Unlocking Full Spectrum Process Intelligence with Apromore Task Mining

In this How-To post, David Obembe breaks down how to use Apromore Task Mining

In every industry, teams interact with software in ways that often go unnoticed—yet can lead to big inefficiencies. While process mining shows the overall flow of your business, it misses the details. What if we could better understand how buttons are clicked and what steps are taken in every task? Task Mining does just that. 

We are introducing Task Mining in Apromore 10.3, and this piece will tell you about it.  

What is Task Mining?

Task mining tracks user interaction data on our PC to reveal the specific steps and UI elements used. This allows us to pinpoint where delays occur, and processes break down. We can optimize workflows, reduce manual effort, and see opportunities for automation. 

What's Unique about Apromore Task Mining 

Apromore has built a reputation as a leader in process mining, but today’s fast-paced business environment demands a deeper understanding of operational nuances. Task Mining bridges this gap by revealing what happens within an application software, providing a complete picture of our operations. 

With Apromore’s Task Mining, you can: 

• Identify and eliminate unnecessary steps, clicks, and application switches. 

• Discover best practices across teams to improve the team’s workflow. 

• Identify and accelerate automation opportunities. 

• Integrate with process log data to get end-to-end visibility. 

For instance, in this process map, we see the activity-level process map for a process involving Salesforce and MS Office applications.

We can navigate to the step level and see the steps in more detail. For instance, we can see that from the Salesforce Case page, we navigate to the Recently Viewed Accounts, Reports page, or Microsoft Word. If none of these steps are expected, this calls for a closer look into why the users take these steps. 

We can also go to the focus elements level to see the buttons clicked or other UI elements that were interacted with. 

How Apromore Task Mining Works? 

With our Task Mining agent, you get: 

1. Privacy-first approach: Our task mining is built with privacy at its core. You determine the level of detail to collect, and you have complete control of what data is collected. Agents only start sending data when they have accepted to join a project. They can also leave the project at any time. 
2. Non-intrusive recording: Our lightweight agent captures user interactions in the background. No additional action is required. 
3. Integration with process mining: Task mining event log can be connected to the broader process-level event log for end-to-end visibility 

Real-World Applications 

Task mining finds use cases across various industries:

In an insurance company, it is not uncommon for an insurance agent to shuffle between Salesforce for logging claims and Microsoft Excel for verifying details. Specific workflows with these software applications may cause hidden delays. With Apromore Task Mining, we can capture how long the customer spends on a window and how many times they copied a text. We can also discover the repetitive transfers or redundant form fills that are slowing down our process. 

Picture a loan origination process where lending officers use a mix of legacy systems and CRM systems. Each manual entry creates bottlenecks that delay approvals. Task Mining can spot these friction points, showing exactly where handoffs and data re-entry occur. With this insight, banks can automate tedious checks and streamline the loan pipelines. 

Retailers use point-of-sale systems and inventory tools to manage daily operations. They often juggle multiple screens to update stock levels and adjust pricing manually during rush hours. Task Mining can record these interactions, uncovering major sources of errors and delays. 

In an order-to-cash process, operators typically use ERP systems (e.g. SAP) to manage and track orders through reception to dispatching but also rely on various applications for quality checks. Task Mining allows you to see what happens in-between two transactions recorded in the ERP system, allowing you to better understand what integrations or automations may be needed to streamline the process. 

Getting Started with Apromore Task Mining 

To get started with Task Mining, click the Task Mining button from the Portal.

Then create projects that track and collect user interaction data with specific software applications. 

To learn more about our task mining capabilities, see our documentation. 

David Obembe