Definition
What is process mining?
Process mining reconstructs the real sequence of steps in a business process from timestamped records held in the systems that support it. Each record contributes a case identifier, an activity and a time, and the reconstruction reveals the actual paths, loops, waiting times and deviations rather than the documented ideal.
Updated 4 September 2026
Why it matters
- It replaces opinion about how work flows with evidence, which changes which improvement gets funded.
- Waiting time between systems is usually larger than processing time inside them, and only reconstruction makes it visible.
- It gives a defensible baseline, without which any later savings claim is contestable.
Business example
A distributor reconstructs order-to-cash from ERP and email records and finds that invoices for one customer segment are issued on average four days after delivery because they wait for a manual batch run.
Common misconceptions
- 'You need an enterprise platform.' The first reconstruction of a single process can be done from system exports.
- 'The map is the deliverable.' The deliverable is a short list of priced deviations with owners.
- 'It requires perfect data.' Large deviations survive imperfect data; precision improves later.
Related concepts
- Process intelligence
- Conformance checking
- Event log
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