Process discovery: what actually happens
Finds out how the work actually runs, not how the procedure says it does
You automate the real process, not the documented one
Every company has two processes: the one in the procedure and the one people actually run to get through their day.
What you get
You see the unwritten steps
The check done from habit, the intermediate file, the confirming message — the steps written down nowhere.
You find where the time goes
With numbers on each step, not impressions. The surprise is usually not where anyone expected.
Exceptions come to light
The special cases only one person knows are exactly what breaks an automation in month three.
You decide on data
What deserves automating shows up in volume and repetition, not in how loudly somebody complains.
How it works
1. Observation
We sit with people while they work. Not in a meeting where they recall what they do, but while they do it.
2. Digital traces
Where they exist, we look at the data you already have: how many documents, how many emails, how long between steps.
- PostgreSQL
3. The map
The output is a diagram of the real process, with branches, exceptions and the points where things wait.
4. The numbers
Each step gets a volume and a duration. Where we cannot measure, we write that it is an estimate.
Where it works well
- Processes several people run, each slightly differently
- Flows that cross departments
- Work nobody can say how long actually takes
- Situations where the written procedure and reality visibly differ
Where it does not
- It does not replace talking to people — it makes that conversation useful
- A process one person runs monthly is faster to describe than to measure
What we use
- PostgreSQL
Frequently asked questions
- Will people not behave differently if we watch them?
- For the first hour, yes. After that the real work resumes — especially once it is clear we are assessing processes, not people.
- We already have written procedures. Is that enough?
- They are a good starting point. But an automation built on the procedure rather than reality fails at the first case the procedure does not cover.
- Is this an assessment of staff performance?
- No, and we say so to the team explicitly at the start. If it is perceived that way, people hide precisely the exceptions we need.
- How long does it take?
- One to two weeks per process, depending on how many people touch it and how often a day it happens.
- What do we get at the end?
- A map of the real process, numbers on each step and the list of exceptions. They are yours whether or not we work together further.