What is a Business Process Discovery?

Introduction

 

A business is a complicated maze of procedures that work together to produce a useful business output. Tasks, papers, tools, personnel, teams, departments, and much more are all part of a process that make up your sales operations.

 

When business processes run smoothly, your company's performance satisfies all of the criteria for growth and long-term viability. Inefficiencies in your company processes, on either hand, appear as terrible business performance, customer discontent, and staff dissatisfaction.

 

The most natural way to remedy inefficient business processes is to use Business Process Improvement (BPI) approaches to enhance them. However, you can only mend something that you are aware is broken.

 

Businesses utilize business process discovery to obtain information about current processes inside the firm in order to enhance them. It's a key part of the business process improvement process since it helps identify which processes need to be changed.

 

Let's take a closer look at the notion of business process discovery, including its relevance, advantages, and obstacles.

 

What is Business Process Discovery?

 

Business process discovery is a collection of methodologies for creating a visual depiction of an organization's current business processes, including workflows, structures, and features. To retrieve process information, these techniques take advantage of the existing records, documents, and technological systems that execute business operations.

 

In a business, processes are everywhere; they are pervasive, just as they are in our daily lives. With accessible process information such as data logs, employee insights, and other process documentation, data process techniques allow firms to analyse the internal mechanism of current processes.

 

Process discovery aids in the decomposition of business processes in order to find friction and inconsistencies. It helps discover bottlenecks, deviations, and exceptions in day-to-day process processes by recording task-level information.

 

Process discovery strategies provide real steps toward improving business processes, making it an important initiative for companies looking to enhance their performance.

 

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Differences between process discovery, process mapping and process documentation

 

Business Process

 

As previously stated, process discovery is a collection of methodologies for determining the present structure and activity of business processes in their current condition utilizing existing information and documentation. The strategies primarily concentrate on obtaining data from current and historical process documentation in order to comprehend existing processes and their flow.

 

Process Mapping

 

Process mapping is a method for visualizing a process workflow in order to better understand, analyze, and enhance it. This methodology creates a visual workflow of any business process using the results of the process discovery method. After you've discovered your processes, you'll need to map them out. (Here)

 

Process Documentation

 

The process of creating a thorough description of how a process should be carried out is known as business process documentation. It takes the knowledge gained from the process discovery approach and documents it in a step-by-step format so that it may be learned, seen, and improved. Its main goal is to address the question, "How is the process implemented?" “Are you looking for a way to document your processes?” and more.

 

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Undiscovered Processes: Most Common Pain Points

 

While you may believe that everything in your business is running smoothly, there are moments when you sense the need to improve. Here are some of the most typical unknown process pain spots that you can connect to:

 

1. There is a lack of consistency in the way processes are carried out

 

A process is a collection of actions and activities that are done over and over again in order to achieve a certain result. Unknown processes lack the consistency of stages and activities that are performed repeatedly each time the process is run. This lack of consistency might lead to the omission of critical phases, altering the process' ultimate output.

 

2. There is minimal to no documentation if any at all

 

When processes aren't documented, it's usually because there isn't enough effort invested into understanding the process's current structure and workflow. Only when the processes are represented in their current state can they be documented.

 

3. The outcome of the process is inconsistent

 

Undocumented procedures are frequently devoid of standardisation and documentation. As a result, the process's predicted output is inconsistent. Inconsistent results indicate that there are holes in your business procedures that need to be addressed.

 

4. There is dissatisfaction as a result of process issues

 

Your process difficulties are caused by undiscovered processes. Undiscovered procedures are certain to cause difficulties in your company's overall operations, from a lack of transparency and documentation to ownership and consistency. This leads to employee dissatisfaction and burnout, which can have a negative impact on personal life. (Reference)

 

Importance of Business Process Discovery

 

The identification of business processes is a crucial stage in the improvement of business processes. Let's take a look at the significance of process discovery. 

 

1. It aids in the identification of your processes in their current condition

 

Many times, a process has become so established and habitual that the minute details of the procedures involved in the process are not obvious and transparent among your staff. These facts may be in your employee's brain or in your system, but they aren't recorded as a required step in the process execution. While such nuances may seem little, they can have a significant impact on the process's conclusion.

 

Process discovery is a strategy for identifying even the tiniest aspects in a process. It guarantees that every stage of your process is analysed so that you can understand it in its current condition.

 

2. It aids in the detection of flaws and leaks in your process system

 

Process discovery deconstructs your processes' details and, as a result, exposes holes in their performance. These flaws and leakage give possibilities for your company to enhance its processes.

 

3. Existing procedures become less unpredictable as a result of it

 

Process discovery examines your processes to the nth degree, leaving no space for doubt regarding the procedures involved in their implementation. As a result, there are no grey areas in your process execution stages; everything is spelt down exactly as it should be done.

 

By eliminating uncertainty, you can ensure that the business operations system's process execution is consistent. This helps to increase the efficiency and quality of your company's operations over time.

 

4. It aids in the mapping and documentation of your processes

 

Only by uncovering the exact steps, personnel, teams, and other factors involved in the process can you record and map it. This is the reason why process discovery is such an important concept when it comes to processing mapping and documentation. (Source)

 

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Benefits of Business Process Discovery

 

The advantages of business process discovery are quite similar to the benefits of other business improvement strategies like process mapping, process documenting, and process mining. Let's look at some of the unique advantages of adopting process discovery.

 

1. Visibility of the process is made possible

 

One of the most important benefits of adopting process discovery is that it provides visibility into the tasks that make up a process. Ownership of individual process stages, processes, and structure is encouraged as a result. Enterprises may simply find new paths and future automation potential with a detailed picture of the operations.

 

2. Process Risks are Reduced

 

Process discovery reveals holes and leaks inside a process, enabling the repair of otherwise undetectable flaws. This demonstrates a proactive approach to process management that reduces risks following a thorough examination of process operations.

 

3. Processes are captured on paper from the minds of employees

 

Process discovery allows you to document the actions and procedures involved in your processes that are held in the minds of your workers and partners, making them available to everybody. 

 

If such a procedure is not found and recorded, you run the danger of losing critical process knowledge if an employee or partner decides to leave. Because the process is not standardized and differs practically every time it is run, it is impossible to forecast process results.

 

4. Increases Efficiency in terms of costs

 

Techniques for process discovery put process information on the table for everyone to map, understand, and evaluate. When gaps and leaks are found, the potential to close them are handled with cost-effective solutions, resulting in cost savings and improved process performance.

 

5. Increases the return on investment

 

By repairing broken and tangled processes, process discovery allows for process optimization and cost savings. This helps to increase the return on investment (ROI) of processes, teams, operations, and the company. As a result, process discovery is the first step in increasing corporate ROI.

 

6. Improves the efficiency of the process

 

Process discovery improves the overall effectiveness of corporate processes by allowing process task ownership, lowering risks, saving money, and optimizing ROI. It's a tangible step toward bettering corporate processes.

 

To conclude, business process discovery provides crucial insights for managing, controlling, and enhancing business processes. Process discovery is gaining traction among prominent firms as businesses attempt to automate and simplify processes with the use of technology.

 

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