Process Mining Graphs External Benchmarking

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Solution Overview

Problem

Traditional process mining methods provide limited insights into improving business processes, as they focus on descriptive analysis and require significant manual development, leading to high costs and lack of standardization, making it expensive to cover multiple processes and requiring new projects for changing requirements.

Innovation Solution

A software system that generates process diagrams using document data, allowing for external benchmarking against best-in-class processes, identifying improvements by comparing customer processes to reference models, and providing actionable insights on milestones and blockers.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Loss of information

If traditional process mining methods are used to analyze business processes, then descriptive analysis of process trends and patterns is provided, but actionable insights for improvement are limited and manual development effort is required

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveprocess improvement insightsVSAvoidmanual development effort

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system automatically generates actionable improvement insights by comparing customer process graphs with reference graphs containing best practices. The comparison algorithm autonomously identifies deviations and generates improvement recommendations without requiring manual analysis or development effort from users.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

Reference graphs serve as an intermediary containing pre-analyzed best practices from multiple customers. These reference graphs mediate between raw process data and actionable insights, providing a standardized basis for comparison and improvement recommendation generation.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Adaptability or versatility

If custom process mining projects are developed for each customer, then specific process analysis requirements are met, but costs increase and standardization is lost

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveprocess analysis customizationVSAvoidproject cost

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSEase of manufacture

Solution Approach 1:

Reference graphs are designed to be universally applicable across multiple customers and industries. A single reference graph containing best practices can serve multiple customers simultaneously, eliminating the need for separate custom development projects while maintaining adaptability to different customer needs through the graph comparison framework.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Solution Approach 2:

Instead of creating custom process mining solutions for each customer, the system copies proven best practices from reference graphs into customized improvement recommendations. This allows rapid deployment of standardized solutions that can be adapted to specific customer contexts without repeating the analysis work.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #26Copying

3Productivity

If comprehensive process mining is performed to cover multiple processes, then complete process coverage is achieved, but the cost and time required increase significantly

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveprocess coverageVSAvoidmining project duration

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

Best practices and reference graphs are pre-analyzed and stored before being applied to customer processes. This preliminary action captures improvement opportunities in advance, allowing rapid comparison and recommendation generation for multiple customer processes without performing comprehensive analysis each time.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system merges process graphs from multiple customers into consolidated reference graphs that capture industry best practices. This combining approach allows the system to leverage collective process knowledge across multiple organizations, providing comprehensive coverage benefits while reducing individual project scope and duration.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

4Adaptability or versatility

If process mining projects are redesigned to accommodate changing requirements, then new requirements are met, but new projects must be initiated increasing costs

Engineering Contradiction:

Improverequirements flexibilityVSAvoidproject reconfiguration cost

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSEase of manufacture

Solution Approach 1:

The system provides dynamic adaptation to changing requirements by allowing users to flexibly select different reference graphs, filter comparison results, and customize improvement recommendation displays. The underlying reference graphs remain reusable across different scenarios, enabling rapid reconfiguration without new project initiation.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

Data Source

PatentUS20250103988A1External benchmarks for process mining graphs

Publication Date: 2025.03.27 SAP SE

AI summary

Provided is a system and method for evaluating the performance of a process using external process data, for example, from another similar process. In one example, the method may include generating a diagram of a process based on data from the process, where the diagram comprises a sequence of nodes that correspond to a sequence of events and edges between the sequence of nodes which indicate execution times between the events, displaying the diagram via a user interface of a software application, selecting a reference diagram of a reference process that includes a different sequence of nodes corresponding to a different sequence of events, identifying an improvement to the process based on the reference diagram, and modifying the diagram to include a different execution flow included in the reference diagram based on the identified improvement.