10 Benefits of Using Process Mining for Incident Management

In this blog, we’ll highlight 10 benefits of process mining for incident management, drawing on our experience working with customers in recent years.
What is Incident Management Process?

An incident is an unplanned interruption to an IT Service, causing complete unavailability or a reduction in quality. The incident management process aims to restore normal service operations swiftly, minimising the impact on business operations. It is a pivotal process in the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL).

10 benefits of using process mining for Incident Management Process:
1. Visualise your current Incident Management process with real-life data, not just gut feeling.

Many organisations lack a clear understanding of how their Incident Management process truly functions. In larger organisations, the complexity of processes introduces exceptions and irregularities, making it challenging to maintain a comprehensive overview. While there may be guidelines for the intended process, they are rarely followed completely. Process Mining uses actual system data to visualise the Incident Management process, providing stakeholders with a shared view of standard procedures and their variations. This transparency forms the basis for process improvement initiatives.

2. Gain insights into the customer journey.

Leveraging Process Mining, you can directly extract data from your system’s event log to identify cases that were frequently reassigned. This insight allows you to understand process flaws that may contribute to a suboptimal customer experience. Employ use case attributes and Root Cause Analysis to delve deeper into shared characteristics among challenging cases.

3. Identify reasons and locations for undesired process behavior through Root Cause Analysis.

The 80-20 rule suggests that 80% of effort or problems stem from 20% of cases or tickets. By focusing on approximately 23% of cases reassigned more than once, we avoid interfering with smoothly operating cases. Through Root Cause Analysis, the Flowchart on the left reveals that cases reassigned at least twice are 10 times more likely to involve a Vendor.

Examining Case Attribute values on the right, which include additional information attached to the ticket, reveals that tickets associated with Internal team three or Internal team 18 are approximately four and two times more likely, respectively, to be assigned multiple times. This provides a valuable starting point for further exploration into the processes of individual teams or other contributors.

4. Analyse different working habits among teams and individuals successfully.

Certain teams outperform others, and Process Mining facilitates the identification of best practices from high-performing teams. Sharing these results across the organisation allows for benchmarking. The granularity of Process Discovery can be adjusted from a high-level overview to individual cases for in-depth analysis using dynamic filtering options when needed.

5. Monitor SLA performance and other key KPIs using interactive dashboards.

You receive what you measure! Advanced tools like QPR ProcessAnalyzer in process mining automatically calculate all required process KPIs for the Incident Management process. Customised dynamic dashboards for any KPI, such as SLA Breach displayed below, can be easily set up.

6. Identify products and services causing the most additional work.

For ongoing enhancements to customer service, it’s essential to identify products and services placing the highest workload on Incident Management professionals. Sharing this information with product and service owners leads to monetary savings. Following discussions, establishing a longer-term plan is beneficial, emphasising the need to either a) enhance the product/service (or consider alternatives) or b) enhance the competencies and capabilities of the Incident Management team for more effective incident resolution.

7. Understand reasons for reopening incident tickets.

Re-opening a closed incident ticket is generally unfavorable from a process perspective. However, exceptions may unveil additional knowledge about the Incident Management process. QPR ProcessAnalyzer’s Root Cause Analysis for the process flowchart allows the identification of activities and process steps occurring early, influencing the likelihood of re-opening the ticket later. This often indicates a need for improvements in the “first time right” execution of those steps. Rethinking the instructions and details of these tasks can lead to a lower re-open rate and improved customer satisfaction.

8. Provide a foundation for continuous (weekly/monthly) Incident Management process review, follow-up, and prioritise improvement actions.

Systematically improving the Incident Management process is crucial for long-term efficiency and process excellence. Process mining is an excellent tool for ingesting new incidents and all related events on a daily basis, offering fact-based information to aid in process and operations improvement. The process improvement review is conducted on a weekly/monthly basis, contrasting with the real-time day-to-day operational dashboard.

9. Predict the outcome of currently open cases.

QPR ProcessAnalyzer, integrated with OpenR, utilizes a Machine Learning model to predict the outcome of any open incident based on historical Incident Management process data. This allows presenting a list of “incidents likely to fail the SLA” regularly, enabling management to react promptly, assess the current situation, and make informed decisions regarding resource allocation.

10. Support Robotic Process Automation for the Incident Management process.

Companies aiming to automate operations with RPA can automate specific non-value-adding manual process steps. Process mining plays a vital role in analysing current process behavior before RPA implementation. If there are numerous exceptions, it’s crucial to reconsider the process, carefully determining which process steps and incident types should be automated and which should remain manual.

How does this work in practice?

The key components for starting with Process Mining in Incident Management are:

1. Unique CaseID for connecting events in individual cases and visualising them in a flowchart.
2. Event descriptions like “SLA Started,” “Waiting for customer information,” and “Case closed.”
3. Timestamps to establish the chronological order of events for calculating durations between process events.

By utilising this information, QPR ProcessAnalyzer can automatically generate a highly interactive process flowchart. When supplemented with Case Attribute data (e.g., location, ticket type, priority, issue description), it enables in-depth analysis. This analysis, coupled with QPR Software’s training and support, empowers fact-based decisions for ongoing process improvement initiatives.

What’s next?

If you’re interested in understanding how Process Mining can benefit your organisation, our experts are ready to schedule a meeting for a detailed discussion. We are here to address any questions, guiding you through the process of extracting data and unveiling valuable insights to share with your colleagues and management.

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Get a quick overview so you can spend your time improving your processes.

You can easily define and set up processes according to your own needs using a convenient layout tool. In addition, since all types of workflow processes can be managed, you get all case management in one single system. 

Analyses, statistics and reports give you an unbeatable overview with real-time status and division of responsibility. Nothing has to fall through the cracks anymore and you always have an accurate and up-to-date base for decision-making.

CANEA Process is a tool that allows you to model and share business processes in an easy-to-use graphical web interface.

Seeing is understanding

Visualisation gives all employees an understanding of the organisation’s processes, activities, responsibilities and information flows.

Living processes

Identifying working methods while making it easy to update is the basis for continuous improvement of processes.

Create a complete picture

Linking together documents, information and tools with clickable process maps create an intuitive and comprehensive management system.

CANEA Workflow is an IT solution that automates, quality-assures and speeds up administrative workflow processes.

You can easily define and set up processes according to your own needs using a convenient layout tool. In addition, since all types of workflow processes can be managed, you get all case management in one single system. 

Analyses, statistics and reports give you an unbeatable overview with real-time status and division of responsibility. Nothing has to fall through the cracks anymore and you always have an accurate and up-to-date base for decision-making.

By creating executable processes in CANEA Workflow, you get both better control of the situation and smoother processing.

Streamlining the work

Ensure compliance and that handovers are done correctly and with the right information.

Correct decision support

You get an unbeatable overview of the processes in real time, with both clear reports and clear diagrams.

Improve processes continuously

Our process support can be constantly adapted to changing needs and requirements. In this way, we give you the best possible conditions for your daily work.

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CANEA Document combines simple and intuitive search features with powerful features for managing documents from a life cycle perspective.

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Search and find information quickly based on what you need, not where it is stored.

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Ensure accuracy, changes and access to all information – with high traceability.

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Manage information according to standards, legislation and other requirements for document management.

CANEA Document supports everything from production, publication and modification to archiving and deletion – with full traceability and version management.

CANEA Document provides secure management of all types of documents – in one place. Tagging the information with metadata creates a virtual, multidimensional folder structure. This means that a document appears in multiple locations at the same time, with authorisation-controlled access. The right information in the right place for the right users at the right time!

You can usefully add your company’s process-oriented management system to CANEA Document. All production and distribution of documents is quality-assured and streamlined. In addition, your employees always have access to the most up-to-date version of the documents – directly via intranet, tablets and mobile phones.

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CANEA Project is a comprehensive project tool with integrated support for all types of projects and parties– such as management, resource owners, clients, project managers and project participants. CANEA Project gives you an excellent overview of your entire project portfolio, including profitability and status, making it easier to prioritize and make decisions.

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Let your project manager focus on management rather than administration and distribution of the information.

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Create a shared understanding of the strategy, the goal to achieve and how.

Gives management an unbeatable overview of what’s happening, how it’s progressing, and why.

Creates a clear common thread from the strategy to project, initiatives and actions.