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Process discovery isn't just about interviewing stakeholders and observing workflows—sometimes the best insights come from digital footprints left behind by actual process executions. In this hands-on lab, you'll step into the role of a process mining analyst using Apromore's demo datasets and sample logs to uncover hidden patterns, bottlenecks, and variations that traditional discovery methods might miss.

Getting Started

Lab Exercise

Download the tutorial dataset: Procure-to-Pay Download Procure-to-Payand load it into Apromore.

Then, work through the Apromore interface to answer these seven questions using the procure-to-pay event log:

1. Which activity is the waiting time bottleneck?
   1. Approve Purchase Order.
   2. Confirm Purchase Order.
   3. Analyze Request for Q
   4. Amend Request for Quotation.
   5. Choose best option.
      
2. Which of the following activities are part of a rework loop?
   1. Amend Request for Quotation
   2. Settle PO dispute with supplier.
   3. Choose best option.
   4. A and B
   5. A and C
      
3. Which of the following activities occurs in a large number of cases?
   1. Settle dispute with supplier.
   2. Confirm purchase order.
   3. Create Purchase Requisition.
   4. Request Additional Info from Vendor.
   5. Pay invoice.

For the next four questions, the event log has been split into variants. One log contains all cases where the procure-to-pay process took less than four weeks. This is called the fast variant. The second log should contain all cases where the process took more than four weeks. This is called the slow variant.

Please download both logs here:

• Procure-to-Pay asis_fast.csvDownload Procure-to-Pay asis_fast.csv
• Procure-to-Pay asis_slow.csvDownload Procure-to-Pay asis_slow.csv

Given these two logs, answer the following questions using Apromore variant comparison tool:

1. What is the average case duration (also called cycle time) of each of these two variants of the process?
   1. Fast variant – 1.36 weeks and slow variants – 2.85 months.
   2. Fast variant – 1.22 weeks and slow variants – 2.35 months.
   3. Fast variant – 1.12 weeks and slow variants – 2.19 months.
   4. Fast variant – 1.05 weeks and slow variants – 2.52 months.
   5. None of the above.
      
2. What activity occurred in only the fast case but not the slow case?
   1. Amend Request for Quotation
   2. Settle PO dispute with supplier.
   3. Request Additional Info from Vendor.
   4. Pay invoice.
   5. Amend Purchase Requisition
      
3. What was the average duration of this new activity?
   1. 36 minutes.
   2. 2 minutes.
   3. 05 minutes.
   4. 57 minutes.
   5. None of the above.
      
4. What was the difference in the average duration of the transition from 'Create Small Request for Quotation' to 'Analyze Request for Quotation' between the two variants?
   1. The waiting time is 1.3 days in the fast variant and 4 days in the slow variant.
   2. The waiting time is 2.8 days in the fast variant and 3.03 weeks in the slow variant.
   3. The waiting time is 20 days in the fast variant and 7.1 months in the slow variant.
   4. There is no difference in the average duration.
   5. None of the above.

Deliverables

Part 1: Tutorial Exercise Responses

• Answer all 7 questions with supporting Apromore screenshots, briefly documenting your analysis process. Note: It’s okay if you get some answers incorrect. Review the feedback in the tutorial and work through it again so that you become comfortable with the software!

Part 2: Tool Experience Evaluation: Reflect on your hands-on experience with Apromore:

• Usability: How intuitive was the interface? What was easy vs. challenging?
• Learning curve: How quickly could you navigate between different analysis views?
• Feature effectiveness: Which Apromore capabilities (process discovery, performance analysis, variant comparison) were most valuable?
• Professional application: Could you see yourself using this tool in your current/future role? In what specific contexts?
• Comparison to expectations: How did the actual tool experience compare to what you imagined process mining would be like?

Part 4: Process Mining Value: Based on your hands-on experience:

• Objective Analysis: What makes event log analysis more objective than other discovery methods?
• Hidden Patterns: What surprised you about the actual process execution vs. what you might expect?
• Implementation considerations: What organizational prerequisites would be needed to implement process mining successfully?

Practical Application: How would you present these findings to organizational leadership?