The Ultimate Guide to Process Mining in SAP: Everything You Need to Know in 2024

Have you ever felt in the dark when trying to understand your key business processes? You‘re not alone. Many SAP users struggle to gain clear visibility into their finance, HR, and operational processes.

That‘s where process mining comes in. When combined with SAP, process mining illuminates your end-to-end processes, creating transparency that drives major improvements.

In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll explore how to leverage process mining for SAP, walk through use cases, and give recommendations to get started. Let‘s dive in!

What is Process Mining and How Does it Work with SAP?

First, let‘s briefly explain process mining and how it integrates with SAP.

A Quick Introduction to Process Mining

Process mining uses data logged by information systems to discover, analyze and improve processes. It connects events from across systems to model your as-is processes and reveal insights like:

• Process variants
• Throughput times
• Costs
• Bottlenecks

Key capabilities include:

• Process discovery – Mapping current processes
• Conformance checking – Comparing actual vs designed processes
• Enhancement – Identifying improvement opportunities

Leading solutions include Celonis, UiPath Process Mining, Signavio, and more.

SAP – A Crucial Data Source for Process Mining

SAP is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform used by over 400,000 organizations. It centralizes data across departments into a single system covering:

• Financials – General ledger, AR/AP, controlling, treasury
• HR – Payroll, recruitment, employee data
• Supply chain – Inventory, procurement, production
• Business intelligence – Reporting, analytics

With processes end-to-end in SAP, it serves as a vital data source for understanding how your business really operates using process mining.

4 Benefits of Combining Process Mining and SAP

Integrating process mining into your SAP landscape unlocks numerous benefits:

1. Smoother ERP Migration

According to 2021 research by TechTarget, nearly 50% of organizations plan to migrate ERP systems within the next two years.

Process mining plays a key role in migration by providing transparency before, during and after cutover. It enables you to:

• Understand current processes – Map processes comprehensively pre-migration
• Standardize processes – Optimize and align processes to best practices
• Monitor go-live – Continuously audit processes during transition

This ensures integrity and smooth adoption of your new ERP.

2. Boosted Efficiency

Ongoing process mining in SAP enables data-driven process improvements. According to Deloitte, process mining typically generates 10-20% gains in efficiency.

It reveals process variants, throughput times, costs, and other trends. Armed with these insights, you can:

• Simulate new scenarios – Model the impact of process changes
• Reduce costs – Streamline handoffs and avoid rework
• Cut cycle times – Eliminate bottlenecks and delays

The result? Lower costs, faster execution, and higher quality.

3. Continuous Monitoring

While early process mining initiatives provide a snapshot, business processes constantly evolve. New issues can creep up undetected.

Integrating process mining into SAP allows continuous process auditing to identify problems as they arise. You gain an always-up-to-date view.

4. Prioritized Automation Opportunities

According to McKinsey, 60% of occupations could automate 30% or more of activities using current technology.

Process mining pinpoints the specific steps to automate based on metrics like frequency, duration, and errors. This allows you to build a business case and maximize automation ROI.

Real-World Use Cases

Process mining in SAP applies broadly across business functions. Here are key examples.

HR Process Optimization

SAP HCM provides employee data, payroll information, recruitment status and more. Process mining uses this data to improve HR operations.

For a global bank, process mining reduced HR case resolution time by 20% in 6 months by revealing steps adding the most delay.

It also enabled the HR shared services center to handle 20% more cases with the same headcount.

Manufacturing and Supply Chain Visibility

SAP modules provide live production data, inventory levels, supply chain execution status and more.

Process mining fills blind spots in manufacturing and supply chain processes. It identifies issues like:

• Inventory gaps causing shortages
• Production downtime reducing output
• Delivery delays impacting customers

With end-to-end visibility, you can continuously improve supply chain execution.

Automating Order-to-Cash

Order-to-cash (O2C) is a core SAP process flowing from order entry to fulfillment to payment. It involves sales, production, shipping and accounting.

For a manufacturing firm, process mining helped to:

• Model the current O2C process end-to-end
• Identify the top areas for automation based on duration and frequency
• Build a business case justifying RPA implementation

The initiative reduced O2C cycle time by 25% within the first year.

Auditing Procure-to-Pay

Procure-to-pay (P2P) is another critical ERP process spanning procurement, AP, suppliers and stakeholders.

A retailer used process mining for the P2P audit. It revealed:

• 72% of invoices processed differently than the standard
• Significant delays in particular departments
• Over $4M in duplicate payments over 12 months

These insights drove redesign of the P2P process and controls.

3 Challenges to Consider

While impactful, there are challenges to consider when adopting process mining in SAP:

1. Data Complexity in SAP Systems

SAP contains enormous transactional data. Preparing this unstructured data for process mining can require significant upfront work.

Carefully evaluate data structure, storage and accessibility early when planning your process mining initiative.

2. Stakeholder Buy-In Across Functions

Since SAP spans functions like finance, HR and supply chain, process mining requires buy-in across the business.

Plan for executive sponsorship, change management and continuous training to drive adoption. Market the benefits specific to each group’s pain points.

3. Time and Resource Constraints

Integrating any new tool into an IT landscape requires resources. Process mining is no exception.

Secure the budget and skills needed for the integration project to avoid delays. Assign dedicated staff and leverage vendor expertise.

While challenging, the payoff makes overcoming these obstacles worthwhile.

How Do I Get Started with Process Mining in SAP?

Ready to dive into process mining for your SAP environment? Here are tips to drive success:

Find a Business Sponsor from the C-Suite

Executive sponsorship helps secure the resources and buy-in needed across groups. Identify a champion who grasps process mining‘s potential.

Involve IT Early

Collaborate with IT teams from the start to plan the technical integration. Understand SAP data structure, accessibility, and any limitations.

Start with a Targeted Use Case

Prove the value with a targeted pilot addressing a pain point before expanding. The HR and O2C examples above provide inspiration.

Choose the Right Process Mining Tool

Leading vendors include Celonis, UiPath Process Mining, Minit and others. Evaluate process mining software to fit your needs.

Let‘s Improve Your SAP Processes

Process mining is a game-changer for SAP users seeking visibility into their core business processes. It powers improvements across finance, HR, supply chain and more.

From supporting smooth ERP migration to boosting efficiency 10-20%, the benefits are substantial. Automation initiatives and continuous process monitoring also get a leg up.

However, be ready to secure executive sponsorship, plan the technical integration, and overcome change management hurdles. Those who put in the work will reap the rewards.

Now equipped with a complete guide, are you ready to connect process mining to your SAP systems? Reach out if you need help getting started or finding the right process mining partner. We‘re here to guide you.