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From X-Ray to MRI: What are your processes hiding?
Think you know your processes? Think again. In this episode of the Trust the Process Podcast, we explore what businesses might be missing when they rely on traditional process mining. We take you on a journey from X-ray to MRI — revealing hidden inefficiencies and the deeper insights that only Object-Centric Process Mining (OCPM) can offer.
The following is a transcript of the podcast, edited and organized for readability.
The hidden story of Gabriel Batistuta
Let me tell you a story about the legendary Argentinian footballer Gabriel Batistuta. He was Argentina’s top goal scorer with 56 goals in 78 games and played in three World Cups.
In 2014, he asked a doctor to amputate his leg. Not because of a sudden accident — but because of years of pain that had become unbearable.
Throughout his career, Batistuta played through injury after injury. He’d take painkillers, get an X-ray, rest for a few weeks, and head back out on the pitch. Time and again, he was told there was no major damage. Just a sprain. Just inflammation. Just rest.
But the pain didn’t stop. What those X-rays couldn’t see were the microfractures, the torn ligaments, the accumulated damage hidden below the surface. It wasn’t until years later, with more advanced imaging, that the full extent was revealed — and Batistuta finally got the care he needed.
That’s the difference. An X-ray tells you if something’s broken. But an MRI shows you everything else. Businesses face the same problem. On the surface, your processes might look fine. Orders go out. Payments come in. But beneath that? Hidden inefficiencies. Silent bottlenecks.
Today, we’re talking about how Object-Centric Process Mining is the MRI of your business — revealing the unseen and giving you the power to fix what’s really broken.
From 2D to 3D: Seeing more with objects
Let’s start with an example everyone knows: ordering from Amazon. You click “buy now” on a new laptop. Behind the scenes, there’s a chain reaction — your order is created, the item is picked in a warehouse, a shipment is triggered, and an invoice is generated.
Traditional process mining would follow that order as a single case. It’s neat, it’s simple… but limited.
prof. Wil van der Aalst: “Classical process mining… is using the same idea — you are trying to track a single case, how a case is flowing through the process, and you try to capture that. That works very well… but you can think of it as a kind of two-D image of your process.”
In other words, an X-ray. But when we switch to Object-Centric Process Mining, it’s like upgrading to an MRI. Suddenly, you’re not just seeing the order — you’re seeing the shipment, the product, the customer, the vendor, the invoice — all as distinct objects.
So what exactly is an object?
prof. Wil van der Aalst: “Case-centric process mining is the classical view where we assume an event refers to a single object, typically a case. For example, in a hospital setting, a blood test would link only to the patient. But in object-centric process mining, that same blood test could link to the patient, the doctor, the equipment — multiple objects. By enriching events with more object relationships, we create a much richer description of the process.”
In OCPM, every event can be connected to many different objects, and every object can participate in many different events. These are called object-to-event relationships.
prof. Wil van der Aalst: “There are two main ingredients: objects and events. Objects are things that flow through a process — patients, devices, doctors. Events are actions that occur at a specific time — taking a blood test, sending a medical bill. And in one event, multiple objects may be involved.”
But OCPM doesn’t stop at event-to-object links. It also explores object-to-object relationships — how things interact over time.
Back to that Amazon order: the shipment is tied to the order, which is tied to the product, the supplier, and the customer. OCPM captures this web of connections and gives you a complete picture.
prof. Wil van der Aalst: “Object-centric process mining has three main benefits. First, it creates a single source of truth — you extract once and avoid repeatedly going back to source systems. Second, it avoids the distortions you get when trying to squeeze 3D reality into 2D models. And third, it lets you answer questions you couldn’t before — like why deliveries are late. The root causes could be in sales, production, or logistics.”
Instead of one flat timeline per case, you get a web of interconnected activities. And that’s critical in domains like sales, accounting, or procurement — where problems often live in the handovers between departments.
How OCPM powers AI and Process Intelligence
Let’s go back to the X-ray vs MRI metaphor. Now imagine you’re feeding that data into an AI model — asking it to spot inefficiencies, predict outcomes, recommend actions.
If you only give it a flat, case-centric view? It’s limited. But with OCPM, you’re feeding in a complete, contextual map of the business.
Julia März: “Process Intelligence defines a much broader scope. It includes using these insights to monitor, optimize, automate, or predict process performance — integrating various data sources and advanced analytics to derive a comprehensive process understanding.”
AI needs more than raw data. It needs context. Who’s involved? What caused the delay? Which system triggered which step?
With OCPM, you can see that a delay in delivery wasn’t a logistics issue — it was a problem in inventory two steps earlier.
Julia März: “Object-centric process mining is particularly useful in industries with complex processes across SAP and non-SAP systems — like manufacturing or supply chain — to build up entire end-to-end process chains.”
And those process chains matter. Because real-world processes don’t move in straight lines. They converge, diverge, and overlap.
Julia März: “A chain is a broader scope. For example, mapping purchase-to-pay with accounts payables and regulatory reporting. A simple use case might just cover purchase-to-pay — but the full chain shows how everything connects. In that chain, you can uncover where problems really start. For example, if there are issues in accounts payable, they might stem from master data maintenance.”
When processes overlap, diverge, or converge across systems — that’s where OCPM gives you clarity.
From paint shop to sales: How BMW uses OCPM
Since 2016, BMW has been on a Process Intelligence journey. It started with basic discovery — understanding what was really happening behind the scenes. But what began in a paint shop evolved into one of the most advanced OCPM deployments in the automotive world.
Patrick Lechner: “Well, here at BMW, we started very simple with simple discoveries. So we wanted to understand our processes better, and this was a very important step for us at the beginning. But then soon we looked into how can we improve our processes together with our experts, and this was an expert tool then that was used by a couple of users.”
As adoption grew, BMW moved beyond case-centric views into full object-centric models — especially in sales and order management, where processes aren’t linear. They're interwoven.
Patrick Lechner: “Next, we are there at the moment was OCPM when we decided we have to look at the use cases in a more channel way. So not only simple use cases, one case or one object id going through the whole process, but really understanding the interaction between processes.”
When a customer places an order for a new BMW, that sales order connects to product objects, shipment objects, customer profiles, invoices, and dealers.
Patrick Lechner: “For the first time, I think we can really see the customer journey. So we really see customer in the process and see what's happening with the customer, how is he dealt with by the dealer, by our financial services colleagues and so on… We can also see how we can support the customer best when he needs financing options… what was maybe not perfect in this respect for this customer… so the next time we can help the customer even better.”
Julian Fischer: “The automotive industry… has fairly complex products, highly complex supply chains, and leading functions like engineering and marketing. What Process Intelligence brings is the ability to link, for example, a dealer's behavior for ordering new cars to the delivery structure behind — to final assembly, paint shop, and the supply network. That was not possible with Excel in the past.”
And sometimes, the problem isn’t in one process at all — it’s between them.
Julian Fischer: “What we often see is that root causes of why a certain process cannot perform… don’t sit within the process, but sit in the neighbor’s left and right. It sits in the interrelation and the interfaces.”
This is where OCPM shines — building a real-time, context-rich digital twin of your operations. But not all digital models are created equal.
prof. Wil van der Aalst: “The digital twin is used to actually control the real system, whereas a digital shadow is just an image of the real organization or process… A digital twin is something active… A digital shadow is deliberately kept simple so you can use it in an operational setting.”
With OCPM, organizations can move from shadows to twins. From observing the process… to shaping it. Because the truth of a process lives in the relationships — between objects, events, and outcomes — across systems, departments, and time.
Are you looking at an X-ray or an MRI?
Object-Centric Process Mining helps you see not just the steps, but the full story of your business operations. We call it the MRI of processes.
In our next episode, we head to Munich Airport to explore how OCPM is transforming the customer journey at Lufthansa — from check-in to touchdown.
Listen to Trust the Process Podcast
Join us next time on Trust the Process as we unpack how Lufthansa is improving the travel experience with Process Intelligence — making flying smoother, faster, and more personal.
Because when processes work, everything works.
Image Credit: Photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash
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