What is process mining?
Process mining rebuilds how a business process actually runs from the event logs your systems keep (a case ID, an activity and a timestamp for every step), so you can see the real paths, delays and rework. It shows you where the work is; turning that into an automation is usually a separate IT project.
Best for large enterprises with high-volume, ERP-centered processes (order-to-cash, procure-to-pay, supply chain), a data team to extract and model event logs, and a need for conformance checking and variant analysis at scale.
How Caddi's approach is different
Caddi is the end-to-end process automation solution. It doesn't stop at discovering your processes: it also builds the automation that replaces them and governs every run.
- Cheaper. Free to start. No six-figure contract, no data-volume pricing.
- Faster. Findings in 15 to 30 minutes. No event logs, desktop agents or consultants.
- Agentic first. The AI forms hypotheses about how your work runs and validates each one against your data.
- Build it right away. The person who does the work builds the automation. No IT project.
- Governed. Every run and decision is logged and reviewable. No black box.
Process mining is a data-driven way to see how a business process actually runs, not how the flowchart on the wall says it runs. It reads the event logs that systems like SAP, Oracle, Salesforce or ServiceNow record every time something happens to a case, and rebuilds the real process from them: every path, every loop, every delay and every deviation.
It is genuinely useful, and for large enterprises running order-to-cash or procure-to-pay across an ERP it is often the only way to see the whole picture. But process mining answers one question: where is the work? It does not build the automation that removes the work, and it does not govern that automation once it runs. Caddi is built for the whole journey. Caddi Discover finds the repeated work in the tools a firm already uses, Caddi Automate lets the person who does that work build the automation without an IT project, and Govern puts every run and every decision on the record. Discover, Automate, Govern, in one product.
See process mining in the Caddi platform →
How process mining works, and where it stops
Every process mining tool starts from the same raw material: an event log. Each row records three things at minimum, a case ID (the invoice, order or ticket the step belongs to), an activity ("invoice received", "approved", "paid") and a timestamp. Stitch millions of those rows together by case, sort them by time, and an algorithm can draw the process as it really happened. That is process discovery. Compare the discovered map against the process you intended and you get conformance checking: which cases skipped an approval, paid before goods receipt, or looped back three times. Layer on time, cost and resource data and you get enhancement: where the bottlenecks sit and what they cost.
The people who run process mining are usually process excellence teams, operational excellence and Six Sigma leads, internal audit, and the data engineers who extract and model the logs. The best-known vendors are Celonis, SAP Signavio, UiPath Process Mining, Microsoft Power Automate Process Mining, IBM Process Mining and Apromore, along with open source tools like ProM and PM4Py that grew out of academic research.
Then comes the hand-off. Process mining tells you that 18 percent of invoices wait four days for a manual match, but it does not match them. Turning that insight into an automation becomes a separate project: data engineers and a systems integrator, RPA developers in a separate studio, makers and IT building flows, or another vendor entirely. Once something is built, the process mining tool keeps monitoring the process, but the automation itself runs somewhere else, with its own logs, or none. That gap between the finding and a running, governed automation is where most of the value leaks out, and it is the gap Caddi closes.
Morning Inbox Triage and Matter Filing
Read each new message in Outlook, open any Docusign envelope, match it to the matter in Clio and file the executed copy to NetDocuments.
Microsoft Outlook
Docusign
Clio
NetDocumentsWhat Caddi saw
- 1,204messages read in Outlook in the last 30 days
- 418Docusign envelopes opened from those messages
- 412matters matched in Clio and filed to NetDocuments
- 6exceptions raised for review in Teams
Why it’s worth automating
Every message already names the client and the matter. The four steps are the same each time, and the tools never talk to each other, so you carry the details between them by hand.
Reads the tools you already use, read only. No event logs, no desktop agents.
- Microsoft Outlook
Gmail- Clio
- NetDocuments
iManage
Salesforce
Wealthbox
Redtail
Box- Docusign
QuickBooks
HubSpot- 150+ tools
Process mining vs. Discover, Automate, Govern
Process mining covers the first step of a longer journey. Here is how each stage works when discovery, automation and governance live in one product instead of three projects.
Discover: from event-log extraction to the tools you already use
Classic process mining needs clean event logs, which means connectors, data models and often months of data engineering before the first map appears. Caddi Discover skips the extraction. It reads the activity already in the tools a firm has connected (Clio, iManage, NetDocuments, Outlook and Microsoft 365, Gmail, Salesforce, Wealthbox, Redtail, Box, DocuSign and more), under the access the user already has, read only, always. It forms hypotheses about which processes are running, checks them against the real data, and shows only what the data supports, ranked by hours. A first run usually takes 15 to 30 minutes, and Discover is on the free Individual plan.
Automate: from a hand-off to IT to the person who does the work
In a process mining program, the finding goes into a backlog for an IT team, RPA developers or a partner. With Caddi, the ops person who does the work teaches the workflow once over a screen-share, or clicks "Build next" on a Discover finding, and Caddi Automate builds it as verified code running over APIs across 150+ tools. No IT project, no RPA developer, and no screen selectors that break when a vendor changes its UI. That is why it holds up better than RPA.
Govern: from monitoring the process to reviewing every decision
Process mining monitors the process. It does not see inside an automation someone built elsewhere. Govern gives a firm-wide view of the work done by AI and by people: every run and every decision is logged, reviewable and traceable to source. No black box. Govern is included from the Team plan up.
Process mining vs. Caddi, at a glance
| Process mining | Caddi | |
|---|---|---|
| How it finds work | Mines event logs extracted from ERP and CRM | Reads connected tools, read only, ranks work by hours |
| Setup | Connectors, data models, often a data team | Connect tools; first findings in 15 to 30 minutes |
| Who runs it | Process analysts and data engineers | The ops team that does the work |
| After the insight | Hand-off to IT, RPA developers or a partner | "Build next" turns the finding into an automation |
| Who builds the automation | A separate team, often in a separate tool | The ops person, over a screen-share |
| Governance of automations | Monitors the process, not the automation | Every run and decision logged and reviewable |
| Conformance and variant analysis | Deep, at millions of events | Not the focus; evidence per finding instead |
| Pricing | Often five to six figures a year (third-party reports) | Free Individual plan; Team $250 per user per month |
How they score where it counts
Which fits your situation?
Both models have a place. Tap the scenario closest to yours to see which approach wins, and why.
Which fits your situation?
Process mining
ERP-scale variant analysis over millions of events is exactly what event-log process mining was built for. Tools like Celonis or SAP Signavio are the right call.
Choosing process mining software in 2026
Caddi is the only product that runs the whole journey: Discover finds the repeated work in the tools you already use, the ops person builds the automation with Automate, and Govern logs every run and every decision. The Individual plan is free, with Discover and Automate included, and Team at $250 per user per month adds Govern. See how Discover works, browse the 150+ tools it connects to, or book a demo.
Related
- What is process intelligence?
- What is task mining?
- Caddi vs. Celonis
- Caddi vs. Power Automate Process Mining
- Caddi vs. UiPath Process Mining
- The best process mining software
- What is agentic process automation?
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Frequently asked questions
What is process mining?
Process mining is a technique that reconstructs how a business process really runs from the event logs your systems record. Each event carries a case ID, an activity and a timestamp, and process mining software stitches those events together to discover the actual process map, check it against the intended process (conformance checking) and measure where time and rework go (enhancement). It is widely used for ERP processes like order-to-cash and procure-to-pay.
What is the difference between process mining and task mining?
Process mining works from system event logs and shows the end-to-end flow of cases across systems. Task mining works from the desktop: an agent installed on employee machines records clicks, keystrokes and screenshots to show how individual tasks are done inside and between applications. Process mining sees the process from the system's point of view; task mining sees it from the user's screen. Caddi Discover takes a third route: it reads the activity already in connected tools, read only, with no event-log extraction and no desktop recorder.
What is the difference between process mining and RPA?
Process mining analyzes: it finds how a process runs and where it breaks down. RPA executes: software bots replay recorded clicks to do the work. They are often sold together, with process mining pointing at the work and RPA developers building bots for it, but they are separate projects and the bots break when a screen changes. Caddi joins the two ends differently. Discover finds the work, the ops person builds the automation with Automate as verified code over APIs (no selectors to break), and Govern logs every run.
How much does process mining software cost?
Enterprise process mining is usually priced by quote. Third-party reports put Celonis entry contracts around $80,000 to $95,000 a year and a single process area at $150,000 to $250,000 a year, UiPath Process Mining at roughly $50,000 to $200,000 a year, and SAP Signavio from low six figures up to around $700,000 a year. Microsoft includes limited mining in Power Automate Premium at $15 per user per month, with a capacity add-on at $5,000 per tenant per month. IBM Process Mining SaaS starts at $4,250 per month. Caddi's Individual plan is free and includes Discover and Automate; Team is $250 per user per month and adds Govern.
Do you need event logs for process mining?
For classic process mining, yes. The tool needs event data with at least a case ID, an activity and a timestamp, and getting that out of ERP and CRM systems in clean form is usually the longest part of the project, often requiring data engineers or a partner. Caddi Discover does not need event logs. It reads the activity already in the tools a firm has connected, under the user's existing access, read only, and shows only what the data supports.
What happens after process mining finds a process?
In most programs, the finding becomes a business case and then a separate project: data engineers and a systems integrator, RPA developers, citizen developers building flows, or another vendor. That hand-off is where many insights stall. In Caddi, a Discover finding has a "Build next" button: the ops person who does the work shows Caddi the workflow once, Automate builds it across 150+ tools, and Govern logs every run and decision so it stays reviewable.
What is the best process mining software for small and mid-size firms?
Most process mining platforms are built for enterprises with ERP systems and data teams, and priced accordingly. Small and mid-size firms, especially professional services firms running on tools like Clio, iManage, Outlook, Salesforce, Wealthbox or Redtail, usually get more from a product that finds the repeated work in the tools they already use and then automates it. Caddi Discover runs in 15 to 30 minutes on the free plan, and the same product builds and governs the automations. If you do run a large ERP and need conformance checking, an enterprise process mining tool is still the better fit.