See where the work slows down.
Process mining
Follow recorded events across orders, receipts and invoices. Find repeated delays and compare the paths work takes through the business.
Where do supplier invoices wait longest?
Trace each invoice through receipt, matching and approval. Compare the time between recorded events to find the stages that need attention.
Where are invoices waiting?
Recorded events show how long work spends at each stage.
Process miningIllustrative records| Stage | Elapsed time | Record to inspect |
|---|---|---|
| Receipt to matching | 1 day | Receipt and invoice |
| Matching to approval | 4 days | Approval history |
| Approval to posting | 1 day | Posting record |
Approval is the longest stage in this example.
Inspect the waiting invoices and responsible workflow before deciding whether the process needs to change.
- The real process — rebuilt from what actually happened, rather than drawn up in a meeting.
- Different routes — how many ways the same job gets done, and how much of your work goes each way.
- A comparison with your intended process, so a step out of line is measured against something specific rather than a vague idea.
- Working time and waiting time — kept apart, because most of a slow process is waiting rather than working.
- Rework — the steps that get done twice.
- Skipped approvals and checks — where a check wasn’t applied, with the records that show it.
- Bottlenecks — where work piles up, and what it is waiting for.
- Early warnings on work still in progress, while there is time to step in.
- Causes in other departments — because a delay in invoicing very often starts in the warehouse.
Eight everyday processes.
Quote or order to cash
From first enquiry to the payment matched to the invoice.
Procure to pay
Request, purchase order, delivery, invoice check, payment.
Month-end close
The close, and everything that has to be done before it can start.
Plan, produce and deliver
Works orders through to dispatch and proof of delivery.
Returns to refund
The route where rework most often hides.
Support tickets
From ticket, to answer, to closed.
Stock to accounts
Stock movements through to the accounts.
Staff, from hiring to leaving
Within the limits on what it may look at in staff records.
What people do doesn’t change the rules.
If everyone skips a step, that is something to look into. It isn’t a new rule. Process mining adds to what you know, and never changes your rules on its own. It also counts unfinished work properly instead of treating it as fast, and it can tell a step that was recorded late from one that happened late.
It doesn’t watch your staff.
It only uses the activity Cobalt ERP already records. Screen recording, keystroke logging, guessing people’s mood and ranking staff by productivity are ruled out completely, not just postponed. Any change would need employment-law, privacy and staff-representative review before anyone even designed it.
When the question is about how work gets done.
- “Where does our order process actually stall?” — the step where orders wait, which isn’t always the busy one.
- “How many ways do we do this?” — the number of routes, and how much of the work the top three carry.
- “Is our approval check working?” — the cases where it was skipped, with the records to prove it.
- “Why is this taking longer than last quarter?” — when the time started rising, and which step changed.
- “Which of these open jobs will miss their deadline?” — an early warning while there is still time to act.
Frequently asked questions.
What is object-centric process mining?
Older process mining follows one thing at a time, so you have to choose between following the order or the invoice. Object-centric process mining lets one step belong to the order, the delivery and the invoice at once, which is how order to cash really works.
Does it need me to draw the process first?
No. It can show you the real process without one. To compare against how things should run, you need to describe your intended process, because a step can only be out of line with something specific.
Will it monitor my staff?
No. It uses the activity Cobalt ERP records about orders, invoices and other business records. Screen recording, keystroke logging and productivity rankings are ruled out.
Can it change our workflow automatically?
No. What people actually do doesn’t change your rules. It gives you evidence, and a person decides what to do about it.
Try it on your own records.
Book a demo and ask it a real question about your business. Every answer shows how it was worked out and which records it used.
Book a demo