From Process Mining Insights to Process Improvement: All Talk and No Action?

Abstract

Organizations from various domains use process mining to better understand, analyze, and improve their business processes. While the overall value of process mining has been shown in several contexts, little is known about the specific actions that are taken to move from process mining insights to process improvement. In this work, we address this research gap by conducting a systematic literature review. Specifically, we investigate which types of actions have been taken in existing studies and to which insights these actions are linked. Our findings show that there exists a large variety of actions. Many of these actions do not only relate to changes to the investigated process but also to the associated information systems, the process documentation, the communication between staff members, and personnel training. Understanding the diversity of the actions triggered by process mining insights is important to instigate future research on the different aspects of translating process mining insights into process improvement. The insights-to-action realm presented in this work can inform and inspire new process mining initiatives and prepare for the effort required after acquiring process mining insights.