Method and system for improving effciency in an organization using process mining

• US 8,407,081 B1
• Filed: 11/28/2011
• Issued: 03/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ProcessProxy Corporation
• Original Assignee: ProcessProxy Corporation
• Inventors: Rajasenan, Terry
• Primary Examiner(s): PATS, JUSTIN
• Application Number:
  US13/305,728
• Time in Patent Office: 484 Days
• Field of Search: 705/7.42, 705/7.38
• US Class Current: 705/7.42
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0637 Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06398 Performance of employee with respect to a job function

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for improving processes in a healthcare organization by mining historical data for information that can be used to more effectively allocate resources and process components. Factors used for the analysis include time, information, motivation, skills, and authority for particular resources. Arbitrage processing is used to minimize opportunity costs and increase efficiency.

Claims

1. A method for improving efficiency in an organization, the organization having a plurality of roles performing a plurality of actions, comprising:

obtaining historical data related to an organization objective over a computer network;

storing the historical data in a memory in a computer system;

analyzing the historical data over a plurality of sampling intervals using the computer system to determine one or more factors that correlate with a successful outcome of the organization objective and one or more factors that correlate with an unsuccessful outcome of the organization objective;

determining at least one data element change among the analyzed historical data during each of a plurality of sampling intervals;

determining a probability of performance of at least one action based on the determined data element changes using the computer system;

inferring the performance of at least one action based on the determined probability of performance;

determining a probability that one or more roles was involved in the performance of each inferred action;

identifying the at least one role involved in performance of each inferred action based on the determined probability that one or more roles was involved using the computer system;

evaluating performance of each identified role performing each identified action based on an outcome of performing the action, using the computer system;

determining a projected best action path based on evaluation of the determined factors correlating to successful and unsuccessful outcomes and evaluated performance of each identified role using the computer system;

determining for each of the plurality of the roles at least one of a time, motivation, information, skill, and authority change, if required, to improve the role'"'"'s performance toward achieving the organization objective based on the determined projected best action path using the computer system;

generating a unique daily activity plan to provide to each of one or more of the plurality of roles, wherein the unique daily activity plan provides to the corresponding role for which it is generated the at least one of the time, motivation, information, skill, and authority change for the role to perform to move toward reaching the organization objective using the computer system; and

distributing the unique daily activity plan to the corresponding role for which the daily activity plan was generated.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing at least one of;

providing additional time to one of the identified roles;

providing additional information to one of the identified roles;

increasing motivation of one of the identified roles;

assisting one of the identified roles in a particular skill; and

changing authority of one of the identified roles such that the identified role with the changed authority can assist another of the identified roles.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

process mining the historical data; and

creating a case evolution timeline.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising evaluating at least one identified action in view of the case evolution timeline for validation.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising evaluating actions in view of the case evolution timeline to identify missing steps.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the daily activity plan includes processing event logs, ontology and tagging to develop an item sequence.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

profiling the identified roles; and

developing countering tactics under the daily action plan based on time, information, motivation, skill, and authority associated with the identified roles.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein profiling includes statistical analysis and heuristic analysis.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising developing the countering tactics iteratively.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing process mining of the historical data on a daily basis.

11. A system for improving efficiency in an organization, the organization having a plurality of roles performing a plurality of actions, comprising:

a computer system having a memory to store historical data related to an organization objective obtained over a computer network and a processor, where in the computer system is configured to;

analyze the historical data over a plurality of sampling intervals to determine one or more factors that correlate with a successful outcome of the organization objective and one or more factors that correlate with an unsuccessful outcome of the organization objective;

determine at least one data element change among the analyzed historical data during each of a plurality of sampling intervals;

determine a probability of performance of at least one action based on the determined data element changes using the computer system;

infer the performance of at least one action based on the determined probability of performance;

determine a probability that one or more roles was involved in the performance of each inferred action;

identify the at least one role involved in performance of each inferred action based on the determined probability that one or more roles was involved;

evaluate performance of each identified role performing each identified action based on an outcome of performing the action;

determine a projected best action path based on evaluation of the determined factors correlating to successful and unsuccessful outcomes and evaluated performance of each identified role;

determine for each of the plurality of the roles at least one of a time, motivation, information, skill, and authority change, if required, to improve the role'"'"'s performance toward achieving the organization objective based on the determined projected best action path; and

generate a unique daily activity plan to provide to each of one or more of the plurality of roles, wherein the unique daily activity plan provides to the corresponding role for which it is generated the at least one of the time, motivation, information, skill, and authority change for the role to perform to move toward reaching the organization objective; and

distribute the unique daily activity plan to the corresponding role for which the daily activity plan was generated.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the computer system is further configured to perform at least one of:

providing additional time to one of the identified roles;

providing additional information to one of the identified roles;

increasing motivation of one of the identified roles;

assisting one of the identified roles in a particular skill; and

changing authority of one of the identified roles such that the identified role with the changed authority can assist another of the identified roles.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the computer system is further configured to:

process mine the historical data; and

create a case evolution timeline.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the computer system is further configured to evaluate at least one identified action in view of the case evolution timeline for validation.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the computer system is further configured to evaluate actions in view of the case evolution timeline to identify missing steps.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the computer system is further configured to generate the daily activity plan includes processing event logs, ontology and tagging to develop an item sequence.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the computer system is further configured to:

profile the identified roles; and

develop countering tactics under the daily action plan based on time, information, motivation, skill, and authority associated with the identified roles.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein profiling includes statistical analysis and heuristic analysis.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the computer system is further configured to develop the countering tactics iteratively.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the computer system is further configured to perform process mining of the historical data on a daily basis.