Exploring and comparing workflow routes

Compare key indicators and analyze differences between the optimal route and exception or alternate routes.

The process map visually shows how routes are distributed over the records. Routes consist of start-to-end paths through the steps or activities in your process. The various routes in a process can have different combinations of steps for process cycles (records). Process Mining automatically extracts process routes from data, giving you a view into what's going right and wrong within your process.

For example, explore routes to investigate or identify the following issues:

• How many records are covered by the most common route, or how much route variation exists.
• How long most routes take to complete a process.
• Whether there are long wait times occurring in a particular activity or the number of process steps has evolved over time.
• Unexpected or uncommon record state or route transitions, such as when a record is closed then re-opened, or recategorized far into its duration.
• Benchmarks by comparing insights from a successful process to a less efficient one.
• Clustered similarity groupings within a route.

Variation Analysis panel

The Variation Analysis panel shows the cumulative number of records represented in a route, the number of steps in each route, and the duration in days that it took to complete a route. When you hover over a variation, a pop-up appears that shows the variation of the route.

You can use Sort by to sort the order of routes displayed in the list.

The example panel shows 130 different routes that were taken. From the routes visible on the example list, we see that each route was taken from 18 through 244 times. For each route, the average duration or standard deviation is calculated, for example, resulting in 130 averages or standard deviations. The list sorts by these averages from highest/longest to lowest/shortest.

Table 1. Routes list sort order

Highlights	Sorts routes in order of most heavily deviated toward the longer end of duration.
Most Records	Sorts routes in order of those with the greatest to least number of records that have run through the route.
Least Records	Sorts routes in order of those with the least to greatest number of records that have run through the route.
Longest Avg Duration	Based on calculation of duration averages for each route, sorts routes in order of longest to shortest average values (average time from process start to finish).
Shortest Avg Duration	Based on calculation of duration averages for each route, sorts routes in order of shortest to longest average values (average time from process start to finish).
Longest Med Duration	Based on calculation of duration middle (or average of two middle) values for each route, sorts routes in order of longest to shortest median values.
Shortest Med Duration	Based on calculation of duration middle (or average of two middle) values for each route, sorts routes in order of shortest to longest median values.
Most steps	Sorts routes in order of those with the greatest to least number of steps.
Least steps	Sorts routes in order of those with the least to greatest number of steps.
Highest Std Deviation	Based on calculation of standard deviation of duration for each route, sorts routes in order of highest to lowest variation from route average values.
Lowest Std Deviation	Based on calculation of standard deviation of duration for each route, sorts routes in order of lowest to highest variation from route average values.

You can also perform these actions from the Variation Analysis panel.

• View the routes list as a graph or table.
• Highlight routes:
  • Select a route from the list to highlight it on the process map.
  • Point to a second route in the list to simultaneously highlight it.
  • Selected route appears as a pop-up at the bottom of the page.
• Perform a Cluster analysis.

Show a route

Show one or more routes that followed different sequences of steps in your process.

Before you begin

Role required: sn_process_optimization_analyst, sn_process_optimization_power_user, or sn_process_optimization_admin

About this task

Analyzing routes can help you see the complexities in your process, and determine alternate success paths or faulty exception paths. For example, an IT process manager might be able to see which routes are better for managing incidents.

Procedure

1. Navigate to the Variation Analysis tab.
2. Check one or more routes from the list.
3. Select Show route(s).
   
   
   

   Note:

   After applying one of more routes, the breakdowns listed in the Breakdown Filters tab display only those breakdowns applicable to those routes.

What to do next

• To go back to the original process map, select Clear route.
• To see different routes, select other routes from the list, then select Show route(s).

View records for a route

From the Variation Analysis panel, view the list of records which followed one or more selected routes.

Before you begin

Role required: none

• To view records for routes, you must have the sn_process_optimization_analyst, sn_process_optimization_power_user, or sn_process_optimization_admin role.
• Platform list ACLs apply. A user will only see records that they have access to.
• Show Records is available for record counts of less than 100,000.

Procedure

1. From the Variation Analysis panel, select the specific routes you want to view records for.
2. Select Show routes.
3. Select Show Records.
   
   
   

   Note:

   After applying one of more routes, the breakdowns listed in the Breakdown Filters tab display only those breakdowns applicable to those routes.
   The requested records will open in new tab once ready.

What to do next

From the records list, you can:

• Filter records
• Export and download/email records to Excel, CSV, JSON, or PDF formats
• Edit a record
• Self-assign incident records
• Create a new incident