Using process discovery to find hidden opportunities is key for managers looking to improve efficiency and productivity. If you deeply understand workflows and operations, you’ll be able to reveal valuable insights that drive company growth and innovation.
This guide equips you with the tools and tactics to tackle complex challenges, streamline tasks, and achieve top-notch outcomes.
How do I start with business process discovery?
Process Discovery: first steps
Process discovery is when we thoroughly examine every part of a business process to truly understand how work gets done and how people, processes, and technology interact with each other. Process discovery sets the scene for making things better later on, laying a solid base for things like automation, transforming digitally, and ongoing improvement.
Here’s how to get started, even with a blank page in front of you:
1. Start with the big picture
Imagine your ideal outcome. What does a streamlined process look like? Faster turnaround times, fewer errors, or happier customers? Defining your ultimate goal sets the direction for your discovery journey.
2. Identify a “pain point”
Are certain tasks taking too long? Are there frequent roadblocks? Look for areas where your process feels cumbersome or inefficient. This will be your starting point for deeper analysis.
3. Gather basic information: Map out the main players involved. Who initiates the process? Who are the key decision-makers? Sketching a simple diagram with roles and responsibilities helps visualize the flow.
Digging Deep: The Art of Business Process Discovery
Inventorizing Your Processes
Kick off your process discovery journey by making a list of all your business processes. No matter how small or rare, every process in your organization should be on this list.
This way, you will get a complete picture of all the tasks that are performed:
- who does them?
- what tools they use?
- and how these tasks link together to form bigger business processes?
This list will serve as your go-to guide for all process discovery tasks. It’s key to set a starting point for your current operations.
Make sure to record all the steps in each process, who’s involved, what goes in and comes out of the process, and what tech is used. Focusing on these details helps you find repeated tasks, gaps, and inconsistencies. Creating a precise and thorough list is the first big step in changing your processes and ultimately, your business.
Analyzing the Unseen Patterns
After you’ve mapped out your processes, the next step is to study them for hidden patterns. These patterns can tell you a lot about how well your operations are running. Look for trends, like repeated issues, unnecessary steps, or mundane tasks that need to be redone often.
This analysis requires a mix of approaches. You need to use data analytics to measure how processes are performing. You can also combine it with feedback from those who actually carry out these processes. This two-sided approach gives you a full picture, taking into account both the hard data and the people involved.
You can make key improvements based on this analysis. For instance, you might discover certain steps could be automated, or rearranging tasks could speed up the process. By spotting and understanding these hidden patterns, you can make smart decisions to enhance your processes.
Spotting Potential Opportunities
The main goal of process discovery isn’t just to document and analyze, but to find and grab opportunities for improvement. During the analysis phase, you should keep an eye out for areas where tweaks could bring about major improvements.
This might include automating routine tasks, simplifying workflows, or reworking processes to align better with business goals.
To spot these opportunities effectively, you need to understand every detail of your processes:
- how do individual tasks fit into the big picture?
- where do blockages typically happen, and why?
- which steps are valuable, and which are just old procedures with no real purpose anymore?
Finding these opportunities often means thinking creatively and asking, “What if?” By shifting your mindset, you can start imagining ways of working more efficiently, leading to major changes within your organization.
Making Process Discovery Work in Enterprises
Techniques for Managers
For process managers, effective process discovery needs a mix of techniques. One common method is to hold workshops and interviews with staff to gain an in-depth understanding of everyday workings. This not only helps in understanding what happens, but also why it happens that way.
Another technique is to use process mapping tools to visualize the processes. These tools can create a shared understanding among everyone involved and quickly show any inefficiencies.
It’s vital to use data analytics. By looking at records of processes and how they’re performing, managers can spot recurring actions or changes that aren’t easy to see right away. When paired with process mining technology, this automatically reveals processes and offers a clear picture of how processes flow based on actual data.
Lastly, managers should think about using task mining software. This can show the subtle ways employees use different systems in their work, giving a detailed view of potential areas for automation and improvement.
Powering Process Discovery with KYP.ai’s Productivity 360 Technology
Among the tools for process discovery, KYP.ai’s Productivity 360 Technology stands out. Built with cutting-edge artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities, it serves as an efficient enabler, facilitating smooth and thorough process discovery.
What and How KYP.ai can help you with process discovery?
- Automated Process Mapping: KYP.ai platform can automatically generate a complete and accurate map of your business processes, eliminating the need for manual intervention.
- Intelligent Insights: Harnessing the power of AI and machine learning, Productivity 360 can provide actionable insights, identifying inefficiencies, gaps, and areas prone to errors.
- Predictive Capabilities: The tool can predict potential bottlenecks and roadblocks in your processes, enabling proactive planning and management.
- Live Visibility: React in real-time. Experience the power of immediate insights and take decisive actions today. It allows you to keep operations always one step ahead.
- Scalability: The platform can handle large volumes of data and processes, making it ideal for enterprises. It doesn’t matter if it’s a team of 50, 500 or 5000 team members. It meets your demand at every level, without compromising on efficiency.
Benefits from the Power of Productivity 360
Undertaking a strategic approach to process discovery is imperative – and leveraging the potential of KYP.ai’s Productivity 360 Technology can work wonders. This advanced platform offers significant advantages:
- Time & Resource Efficient: Streamline your discovery phase by speeding up the process, therefore saving valuable time and resources.
- Data-Driven Decision Making: By offering a clear picture of how processes flow based on actual data, it supports more informed and accurate decisions.
- Enhanced Performance: Predictive functionalities allow businesses to make changes to processes ahead of time, leading to improved performance.
- Future-ready Processes: With its predictive capabilities, you can take proactive steps to avoid process pitfalls, ensuring your business is always ahead of the curve.
The Role of Technology in Process Discovery
Technology is critical in speeding up the process discovery phase. Advanced software solutions, like process mining and task mining, make use of the digital traces left by various transactions to create a process map automatically. These tools can quickly examine vast amounts of data to spot inefficiencies and offer insights.
By integrating artificial intelligence and machine learning, we can go one step further. Not only do they map processes, they also suggest improvements or areas which could be automated. This predictive feature enables businesses to make changes to processes ahead of time to enhance performance.
Additionally, platforms that allow us to work together improve the process discovery phase by letting everyone share feedback in real-time. This supports a more inclusive and thorough approach. The use of these technologies ensures that process discovery is not just faster, but also more accurate and useful.
Overcoming Resistance: The Changing Outlook
Introducing process discovery often meets resistance. Employees can be nervous about new systems and processes disrupting their usual work. To handle this, a change management perspective is important, focusing on communication, training, and involvement.
Begin by clearly explaining the reasons for the change, and how it will benefit both the business and its staff. Training is also key; offer sessions to help employees understand how to use the new tools and why they’re important.
Getting employees involved in the process discovery phase can help reduce resistance. If you ask for their opinions and show how their feedback is useful, they’re more likely to embrace the change.
Finally, emphasize quick wins to build confidence and demonstrate the positive impact of the new processes. Showing early success can convince the doubters and set the stage for an easier changeover.
KYP.ai Communication 
Sarah Burnett 
Mariusz Misiek