Glossary
Process mining
Process mining is the technique of reconstructing how a process really works from the records systems leave behind: which steps were executed, in what order and how long they took. It shows the process as it happens, not as it is documented.
Its usefulness lies precisely in that gap. The documented process is usually the one someone designed; the real one includes the detours, the rework and the shortcuts the operation built along the way. The difference between the two is where the lost time is.
It requires systems to log events with a timestamp and a case identifier. Without that there is nothing to mine: the technique does not generate the data, it interprets it.
Its first finding tends to be the same across almost every operation: the number of real variants of the process is far larger than expected. Before optimising anything, that realisation already brings order, because it forces a decision on which of those variants have a reason to exist.
Where GoDoWorks handles this:GDW Workflow