Introduction
What Data Do You Need?
Process mining works with event logs—records of things that happen in your business systems. The good news: you probably already have this data.
The Three Essential Elements
Every event in your log needs just three things:
| Element | What It Means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Activity | What happened | "Order Placed", "Invoice Sent", "Payment Received" |
| Timestamp | When it happened | "2024-01-15 09:30:00" |
| Case ID | What it happened to | Order #12345, Customer ID, Ticket Number |
That's it. With these three elements, process mining can reconstruct your entire process flow automatically.
Where Does This Data Come From?
You likely already have event logs in:
- ERP systems — SAP, Oracle, NetSuite track every transaction
- CRM platforms — Salesforce, HubSpot log customer interactions
- Support systems — Zendesk, ServiceNow record ticket lifecycles
- Databases — Any system that logs activities with timestamps
- Spreadsheets — Exported transaction logs or activity reports
A Simple Example
Here's what process-ready data looks like:
| Order ID | Timestamp | Activity |
|---|---|---|
| ORD-001 | Jan 15, 9:00am | Order Placed |
| ORD-001 | Jan 15, 10:30am | Payment Confirmed |
| ORD-001 | Jan 16, 2:00pm | Shipped |
| ORD-001 | Jan 18, 11:00am | Delivered |
| ORD-002 | Jan 15, 11:00am | Order Placed |
| ORD-002 | Jan 15, 11:05am | Payment Confirmed |
| ORD-002 | Jan 15, 3:00pm | Shipped |
From this simple table, process mining can show you:
- The typical path orders follow
- How long each step takes
- Which orders deviate from the norm
- Where delays occur
No Perfect Data Required
Your data doesn't need to be perfectly clean. Process mining tools (including Flow Myna) are designed to handle real-world messiness—inconsistent formats, missing values, and varying column names. Just export what you have and let the tool do the heavy lifting.
Process Mining Fundamentals
This is part of a 4-part introduction to process mining:
What is Process Mining?
The basics of data-driven process analysis.
What Data Do You Need?
Event logs, timestamps, and case IDs explained.
Object-Centric Approach
Handle real-world complexity with multiple objects.
What Insights Can You Get?
Bottlenecks, compliance gaps, and optimization opportunities.