Explore a Process

This page applies to business users. It describes how to gain a deeper understanding of an individual business process.

Overview

In Process HQ, exploring a process helps you get familiar with how the process actually operates before you start drilling down into specific patterns and issues in the workflow.

How to explore

To start exploring, simply click the name of the process in the process list on the Process Insights page. By default, the process opens in the current tab. To explore in a new tab, instead, click the more menu for the process, then select Open in New Tab.

Business processes can be complex, so we initially present you with your data at the highest level.

For example, here's the Process Insights page showing you all data associated with a process:

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The header displays the name and brief description of the process, in this example, "Customer Onboarding" and "Investor onboarding process". You can also see the total number of cases included in the process you're viewing. In this example, the Customer Onboarding process has been started 7,799 times, so that's how many cases there are.

The page also includes the EXPLORE DATA FOR THIS PROCESS section. This section contains tabs where you can view data aggregation and analysis for the cases in the selected time period.

This section is present at the process, view, and KPI levels of exploration. The section label changes to indicate your current exploration level. For example, if you're looking at a view, the label would be EXPLORE DATA FOR THIS VIEW.

Here, we recommend that you:

• Review the process diagram to get a sense of the process structure.
• Review the list of case attributes to acquaint yourself with the common characteristics of the process.
• Review the list of cases to see the specific cases that underpin the analysis you're viewing.

By default, we present your process data unrestricted by time period, but as you identify what you want to focus on, set the time period accordingly.

Next, take a look at what the system is automatically highlighting about this process by reviewing the system-provided All Cases view and its pinned KPIs.

You can also check out what your fellow analysts have identified as important:

• Pinned views and KPIs.
• Conformance and cost analysis.
• Saved insights.

Exploring starts at the process level, but as you understand your process better, you can start to create your own views and KPIs and continue exploring at those levels. The common elements of the levels mean you can easily compare data at different levels.

You can also start looking closer at specific characteristics by viewing details about a process part or a case attribute value.

Then, at the view and KPI levels, you can also take the next step in improving your process: drilling down on those specific characteristics of the process to take advantage of the advanced analysis Process HQ offers.

Elements by exploration level

The table below summarizes elements that are common to each level of data you can explore in the Process Insights page. Some data and the related actions are only relevant at certain levels, so the table also calls out elements that are only available at specific levels.

Element	Process	View	KPI
Section: EXPLORE DATA
Process Diagram	Yes	Yes	Yes
Case Attributes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Case List	Yes	Yes	Yes
All Views	Yes	No	No
Conformance and Costs	No	Yes	No
All KPIs	No	Yes	No
All Insights/Insights	No	Yes	Yes
Trend	No	No	Yes
Section: PINNED VIEWS
Views	Yes	No	No
Section: PINNED KPIS
KPIs	No	Yes	No

Current context

As you're exploring, keep in mind that the data you see depends on the current context.

The current context consists of the filters inherited from higher exploration levels, including the time period that's currently set.

The context changes automatically as you move from process to view to KPI, showing you an increasingly filtered set of data.

To see a list of filters on the data you're currently exploring, click Show applied filters in the page header. This list can include filters from the view configuration, KPI configuration, and KPI filters.

Set the time period

By default, the time period for the data you see as you explore is All Time.

As you identify specific periods of time to focus on, you can use the Time Period option to set a more relevant period. This option is present in the header of any Process Insights page.

The time period you select lasts for the current session of the process, even when you switch exploration levels within the process. At the end of your session, the time period returns to the default range of All Time.

The time period you have selected when you save an insight helps to define the insight. Learn more about insights.

To set the time period for data displaying on a page:

1. In the page header, click the Time Period value. A dropdown list of time periods displays.

   

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2. Select one of the predefined time periods, or select Custom Date Range and specify From and To dates.

   Data in the page updates to reflect the selected range.

   As you're reviewing the updated data, keep in mind the following:

   • You will see only as much process data as is currently available. Under certain conditions, this might make data in a specific time period look incomplete. For example, if you select Last Month but data is only available for the first two weeks of the month, you will see only two weeks of data.

   • You might see data for activities that occur prior to the start date selected for the time period. A case is included in the time period if the last activity in that case takes place before the time period's end date. However, activities associated with that case can occur prior to the time period's start date.

     

     For example, in the illustration above, Case 1 is included in the time period, because it ends before the time period's end date. However, Case 1 includes activities occuring prior to the time period's start date, so you will see data about those earlier activities.

Review the process diagram

The Process Diagram tab in the EXPLORE DATA FOR THIS PROCESS section allows you to see how the process actually operates. This tool allows you to understand the standard flow of your process and, importantly, identify where the process occurs in atypical or alternative ways.

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As you're reviewing the process diagram, look at:

• Activities: Does Activity A occur in your process when you know it represents an unwanted outcome?
• Sequences: Did Activity A follow Activity B, when B should follow A?
• Loops: Did the process continue through Activity A, B, and C, but then loop back to Activity B again?
• Repetitions: Did Activity A happen twice in a row?

In the process diagram, activities are shown as nodes, and sequences, loops, and repetitions are shown as the connectors between them.

Each connector and node is accompanied by relevant metrics, so you can easily compare parts of the process to each other. The size and color of the connector or node can also indicate helpful information. Depending on your app configuration, nodes can also display icons indicating the primary type of automation that completed the activity.

You can adjust the complexity of the process diagram to see the less common paths your process might take.

You can also click on a connector or node to view additional details about the sequence or activity. If you're looking at details in a view, you can also create a count or duration KPI from the process diagram.

Metrics

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The following table describes the metrics that display beside connectors and nodes in the process diagram. Keep in mind that these metrics always reflect the current context.

Metric	Description	Connector	Node
Sequence occurrence count	How many times the sequence occurs in the current context.	Yes
Average duration of the sequence	How long (on average) the sequence takes to complete in the current context.	Yes
Occurrence or case count	How many times the sequence or activity occurs in the current context, or how many times cases with the sequence or activity occur in the current context. This metric is only present for count KPIs, and the count you see depends on whether the KPI tracks occurrences or cases.	Yes	Yes
Activity occurrence count	How many times the activity occurs in the current context.		Yes
Average duration of the activity	How long (on average) the activity takes to complete in the current context. This metric is only present if your event data includes a start timestamp and an end timestamp.		Yes
Automation percentage	What percent of occurrences of the activity was performed by an automation. This metric is only present when viewing the process diagram of the Automation Rate KPI.		Yes

Size

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The size of the nodes and the connectors between them represent how frequently the activity or sequence occurred. This helps you quickly see how often activities occur in relation to one another.

For example:

• Activity Frequency: If one activity occurs 200 times and another occurs 100 times, the radius of the activity node that occurs 200 times is twice as large as the radius of the activity node that occurs 100 times.
• Sequence Frequency: If 500 cases follow the sequence between one activity node and another, the connector for that sequence is 5 times thicker than a connector that only 100 cases follow.

Color

The color of connectors and nodes are a neutral grey when you view the process diagrams for count and aggregation KPIs.

Everywhere else, the color of these elements can indicate additional information:

• Relative duration: The process diagram shows duration data when you're exploring a process, view, or time duration KPI.

  The connector color represents the average duration of the sequence based on the minimum and maximum values in the process data. Connectors with an average duration closer to the minimum are blue, and connectors with an average duration closer to the maximum are red.

  For example:

  

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  The color of activity nodes follows this same pattern if your event data includes start and end timestamps, but is uniformly grey if your event data includes a single timestamp.
  
  

• Relative automation: If your process data contains events with an Automation attribute, the process diagram shows automation data in addition to duration data when you view it for the Automation Rate KPI.

  In a diagram showing automation data, connectors are uniformly grey, but node colors signal whether the automation percentage is higher or lower for occurrences of that activity in comparison to the other activities in the diagram. Nodes with a higher automation percentage are blue, and nodes with a lower automation percentage are red.

  For example:

  

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Icon

The icon displayed on the node indicates what type of automation is primarily responsible for completing the activity: Human (no automation), RPA, AI, Integration, AI Agent, or Other. Hover over the icon to see a full breakdown automation types that complete the activity.

Complexity

The process diagram can be very complex for certain processes, so you can progressively show more detail.

Overview displays only the most common activities and sequences in your business process. For example:

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As you navigate from Basic through Advanced, the diagram includes more sequences where activities were skipped, looped, or repeated.

Full displays all sequences in your business process. For example:

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By default, the Basic version of the diagram is active when you open a process view.

When you're ready to look closer at a specific sequence, click that connector in the diagram to view additional details—and even create a KPI. If your event data includes a start timestamp and an end timestamp, you can also click on any node

View process part details

To view details for a sequence or activity, click the connector or node in the process diagram. You can only click on nodes if your event data includes a start timestamp and an end timestamp.

These details give you the key information you need to understand how the selected sequence or activity affects the process and decide if you need to drill down on attributes for the related cases.

If you're looking at details in a view, you can click EXPLORE COUNT or EXPLORE DURATION to create a count or duration KPI related to the process part.

The data you see in the details dialog depends on the current context. For example:

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Metrics

The Metrics section displays relevant statistics for this part of the process within the current context.

Metric	Description
Cases with occurrences	The total number of cases that include this activity or sequence, along with what percent those cases are of all cases in the current context. For example, in the image above, 6,374 cases include a financial review and make up 100% of cases in the current view.
Occurrences	The total number of times the activity or sequence occurs in the cases in the current context. For example, in the image above, the Financial Review activity occurs 8,465 times in cases associated with this view. Because activities and sequences can occur multiple times in a single case, occurrences are typically a higher number than the associated case count. Depending on the expected structure of your process, a higher occurrence count may indicate rework and a process inefficiency you can work to improve.
Avg. occurrences per case	The average number of times the activity or sequence occurs in each case in the current context. For example, in the image above, the Financial Review activity occurred an average of 1.32 times in cases associated with this view.
Duration (Average)	The average duration of this activity or sequence when it occurs in cases in the current context. For example, in the image above, the Financial Review activity takes an average of 29 minutes and 57 seconds.
Total Duration	The total duration of all occurrences of this part in cases in the current context. For example, in the image above, it took 5 months and 3 weeks to handle all occurrences of the Financial Review activity.

Duration visualizations

The tabs in the details view display visualizations to help you understand important aspects of the process data. You can also view a list of cases with the selected process part in the Cases tab.

The visualizations in this section include:

• Duration Comparison
• Duration Distribution
• Duration Trend

Review case attributes

The Case Attributes tab of the EXPLORE DATA FOR THIS PROCESS section lists attributes for cases in this view in the selected date range.

If you have a lot of attributes and want to narrow down what you see, select the checkboxes next to specific attributes in the Search pane. The table will update to display only the attribute values that match your selection.

For example:

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This table includes the following columns:

Column	Description
Attribute Value	The value of the attribute.
Attribute Name	The name of the attribute.
Case Count	A count of the cases with the attribute value in the current context. If you're viewing the table while exploring a count KPI, this column also includes a bar graph showing how the case count for this attribute value compares to the case count of other attribute values in the list. The longer the bar, the higher the case count in comparison to other values.
Duration	(Process, view, and Duration KPI levels only) The average duration of cases with the attribute value in the current context, and a bar graph that shows how the duration for this attribute value compares to the duration of other attribute values in the list. The longer the bar, the higher the duration in comparison to other values.

View attribute value details

In the case attributes list, click an attribute value to view a details dialog for that value. These details give you the key information you need to understand how the selected attribute affects the process and decide if you need to drill down further.

The data you see in the details dialog depends on the current context.

The details dialog includes the following elements:

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Element	Description
1	Potential Reduction section	(KPIs only) Estimates the potential time saved each year if cases with the selected attribute were improved to meet the target duration in the current context. Learn more about this calculation.
2	Metrics section	Displays relevant data points to aid in assessment, including: Cases with this characteristic: Number and percentage of cases with the selected attribute. Duration (Average): The average time to close cases with the selected attribute.
3	Visualizations tabs	Offers new perspectives on the attribute data in the following tabs: Duration Comparison Duration Distribution Duration Trend Case List
4	START DRILLING DOWN button	(KPIs only) Start drilling down on the case attribute. This button is only present if you're viewing details in a KPI.

Review the case list

To view a list of cases, go to the Case List tab on the Process Insights page.

This tab is available at the process, view, and KPI levels of exploration. The cases you see in the list depend on the current context.

Use the search box to search the list by case ID.

For example:

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The case list consists of the following standard columns:

Column	Description
Case ID	The unique identifier of the case.
Start	The timestamp of the first activity in the case.
End	The timestamp of the last activity in the case.
Duration	The time the case took to complete; that is, the length of time between the first activity in the case and the last activity in the case.
Total Activity Duration	The total time spent completing activities in this case. This value is only available if your event data includes a start timestamp and an end timestamp. Otherwise, this value cannot be calculated and appears as zero.
Total Sequence Duration	The total amount of process time spent moving between activities. For example, in a Customer Onboarding process, this total would include the time spent between the end of one activity (a Know Your Customer review) and the start of the next activity (Financial Document Verification). This value can only be meaningfully calculated if your event data includes a start timestamp and an end timestamp. Otherwise, this value is equal to the case duration.

Additional columns appear in the list for each attribute included in the process.

Review views and KPIs

When you're exploring at the process level, you'll see a PINNED VIEWS section that displays the system-provided All Cases view and any views that you or your colleagues pinned for the process.

For each pinned view, you'll see previews of the KPIs pinned to that view.

For example:

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Early on in your organization's exploration of this process, the PINNED VIEWS section is likely to contain only the default All Cases view with previews of the system-provided KPIs.

As you get to know your process better, it will become clearer how you want to divide your cases into segments for deeper analysis. For each useful segment, you can create a custom view and pin it to the process for easy access. You can also see all views associated with a process by going to the All Views tab of the Process Insights page when you're exploring data at the process level.

As you identify characteristics of your cases that you want to track, you can also create your own KPIs and customize which KPIs display for each view.

Review conformance and costs

If your organization has defined the expected activity order and activity costs for a process, the Conformance and Costs tab for each view of that process provides the following information:

• Conformance rate: How often activities occur in the order you expect.
• Cost: How much money those activities collectively cost your organization.

If your process contains events with an Automation attribute, this tab also includes information about how often activities were performed by an automation, known as the automation rate.

At the top of the tab, you'll see the following system-provided KPIs:

• Total Cost
• Total Case Conformance

Next, you'll see a breakdown of conformance rate, cost, and automation rate by activity.

This breakdown can display as either a grid or a chart. To toggle between displays, click the icon in the top right corner of the tab.

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The toggle is only available if activity costs and the expected activity order are defined for the process.

Grid display

The grid display consists of a list of the unique activities in your process, along with activity-related statistics.

For example:

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This grid contains the following columns:

Column	Description
Activity	The activity for which the statistics are calculated. Click the name to drill down on the conformance rate for this activity.
Duration	How long (on average) the activity takes when it occurs in cases in this view.
Activity Count	The number of times the activity occurs in cases in this view.
Cost	The total cost of all occurrences of the activity in the current view. This calculation is based on the individual activity costs defined for the process.
Occurrence Conformance	The percentage of activities in the view that are occurring in the expected order. This calculation is based on the expected activity order defined for the process.
Automation Rate	The percentage of activities in the view that were performed by an automation. This calculation is based on the number of events with an Automation attribute.

Chart display

The bubble chart format allows you to identify activities that could benefit from improvement at a glance.

The chart displays information about the total cost of activities in relation to the percentage of activities that did not follow the expected sequence order.

The bubble chart is only available if activity costs and the expected activity order are defined for the process.

For example:

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This chart contains the following elements:

• Total Cost (Y-axis): The total cost of the activity.
• Conformance Rate (X-axis): The conformance rate of the activity.
• Bubble: Each bubble represents an activity. An icon in the bubble represents the automation type based on Automation Type attributes. The size of the bubble reflects how often the activity occurred in all cases in this view.

Hover over a bubble to see:

• The name of the activity.
• The percentage of activities that conform to the expected sequence order in this view.
• The total cost of all occurrences of this activity.
• The number of times the activity occurred in all cases in this view.

For example:

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Review the data trend

When you're exploring at the KPI level, you'll see a Trend tab, which displays a chart of changes in the KPI data over time. The type of changes depends on the KPI type:

• Changes in duration for duration KPIs that track time, including the Average Case Duration KPI.
• Changes in occurrence counts for count KPIs and duration KPIs that track SLAs.
• Changes in the number of automated activities for the Automation Rate KPI.
• Changes in the aggregation value for an aggregation KPI.

Review this chart to determine quickly whether the KPI value has historically increased or decreased over the selected time period.

Review saved insights

Reviewing insights related to your process can help you understand aspects of the process that your colleagues may already be focusing on. These insights can highlight characteristics you might want to continue drilling down on or start collaborating on right away.

To review insights associated with a specific view, access a view, then go to the All Insights tab in the EXPLORE DATA FOR THIS VIEW section of the page.

This tab lists saved insights for all KPIs in that view, displaying in order of the insight creation date.

For example:

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By default, the list is sorted by date modified from newest to oldest. You can also sort by oldest to newest.

On the All Insights tab, you can use the search box to search for an insight by name. The results of your search replace the current insights list.

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