Powering

successful
automation
How process mining is the key
to realizing the full potential of RPA

1
 Contents
03 How process mining makes automation even more valuable

04 Process mining and integrated process discovery

06 Top 10 benefits of integrated process discovery

07 Customer Story

08 Putting process mining into practice

09 Purchase-to-Pay (Supply Chain Management)
10 Invoice Processing (Finance)
11 Lead-to-Cash (Sales and Marketing)
12 Claims Management (Insurance)
13 Record-to-Report (Accounting)

14 Where process mining and automation can help your business

15 Delivering the end-to-end automation platform

16 About UiPath

17 References

UIPATH.COM | POWERING SUCCESSFUL AUTOMATION 2

How process mining makes
automation even more valuable Value delivered by Process Mining
We all want the best processes we can possibly have. Replace speculation with fact
We want processes that make our business agile,
responsive, innovative and, most importantly, better
than our competitors.
Certainty is exactly what process mining delivers. It When Deloitte asked executives how Process Mining
replaces speculation with fact. It gives you a data-driven
approach to deliver transparency and control across all delivers value, the two distinct areas were:
Today, companies worldwide are realizing they need your business processes.
to apply process automation where it makes the most
sense and has the greatest impact on our business. We With process mining, you take event data from your
want to free our people to better serve our customers. business systems to build a precise, accurate and real- Process transparency
That’s how real digital transformation happens. for as-is processes
time picture of the process. You can instantly see where
a process needs to be optimized and which provide the Implementation of process
This begs a question: How do you identify weakness in best candidates for automation. You can monitor those optimization measures (e.g.
your processes and which parts to automate? automation, process re-design, etc.)
processes to assess the success of your automations in
achieving your business goals and KPIs. Reduction of throughput time
Every day in organizations across the globe, millions of (e.g. in number of days or hours)
different people work on millions of different processes Armed with that information, you’re ready to unleash Definition of tangible process
in millions of slightly different ways. You may think you the potential of the Fully Automated Enterprise™. optimization measures
know how a process works. But, that’s often as much According to Harvard Business Review, that can amount
gut feel as reality. to three times the revenue increase for organizations We received tangible
monetary savings (in USD)
that implemented intelligent automation compared with
The last thing you want to do is automate an inefficient those that don’t.1
or inaccurate process and simply make a bad thing Still no value
happen faster and more consistently. When your goal is
to automate everything that’s automatable then you’re
Other
going to need certainty about what you’re automating.

No answer

You can instantly see where a process needs to be optimized Source: Deloitte2
and which provide the best candidates for automation.

UIPATH.COM | POWERING SUCCESSFUL AUTOMATION 3

Process mining and integrated
process discovery
It’s possible to think of process mining as a completely Reduce complexity, increase scalability
new sensory system for your business. Process steps
and workflows that have previously been invisible, By showing the ‘as is’ state of a process as well as
unnecessary or repetitive, can be automatically providing recommendations for improvement, process
surfaced, interrogated, and improved. mining allows you to more easily tackle process
complexity and successfully scale your automations.
The ways that your employees and customers work Scalability is where process mining adds immense value
is never fixed and can change remarkably quickly. to an automation program.
With Process Mining, you now have the power to
see how processes actually function and respond In addition, process mining can break down silos of
rapidly and effectively to changing business and data about how different systems and parts of the
environmental conditions. organization work and interact. While the first generation
of automation was focused on a single task or process,
The benefits for your automation program are process mining aggregates data from all these systems
enormous. It’s fine to begin the program with simple and workflows. You can now relate the candidate process
tasks and processes that represent low hanging fruit. to other tasks or processes to create full visibility into
But to maintain and evolve your automation program, end-to-end processes - such as order management or
you’ll need to leverage technology that sees more than procurement – that span systems and departments.
you can see - particularly if you want to automate more
complex and wide-ranging processes.

While the first generation of automation was focused on

a single task or process, process mining aggregates data
from all these systems and workflows.

UIPATH.COM | POWERING SUCCESSFUL AUTOMATION 4

UiPath integrated discovery
While process mining looks at your systems, there are three
other complementary discovery technologies that can
identify and facilitate automation opportunities in other
areas of your business.

Combining Process Mining with Task Mining, Task Capture

and Automation Hub in a powerful, centralized integrated
discovery solution that provides a comprehensive mix of
discovery, analysis, and execution capabilities.

The goal is to fully understand your processes, delivering

accurate inputs and prioritization for your automation
program and fostering a cycle of continuous improvement
that empowers business agility and aids your strategic
objectives, such as digital transformation.

WANT TO SEE MORE?

Discover everything to automate

and everything worth automating
UiPath discovery overview

UIPATH.COM | POWERING SUCCESSFUL AUTOMATION 5

Top 10 benefits Successfully deploying integrated
discovery will let you know:

of integrated 1 Precisely how the process works in the real world

process discovery
2 Locations of bottlenecks, deviations, variations and redundant activities

3 Which processes and tasks are perfect for automation, and which aren’t

4 How people really do their jobs, and how it affects the process
Process mining enables you to streamline and automate
your key business processes by removing inefficiencies 5 The tasks that people don’t like and shouldn’t have to do
and identifying best practice that can be shared across
the organization. Its power comes not as a standalone 6 How and where robots and people can best work together
solution but from how its outputs are applied. Combining
data from process mining with other process discovery 7 What the ideal process looks like and how to get there
information in an integrated discovery solution provides
an incredible kick-start and continuous pipeline of 8 Automations that are driven by accurate, up-to-date process data
automation candidates for your automation program.
9 Whether your automations are actually improving your business KPIs

10 Where to tweak your automations to optimize your business outcomes

UIPATH.COM | POWERING SUCCESSFUL AUTOMATION

6
Customer Story

Telecoms company reduces P2P costs and

increases efficiency with process mining
A leading European telecommunications provider was faced with
increasing price competition, so the company looked to reduce
costs across its business. However, gaining transparency into its
finance processes, especially its procure-to-pay (P2P) process,
was a major challenge.

Using process mining, the company was able to quickly

visualize its entire P2P process. It identified the manual
hand-offs in the process that were ripe for automation.
As well as achieving $3 million in P2P savings, the “As soon as you start being
company has been able to bring back many hours to the
business, letting it re-assign employees to higher value, more data-driven, rather than
more rewarding activities.
gut-driven, Process Mining is
Beyond P2P, process mining is now being applied
to more than 30 processes across finance, customer
a tool you can’t live without.”
services and the supply chain to drive operational -Process Mining Lead at the Client
efficiency and business performance.

BENEFITS AT A GLANCE

$3M in P2P savings Identified From 5-6 weeks to a few hours 3-4 FTEs freed up to work
with root-cause analysis reduced gap-analysis time on more strategic activities

UIPATH.COM | POWERING SUCCESSFUL AUTOMATION 7

 Putting process mining
Sales and
Accounting
into practice
Marketing
Finance Supply Chain
Insurance Management Let’s take a moment to look at how process Process Mining integrated within an end-
mining works. Most enterprise business to-end automation platform means you
systems track every transaction and activity can move seamlessly from Discovery
that happens at each stage in a process. This to Automation.
event data is recorded in event logs that are,
in effect, the digital footprints of the process. You should note, however, that not all
activities are prime for automation. Using
Process mining uses these crucial event process mining, you can identify which
logs to identify the specific steps within a are, but also which activities may be
process and how they are being executed. better suited for other approaches such as
Process mining tools analyze these digital standardization, re-engineering, or even
footprints to fully understand how processes additional employee training.
are conducted, know where problems and
bottlenecks lie, and show you where to It’s this flexibility that lets you use process
optimize and automate. mining very widely across your business.
It delivers tangible benefits when applied
These analytical capabilities help you to virtually any business process in any
monitor your key performance indicators industry sector.
(KPIs) to ensure your automation program is
always aligned with your business outcomes.

In this section, we’ll look at some key use cases

for process mining and automation across
different roles throughout an organization.

UIPATH.COM | POWERING SUCCESSFUL AUTOMATION 8

PROCESS

Purchase-to-Pay Let’s meet Ben and see how process mining can highlight where
time and cost is being unnecessarily added to PO management.
LINE OF BUSINESS

Supply Chain
Management

Some estimates suggest that the cost per

purchase order can be over $7003. For many
purchasing departments, PO management can
be a highly manual process that adds time,
cost and error. Staff have to create the PO but
also make changes or even cancel it when
discrepancies occur.

However, administrative cost isn’t the main

problem of an inefficient PO process. If the
PO is incorrect or delayed, this inevitably
leads to downstream supply issues. Purchase
departments know it’s their responsibility to
ensure the business gets the products it needs,
when it needs them.

Process mining can highlight where time

and cost is being unnecessarily added to
PO management. 1 2 3 4
Ben is stressed. It’s taking Process mining shows him Now a robot automatically Ben can sit back. He still
two days to prepare and that having to manually creates the PO, it makes any handles the odd exception
issue a purchase order. create, change and cancel changes or cancellations but he’s more focused
Neither the business nor POs is a massive bottleneck required and issues the PO on monitoring PO cycle
the suppliers are happy. adding time and cost. But, to the supplier. What used times to see where the
BENEFITS AT A GLANCE
these repetitive tasks are to take days is now a matter automation can be
• Improved quality and speed of PO management ideal for automation. of minutes. further improved.
• Reduced downstream supply delays
• Improved supplier relationships

UIPATH.COM | POWERING SUCCESSFUL AUTOMATION 9

PROCESS

Invoice Processing Let’s meet Akash and see how process mining can highlight the best
areas to automate in highly repetitive and rules-based invoice processing.
LINE OF BUSINESS

Finance

The pandemic once more proved the old

saying that cash is king. When you need every
cent of your cash flow to survive, late payments
become a tangible threat to your business.

This is more than just the cash you have

available. Across the globe, there are trillions
of dollars tied up in late payments. That’s
money you can’t use for onward investment or
business expansion.

It often means you’ll borrow to cover gaps

between invoice and payment, which incurs
significant interest payments. A three-day drift
in invoice payment can cost over $110,000 for a
company with $10 million turnover4.

You also need to quickly see when late

payment turns into bad debt.

Process mining can help highlight the areas 1 2 3 4

to automate in highly repetitive and rules-
based invoice processing, by showing you Akash is worried that a He turns to process He works with his process Akash also gets the
bottlenecks, and which customers represent large number of customers mining to pinpoint which mining team to escalate automation teams to create
the biggest risk to your business. don’t pay their invoices customers consistently and notify customer facing a robot to automatically
on time, leading to a Days pay invoices late. He also team members before issue email reminders to
Sales Outstanding rate looks at the company’s invoices pass the payment customers. He uses process
BENEFITS AT A GLANCE
of 50 days. escalation procedures and deadline so they can mining to continually monitor
• Improved working capital how they are being applied quickly take any remedial these new processes to
• Improved customer experience across the accounts actions required. ensure they are reducing the
• Reduced supply chain risk receivable department. company’s DSO rates.

UIPATH.COM | POWERING SUCCESSFUL AUTOMATION 10

PROCESS

Lead-to-Cash Let’s meet Jan and see how process mining can reduce cycle
times and ensure that no lead becomes trapped in the system.
LINE OF BUSINESS

Sales & Marketing

Believe it or not, research suggests that the

optimal web lead response time is five minutes
or less. Yet, the average response time is 42
hours. In the case of B2B companies, as many
as 58% don’t respond to a lead at all5.

The result? Over $1 trillion is lost each year

in low productivity and poorly managed
leads processes6.

One challenge can be the departmental silos

between marketing and sales. Each has its own
systems and ways of working – often manual.
There can be different definitions of what
constitutes a qualified lead and when the lead
should transition between departments.

An inefficient hand-over can see leads lost

or the wrong information provided. Process
mining allows you to see across all the tasks
and workflows that underpin the process as 1 2 3 4
it moves between marketing and sales. It can
reduce cycle times and ensure that no lead It takes on average 3 days He uses process mining Jan works with his Passing leads between
becomes trapped in the system. for salespeople to follow to highlight the largely process mining team marketing and sales is an
up and turn marketing manual handover of to configure alerts to ideal automation. A robot
qualified leads into sales leads between disparate salespeople whenever a can quickly execute the
qualified leads. Jan marketing and sales new lead is assigned to activity, so Jan passes the
BENEFITS AT A GLANCE
knows that this is leading systems, as well as the them. He also configures idea to the automation
• Increased marketing ROI with less wasted leads to wasted effort and lost manual monitoring of an alert to managers team, and uses process
• Reduced sales cycles sales. new leads required by when a lead has not been mining to monitor the
• Improved customer and prospect experience salespeople, as the actioned in 24 hours. MQL and SQL conversion
chief culprits. cycle time.

UIPATH.COM | POWERING SUCCESSFUL AUTOMATION 11

PROCESS

Claims Management Let’s meet Taylor and see how process mining gives visibility into how
firms are handling claims, identifying where processes can be optimized.
LINE OF BUSINESS

Insurance
When someone makes a claim on their
insurance policy, they require two things. First,
they want fast and efficient service. Secondly,
they want a positive settlement and swift
payment. Poor customer experience in these
circumstances will often result in losing
the customer.

However, insurance companies are faced with

a growing tide of claims fraud. In the UK alone,
fraudulent insurance claims amounted to over
$1.5 billion in 2019 – a 5% increase from the
previous year7.

Part of the reason for this revolves around

the slow pace of technological change within
the industry. Many firms find themselves
supporting highly manual, legacy processes.
These provide many gaps where fraudulent
activities can and do occur.
1 2 3 4
Process mining gives visibility into how firms
are handling claims and identifies where
The average cost of a This was prevalent in the After eliminating non- She can see that the
processes can be optimized to reduce
fraudulent claim for her heavily manual claims standard and redundant speed and quality of the
financial and business risk.
insurance company has intake process. Activities activities, she supplies process has improved.
risen to over $14,000. like cross-referencing the automation team More importantly, she
Taylor decides to deploy claims information and with detailed process can quickly identify
BENEFITS AT A GLANCE
process mining and finds tracking claims behavior documentation so they suspicious activities and
• Improved the speed and quality of the process that there are weaknesses were slow and error prone. can take an end-to- closely monitor the cost
• Reduced the potential for fraudulent claims in the process where fraud Taylor uses process mining end approach to of fraudulent claims.
• Improved customer experience by accelerating could occur. to define the optimum path the automation.
claims processing through the process.

UIPATH.COM | POWERING SUCCESSFUL AUTOMATION 12

PROCESS

Record-to-Report Let’s meet Julia and see how process mining can reduce the data
processing and matching tasks from days to a matter of hours.
LINE OF BUSINESS

Accounting
Record-to-Report (R2R) involves collecting,
processing, and delivering relevant, timely,
and accurate information used for strategic
and financial decisions. With data held in
different systems, most organizations require
a team primarily dedicated to this task.

General ledger reconciliation is one of the

major R2R tasks. Accuracy is the goal, so you
can’t allow poor data to populate multiple
business and accounting systems. Manual
reconciliation opens the way for errors that
add time and cost, as well as potential fraud
and compliance breaches.

When it comes to repeatable and rules-based

processes, there are few examples as good
as general ledger reconciliation. Your team
completes the same tasks, at the same time,
and in the same way every financial close.
1 2 3 4
Process mining surfaces where the logjams are
and enables process optimization that reduces
Julia discovers that, on With process mining she Process mining lets Julia She works with the
data processing and matching tasks from days
average, her organization’s discovers that manual instantly see where process automation team to
to hours.
general ledger data comparison and data bottlenecks are occurring automate comparing
reconciliations process entry between systems and where variations account balances across
takes 6 days. leads to errors and re- in how some tasks are systems. Accountants
BENEFITS AT A GLANCE
work. Missing or incorrect performed are leading to are now only alerted
• Higher quality with fewer errors information is difficult to error and cost. to handle exceptions
• Accountants freed for value-adding activities spot causing problems and escalations like
• Reduced potential for fraud and compliance later in the process. discrepancies, duplicates
breaches and missing invoices.

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 BUSINESS GOAL BUSINESS OUTCOME KEY DRIVERS RELATED PROCESS IMPACT

Where process Cycle time

•
•
Improved cash-to-cash cycle time
Improved planning & forecasting
•
•
Eliminate routine, repetitive tasks
Faster product, configuration & master data replication
•
•
Purchase-to-pay
Order-to-cash

mining and
• Customer strategy & relationships 25-40%
& agility •
•
Improved innovation
Improved customer experience
•
•
System integration & consolidation
Cognitive intelligence for planning & forecasting
• Change management & communication
• Governance, risk % compliance

automation
can help your Capacity/asset
• Increased production
capacity & scheduling
Improved asset utilization
•
•
Capacity to pull manual & digital data from multiple feeds
Data integration & analysis
•
•
•
Production management
Asset utilization & management
Maintenance& support 25-40%
business efficiency • Metric generation from Excel/manual feeds
• Improved equipment • Retirement & disposal
• Real time data distribution to field engineers & maintenance staff
efficiency & maintenance • Health, safety & the environment

• Automated checks, invoice handling & follow-up

• Accounts payable
• Improved receivables, paid on time • Automated planning, reconciliation & reporting
Process mining is the foundational step to en- Cash flow & • Increased working capital • Data integration & compilation for auditing, governance &
• Accounts receivable
terprise-wide automation. The intersection of finance • Increased revenue & profitability compliance
• Record to report 30-40%
• Financial & capital management
process mining with automation allows you to • Reduced debt & risk • Accurate record of all financial transactions
• Month end/annual reconciliation
• Real time tracking alerts for payments & debts
transition to a Fully Automated Enterprise. You
can prioritize and deliver automations at scale • Automated data set/document collection
that deliver real business impact to every part • Automated messaging & communication • Purchase to invoice
• Increased collaboration
• Tender & proposal management
of your organization. Supplier • Improved discounting & financial • Faster procure-to-pay process
• Discount & finance management
incentives • Better demand & inventory forecasting 20-35%
satisfaction • Faster procurement & delivery cycles • Lower late payments or canceled orders • Supplier onboarding & performance
management
• Improved quality assurance • Improved collaborative processes
• Cognitive ability to assess quality & feedback • Order management

• Accurate & timely master data & order tracking • Product design & development
• On-time delivery
• Automated cognitive capabilities to analyze market trends & patterns • Lead to cash
Customer • Increased purchasing & loyalty
• Automate personalized communications at each stage in the customer • Customer strategy & relationships
• Responsive relationship 20-35%
satisfaction • Personalized experience
journey
• Optimized contact center & chatbot performance
•
•
Customer acquisition & retention
Customer experience management
• Targeted innovation
• Single view of all customer data • Claims management

• Less repetitive & mundane work • Employee experience management

• Prior organization review & sensible change management
Employee • More responsibility with higher
• Task/role analysis: planners, coordinators, managers, facilitators
• Training & development
value activities • Career progression management
efficiency & • An enjoyable & rewarding work
• Augmented support for individual staff members • Change management 20-35%
• Mundane tasks reduced or eliminated
satisfaction environment
• Less potential for human errors while updating key information
•
•
Employee onboarding
Salary & benefits management
• Work & job flexibility

• Automate inventory tracking & analytics

• Purchase to invoice
• Improved receivables, paid on time • Automate responses: proposals, quotes & supplier/customer questions
Supply chain • Increased working capital • Optimize logistics, warehousing & operations performance
• Inventory optimization & management
• Returns management 15-45%
management •
•
Increased revenue & profitability
Reduced debt & risk
•
•
Improve efficiency at each h&over point on the chain
Provide real time data for supply & demand planning
• Supply & demand planning
• Manufacturing flow management [see article]
• Improve fill rates & ‘perfect order’ delivery

UIPATH.COM | POWERING SUCCESSFUL AUTOMATION 14

 MEASURE

Delivering the end-to-end

automation platform
For the best results, discovery is the first step on your
automation journey. When combined with other
automation and AI solutions, you can quickly achieve real
business transformation. UiPath is the only company to
deliver a completely integrated platform for automation.

The UiPath platform addresses the end-to-end

automation lifecycle by leveraging tools to address
the discover, build, run, manage and engage phases
of your automation program.

WANT TO SEE MORE?

Process mining and automation in a nutshell GOVERN

Watch a demo

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AUTOMATION CLOUDTM ON-PREMISES

15
About UiPath
UiPath has been recognized for a number of years as Mining technology 2021, the Everest Group places UiPath
the global leader in Robotic Process Automation8. Today, as a global leader and star performer in process mining9.
we’re recognized as providing the most comprehensive
discovery and automation platforms turning the promise In conjunction with UiPath Task Mining, UiPath Task
of the Fully Automated Enterprise into a reality. Capture and UiPath Automation Hub, UiPath Process
Mining delivers the most comprehensive solution to
Trusted by hundreds of organizations worldwide, UiPath discover, evaluate, analyze, and monitor your key
Process Mining is one of the most comprehensive and processes. It provides accurate, real-time data to
feature-rich available today. In its PEAK Matrix for Process accelerate and improve your automation program.

What’s next? UiPath Academy

Get started with UiPath process mining Continue learning about automation and
by talking to one of our experts. process mining with our free training courses.
Contact us Enroll now

UiPath “are ahead in developing superior process

mining capabilities, with greater focus on ease of use for
business users, integration with enterprise applications,
accuracy in process model generation, and analytics and
dashboarding capabilities … They have a vision to drive
enterprise performance and improve customer experience
using a data-driven approach to process mining.”
-The Everest Group

UIPATH.COM | POWERING SUCCESSFUL AUTOMATION 16

References
1
https://hbr.org/sponsored/2019/12/how-companies-are-using-intelligent-automation-to-be-more-innovative
2
https://www2.deloitte.com/ru/en/pages/risk/articles/2021/global-process-mining-survey-2021.html
3
https://www.ismworld.org/supply-management-news-and-reports/news-publications/inside-supply-management-
magazine/blog/2018-08/the-monthly-metric-average-purchase-order-processing-cost/
4
https://www.ordermentum.com/blog/the-true-cost-of-late-payments
5
https://www.revenue.io/blog/lead-response-everything-you-need-to-know
6
https://www.cmocouncil.org/thought-leadership/programs/lead-flow-that-helps-you-grow
7
https://insurancefraudbureau.org/media-centre/news/2020/new-data-shows-5-increase-in-detected-fraudulent-
insurance-claims/
8
https://www.uipath.com/blog/rpa/uipath-industry-leader-gartner-rpa-magic-quadrant
9
https://www.uipath.com/resources/automation-analyst-reports/everest-peak-matrix-process-mining

UIPATH.COM | POWERING SUCCESSFUL AUTOMATION 17

 www.uipath.com
©UiPath 2021

UIPATH.COM | POWERING SUCCESSFUL AUTOMATION 18