What is process mining?

To really understand it, one must first understand event logs. As a fundamental element of IT, event log data is generated every time an IT function is performed; in essence, this data is the primary way that interactions between humans and bots are documented.

An event log can be any number of actions or occurrences that happen within a software system, and each log notes certain information such as when the event occurred, what happened, and the process it took to complete or perform that action. This could be a support ticket a customer opened that must now be processed or processing a recent online loan application. Whatever the event, process mining puts those event logs through an analysis that essentially takes a snapshot of a system’s functionality in real-time.

By exposing the bottlenecks in your workflows using these “screenshots” of your systems, process mining makes digital transformation and automation in your business work. Here is a closer look at the step of process mining.

There are many niche benefits of process mining, including how it transforms your operations to be more powerful and productive than ever before. Other benefits include the following:

In the modern workforce, business leaders cannot afford to lose any ground when it comes to digital innovation and improvement. Process mining is becoming an essential business step since the data it collects will help identify trends, optimize performance, and make useful predictions for the future. It can reduce the time certain processes take, cut costs and lower investment amounts, minimize waste, and improve the overall quality of your operations, making your business extra competitive.

By reducing costs and eliminating inefficiencies in their operations using data-driven evidence, leaders can make confident, objective decisions about budgets and resources. Ultimately, you cut out the guesswork or subjectivity of human experience and make improvements using fact-based information.

Process mining uses the following features to extract information from event logs so that your business can map that information:

• Automated process discovery: ensures that process discovery happens automatically so that extracting process models from an event log happens efficiently.
• Conformance checking: monitors deviations by comparing the process model and logs.
• Social network/organizational mining: finds patterns and relationships between events within your network/organization structures to improve techniques.
• Automated construction of simulation models: uses automated simulation models to predict how future trends or changes will impact your processes.
  Model extension: allows for flexibility when it comes to existing models being extended or enhanced when new information is discovered.
• Model repair: filters out deviant behaviors in the model using conformance checking.
• Case prediction: anticipates outcomes for cases based on key performance indicators and using previously performed sequences.
• History-based recommendations: offers recommendations using collections of data and past event logs.

Process mining and data mining are not the same thing, though they are both a part of business process management and use data to discover better ways to run operations. Process mining is more specific since it primarily uses event log data to generate models and improve a process. Data mining has a much broader scope and uses all sorts of data sets to observe and predict behaviors in different business processes and models.

With every passing year, the business world gets more and more digitized and streamlined using advanced technology and software—which comes with a big learning curve. At its core, process mining is about helping companies understand how their processes are interacting and isolating specific inefficiencies so that, as processes are more digitized and automated, business leaders can make improvements using informed decision-making. This means that process mining can strengthen enterprise supply chain management, resource planning, IT infrastructure, and so many other aspects of many industries.

Ready to make each process of your business operate like a well-oiled machine? Take full advantage of process mining techniques and get the best features with ServiceNow.

ServiceNow's native Process Mining delivers value within hours because it is built with context and intelligence of all ServiceNow workflows to drive Continual Process Optimization. Process mining will occur in the background of all your operations so that you can focus on your job while the software does the rest. Then you can use recommendations like automating certain processes or reevaluating areas where your team needs more support.

With a user-friendly interface, pre-built dashboards, and other customization options, you can find the exact set of features you need to optimize your workflows, better serve your customers, and better support your employees. From root cause analysis to conformance checking to process map comparisons, the Now Platform® has everything you need.

When an invisible workflow becomes visible through Process Maps and reveals otherwise hidden inefficiencies and values, so many possibilities open up for your teams and services. Get Process Optimization today and start seeing the difference!