Unlocking Your Potential Through

Process Discovery

all business processes

triage - reject

assessment - reject

automation
candidates

define, design and deploy

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Table of Contents

1. Training Summary

2. Principles of Process Discovery Methodology

3. Governance Considerations

4. Process Inventory Management

5. Triage, Assessment and Analysis

 Process Discovery
Training Summary

Process Process
Discovery Discovery
Governance Management

Methodology
Training
PROCESS
DISCOVERY
METHODOLOGY

Discovery
Training

Process Process
Triage Analysis

Process
Assessment

1.
 Process Discovery
Principles of Process Discovery Methodology
A successful Process Discovery Methodology must encompass the entire automation timeline.
To guide you in your planning, we have constructed four key principles that should underpin
all Process Discovery activity.

PRINCIPLE METHOD RATIONALE

1
Apply the right level of knowledge The automation of a process is a
GOVERNANCE and experience to each business change and therefore,
decision-making stage. good governance practices need to
be implemented.
Embed good Integrate the governance of process
governance to ensure discovery into your overall RPA The main reason for this is to
that the best decisions for governance. ensure that all impacts on the
the organization are made organization are fully understood
consistently and accepted.

2
PROCESS
INVENTORY MGMT.
Create and
actively manage your
inventory of processes
to build confidence
through transparency
and auditability
Create a unique identifier for each
process, so it can be tracked from
start-to-end of its automation
lifecycle.
Instigate active management,
driven by accountability for the
outputs.
Like a sales lead or piece of material
in manufacturing, it is critical to
know where it starts from and
where it finishes such that the
value to the business can be
determined and organizational
learning enabled.

3
Determine how each activity will be Robust monitoring of Process
EFFORT executed consistently, and by who. Discovery performance ensures you
VERSES REWARD Split the Process Discovery into can define, recognize and
three clear stages: process triage; implement triggers for action, at
Be strict on process assessment; and process the earliest opportunity.
where you spend your analysis.
time to ensure you Have definitive criteria for
balance effort with progressing a process from one
reward stage to the next.

4
Embed a robust, data-driven This enables increased accuracy in
CONTINUOUS process for reviewing and learning your decisions and in the way you
IMPROVEMENT from past activities. approach your wider organization
Measure key metrics to inform to solicit processes for Process
Make continuous performance. Discovery.
improvement a
behaviour to maximize Review processes that have been It also allows processes to be
the opportunities to discovered but not automated at re-assessed as your capability
increase your return on regular intervals. matures and / or your organization
investment changes.

2.
 Process Discovery

governance strategy
Governance Considerations
Process Discovery is the inlet to the automation lifecycle and a robust
governance strategy is essential for achieving maximum returns.
Strong governance can help you to plan the most direct route to
success and to make the right decisions as your organization evolves.

GOVERNANCE BOARD
The Robotic Operating Model (ROM) sets the requirement for an RPA Governance Board. This Board should
oversee the direction and decisions for Process Discovery. This is critical because Process Discovery needs to
be aligned with the strategic objectives of your automation capability, and your organization.

BOARD DECISIONS - to ensure Process Discovery radiates far beyond the automation capability and into the
wider organization, it is recommended that the Board is held accountable for the following decisions:

Process Discovery Methodology - the framework you need to operate within;

Setting of acceptance criteria for a process to move into development. For example, the process must return
a minimum of 30,000 hours per year – if the business case is based on operational cost savings;
Approval of the automation road map, which should set out how you will expand process discovery into the
wider organization;
Approval and prioritization of processes discovered for development;

Approval of roles and responsibilities for those involved in process analysis.

CHANGE MANAGEMENT CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

Blue Prism is a transformational change
that requires executives, senior
management, and process operators to
support it. Effective management of
this change maximizes the supply of
opportunities for your automation
programme.
Governance of Process Discovery should drive continuous
improvement through performance monitoring (i.e.
forecast vs actual), eliciting feedback from the
organization, and managing the change process. This is
essential to ensure that Process Discovery matures with
the rest of the automation capability, building on learned
practices and experience.

Effectively defining roles and

PROCESS responsibilities is critical.
ANALYST LEAD
HEAD OF Approves progression of PROCESS
AUTOMATION each process at each stage, ANALYST
Chair of the presents the business case to Takes each process
Governance Board the Board, responsible for the through the Process
and responsible for performance management Discovery and ensures
evangelizing Process of Process Discovery the methodology is
Discovery. competence. followed.

3.
 Process Discovery This sheet documents
the three fundamental
mechanisms required for
Process Inventory Management Process Inventory Management

Process Inventory Management can be viewed as putting in place the infrastructure that enables effective
programme or portfolio management of the opportunities for automation.
It is also the platform from which reporting can be done, to ensure that the value of your automation
programme is communicated to your business.

1
CREATING A UNIQUE ID
Define an ID structure that is applicable across your organization and
through the funnel, and that means something to the informed.

EXAMPLE - [Geography]-[Department]-[Level 1 Build a library of identifiers

process]-[Level 2 process numerical identifier] relevant to your
organization.
“UK-FIN-CRDM-01” decoded:
This can be done
UK = United Kingdom, incrementally at each stage,
FIN = Finance Department, but must be aimed at
CRDM = Credit Management Process, avoiding duplication and /
01 – First level 2 process). or inconsistencies.

2 The system could be an Excel

TRACKING SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
spreadsheet or an automated
Naturally, you need to store this data somewhere and so, require some
workflow. Provided the below are
sort of a system. The key requirements for a tracking system are:
satisfied, tracking should be possible.

Accessible to key users,

Easy to manage Change controlled
e.g. process analysts

3 Define key data to be captured at each stage of the

ATTACHING DATA TO GENERATE INSIGHT
automation lifecycle. Ensure progress or status measures can
To ensure that the necessary data is captured
only be selected from a pre-defined list, e.g. the status of an
to generate insight:
assessed process may be: Pending, Accepted, Rejected.

Conversion rate of processes to automation (at each stage of Process Discovery); Determine the
key metrics and
Effectiveness of methodology (for continuous improvement);
what these
Benefit opportunity forecast versus actual; mean, these
could include:
Accuracy in forecasting;
Average benefit realised per process (to enable programme level forecasting);

Breakdown of processes across regions and functions;

Heat map of automation across the organization;

Prioritization of next stages of expansion into new areas of the organization.

4.
 Process Discovery
Triage, Assessment and Analysis (pg.1 of 2)

To solicit opportunities to feed your pipeline, it is critical to identify your target market, qualify
your leads, and present an offering.
In Process Discovery terms, this is process triage, process assessment and process analysis.
Getting these stages right, will maximize the pipeline of opportunity available to your business.

PROCESS TRIAGE

Identifying the level 1 processes that would be good candidates

for automation and prioritizing the organizational road map.

We recommend a top-down
approach to build a ‘heat Complexity of Technology Infrastructure Level of digitization
map’ of your organization,
working at process level 1.
Criteria to be considered for Maturity and complexity of processes Level of Throughput
this may include:

The higher the degree of each, the greater the automation potential. Collect this information from executive and
senior management. Ensure time by focussing on level 1 processes and strategic objectives
Prioritizing which area(s) on the heat map to focus on in the next stage, process assessment, should then be based
upon the likelihood of meeting your strategic objectives. Criteria to be considered for this may include:

Revenue Business Customer Risk

Generation Improvement Satisfaction Mitigation

When initializing, it is recommended that the focus is only on one area and this is gradually expanded. For more
mature capabilities, the focus may shift to multiple areas simultaneously and / or processes that span multiple areas.

PROCESS ASSESSMENT

Surfacing the required information, to enable selection of the

processes that are highly likely to be automated by your organization.

We recommend assessing each level 2 process along three key dimensions:

AUTOMATION EASE OF BENEFIT

POTENTIAL IMPLEMENTATION OPPORTUNITY

Level of digitization, Complexity of Strategic objective or

maturity of processes, technology infrastructure, reason for automating,
level of throughput, security access, e.g. risk mitigation,
complexity of technology automation experience, operational cost reduction,
infrastructure quality assurance talent enablement

This should be achievable at a conversational level by a Process Analyst with the Subject Matter
5. Expert (SME) for the process and take between 10 – 20 minutes per process.
 Process Discovery
Triage, Assessment and Analysis (pg.2 of 2)

PROCESS ASSESSMENT (cont.)

If process assessment is performed correctly, then the processes selected for process analysis should have a
very high likelihood of being put into production. This generally requires one of two combinations to exist:

high automation potential high automation potential

and easy to implement with a significant benefit opportunity

Depending on your organization’s drivers

PROCESS ANALYSIS

The aim of process analysis is to provide

Confirming or rejecting the process for automation, binary answers to three key questions:
and enabling the business case to be finalized.

Can it be automated? Shoud it be automated?

Only a process with 3 yes’s
should be automated.
Will automation deliver a real benefit to the business?

We recommend that process

analysis follows a natural
progression from process
assessment - broadly taking ALL BUSINESS PROCESSES
Process

into consideration the same

Triage

criteria, with the addition of Automation Triage

very detailed records of each Screen all business processes to enable
triaging of processes more suitable for
process from technical and automation than not
commercial perspectives. We
PROCESS DISCOVERY

also recommend that an Automation Assessment

“Application Assessment” is Assess automatability of process
Assessment

done for each new application based on automation potential

Process

introduced to the automation and ease of implementation

capability.
Benefit Opportunity
A full walk-through of each Assessment
process should be done by a Assess potential
benefit opportunity
Process Analyst with the Subject
Matter Expert (SME). To capture
integration requirements, it may Initial Process
Analysis
Process

Analysis (IPA)
also be prudent to involve Blue
Full walk-through to analyze
Prism Developers and Operators process to inform prioritization
/ SMEs for any processes that based on business case
will precede or follow each
process.

Analysis may take between 2-4 hours per process, depending on the complexity of the process.
6.
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Email: info@blueprism.com

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