Applying process mining to analyse business process performance in the Physical Asset Management environment

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Physical Asset Management (PAM) has become a vital part of asset intensiveorganisations in recent years. The rise of standards associated with Asset Management (AM) and the competitive nature of large organisations has resulted ina demand for performance improvements in terms of the value created by physical assets. This thesis addresses this need by calling on an interdisciplinaryapproach to help improve the processes that support these physical assets within an organisation's PAM strategy execution environment. Improvementis facilitated by the use of Business Process Management (BPM) and Workflow Management (WfM) principles in conjunction with process mining. WhileBPM and WfM provide the tools, process mining generates the metrics and models to be improved.This thesis starts by examining the literature of PAM and how processes form part of the enablers that support execution functions of a PAM strategy. Linkagebetween these enablers and physical assets creating value is then examined.The review finds that there is a lack of structured and mathematical analysis involved with PAM processes as they are executed in the real world. This lack results from the inability to monitor exactly how work is being done in relationto how it was planned. BPM and WfM are discussed to construct a theoretical basis on which process improvement can occur while process mining addressesthe lack of being able to monitor real world activity. This thesis continues to develop a methodology that aims to construct a framework by which processmining can first be applied to a practical environment, followed by principles inherent in BPM and WfM. As BPM, WfM and process mining entail numerousdifferent analytical tools, the most applicable of these techniques are chosen for the PAM environment.The developed methodology is applied to a case study where a maintenance process is investigated to determine the validity of the methodology. By applyingthe process mining methodology, important performance attributes of PAM process are identified and highlighted. Ultimately, application of the methodology is deemed a viable option to incorporate within a PAM environmentto improve supporting processes. Future iterations based on this research can investigate improvements to this thesis and build on the results to improve PAM processes and incorporate on-going process mining within the PAM strategy.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University