13 Jun, 2021 | Blogs
If process improvement is on your agenda, then you must have probably heard about process discovery. In most cases, businesses have little-to-no idea about how their process actually looks like, which results in suboptimal decision-making while automating processes. To avoid this unpleasant situation, process discovery is essential to understand the complete picture, including variations. It allows enterprises to get accurate insights to take the right action for improvement. So, what is process discovery?
What is process discovery?
Process discovery is a combination of various tools and techniques to uncover how a process performs. A sub-branch of process mining, process discovery allows teams to have a complete understanding of their processes, discover steps that they might have been overlooked and realize deviations. Equipped with such insights, process owners can identify the main problem and make decisions on the best areas for improvement.
Steps to discover processes
For process discovery, companies need to leverage raw event logs and extract relevant data. Using cause-and-effect analysis, they can then combine various events for creating process models. Here is a step-by-step guide:
Extract data: The first step includes collecting event logs and performance metrics from ERP and other departmental software systems.
Map events: For each case, the data is then analyzed and mapped with the event logs to discover any process variations, which usually happen due to errors or manual changes.
Create “as-is” processes: Combine the generated process and visualize the who, what, when, and where of each variation, including other related sub processes.
Top Seven Benefits of Process Discovery
As companies grow, processes inevitably keep changing and gradually become more complex, which leads to a new event that businesses might not know. Therefore, process discovery becomes critical. Here are its top seven benefits
Lower costs
Process discovery helps businesses better understand their operations to identify and reduce variations. It prevents errors that lead to unwanted costs and allows teams to identify the right processes for automation, which also ultimately reduces costs.
Avoid common automation/RPA pitfalls.
Even though a 2020 survey by Deloitte states that 72% of their respondents will implement RPA by 2022, it is a known fact that almost half of RPA projects fail. The reason: identifying the wrong process or lack of its understanding and variations. Without a complete picture of their processes, businesses often fail to deploy RPA within the desired timeline and unlock its full potential.
Top 3 Ways to Avoid RPA Failure
Improves compliance
Most industries have regulatory compliances that require regular auditing. While auditing is a tedious, time-consuming task, process discovery can reduce the time by offering information about all variations. Additionally, companies can identify any non-compliant deviations and swiftly act against such issues.
Greater Visibility
It provides visibility of ownership for specific steps and the entire process across the enterprise. With a complete process map, teams can easily and more accurately discover new automation opportunities.
Higher Scalability
One of the biggest advantages of RPA is scalability. However, scaling an RPA implementation needs accurate data analysis that can be a laborious task that takes significant time. Equipped with insights generated through process discovery, companies can make informed decisions on the next process for automation, ensuring better scalability of automation solutions for further growth. It also ensures minimal use of time and resources while staying competitive.
Better Quality and Performance:
Enterprises are also empowered by empirical data to get a clear picture of any automatable processes. Rather than relying on their resources/consultants, companies can automatically identify, analyze, and determine tasks and priorities. This entire method is far more accurate and ensures up-to-date workflows, better understanding, and increased process optimization without any human bias or guesswork.
Technology Used
There are several traditional and new methods for process discovery. These methods range from the traditional approach of process mining to business process management software solutions and modern techniques like collecting data from virtual environments and terminals.
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Still got questions about process discovery? Get in touch to get a head start!