Process mining reads the event logs your systems already keep (case, activity, timestamp) and reconstructs how work really flows: every route, how long each step takes and where work waits. It should come before AI because it shows the real process, sets the baseline and often finds cheap fixes that need no technology.
George McKenna, Chairman and CTO, ETT Group. Updated 15 October 2026.
The first mined picture of a process usually shows three things nobody expected:
- Many processes, not one. The documented route handles a fraction of the volume. The rest goes through variations nobody designed.
- Waiting, not working. Most of the elapsed time is work sitting in queues between steps.
- Loops. Work sent back, rejected and resubmitted, corrected after the fact.
Mining has limits. It only sees what systems record, so work done in email and spreadsheets is invisible. Pair it with time alongside the people doing the job.
You need three fields in your system data to start: a case identifier, an activity name and a timestamp.
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