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Process mining combines data mining and process management, using event logs from IT systems to analyze and improve real-world processes. This blend of data science and process management enables organizations to become more agile and efficient.

Join us to explore process mining—what it is, how it differs from process discovery, how it works, and the techniques and stages involved. Discover the transformative potential of this game-changing technology.

What is Process Mining

As mentioned in the introduction, process mining is a transformative technique used to analyze business processes by extracting insights from event logs stored in information systems. Unlike traditional process modeling methods, which rely on subjective input, process mining tools utilize real data to provide an objective view of how processes are executed within an organization.

By examining event logs, process mining uncovers hidden patterns, bottlenecks, and variations, offering organizations a clear understanding of their workflows, deviations, and inefficiencies. This data-driven approach enables stakeholders to identify areas for improvement and optimization, ultimately enhancing operational efficiency and driving organizational success.

Process Mining vs. Process Discovery

While both process mining and process discovery focus on understanding and improving business processes, they are distinct in their approaches, methodologies, and outcomes. In comparison to process mining which is a data-driven approach that uses event logs from IT systems like ERP, CRM, and workflow automation software to analyze and improve actual business processes, process discovery is a technique to uncover and define business processes from scratch, often using interviews, workshops, and observations.

Purpose: Process mining focuses on analyzing existing event logs to improve process efficiency and compliance, while process discovery is the initial step in process mining, aiming to construct process models from observed events.

Analysis vs. Construction: Process mining analyzes historical data to understand how processes are executed, while process discovery constructs process models based on observed events, providing a foundation for further analysis.

Insight Generation: Process mining generates insights from existing data, uncovering actual process flows and deviations. In contrast, process discovery focuses on constructing an initial process model to understand process structure and behavior.

Iterative Process: Process mining is often an iterative process, where insights from initial analysis inform further data collection and refinement. Process discovery serves as a starting point for this iterative cycle, providing a baseline model for subsequent optimization efforts.

Phases in the Data/Process Mining Process

1. Discovery: This initial phase involves not only identifying data sources but also understanding the context and objectives of process mining within the organization. Stakeholders define the scope of the analysis, identifying key processes and desired outcomes.
2. Data Preparation: Once data sources are identified, the next step is to prepare the data for analysis. This involves data cleaning, transformation, and integration from various sources to create a unified dataset suitable for process mining.
3. Process Modeling: In this phase, process mining algorithms are applied to the prepared dataset to construct process models. These models represent the sequence of activities, dependencies, and decision points within the process, providing a visual representation of how the process flows.
4. Analysis and Interpretation: Once process models are constructed, they are analyzed to uncover insights and patterns. Stakeholders interpret the results to identify bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and opportunities for improvement. This phase may involve statistical analysis, visualization, and collaboration among different stakeholders.
5. Validation and Verification: Before implementing any changes based on process mining insights, it’s crucial to validate the findings and verify their accuracy. This may involve comparing the constructed process models with domain knowledge or historical records to ensure they accurately reflect the reality of the process.
6. Implementation and Monitoring: Finally, the insights gained from process mining are implemented in the organization’s processes. This may involve redesigning workflows, reallocating resources, or introducing new technologies. Continuous monitoring is essential to track the impact of these changes and make further adjustments as needed.
7. Continuous Improvement: Process mining is not a one-time activity but rather a continuous journey of improvement. Organizations should regularly revisit their process models, collect new data, and refine their analysis to adapt to changing business needs and drive ongoing optimization.

Process Mining Techniques

• Process Discovery: This technique involves extracting process models from event logs to visualize how processes are executed. Various algorithms such as alpha, heuristic, and genetic algorithms are employed to construct these models, offering insights into process flow and behavior.
• Conformance Checking: Conformance-checking techniques compare observed behavior with predefined process models to identify discrepancies and deviations. By assessing the alignment between actual executions and expected behavior, organizations can pinpoint areas of non-compliance or inefficiency.
• Enhancement Mining: Enhancement mining focuses on optimizing existing process models to improve efficiency and performance. This technique involves analyzing process models to identify bottlenecks, redundancies, and opportunities for streamlining. By implementing changes based on these insights, organizations can enhance process efficiency and achieve better outcomes.
• Predictive Process Analytics: Predictive process analytics utilizes historical event data to forecast future process behavior. By analyzing past patterns and trends, organizations can predict potential issues, anticipate future resource needs, and make proactive decisions to optimize processes and enhance performance.
• Social Network Analysis: Social network analysis examines the relationships and interactions between individuals or entities involved in a process. By visualizing communication patterns and collaboration networks, organizations can identify key influencers, communication bottlenecks, and opportunities for improving collaboration and knowledge sharing.
• Performance Mining: Performance mining techniques focus on analyzing process performance metrics to identify areas for improvement. By monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs) such as cycle time, throughput, and resource utilization, organizations can pinpoint inefficiencies and optimize processes to achieve better performance outcomes.
• Text Mining: Text mining techniques analyze unstructured textual data within event logs to extract valuable insights. By mining text data from sources such as emails, chat logs, or support tickets, organizations can uncover hidden patterns, sentiment analysis, and emerging issues that impact process performance.

Conclusion

Process mining tools help businesses improve by analyzing event logs to uncover how processes truly work. It reveals patterns, identifies bottlenecks, and highlights areas for improvement. As we conclude, think of process mining not just as a tool but as a guide, leading us to a future where efficiency, agility, and innovation drive success.

Author Bio:
Vijayashree Shinde is the Digital Marketing Executive. She has worked in a wide range of industries, including the software testing industry. Currently, she is a Digital Marketer at Testrig Technologies. In addition to as marketing expertise, Vijayashree enjoys writing articles on quality assurance for a larger audience.

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What is Business Process Transformation? 

At its core, Business Process Transformation is the act of fundamentally reevaluating and overhauling an organization’s processes to achieve dramatic improvements; it’s not just about tweaking existing procedures – it’s about reimagining them in the context of current technological capabilities and market demands. Ways to increase efficiency and lower the cost of services include adding new technology, changing how things operate, and focusing more on different markets. Ultimately, the end goal is to make all these changes without taking anything away from the products or services. 

Challenges Businesses Face in Converting Processes to Digital 

Transitioning to digital processes is not without its difficulties, and that’s an understatement. Businesses encounter various challenges that can impede their transformation efforts, such as: 

1. Resistance to Change

One of the most significant barriers to digital transformation is the inherent resistance to change that lurks within many organizations – and it’s more common than you might think. Even progressive employees may be comfortable with the systems they use and the way they work, and, naturally, any disruption can lead to uncertainty and apprehension.

2. Financial Constraints

Investing in new technologies and training can be expensive. Small and medium-sized enterprises, in particular, may find it challenging to allocate the necessary funds for such an overhaul.

3. Data Security and Privacy Concerns

As businesses digitize their processes, they handle an increasing amount of sensitive data electronically. This transition raises concerns about data security and privacy, requiring robust measures to protect against breaches and cyber-attacks. Additionally, forming an LLC can provide an added layer of protection, as it separates personal and business assets, limiting personal liability in the event of a cyber security breach or legal issues arising from data-related incidents. Staying on top of the latest security technology trends, from thermal security camera technologies for physical security to zero-trust access methods for cyber security, is more crucial than ever.

4. Talent Acquisition and Retraining

Digital transformation requires an empowered workforce equipped with the necessary skills. Finding and retaining talent with expertise in emerging technologies can be quite a tall order. Additionally, current employees often need to be retrained to adapt to new systems and processes, so there’s plenty to consider in this area alone. Last but not least, having a Digital Transformation Leader is essential to motivate and engage employees.

5. Integration and Compatibility Issues

The process of using new technology isn’t always for the faint-hearted; often takes a long time to figure out, causing frustrations and delays. Plus, if it doesn’t get figured out in good time, it may very well cost the business even more money.

Benefits of Business Process Transformation

Despite the challenges, the advantages of BPT are compelling and can be a significant driver of success:

1. Enhanced Efficiency and Productivity

Automating routine tasks and streamlining workflows leads to increased workflow efficiency and productivity; employees are freed up to focus on more strategic tasks, leading to better utilization of human resources.

2. Cost Reduction

By optimizing processes, businesses can achieve significant cost savings; this could result from reduced manual labor, lower error rates, and/or more efficient use of resources.

3. Improved Customer Experience

Digital transformation often results in higher-quality products and services, delivered faster and with more customization options; this enhances the overall customer experience, resulting in increased loyalty and customer retention.

4. Informed Decision-Making

Digitized processes generate vast amounts of data, providing valuable insights. Businesses can leverage this data and technologies like AI and ML to make informed decisions, predict market trends, and tailor their strategies accordingly.

5. Increased Agility and Resilience

Businesses that have transformed their processes are better equipped to respond to market changes and disruptions; agility and resilience are crucial in an ever-evolving business landscape.

Real-life Examples: How Leading Companies Transformed Their Business Processes

Amazon: A Supply Chain Revolution

Amazon’s transformation of its supply chain and logistics operations is a testament to the power of process transformation. By integrating advanced algorithms, robotics, and a network of strategically placed fulfillment centers, Amazon has set new standards for delivery times and operational efficiency.

Netflix: Pioneering Personalized Entertainment

Netflix’s shift from a DVD rental service to an online streaming platform is one of the most significant examples of business process transformation. By leveraging data analytics and machine learning, Netflix offers personalized content recommendations, transforming how people consume entertainment and setting a new industry standard.

Nike: From Product-Centric to Customer-Centric

Nike made a shift from being product-focused to customer-focused. Using new technology and e-commerce strategy, they transformed the company, and now boast a business model that certainly stands out from all the noise.

How Businesses Transformed Their Business Processes Utilizing the Comidor Platform

Comidor is a comprehensive platform that offers various tools and functionalities to streamline business processes, enhance collaboration, and improve productivity. Here are some examples of how businesses have transformed their processes using the Comidor platform:

1. Project Management: A consulting agency utilizes Comidor to manage their projects more efficiently. They were able to create project timelines and workflow templates for each project, assign automatically tasks to team members, track progress, and communicate seamlessly within the platform. This helped them to deliver projects on time and within budget, and track milestones while maintaining high-quality standards.
2. CRM (Customer Relationship Management): A sales-focused company in Latin America integrates Comidor into their sales operations to centralize customer data and streamline their sales process. By using Comidor’s CRM and BPM tools, they were able to track leads, manage interactions and deals with customers, and analyze sales performance. This enabled them to identify potential leads more effectively and nurture relationships with existing customers, ultimately driving revenue growth.
3. Workflow Automation and Low-code App Development: A pharmaceutical company automated various repetitive processes, tasks, and workflows using Comidor’s workflow automation features. For instance, they automated order processing, supplier evaluation, and master data management. This not only saved time and reduced errors but also improved overall operational efficiency, allowing the company to scale its business more effectively. It’s worth mentioning that business users have created and automated over 20 internal business processes using Comidor’s low-code capabilities, resulting in efficient business process transformation.
4. HR Management: An international industrial automation company revamped its HR processes and projects by implementing Comidor’s HRM and PM tools. They digitized employee records, streamlined the recruitment process, and automated leave management and performance evaluations. As a result, HR tasks became more efficient, allowing HR personnel to focus on strategic initiatives such as talent development and employee engagement.
5. Business Process Optimization: A biochemical company used Comidor to analyze and optimize their trial management and production processes. By mapping out their workflows and identifying bottlenecks, they were able to streamline operations, reduce waste, and improve overall productivity. Comidor’s analytics capabilities provided valuable insights that enabled the company to make data-driven decisions for continuous process improvement.

The Future of Business Process Transformation

The future of business process transformation is shaped by multiple developing digital transformation trends and technologies. Currently, three are standing out in a big way:

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming the life force behind businesses, capable of predictive analytics, smart automation, and decision-making.

Blockchain

As far as making things more secure, transparent, and efficient goes, blockchain technology takes first, second, and third place.

Internet of Things (IoT)

The ability to monitor operations in real time is leading businesses down a path to having more responsive and efficient processes

Sustainability

There is a growing emphasis on sustainability in business process transformation; companies are now reimagining processes, using advanced technologies to reduce their social and environmental impact, while simultaneously meeting the expectations of eco-conscious consumers and interested parties.

Remote and Hybrid Work Models

The rise of remote and hybrid work models has prompted businesses to transform their processes to accommodate decentralized teams. This includes the adoption of cloud-based collaboration tools, virtual meeting platforms, and digital project management solutions.

Hyper-Automation

Hyper-automation has made its mark by combining Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML) to create complex automated business processes. Organizations have been trying to reduce the need for human intervention and increase their efficiency and speed, so this method has been gaining significant traction.

Customer Experience (CX) Focus

Enhancing customer experience remains a critical driver of business process transformation; it’s no fad – it’s become a necessary part of any digital-age business. The journey of adopting this technology can unlock doors, leading to efficiency, innovation, and satisfaction from your customers. By understanding the difficulties, taking in the benefits and knowledge from industry leaders, and staying updated with emerging trends, you’ll be able to navigate through ever-changing seas and keep your business afloat and thriving for years to come.

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A successful business knows that process management and task management are both important to remaining successful. However, the question that may remain is what is the difference between task and process management? Do process and task differ or are they both the same thing? 

Below are some critical differences between process and task management, as well as some great information on how they eventually flow together. 

What is Process Management? 

A business process is defined as a series of steps taken in order to achieve a particular business goal. 

Everything in life involves a process. This could be something as simple as registering your business travel expenses every month to something more complex such as creating customized quotes for one-of-a-kind products. Regardless of the level of complexity, both examples are processes. 

If you are registering your travel expenses, the process could be adding a description and all the information needed, uploading the receipts, sending a notification to the responsible person to approve the expense, waiting for expense reimbursement, then getting an approval/rejection note from your manager and finally get paid in the happy scenario. All of these smaller tasks describe a process. 

On a similar note, if an organization creates customized quotes for one-of-a-kind products, the process could involve receiving the quote request, confirming receipt of the quote, beginning costing on a custom item, and requesting freight for shipping, among many other smaller tasks that come together to form the process of creating a customized quote. 

Process management, therefore, may be defined as an approach used to strategize and align processes within an organization. If an organization begins procurement for new material, process management is primordial for ensuring all stay on track with the procurement and tasks are not lost along the way or forgotten about. 

The process management approach ensures that effective business processes are followed, establishes measurement systems, and educates those using the system so they are empowered to manage operations effectively. 

What is Task Management? 

Task management is the breaking down of a process into smaller, manageable action items. An important part of task management is being able to prioritize tasks on an ongoing basis and not lose track of what tasks have or haven’t been done. 

For example, if there is a project that requires repetitive daily tasks, good task management would allow the individual to stay current with what needs to be done. An example of this is a report that is run daily in several steps, and at the end of the month, a month-end report pulls data from the daily report to create the month-end report. The tasks in this scenario would be running the different reports needed on a daily basis, keeping up with the data, then pulling it into a larger, more encompassing report at the end of the month. 

Another example of where task management is utilized is on a large group project. When the project begins, the tasks are divided among the group members. Being able to track who is doing which tasks is important because it would eliminate an overload of work on some employees, while others are readily available to take on more responsibilities. Having a way to openly track who is working on which tasks is important to successful task management. 

What Is The Difference Between Task Management and Process Management? 

Task management is a task-oriented approach to managing work. It emphasizes the completion of discrete, self-contained, and independent tasks. Tasks are completed in isolation from each other and they do not necessarily have an end goal in mind.

Process management, on the other hand, is a process-oriented approach to managing work. It is a process of managing tasks that are interconnected and dependent on one another. Processes are the steps that need to be taken to achieve an objective and they are generally iterative and recursive. Processes are often mapped out in detail before any work begins so that everyone involved knows what needs to be done and when it needs to be done.

Both task management and process management have their advantages and disadvantages. Task management is more useful when there are few tasks that need to be completed, while process management is more useful when there are many interconnected tasks. Task management, therefore, may be visualized as micro-steps to a process.

If a process for procurement, for example, involves creating a request for proposal template, advertising the bid, and analyzing then the bids received for a final outcome, then the task management would be broken down into much smaller steps. These steps would involve creating an editable document with information to submit a request for proposal, sending the request for proposal for management approval, taking care of any edits, then creating the final draft. All of those tasks sum up just one part of the process which was creating a request for a proposal template. 

What is the Right Choice for you: Process vs Task Management?

If a role requires continuous tracking to stay on top of processes for projects, it could be strenuous, tiresome, and even frustrating to always remember where the last step in a process was completed. 

A business process flow, or workflow diagram, however, would allow a smooth continuity in process management. A good workflow pattern links workflows to processes and facilitates road-mapping business processes. It also applies rights and rules so that teams are certain that the correct people are participating in the process per set procedures and also sets task escalations to automatically initiate actions and send notifications and emails when conditions are met. 

Therefore, if a certain role requires continuous follow-up with various parties, the workflow pattern would guide the individual in what has already been done and what the next steps are. 

If part of a process is tracking sales, for example, an app that allows the opportunity to track productivity would be an integral part of the process. The app would permit the individual tracking the sales to spend less time calculating weekly and monthly sales as they have already created a template in the app to facilitate the monitoring and more time on other tasks of a greater process. 

Generally, process management software is a system that helps you to manage your processes. It helps you to identify the best process for your work and how to carry out the tasks involved in a systematic way. Process management systems are designed with the goal of improving productivity, efficiency, and quality of work. They help employees to complete tasks in a more effective manner by providing them with an organized workflow. On the other hand, task management software is a system that helps you manage your tasks. Similarly to process management, task management systems improve productivity, efficiency, and quality of work by helping people identify what needs to be done next for their task and when it should be completed. Some task management systems also help people prioritize their tasks so they can focus on what is most important at any given time.

Knowing when to rely on technology for facilitated processes or tasks is essential to an organization’s success. Although some processes may be done with databases that have been around for a while, sometimes having to manipulate data and input the data into several different systems could be facilitated by having one centralized platform for process and task management. 

How to Combine Process and Task Management 

Once a business is empowered with a good process and task management system, there are several things they must be aware of to have efficient process and task management skills. 

#1 Work When You Feel Most Productive 

Employees should always work when they feel most productive. If there is a big project due soon, and they know that their best work comes out in the early morning, the employee should schedule set early morning hours where they have time blocked off just for the project.  

This will ensure that tasks are being completed to achieve the process cycle.  

#2 Avoid Multitasking 

Employees should also avoid multitasking when there is a deadline near. Sticking to those closed blocks of time will help the employee maintain significant productivity. 

#3 Using the Right Software 

Starting with the creation of a daily schedule will help improve the process and task management. Having an overall idea of what tasks must be done that day is important to good task management. 

Another great way of making sure you are optimizing your hours is by using the right process management software. 

When the right tools are used, working on something can become that much easier and take up less time. For instance, Comidor revolutionizes the digital workplace with advanced process and task management tools. You can manage personal tasks or your team tasks, nominate a substitute employee to carry out your tasks, have a good overview of all active processes, messages, emails, and tasks through interactive dashboards, and monitor productivity metrics to track processes and tasks.

Take some time comparing different process management tools and deciding which one works for you. If you are running a short campaign with only a few contacts, GetResponse pricing may make sense since their pricing increases as you add more contacts to your plan but if have a large email marketing campaign to handle, a service like this that offers unlimited contacts on all of their plans would make more sense. 

The key is to put in the research so that your final choice saves you money and optimizes your time. 

#4 Use Time Management Software 

Whenever an employee has blocked set times to work on a project, time management software is helpful to ensure the employee is not distracted by non-essential requests. The right time management software is part of every remote team’s stack of tools. 

#5 Have a Regular Check-In Session 

As part of process management, it is important that a supervisor check in with employees on a regular basis to ensure they have remained on track. Part of the workflow design for process management could be a reminder to check in with employees on a regular basis. This will allow the employee the opportunity to communicate any challenges they may be facing from the start and assist in a quick resolution.

The Importance of Process and Task Management

Tasks are key parts of process management. Good process management ensures that every task is completed along the way so that a process may reach its full cycle. Having a good program and plan in place is essential for the success of process management. 

Regularly completed processes that are finalized without issues will set a business up for success as it will be able to continuously achieve more and more projects through the process and task management. 

Author bio
Freya is the founder of CollectingCents- a website that teaches readers how to better manage their finances. She is a quoted contributor in several online publications including Business Insider, Fox Business, Yahoo Finance, the Huffington Post, BankRate, and GoBankingRates.

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Our post ‘The Importance Of Automation Platforms For Businesses In 2020’ enumerates the benefits automation provides ⁠— such as mitigating human error, satisfying client needs, and optimizing business workflows. Statista predicts that £7.85 billion will be spent on automation by the end of this year, which just proves that businesses are realizing the importance of automating their everyday business processes.

However, deploying automation technologies to system processes isn’t like a walk in the park. In this post, we’ve listed down the two key rules that you need to keep in mind when automating business processes.

1. Have a foolproof strategy

As you craft your automation plans, it’s important to make sure that you’ve sufficiently analyzed your organization, processes, and data. This way, you are able to cover all your bases and prevent your strategy from failing. This bears more importance than ever as the Shared Service and Outsourcing Network reports that half of all automation projects fail. The reason lies in the fact that business owners choose the wrong processes and not a lot of stress is put on change management. Even if you choose a state-of-the-art software, your business won’t be positively affected if you fail to devise a sound automation strategy.

With that being said, you can strengthen your automation plans through analysis, process mapping, and redesigning jobs. Your goals and business structure should be also considered so that your automation plans converge seamlessly with your processes ⁠— effectively cutting down the time it takes to implement your strategy. Be sure to not only educate your staff about the changes but also to design your workload to suit and earn employee buy-in on the developments. Moreover, it would be beneficial to have a clear vision of what you want to get out of your automation strategy to avoid crafting solutions that overlap or worse, clash.

2. Know which tasks are best automated

While it’s great that our technological capabilities have allowed us to automate highly complex business processes or workflows, not every task should be left to the hands of machine learning and data analysis. Other than potentially wasting money and time on processes that are unnecessary or better handled by humans, automating everything will lead your business to lose any semblance of humanity — especially to outside stakeholders. In fact, research from the Oxford Internet Institute reports that people are still largely afraid of handing over their data to help optimize automation, especially in processes that can’t fully disclose how they arrive at a decision. So, continuing to pursue complete automation could result in disaster for your company. It’s better considering of automating backend processes instead of those that need empathy and human intervention.

Example of automating business processes

However, automation also shows its true potential when it comes to manual processes that need a ton of attention. For example, simply automating business processes related to your business social media posts through scheduling can save you massive amounts of time and energy. Automating these manual tasks comes with many benefits. Your business would be eliminating tedious and time-consuming tasks, freeing up this way essential manpower. Employees can focus on other aspects of business that require a human touch, like customer service and engagement. But that’s not all, as a Verizon Connect article on how manual processes are becoming outdated adds that automation also reduces the likelihood of error, which is critical for business operations that require precision, like analyzing data or preparing payroll. Moreover, automating tedious tasks related to security keeps your business up to date with ever-changing regulatory compliances.

Conclusion

It’s true that automation is the future. Therefore, businesses should take advantage of it to not get left behind. Automating business processes requires meticulous planning and strategies. If you’re able to execute your automation plans without any problems, expect upward progress and bigger revenues for your business.

Author bio:

Pearl Shaw is an analyst with a fascination for all things automation and digital transformation. She spends her spare time reading non-fiction books, listening to tech podcasts, and trying out new recipes.

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