High-Tech Industry Process Mining Guide

Process Mining for the High-Tech Industry

Product and engineering changes are constant in the high-tech industry, and they can send work through review, approval, and implementation more than once. Upload an event log to see how engineering change orders move through your operation, where cases wait or repeat activities, and how much rework adds to cycle time. You can map the process and simulate proposed changes before rollout.

Why focus on engineering change orders?

Engineering changes are necessary as designs, requirements, and production needs evolve. But each change can trigger more reviews, handoffs, or corrections. A process diagram shows the intended route; event data reveals the paths cases actually take.

For high-tech companies, measuring those paths helps you separate necessary reviews from avoidable repetition. It also gives operations and engineering change leads a shared basis for deciding what to investigate.

How do you measure rework per case?

Start with an exported event log for one engineering change process. Each record should include the case, activity, and timestamp. Add useful attributes, such as product, team, or change type, if your data includes them.

Define rework as an activity repeated within the same case. For example, if an engineering change order returns to “Review” after that activity has already occurred, count it as one repeat review. Apply the same rule across cases, then compare repeat counts and elapsed time by case or variant.

The rule matters: a repeated activity is a practical measure of rework, but it does not explain why the work happened again. Review the cases behind the count to determine whether the repeat was required or avoidable.

What can process mining show?

Process mining reconstructs the paths recorded in your event data. For an engineering change order flow, you can use it to:

• Compare the routes cases take from initiation to completion.
• Find activities with long waits or repeated execution.
• Measure cycle time across variants, teams, or product groups when those attributes are available.
• See where cases diverge from the documented process.

Your findings depend on the events and attributes in your log. Process mining shows what the data records; it cannot determine whether a change was technically necessary. For a closer look at the analysis, see how to analyze your process.

How do you map the process?

Use your findings in ProcessMind to document the current flow and agree on a target process. With BPMN modeling, you can show activities, handoffs, decisions, and exceptions to process owners and analysts.

Compare the model with the variants in your event log. This gives your team a concrete way to discuss where the documented process differs from day-to-day work. You can also read about combining process modeling and process mining.

How can you test a change before rollout?

Once you identify a bottleneck or repeated step, define a specific change to evaluate. You might try a different routing rule, fewer handoffs, or a change to how work is assigned. The right scenario depends on your process and available data.

Use process simulation to compare scenarios and assess their potential effects on cycle time and capacity before rollout. Simulation helps you evaluate a proposed process design; it does not implement the change or guarantee an outcome. See the simulation documentation for details on comparing scenarios.

Test the change before rollout

What data do you need to get started?

Choose one engineering change flow and export the event data needed to trace each case. At minimum, include:

• A case ID for each engineering change order.
• An activity name for each recorded step.
• A timestamp for each event.

Add attributes such as product, team, or change type when they are available and relevant to your question. Start with a focused measure, such as repeat reviews per case or cycle time by process variant. The event log guide explains how to prepare your data.

What should you investigate first?

Review the most common paths, then compare them with cases that have repeated activities or long waits. Ask whether each repeat is part of the required review process, a correction, or a handoff issue. Use the answer to choose a change worth testing.

If your work includes production operations as well as engineering changes, see the manufacturing use case.

Quantify rework in one flow