation
360º System Data solution can help you boost efficiency across
Process
Task Mining User Data Awareness
your business

Desktop capture of tasks

WATCH THE DEMO VIDEO
performed by employeess

Figure 2: Combining process mining with task mining

Enroll in the UiPath Academy. Continue
learning about automation and process
mining with our free Academy training
Taken together, process mining and task mining if your employees have accepted those changes discover and monitor their automations and
courses. Whether you’re a developer, data
provide a complete, 360-degree view of the and are now following the new process steps. processes. Whether you are part of a continuous
scientist, executive, or an analyst, there’s a
process. You can see instantly what people are improvement team, an RPA lead, a process owner,
course for you.
doing, the effect that it has, and how things can be At UiPath, we believe a combination of enabling or a process analyst, process mining provides the
improved. technologies working in tandem is key for essential foundation for successful transformation
ENROLL NOW
our customers to become a fully automated programs.
You’ll also see how your process changes are enterprise. UiPath Process Mining has been
working, whether your targets are being met, and developed to assist teams to continuously

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