Process mining for discovering the 'As-Is'

A clear understanding of the 'As-Is' processes is the foundation for carrying out multitudes of activities such as audits, selection & implementation of an ERP system, business process re-engineering etc. Typically until now, such an understanding was obtained based on a review of the available process documentation and discussions with the process owners. However, this comes with an inherent risk of not being able to spot the number of instances where the actual process differs from the prescribed norms as well as the extent of such deviation(s).

Process mining helps in mitigating this risk. It is a tool based approach to analyzing transaction level data in order to determine how the processes are currently operating ('As-Is processes). The link given below provides more explanation on what process mining is all about, what kind of data is required to determine the 'As-Is' processes, how difficult or easy is it to obtain such data etc.

After having personally used process mining in some audit assignments, I can definitely vouch for its efficacy in spotting the deviations between what the perceptions that process owners have about their processes and the reality.

http://fluxicon.com/blog/2012/02/data-requirements-for-process-mining/