Business Intelligence (BI) and Process Mining assist decision-makers in analyzing organizational data.
Although they examine similar processes, they have distinct objectives. BI tools detect relationships and patterns between data points, and analysts use these findings to make conclusions. In contrast, process mining delivers detailed insights, reducing the potential for ambiguity.
There are some critical differences between the two approaches. One big difference is the depth and scope of the analysis.
- Business intelligence (BI) takes a broad view of how organizational processes and performance issues impact the entire organization. This approach involves looking at data patterns and relationships across different areas of the organization to identify overall trends and insights.
- Process Mining is a more focused approach that concentrates on a specific process and conducts a detailed analysis to uncover the root cause of any performance issues. This approach is more concerned with analyzing the actual steps and interactions within a process to identify inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and opportunities for improvement.
Business intelligence requires analysts to have prior knowledge of the processes being studied, which means that they have to interpret data constantly to gain insights.
Let’s take an example: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) can indicate that a process is not working well, but it’s up to the analyst to determine the underlying reasons and recommend a solution. While business intelligence is useful in monitoring KPIs, it assumes that there are no underlying issues with the process itself.
In contrast, process mining goes deeper and identifies the bottlenecks that are causing poor performance. The results of process mining are usually precise and actionable. For instance, through process mining, you might discover that approval requests are slow due to manual request filling by employees. This reveals the need to eliminate manual approval processes, which is an actionable solution.
Reference: The business leader’s guide to process mining