process analysis case study

55 Process Improvement Case Studies & Project Results [2024]

Business leaders know that process improvement reduces costs and increases customer satisfaction. Therefore, businesses follow process improvement methodologies or deploy tools such as process modeling, process mining and RPA to discover, modify and automate their processes. However, it can be difficult for process experts and business analysts to understand the different process improvement approaches and the results they should expect.

Read our process improvement approaches guide for a categorization of process improvement approaches so you can rely on a framework to structure your process improvement initiatives. In this article, we share typical process improvement project results and case studies. Our aim is to provide benchmarks so business analysts and leaders can set targets for their own initiatives.

What are the typical project results?

Process improvement solutions help businesses define weaknesses and take action to solve these problems. In the case studies we collected, the most common project results that we came across are as follows:

1- Improved efficiency: Most businesses increase the efficiency of their processes by adapting process improvement methodologies. After defining their problems, companies eliminate unnecessary steps in processes, reduce their costs, and shorten process times. As a result, they achieve faster processes and higher quality output with fewer resources.

For example, in a process mining case study, a manufacturer leveraged IBM Process Mining to analyze the procure-to-pay processes. It is claimed that the manufacturer detected and managed deviations, mismatches and early payments, which lessened maverick buying and saved $60,000 in reworking cost. The firm improved purchase order and invoice processes by automating 75% of line creation and delivery activities. As a result, the company decreased the invoice registration and approval time.

2- Enhanced customer satisfaction: The increasing quality of output and faster processes can also reflect on customer satisfaction. Process improvement solutions help businesses reduce waiting time and focus on customer value. For example, it is claimed that by adopting the Kaizen methodology, Tata Steel has shortened its response time and delivered more on-time orders to its customers.

3- Harmonization of different teams/processes: For large companies, handling different processes simultaneously can be a big challenge. Teams should be informed about what others do, and processes need to work in sync to avoid problems. With process improvement solutions, businesses can have a full understanding of all their companies and align different processes successfully.

Here is an extended list of case studies which are collected from different resources. You can filter the list by the process improvement solution, service provider, industry, or process and investigate the achieved results.

Next to Read

8 major bpm challenges & how to avoid them in 2024, what is process workflow & top 4 benefits & case studies in '24, how to implement process improvement in 6 steps in 2024.

Your email address will not be published. All fields are required.

Hi Cem, Thank you ver much for your interesting article. I am interested in getting a deeper look into some of the case studies: How exactly did they approach the problem? ….Would it be possible to get a closer look at the case studies? Thanks in advance. Adrian

Hi Adrian, please feel free to get in touch with us via [email protected] . Happy to discuss these in more detail once we know which types of case studies you are interested in

Related research

Pair Methodology with Technology for Process Improvement in '24

Process Discovery in 2024: What it is & How it works

Learn what business process analysis (BPA) is and the types, methods and steps for small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) to consider.

Business process analysis (BPA) is an approach to analyzing business operation processes. It is a detailed, multi-step examination of each part of a process to identify what is working well in your current process, what needs to be improved and how any necessary improvements can best be made. There are different business process analysis methods, but all apply the underlying principle that optimized systems generate better overall business results.

Common desired outcomes of BPA are greater cost savings, increased revenue and better business engagement. For instance, you might use BPA to analyze customer engagement and where there are downturns, blocks or unexpectedly low conversions. Business process analysis can also reveal what in your business operations or policies creates low employee engagement.

Business process analysis (BPA) vs. business analysis (BA): What’s the difference?

There might be a little confusion about the difference between business process analysis (BPA) and business analysis (BA). These are related areas of business process management but are not the same. BPA focuses on specific process analysis and business process modeling. BA, on the other hand, is applied to the greater business operation landscape. BA focuses on the analysis of other areas, such as financial forecasting, cost analysis, budgets, hiring and cuts.

Benefits of business process analysis

The overarching benefit of business process analysis (BPA) is optimized, daily functionality across your business operations that strategically aligns with your business goals and decision making.

For SME businesses, BPA can create the following improvements:

Increase efficiency in existing processes: BPA increases time-to-value for product applications. It also lowers time in operational cycles for workflows, such as employee onboarding and customer or patient in-take processes.
Reveal capacity issues: In any process, resources can be limited. BPA identifies where the capacity limit lies, how it affects the process and how to improve it. This is a strong consideration for scaling. For instance, digital tools and platforms you currently use may limit current organizational needs and workflows . BPA can help you identify changes you need to make that are specifically aligned to your organization’s growth.
Clarify policies and rules: As organizations move to more remote work and greater adoption of digital devices , a common misalignment exists in security and device usage. The analysis can identify a path for faster IT approval processes and uniformity in security policy enforcement.
Create better governance practices: Risk management is increasing as a priority for businesses. Compliance is a costly endeavor for organizations to maintain, and it is even more costly to address when issues arise. Business process analysis can reveal where compliance measures have faltered. For example, your organization may be out of compliance in the frequency you audit application security measures. BPA can set an improvement plan in place that considers resources and compliance needs to ensure a process can be executed — and sustained.
Identify cost savings: BPA reveals redundancies in tasks and labor. Organizations that have moved to digital document workflows are a good example how reduced human error and time in searching for documents creates cost savings.
Solve for bottlenecks: Bottlenecks occur when channels for communication, development and execution are siloed. A business process analysis can expose communication gaps and resolve approval process obstructions.
Optimize deployment and release processes: Efficient processes create smoother releases and deployments.
Improve integration and adoption processes: Similarly, adopting new technology across an enterprise or department is a monumental process. BPA sets processes in place that can include useful training programs and workflow visuals that support higher adoption rates.
Strengthen company culture: A better process in any area is a housecleaning of sorts. The improvements breathe new life into employee experience on a daily basis. The result is better morale and better engagement for internal processes. For customers, optimized processes — such as a better website or customer service experience — increases engagement and positive perception of your business.

Methods of business process analysis

There are two predominant philosophies that guide business process analysis (BPA) methodology:

Six Sigma approach
Lean Six Sigma

Six Sigma is a five- to seven-step methodology that most businesses today use to analyze efficiencies and restraints. Lean Six Sigma differs slightly in that it is a combination of the Six Sigma approach and Lean philosophy. It’s a collaborative approach that focuses on eliminating tasks and resources that don’t provide defined value.

You’ll gain a sense of how a business process analysis is executed when you consider the detailed-nature intrinsic to every step.

In general, BPA follows this structure:

Define: Start by identifying the processes you want to analyze. Typically, these are where you see problems first. Process analysis can start with (and also include) process diagrams for each step. Analysts begin with as-is processes and look at formal and informal processes, such as documented processes and processes specific to an organization’s culture.
Measure: Next, review how the process functions against defined metrics. This step is also at the root of helping to create improved KPI metrics. If those are well-defined first, a business will measure processes against the KPIs. KPIs include efficiency versus effectiveness indicators, quality, productivity, profitability and value indicators. They also include competitive and capacity indicators. For instance, customer engagement workflows might be measured by quality and effectiveness versus efficiency metrics.
Analyze: There are several types of analysis techniques, and each one serves a different purpose. Business process analysts might run a value analysis, a gap analysis or root cause analysis (RCA). These are extensive analytical methods that each include their own set of steps. A gap analysis reveals what’s missing in the process. A value analysis conveys what is of value within the process — and what is waste, as a result. A root cause analysis applies certain “why” questions and methods that help you to work backward to the root cause of the problem in a process.
Improve: Business process managers collaborate with analysts to create and execute plans that improve problem areas. Improvements may mean re-mapping a process, increasing resources or shifting communication approaches and channels. Again, this can be a detailed step that can apply a variety of improvement methods.
Control: After such a significant analysis, controlling the new standards and processes is the final step. Decision-makers can use the analysis to then manage resources, responsibilities, hiring processes, IT, administrative and executive processes. Stakeholders also monitor these changes and set time markers for future analysis.

When to implement business process analysis

If you’ve recently adopted new technology that’s being underutilized, or if you have recurring turnover in one area of your business, business process analysis (BPA) is a useful tool to uncover the reasons for these outcomes and then to set process improvements in place.

Your business goals determine where and how you implement business process analysis. Organizations that value employee and company-wide problem-solving and process improvement as a core part of their culture set a foundation for better morale, lower turnover and better customer experience. So, whether you apply business process analysis tools informally, or you formally audit processes quarterly or annually, it should be a fundamental part of your business function.

Business process analysis begins with analyzing as-is processes. Business process mapping is a common tool used in BPA. It is an important visual resource and document to draw upon for your analysis. Using the documentation and insights gained from the analysis, your organization can then create a business process improvement plan. Business improvement plans will typically generate new business process models, using flowcharts, with improved process flows.

Keep in mind, business process analysis relates solely to your business operation processes. It is not the method of analyzing areas of business that aren’t specifically process-related. Process analysis in business is its own defined discipline. It is a guide for optimizing every operational area of your business.

Examples of BPA include the following:

Reviewing employee on-boarding to align with business culture and better engagement.
Analyzing marketing processes to reconcile whether metrics and paths align with key performance indicators (KPI), such as how well customers are converting or how many qualified leads are engaging with your business.
Uncovering where inefficiencies exist in technology adoption processes.

Tools of business process analysis

In process analysis, analysts use diagrams to define input and output points, tasks sequences and what processes are sub-processes nested under main processes.

Analysts also use software to map and create workflows. This includes software that automates business process analysis (BPA) and enables organizations to apply end-to-end process modeling to map when a process starts and determine when it ends.

Process modeling and process mapping tools are integral to BPA. Organizations use business process model notation (BPMN) diagramming and supplier, input, process, output, customer (SIPOC) model diagramming as two workflow solutions for better operations. These visual tools are an excellent way to show changes in a process. They can be used as a “before and after” visual guide to train employees, for instance, or to map every process improvement back to your key business goals.

Who oversees business process analysis?

You might be wondering at this point, who in an organization is responsible for BPA, given roles, resources and skill sets?

Certainly, resources can be limited for SMEs. Working with an outside business analyst consultant might be the most viable route.

At the enterprise level, businesses employ business process analysts and process architects to perform business process analysis. These are different terms for similar roles. Both of these roles might work with business architects or work with executives and division leads.

In addition, business process analysis relies on the expertise of subject matter experts. These might include a number of employees, stakeholders and consultants, such as analysts, data scientists, quants, IT, administrators and employees who are closely aligned to a process.

Automation and BPA

Currently, hyperautomation is considered one of the highest priorities across enterprise businesses. Gartner has forecasted that the industry will reach $600 billion by 2022 . Hyperautomation steadily decreases the amount of human intervention for a fully automated, responsive process — or a smart process.

Your organization may want to consider specific questions to move toward automated processes:

What key areas do you seek to automate and why?
Are there more common manual errors or misapplied policies?
Where are there costly and high-volume processes?
Has the organization determined obvious process problems?
What creates customer dissatisfaction?

Business process analysis (BPA) can help your organization create a documented, mapped path to integrating automated processes and moving toward a goal of hyperautomation. As an example, moving from a hybrid to fully automated customer chatbot support is one way service centers lower costs and optimize customer support with hyperautomation.

How small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) can apply BPA

How do SMEs best apply business process analysis (BPA) to start?

First, target mission-critical processes with the highest business impact. Then, consider mapping a process for automation.

Next, standardize automation documentation — as well as process documentation — across departments and your organization.

For instance, IT can use BPA to map the process for software security protocols for various roles, which enables your organization to better manage onboarding and scaling as a result.

Business process analysis and IBM

IBM provides process templates for project-based process analysis that are based on BPMN diagramming. Process mapping is integral to an optimal automation strategy.

Learn how IBM Business Automation workflows enable your business to mine process data to gain critical insights and automate digital workflows on-premises or in the cloud.

Download IBM Process Management for Dummies as a resource to learn the basics of process management to drive competitive practices and processes.

More from Automation

Understanding glue records and dedicated dns.

3 min read - Domain name system (DNS) resolution is an iterative process where a recursive resolver attempts to look up a domain name using a hierarchical resolution chain. First, the recursive resolver queries the root (.), which provides the nameservers for the top-level domain(TLD), e.g.com. Next, it queries the TLD nameservers, which provide the domain’s authoritative nameservers. Finally, the recursive resolver queries those authoritative nameservers. In many cases, we see domains delegated to nameservers inside their own domain, for instance, “example.com.” is delegated…

Using dig +trace to understand DNS resolution from start to finish

2 min read - The dig command is a powerful tool for troubleshooting queries and responses received from the Domain Name Service (DNS). It is installed by default on many operating systems, including Linux® and Mac OS X. It can be installed on Microsoft Windows as part of Cygwin. One of the many things dig can do is to perform recursive DNS resolution and display all of the steps that it took in your terminal. This is extremely useful for understanding not only how the DNS…

The future of application delivery starts with modernization

5 min read - IDC estimates that 750 million cloud native will be built by 2025. Where and how these applications are deployed will impact time to market and value realization. The reality is that application landscapes are complex, and they challenge enterprises to maintain and modernize existing infrastructure, while delivering new cloud-native features. Three in four executives reported disparate systems in their organizations and that a lack of skills, resources and common operational practices challenge business objectives. Executives know they must modernize. In…

IBM Newsletters

SUGGESTED TOPICS
The Magazine
Newsletters
Managing Yourself
Managing Teams
Work-life Balance
The Big Idea
Data & Visuals
Reading Lists
Case Selections
HBR Learning
Topic Feeds
Account Settings
Email Preferences

What the Case Study Method Really Teaches

Nitin Nohria

Seven meta-skills that stick even if the cases fade from memory.

It’s been 100 years since Harvard Business School began using the case study method. Beyond teaching specific subject matter, the case study method excels in instilling meta-skills in students. This article explains the importance of seven such skills: preparation, discernment, bias recognition, judgement, collaboration, curiosity, and self-confidence.

During my decade as dean of Harvard Business School, I spent hundreds of hours talking with our alumni. To enliven these conversations, I relied on a favorite question: “What was the most important thing you learned from your time in our MBA program?”

Nitin Nohria is the George F. Baker Jr. Professor at Harvard Business School and the former dean of HBS.

Partner Center

3 Business Process Modeling Case Studies – How to Leverage Business Process Analysis to Up-Level Your Business Analyst Career

Business process modeling is used by BAs and non-BAs alike to create lasting change in organizations. It’s how we actually make our ripple effect as business analysts.

Today we get specific as I’m sharing 3 examples of some of our business analysts and to-be business analysts, and exactly how they applied business process modeling to change not only their organizations, but also the forward trajectory of their careers.

For those who like to read instead of watch, here’s the full text of the video:

This is Laura Brandenburg from Bridging the Gap. One theme I love to talk about is how you create a ripple effect as a business analyst. What’s your ripple effect as a business analyst ?

How to Transform Your Career with Business Process Modeling

Today, I want to go a little bit deeper and share three examples of ways that some of our course participants have used business process analysis and improvement activities to really transform their careers. They’ve had that ripple effect in their organizations and created drastic change for their organizations. But they also received a personal transformation, either in terms of more respect, or moving into the business analysis role for the first time.

If you’d like to learn a bit more about business process analysis for context, here’s a complete video tutorial on how to analyze a business process:

Archana Uses Business Process Modeling to Discover Requirements More Effectively

Let me jump right in here. Our first story is Archana.

Archana was a practicing business analyst when she started the business process course (this is now part of our flagship program – The Business Analyst Blueprint training program – as part of the online business analysis training we offer at Bridging the Gap).

But she had this frustration where she wasn’t getting all the requirements that she needed. She kind of communicated out to the stakeholders and was waiting for them to bring the requirements to her. She didn’t have a strategy for reaching out and getting the requirements from them.

When she took the course, she started doing the techniques right away in the projects that she was actively involved in as a BA, and it was like a switch flipped. She went from people not being super engaged with her work, maybe not responding to her emails, not showing up for her meetings , or just being kind of, “I don’t know all the answers to all these questions that you’re asking,” to having a strategy to reach out and find the questions to ask and walk them through a structured approach to giving her, essentially, what became the requirements.

Software Requirements May Almost Fall Out of the Business Process Model!

All your functional requirements in the software, they just kind of fall out of the business process. When you start to talk at that level, often, it’s so much easier for your stakeholders to give you the information you need and that you can then pull the requirements out of as a business analyst.

So, fast forward – within a year or two of participating in the course, Archana is thriving in her business analyst role . She’s been promoted to a Senior Business Analyst and is in charge of updating and improving the practice in her organization.

She went from, “I’m not sure if this is right for me. Things are going well. I’m not getting great feedback on my work,” to promoted as a Senior BA and seen as a leader and a trusted, respected leader within her organization.

First story. For those of you who are practicing BAs, if you’re not doing this kind of thing, that’s the kind of shift it could have for you.

Let’s talk next about Adam.

Adam Uses Business Process Modeling to Gain Confidence in His BA Skills

Adam was in customer service when he did the Business Process Analysis course. He wasn’t even a business analyst yet, but he took our course and he went to his manager and said,

“You know, I’d love to help you improve a process or analyze a process. Is there anything that is troublesome? Anything bothering you? Anywhere I could be of service?”

And his manager was like,

“Yes, we have all this stuff that’s supposed to show up at these trade shows and it’s always a mess and we don’t have the things that we need. We get there, and we’re scrambling. Let’s sit down and map this out.”

Adam led that session and walked through all the steps that we talk about in the free training that you can get to discover the process, analyze the process, and improve the process.

I got to interview Adam a while back and he talked to me about this business process modeling experience. One of the pieces I remember so clearly is he said,

“I really thought that I needed to have this list of questions to ask or I needed to be super prepared going into the first session. But I decided to trust you.”

Quick Tip: When Process Modeling, Clarify the Starting and Ending Point of the Process

One of the techniques we teach in the course is you are basically just like, here is the starting point in the process; here’s the ending point of the process. You map that out for your stakeholders. Not the stuff in between. Then you say, “You know, if we’re starting here and ending here, tell me what happens in between.”

Not every stakeholder is going to come in and start telling you everything, but probably 75% – 80% of them will at least give you something to go from. At least three steps that fit in between that start point and end point – something to start to analyze and ask questions around. It’s a great way when you don’t know what questions to ask, to just ask the question, “What happens in between the start point and this end point?”

It worked for Adam. I know that’s a quick tip that you can apply if you’re like, “Where do I start on a project?” Just, “Hey, here is the start point, end point, tell me what happens in between. Let’s draw it out together.”

Here’s a video on process mapping which gives you a great starting point for the types of techniques Adam was using.

And here’s a resource specifically on mapping the “As Is” business process, which is where Adam started with his analysis:

Wendy Uses Business Process Modeling to Improve a Software Configuration and Deployment Process

What I want to close with is Wendy’s story. Wendy was also not in business analysis when she took our course. She was a software developer . Wendy really wanted to become a business analyst .

I forgot to mention, Adam, about a year after that, also transitioned into his first business analyst role. The same is true for Wendy.

She went through our Bridging the Gap training course. She documented a process, actually, in her technology organization. We don’t think of technology as a business process. Technology and business – aren’t those two separate things? But she documented the process that her tech team went through to customize, release, and deploy updated software for a client. It was a process that software developers wanted to automate and management wanted to understand better. She went and said,

“I’d love to use some of the techniques that I’m learning about in this course to do this a little bit better, or to analyze it and bring some clarity to it.”

Presenting Your Process Model to Stakeholders Increases Your Visibility and Credibility

She ended up getting to present that business process in a manager-level meeting (so very high-level stakeholders ), and talk to some of the improvements that they could make right away.

Here’s a video all about analyzing the “To Be” or Future State process, which is where you make improvements to what exists today:

Then she started getting invited to customer meetings. Then she started to talk more openly about her goals to become a business analyst.

A year or so later (and that seems to be the key here), you do these things and then a year or so later, this awesome stuff happens.

A year or so later, she was promoted into a business analyst role that was created specifically for her.

Those are three examples from the hundreds of participants we’ve had in this course. There have been so many business processes that we’ve seen come through. It’s just absolutely amazing the variety.

Here’s a Starting Point to Model a Business Process

If all of this seems like too much, don’t worry. You don’t have to start from scratch. We have a free business process template that you can download today and that will help you get business users from multiple departments on the same page and clarify their actual step-by-step workflow.

This download can even help new business analysts figure out what questions to ask when starting a new project or working in a new domain.

Click the image below to claim your free business process template.

There’s a lot more to mapping a business process , and I have another video that goes into this technique in more depth.

Sign up for weekly updates and access to the FREE Quick Start to Success workshop:

Before you go, would you like to receive our absolutely FREE workshop?

(No formal experience required.)

Quick Start to Success as a Business Analyst

By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy .

Process Analysis Reports

A flow chart or diagram to show the steps of a process

Businesses rely on data and analysis to make informed decisions and improve their processes. One tool that helps in this regard is the process analysis report. In this article, we will explore what process analysis reports are, their importance in business, how to conduct a successful report, different types, templates, tools and software, analyzing data, common mistakes to avoid, measuring success, case studies, future trends, and tips for presenting findings and integrating feedback.

Table of Contents

What are Process Analysis Reports?

To put it simply, a process analysis report is a document that outlines and analyzes a business process. It aims to identify inefficiencies and flaws, leading to recommendations for improvement. Generally, the report covers the current state of the process, the goals of the analysis, and the potential benefits of implementing proposed changes. These reports are typically created by a team that includes process owners, analysts, and other stakeholders.

Process analysis reports are an essential tool for businesses looking to optimize their operations. By identifying areas of improvement, companies can streamline their processes, reduce costs, and increase efficiency. These reports can also help organizations stay competitive by keeping up with industry standards and best practices. It is important to note that process analysis reports should be regularly updated to ensure that the process remains optimized and efficient over time.

The Importance of Process Analysis Reports in Business

Process analysis reports help a company to optimize their processes, reduce costs, enhance customer satisfaction, streamline operations, and remain competitive. By analyzing their processes, companies can identify bottlenecks, redundancies, and opportunities for improvement. Improving their processes, in turn, leads to increased efficiency and better output quality, paving the way for broader organizational success.

One of the key benefits of process analysis reports is that they provide a clear and objective view of a company’s operations. This allows businesses to identify areas where they may be falling short, and to develop strategies for improvement. By using data-driven insights to guide decision-making, companies can make more informed choices about how to allocate resources and prioritize initiatives.

Another advantage of process analysis reports is that they can help to foster a culture of continuous improvement within an organization. By regularly reviewing and analyzing their processes, companies can identify opportunities for innovation and experimentation. This can lead to the development of new products or services, as well as the implementation of more efficient and effective ways of working.

How to Conduct a Successful Process Analysis Report

To conduct a successful process analysis report, you need to follow a few steps. First, identify the process you want to analyze, define its objectives, and assemble the team responsible for the analysis. Collect data using appropriate tools, work with the team to analyze it, identify the root causes of problems, develop recommendations and prioritize solutions. Finally, put together your report, making sure it is clear, concise, and action-oriented.

It is important to note that during the process analysis, it is crucial to involve all stakeholders who are affected by the process. This includes employees, customers, and suppliers. By involving them, you can gain valuable insights into the process and identify areas that need improvement. Additionally, involving stakeholders can help to increase buy-in and support for the recommended solutions, leading to a smoother implementation process.

Different Types of Process Analysis Reports

There are different types of process analysis reports. Some examples include gap analysis reports, value stream maps, root cause analysis reports, and flow charts. Each type of report has a unique objective and methodology. For example, gap analysis reports measure the difference between desired and existing conditions, while value stream mapping identifies where value is created and potential improvements that can be made.

Another type of process analysis report is the root cause analysis report. This report is used to identify the underlying cause of a problem or issue within a process. It involves a detailed investigation of the process and the identification of all possible causes of the problem. Once the root cause is identified, recommendations can be made to address the issue and prevent it from recurring.

Flow charts are also commonly used in process analysis reports. They provide a visual representation of the steps involved in a process, including decision points and potential outcomes. Flow charts can be used to identify areas of inefficiency or bottlenecks in a process, and to develop solutions to improve the process flow.

Creating an Effective Process Analysis Report Template

A process analysis report template guides the gathering and presentation of data and key findings. To create an effective template, it is necessary to identify critical components that will ensure completeness and simplification of the report. The template should include an abstract, background information, methodology, results, recommendations, and references. These components make the report easy to read and comprehensive.

One important aspect to consider when creating a process analysis report template is the target audience. The language and level of detail used in the report should be appropriate for the intended readers. For example, if the report is for a technical audience, it may be necessary to include more technical jargon and detailed explanations of processes.

Another key factor to keep in mind is the visual presentation of the report. The use of graphs, charts, and tables can help to convey complex information in a clear and concise manner. It is important to ensure that the visual aids used are relevant and add value to the report, rather than simply being decorative.

Tools and Software for Conducting Process Analysis Reports

Process analysis reports require a range of tools and software, depending on the type of analysis. Some useful pieces of software include Microsoft Excel, RPA tools, business process management software, and visualization software. Microsoft Excel is particularly helpful in analyzing numerical data, while visualization software helps to represent analyzed data graphically for easy interpretation.

RPA tools, or Robotic Process Automation tools, are also useful in conducting process analysis reports. These tools automate repetitive tasks and can help to identify inefficiencies in a process. Business process management software, on the other hand, provides a comprehensive view of a process and can help to identify bottlenecks and areas for improvement. It is important to choose the right tools and software for the specific type of analysis being conducted, in order to ensure accurate and effective results.

Analyzing Data to Improve Business Processes

Data analysis is critical to the process of improving business processes. Effective data analysis can reveal potential opportunities for process improvements, what works and what doesn’t. To effectively analyze data, a process analysis team must be proficient in data collection, organization, and analysis tools. Once data is analyzed, it is essential to develop and implement solutions that address identified problems and measure the effectiveness of implemented solutions.

One of the key benefits of data analysis is that it can help businesses identify trends and patterns that may not be immediately apparent. By analyzing data over time, businesses can gain insights into customer behavior, market trends, and other factors that can impact their operations. This information can be used to make more informed decisions and develop strategies that are better aligned with the needs of the business.

Another important aspect of data analysis is the ability to identify and mitigate risks. By analyzing data related to potential risks, businesses can take proactive steps to prevent problems before they occur. This can include everything from identifying potential security threats to identifying areas where operational inefficiencies may be impacting the bottom line. By addressing these issues early on, businesses can minimize the impact of potential problems and ensure that they are better positioned to succeed over the long term.

Common Mistakes to Avoid in Process Analysis Reports

Process analysis reports require a great deal of data collection, organization, and analysis. Mistakes made during one or more stages can have a substantial impact on the results and, ultimately, the success of the project. Some common mistakes to avoid when conducting process analysis reports include: failing to define the problem adequately, introducing bias to data collection, and overlooking critical stakeholders.

Measuring the Success of a Process Analysis Report

Measuring success is an essential part of the process regarding process analysis reports. You can measure success by observing if the proposed solutions are implemented, monitoring the changes in organizational KPIs over time, and analyzing stakeholder feedback. Successful process analysis reports lead to improved processes that produce better results, improved staff and customer satisfaction, and financial success.

Case Studies: Real-Life Examples of Successful Process Analysis Reports

Michael Burry, the founder of Scion Capital, analyzed the US housing market using process analysis reports. Based on his report, he made informed decisions that led to his success during the sub-prime mortgage crisis. Another case study involves UPS, which used process analysis to improve its delivery services and ultimately gained a competitive edge. These examples highlight the importance of process analysis reports in making informed decisions that lead to success.

Future Trends in Process Analysis Reporting

The field of process analysis reporting is constantly evolving, with new innovations and trends. Some trends to watch include the integration of machine learning and AI, the use of automation, and predictive analytics. These trends are transforming process analysis reports, leading to more accurate predictions, faster decision-making, and innovative improvements to business processes.

How to Present Your Findings from a Process Analysis Report

To present your findings, you need to create a compelling summary that provides an overview of the process analysis report. Based on your report, you should develop conclusions, recommendations, and key areas for improvement. Be sure to address potential challenges and limitations of your analysis, provide metrics and examples to support your recommendations, and engage stakeholders in conversations about the results of your report.

Tips for Communicating the Results of Your Process Analysis Report to Stakeholders

Communicating the results of your process analysis report can be a challenge because different stakeholders have unique needs and require varying levels of detail. To effectively communicate your results, you should tailor your message to the specific audience and provide concise, actionable information. Use storytelling and visual aids like diagrams and graphs to help get your point across clearly. Focus on outcomes and metrics, making sure to address concerns and answer questions in a straightforward manner.

Integrating Feedback into Your Process Analysis Report Strategy

Feedback is key to improving the effectiveness of your process analysis report strategy. Solicit feedback from stakeholders, understand their perspectives and needs, and integrate this input into your report. Encourage brainstorming and collaboration within your team, and be prepared to adapt and make changes as new information comes up.

Process analysis reports provide businesses with crucial insights into their operations. Understanding their importance, how to conduct them, and how to present their findings is essential. The process analysis report provides a roadmap to identify inefficiencies, streamline operations, and increase overall efficiency. It represents a crucial tool for businesses’ success, and hence, it is essential to nurture a process-positive culture in any organization.

By humans, for humans - Best rated articles:

Excel report templates: build better reports faster, top 9 power bi dashboard examples, excel waterfall charts: how to create one that doesn't suck, beyond ai - discover our handpicked bi resources.

Explore Zebra BI's expert-selected resources combining technology and insight for practical, in-depth BI strategies.

We’ve been experimenting with AI-generated content, and sometimes it gets carried away. Give us a feedback and help us learn and improve! 🤍

Note: This is an experimental AI-generated article. Your help is welcome. Share your feedback with us and help us improve.

Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Assignments

Annotated Bibliography
Analyzing a Scholarly Journal Article
Group Presentations
Dealing with Nervousness
Using Visual Aids
Grading Someone Else's Paper
Types of Structured Group Activities
Group Project Survival Skills
Leading a Class Discussion
Multiple Book Review Essay
Reviewing Collected Works
Writing a Case Analysis Paper
Writing a Case Study
About Informed Consent
Writing Field Notes
Writing a Policy Memo
Writing a Reflective Paper
Writing a Research Proposal
Generative AI and Writing
Acknowledgments

Definition and Introduction

Case analysis is a problem-based teaching and learning method that involves critically analyzing complex scenarios within an organizational setting for the purpose of placing the student in a “real world” situation and applying reflection and critical thinking skills to contemplate appropriate solutions, decisions, or recommended courses of action. It is considered a more effective teaching technique than in-class role playing or simulation activities. The analytical process is often guided by questions provided by the instructor that ask students to contemplate relationships between the facts and critical incidents described in the case.

Cases generally include both descriptive and statistical elements and rely on students applying abductive reasoning to develop and argue for preferred or best outcomes [i.e., case scenarios rarely have a single correct or perfect answer based on the evidence provided]. Rather than emphasizing theories or concepts, case analysis assignments emphasize building a bridge of relevancy between abstract thinking and practical application and, by so doing, teaches the value of both within a specific area of professional practice.

Given this, the purpose of a case analysis paper is to present a structured and logically organized format for analyzing the case situation. It can be assigned to students individually or as a small group assignment and it may include an in-class presentation component. Case analysis is predominately taught in economics and business-related courses, but it is also a method of teaching and learning found in other applied social sciences disciplines, such as, social work, public relations, education, journalism, and public administration.

Ellet, William. The Case Study Handbook: A Student's Guide . Revised Edition. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2018; Christoph Rasche and Achim Seisreiner. Guidelines for Business Case Analysis . University of Potsdam; Writing a Case Analysis . Writing Center, Baruch College; Volpe, Guglielmo. "Case Teaching in Economics: History, Practice and Evidence." Cogent Economics and Finance 3 (December 2015). doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/23322039.2015.1120977.

How to Approach Writing a Case Analysis Paper

The organization and structure of a case analysis paper can vary depending on the organizational setting, the situation, and how your professor wants you to approach the assignment. Nevertheless, preparing to write a case analysis paper involves several important steps. As Hawes notes, a case analysis assignment “...is useful in developing the ability to get to the heart of a problem, analyze it thoroughly, and to indicate the appropriate solution as well as how it should be implemented” [p.48]. This statement encapsulates how you should approach preparing to write a case analysis paper.

Before you begin to write your paper, consider the following analytical procedures:

Review the case to get an overview of the situation . A case can be only a few pages in length, however, it is most often very lengthy and contains a significant amount of detailed background information and statistics, with multilayered descriptions of the scenario, the roles and behaviors of various stakeholder groups, and situational events. Therefore, a quick reading of the case will help you gain an overall sense of the situation and illuminate the types of issues and problems that you will need to address in your paper. If your professor has provided questions intended to help frame your analysis, use them to guide your initial reading of the case.
Read the case thoroughly . After gaining a general overview of the case, carefully read the content again with the purpose of understanding key circumstances, events, and behaviors among stakeholder groups. Look for information or data that appears contradictory, extraneous, or misleading. At this point, you should be taking notes as you read because this will help you develop a general outline of your paper. The aim is to obtain a complete understanding of the situation so that you can begin contemplating tentative answers to any questions your professor has provided or, if they have not provided, developing answers to your own questions about the case scenario and its connection to the course readings,lectures, and class discussions.
Determine key stakeholder groups, issues, and events and the relationships they all have to each other . As you analyze the content, pay particular attention to identifying individuals, groups, or organizations described in the case and identify evidence of any problems or issues of concern that impact the situation in a negative way. Other things to look for include identifying any assumptions being made by or about each stakeholder, potential biased explanations or actions, explicit demands or ultimatums , and the underlying concerns that motivate these behaviors among stakeholders. The goal at this stage is to develop a comprehensive understanding of the situational and behavioral dynamics of the case and the explicit and implicit consequences of each of these actions.
Identify the core problems . The next step in most case analysis assignments is to discern what the core [i.e., most damaging, detrimental, injurious] problems are within the organizational setting and to determine their implications. The purpose at this stage of preparing to write your analysis paper is to distinguish between the symptoms of core problems and the core problems themselves and to decide which of these must be addressed immediately and which problems do not appear critical but may escalate over time. Identify evidence from the case to support your decisions by determining what information or data is essential to addressing the core problems and what information is not relevant or is misleading.
Explore alternative solutions . As noted, case analysis scenarios rarely have only one correct answer. Therefore, it is important to keep in mind that the process of analyzing the case and diagnosing core problems, while based on evidence, is a subjective process open to various avenues of interpretation. This means that you must consider alternative solutions or courses of action by critically examining strengths and weaknesses, risk factors, and the differences between short and long-term solutions. For each possible solution or course of action, consider the consequences they may have related to their implementation and how these recommendations might lead to new problems. Also, consider thinking about your recommended solutions or courses of action in relation to issues of fairness, equity, and inclusion.
Decide on a final set of recommendations . The last stage in preparing to write a case analysis paper is to assert an opinion or viewpoint about the recommendations needed to help resolve the core problems as you see them and to make a persuasive argument for supporting this point of view. Prepare a clear rationale for your recommendations based on examining each element of your analysis. Anticipate possible obstacles that could derail their implementation. Consider any counter-arguments that could be made concerning the validity of your recommended actions. Finally, describe a set of criteria and measurable indicators that could be applied to evaluating the effectiveness of your implementation plan.

Use these steps as the framework for writing your paper. Remember that the more detailed you are in taking notes as you critically examine each element of the case, the more information you will have to draw from when you begin to write. This will save you time.

NOTE : If the process of preparing to write a case analysis paper is assigned as a student group project, consider having each member of the group analyze a specific element of the case, including drafting answers to the corresponding questions used by your professor to frame the analysis. This will help make the analytical process more efficient and ensure that the distribution of work is equitable. This can also facilitate who is responsible for drafting each part of the final case analysis paper and, if applicable, the in-class presentation.

Framework for Case Analysis . College of Management. University of Massachusetts; Hawes, Jon M. "Teaching is Not Telling: The Case Method as a Form of Interactive Learning." Journal for Advancement of Marketing Education 5 (Winter 2004): 47-54; Rasche, Christoph and Achim Seisreiner. Guidelines for Business Case Analysis . University of Potsdam; Writing a Case Study Analysis . University of Arizona Global Campus Writing Center; Van Ness, Raymond K. A Guide to Case Analysis . School of Business. State University of New York, Albany; Writing a Case Analysis . Business School, University of New South Wales.

Structure and Writing Style

A case analysis paper should be detailed, concise, persuasive, clearly written, and professional in tone and in the use of language . As with other forms of college-level academic writing, declarative statements that convey information, provide a fact, or offer an explanation or any recommended courses of action should be based on evidence. If allowed by your professor, any external sources used to support your analysis, such as course readings, should be properly cited under a list of references. The organization and structure of case analysis papers can vary depending on your professor’s preferred format, but its structure generally follows the steps used for analyzing the case.

Introduction

The introduction should provide a succinct but thorough descriptive overview of the main facts, issues, and core problems of the case . The introduction should also include a brief summary of the most relevant details about the situation and organizational setting. This includes defining the theoretical framework or conceptual model on which any questions were used to frame your analysis.

Following the rules of most college-level research papers, the introduction should then inform the reader how the paper will be organized. This includes describing the major sections of the paper and the order in which they will be presented. Unless you are told to do so by your professor, you do not need to preview your final recommendations in the introduction. U nlike most college-level research papers , the introduction does not include a statement about the significance of your findings because a case analysis assignment does not involve contributing new knowledge about a research problem.

Background Analysis

Background analysis can vary depending on any guiding questions provided by your professor and the underlying concept or theory that the case is based upon. In general, however, this section of your paper should focus on:

Providing an overarching analysis of problems identified from the case scenario, including identifying events that stakeholders find challenging or troublesome,
Identifying assumptions made by each stakeholder and any apparent biases they may exhibit,
Describing any demands or claims made by or forced upon key stakeholders, and
Highlighting any issues of concern or complaints expressed by stakeholders in response to those demands or claims.

These aspects of the case are often in the form of behavioral responses expressed by individuals or groups within the organizational setting. However, note that problems in a case situation can also be reflected in data [or the lack thereof] and in the decision-making, operational, cultural, or institutional structure of the organization. Additionally, demands or claims can be either internal and external to the organization [e.g., a case analysis involving a president considering arms sales to Saudi Arabia could include managing internal demands from White House advisors as well as demands from members of Congress].

Throughout this section, present all relevant evidence from the case that supports your analysis. Do not simply claim there is a problem, an assumption, a demand, or a concern; tell the reader what part of the case informed how you identified these background elements.

Identification of Problems

In most case analysis assignments, there are problems, and then there are problems . Each problem can reflect a multitude of underlying symptoms that are detrimental to the interests of the organization. The purpose of identifying problems is to teach students how to differentiate between problems that vary in severity, impact, and relative importance. Given this, problems can be described in three general forms: those that must be addressed immediately, those that should be addressed but the impact is not severe, and those that do not require immediate attention and can be set aside for the time being.

All of the problems you identify from the case should be identified in this section of your paper, with a description based on evidence explaining the problem variances. If the assignment asks you to conduct research to further support your assessment of the problems, include this in your explanation. Remember to cite those sources in a list of references. Use specific evidence from the case and apply appropriate concepts, theories, and models discussed in class or in relevant course readings to highlight and explain the key problems [or problem] that you believe must be solved immediately and describe the underlying symptoms and why they are so critical.

Alternative Solutions

This section is where you provide specific, realistic, and evidence-based solutions to the problems you have identified and make recommendations about how to alleviate the underlying symptomatic conditions impacting the organizational setting. For each solution, you must explain why it was chosen and provide clear evidence to support your reasoning. This can include, for example, course readings and class discussions as well as research resources, such as, books, journal articles, research reports, or government documents. In some cases, your professor may encourage you to include personal, anecdotal experiences as evidence to support why you chose a particular solution or set of solutions. Using anecdotal evidence helps promote reflective thinking about the process of determining what qualifies as a core problem and relevant solution .

Throughout this part of the paper, keep in mind the entire array of problems that must be addressed and describe in detail the solutions that might be implemented to resolve these problems.

Recommended Courses of Action

In some case analysis assignments, your professor may ask you to combine the alternative solutions section with your recommended courses of action. However, it is important to know the difference between the two. A solution refers to the answer to a problem. A course of action refers to a procedure or deliberate sequence of activities adopted to proactively confront a situation, often in the context of accomplishing a goal. In this context, proposed courses of action are based on your analysis of alternative solutions. Your description and justification for pursuing each course of action should represent the overall plan for implementing your recommendations.

For each course of action, you need to explain the rationale for your recommendation in a way that confronts challenges, explains risks, and anticipates any counter-arguments from stakeholders. Do this by considering the strengths and weaknesses of each course of action framed in relation to how the action is expected to resolve the core problems presented, the possible ways the action may affect remaining problems, and how the recommended action will be perceived by each stakeholder.

In addition, you should describe the criteria needed to measure how well the implementation of these actions is working and explain which individuals or groups are responsible for ensuring your recommendations are successful. In addition, always consider the law of unintended consequences. Outline difficulties that may arise in implementing each course of action and describe how implementing the proposed courses of action [either individually or collectively] may lead to new problems [both large and small].

Throughout this section, you must consider the costs and benefits of recommending your courses of action in relation to uncertainties or missing information and the negative consequences of success.

The conclusion should be brief and introspective. Unlike a research paper, the conclusion in a case analysis paper does not include a summary of key findings and their significance, a statement about how the study contributed to existing knowledge, or indicate opportunities for future research.

Begin by synthesizing the core problems presented in the case and the relevance of your recommended solutions. This can include an explanation of what you have learned about the case in the context of your answers to the questions provided by your professor. The conclusion is also where you link what you learned from analyzing the case with the course readings or class discussions. This can further demonstrate your understanding of the relationships between the practical case situation and the theoretical and abstract content of assigned readings and other course content.

Problems to Avoid

The literature on case analysis assignments often includes examples of difficulties students have with applying methods of critical analysis and effectively reporting the results of their assessment of the situation. A common reason cited by scholars is that the application of this type of teaching and learning method is limited to applied fields of social and behavioral sciences and, as a result, writing a case analysis paper can be unfamiliar to most students entering college.

After you have drafted your paper, proofread the narrative flow and revise any of these common errors:

Unnecessary detail in the background section . The background section should highlight the essential elements of the case based on your analysis. Focus on summarizing the facts and highlighting the key factors that become relevant in the other sections of the paper by eliminating any unnecessary information.
Analysis relies too much on opinion . Your analysis is interpretive, but the narrative must be connected clearly to evidence from the case and any models and theories discussed in class or in course readings. Any positions or arguments you make should be supported by evidence.
Analysis does not focus on the most important elements of the case . Your paper should provide a thorough overview of the case. However, the analysis should focus on providing evidence about what you identify are the key events, stakeholders, issues, and problems. Emphasize what you identify as the most critical aspects of the case to be developed throughout your analysis. Be thorough but succinct.
Writing is too descriptive . A paper with too much descriptive information detracts from your analysis of the complexities of the case situation. Questions about what happened, where, when, and by whom should only be included as essential information leading to your examination of questions related to why, how, and for what purpose.
Inadequate definition of a core problem and associated symptoms . A common error found in case analysis papers is recommending a solution or course of action without adequately defining or demonstrating that you understand the problem. Make sure you have clearly described the problem and its impact and scope within the organizational setting. Ensure that you have adequately described the root causes w hen describing the symptoms of the problem.
Recommendations lack specificity . Identify any use of vague statements and indeterminate terminology, such as, “A particular experience” or “a large increase to the budget.” These statements cannot be measured and, as a result, there is no way to evaluate their successful implementation. Provide specific data and use direct language in describing recommended actions.
Unrealistic, exaggerated, or unattainable recommendations . Review your recommendations to ensure that they are based on the situational facts of the case. Your recommended solutions and courses of action must be based on realistic assumptions and fit within the constraints of the situation. Also note that the case scenario has already happened, therefore, any speculation or arguments about what could have occurred if the circumstances were different should be revised or eliminated.

Bee, Lian Song et al. "Business Students' Perspectives on Case Method Coaching for Problem-Based Learning: Impacts on Student Engagement and Learning Performance in Higher Education." Education & Training 64 (2022): 416-432; The Case Analysis . Fred Meijer Center for Writing and Michigan Authors. Grand Valley State University; Georgallis, Panikos and Kayleigh Bruijn. "Sustainability Teaching using Case-Based Debates." Journal of International Education in Business 15 (2022): 147-163; Hawes, Jon M. "Teaching is Not Telling: The Case Method as a Form of Interactive Learning." Journal for Advancement of Marketing Education 5 (Winter 2004): 47-54; Georgallis, Panikos, and Kayleigh Bruijn. "Sustainability Teaching Using Case-based Debates." Journal of International Education in Business 15 (2022): 147-163; .Dean, Kathy Lund and Charles J. Fornaciari. "How to Create and Use Experiential Case-Based Exercises in a Management Classroom." Journal of Management Education 26 (October 2002): 586-603; Klebba, Joanne M. and Janet G. Hamilton. "Structured Case Analysis: Developing Critical Thinking Skills in a Marketing Case Course." Journal of Marketing Education 29 (August 2007): 132-137, 139; Klein, Norman. "The Case Discussion Method Revisited: Some Questions about Student Skills." Exchange: The Organizational Behavior Teaching Journal 6 (November 1981): 30-32; Mukherjee, Arup. "Effective Use of In-Class Mini Case Analysis for Discovery Learning in an Undergraduate MIS Course." The Journal of Computer Information Systems 40 (Spring 2000): 15-23; Pessoa, Silviaet al. "Scaffolding the Case Analysis in an Organizational Behavior Course: Making Analytical Language Explicit." Journal of Management Education 46 (2022): 226-251: Ramsey, V. J. and L. D. Dodge. "Case Analysis: A Structured Approach." Exchange: The Organizational Behavior Teaching Journal 6 (November 1981): 27-29; Schweitzer, Karen. "How to Write and Format a Business Case Study." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/how-to-write-and-format-a-business-case-study-466324 (accessed December 5, 2022); Reddy, C. D. "Teaching Research Methodology: Everything's a Case." Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods 18 (December 2020): 178-188; Volpe, Guglielmo. "Case Teaching in Economics: History, Practice and Evidence." Cogent Economics and Finance 3 (December 2015). doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/23322039.2015.1120977.

Writing Tip

Ca se Study and Case Analysis Are Not the Same!

Confusion often exists between what it means to write a paper that uses a case study research design and writing a paper that analyzes a case; they are two different types of approaches to learning in the social and behavioral sciences. Professors as well as educational researchers contribute to this confusion because they often use the term "case study" when describing the subject of analysis for a case analysis paper. But you are not studying a case for the purpose of generating a comprehensive, multi-faceted understanding of a research problem. R ather, you are critically analyzing a specific scenario to argue logically for recommended solutions and courses of action that lead to optimal outcomes applicable to professional practice.

To avoid any confusion, here are twelve characteristics that delineate the differences between writing a paper using the case study research method and writing a case analysis paper:

Case study is a method of in-depth research and rigorous inquiry ; case analysis is a reliable method of teaching and learning . A case study is a modality of research that investigates a phenomenon for the purpose of creating new knowledge, solving a problem, or testing a hypothesis using empirical evidence derived from the case being studied. Often, the results are used to generalize about a larger population or within a wider context. The writing adheres to the traditional standards of a scholarly research study. A case analysis is a pedagogical tool used to teach students how to reflect and think critically about a practical, real-life problem in an organizational setting.
The researcher is responsible for identifying the case to study; a case analysis is assigned by your professor . As the researcher, you choose the case study to investigate in support of obtaining new knowledge and understanding about the research problem. The case in a case analysis assignment is almost always provided, and sometimes written, by your professor and either given to every student in class to analyze individually or to a small group of students, or students select a case to analyze from a predetermined list.
A case study is indeterminate and boundless; a case analysis is predetermined and confined . A case study can be almost anything [see item 9 below] as long as it relates directly to examining the research problem. This relationship is the only limit to what a researcher can choose as the subject of their case study. The content of a case analysis is determined by your professor and its parameters are well-defined and limited to elucidating insights of practical value applied to practice.
Case study is fact-based and describes actual events or situations; case analysis can be entirely fictional or adapted from an actual situation . The entire content of a case study must be grounded in reality to be a valid subject of investigation in an empirical research study. A case analysis only needs to set the stage for critically examining a situation in practice and, therefore, can be entirely fictional or adapted, all or in-part, from an actual situation.
Research using a case study method must adhere to principles of intellectual honesty and academic integrity; a case analysis scenario can include misleading or false information . A case study paper must report research objectively and factually to ensure that any findings are understood to be logically correct and trustworthy. A case analysis scenario may include misleading or false information intended to deliberately distract from the central issues of the case. The purpose is to teach students how to sort through conflicting or useless information in order to come up with the preferred solution. Any use of misleading or false information in academic research is considered unethical.
Case study is linked to a research problem; case analysis is linked to a practical situation or scenario . In the social sciences, the subject of an investigation is most often framed as a problem that must be researched in order to generate new knowledge leading to a solution. Case analysis narratives are grounded in real life scenarios for the purpose of examining the realities of decision-making behavior and processes within organizational settings. A case analysis assignments include a problem or set of problems to be analyzed. However, the goal is centered around the act of identifying and evaluating courses of action leading to best possible outcomes.
The purpose of a case study is to create new knowledge through research; the purpose of a case analysis is to teach new understanding . Case studies are a choice of methodological design intended to create new knowledge about resolving a research problem. A case analysis is a mode of teaching and learning intended to create new understanding and an awareness of uncertainty applied to practice through acts of critical thinking and reflection.
A case study seeks to identify the best possible solution to a research problem; case analysis can have an indeterminate set of solutions or outcomes . Your role in studying a case is to discover the most logical, evidence-based ways to address a research problem. A case analysis assignment rarely has a single correct answer because one of the goals is to force students to confront the real life dynamics of uncertainly, ambiguity, and missing or conflicting information within professional practice. Under these conditions, a perfect outcome or solution almost never exists.
Case study is unbounded and relies on gathering external information; case analysis is a self-contained subject of analysis . The scope of a case study chosen as a method of research is bounded. However, the researcher is free to gather whatever information and data is necessary to investigate its relevance to understanding the research problem. For a case analysis assignment, your professor will often ask you to examine solutions or recommended courses of action based solely on facts and information from the case.
Case study can be a person, place, object, issue, event, condition, or phenomenon; a case analysis is a carefully constructed synopsis of events, situations, and behaviors . The research problem dictates the type of case being studied and, therefore, the design can encompass almost anything tangible as long as it fulfills the objective of generating new knowledge and understanding. A case analysis is in the form of a narrative containing descriptions of facts, situations, processes, rules, and behaviors within a particular setting and under a specific set of circumstances.
Case study can represent an open-ended subject of inquiry; a case analysis is a narrative about something that has happened in the past . A case study is not restricted by time and can encompass an event or issue with no temporal limit or end. For example, the current war in Ukraine can be used as a case study of how medical personnel help civilians during a large military conflict, even though circumstances around this event are still evolving. A case analysis can be used to elicit critical thinking about current or future situations in practice, but the case itself is a narrative about something finite and that has taken place in the past.
Multiple case studies can be used in a research study; case analysis involves examining a single scenario . Case study research can use two or more cases to examine a problem, often for the purpose of conducting a comparative investigation intended to discover hidden relationships, document emerging trends, or determine variations among different examples. A case analysis assignment typically describes a stand-alone, self-contained situation and any comparisons among cases are conducted during in-class discussions and/or student presentations.

The Case Analysis . Fred Meijer Center for Writing and Michigan Authors. Grand Valley State University; Mills, Albert J. , Gabrielle Durepos, and Eiden Wiebe, editors. Encyclopedia of Case Study Research . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2010; Ramsey, V. J. and L. D. Dodge. "Case Analysis: A Structured Approach." Exchange: The Organizational Behavior Teaching Journal 6 (November 1981): 27-29; Yin, Robert K. Case Study Research and Applications: Design and Methods . 6th edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2017; Crowe, Sarah et al. “The Case Study Approach.” BMC Medical Research Methodology 11 (2011): doi: 10.1186/1471-2288-11-100; Yin, Robert K. Case Study Research: Design and Methods . 4th edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishing; 1994.

<< Previous: Reviewing Collected Works
Next: Writing a Case Study >>
Last Updated: Mar 6, 2024 1:00 PM
URL: https://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/assignments

Do Your Students Know How to Analyze a Case—Really?

Explore more.

Case Teaching
Student Engagement

J ust as actors, athletes, and musicians spend thousands of hours practicing their craft, business students benefit from practicing their critical-thinking and decision-making skills. Students, however, often have limited exposure to real-world problem-solving scenarios; they need more opportunities to practice tackling tough business problems and deciding on—and executing—the best solutions.

To ensure students have ample opportunity to develop these critical-thinking and decision-making skills, we believe business faculty should shift from teaching mostly principles and ideas to mostly applications and practices. And in doing so, they should emphasize the case method, which simulates real-world management challenges and opportunities for students.

To help educators facilitate this shift and help students get the most out of case-based learning, we have developed a framework for analyzing cases. We call it PACADI (Problem, Alternatives, Criteria, Analysis, Decision, Implementation); it can improve learning outcomes by helping students better solve and analyze business problems, make decisions, and develop and implement strategy. Here, we’ll explain why we developed this framework, how it works, and what makes it an effective learning tool.

The Case for Cases: Helping Students Think Critically

Business students must develop critical-thinking and analytical skills, which are essential to their ability to make good decisions in functional areas such as marketing, finance, operations, and information technology, as well as to understand the relationships among these functions. For example, the decisions a marketing manager must make include strategic planning (segments, products, and channels); execution (digital messaging, media, branding, budgets, and pricing); and operations (integrated communications and technologies), as well as how to implement decisions across functional areas.

Faculty can use many types of cases to help students develop these skills. These include the prototypical “paper cases”; live cases , which feature guest lecturers such as entrepreneurs or corporate leaders and on-site visits; and multimedia cases , which immerse students into real situations. Most cases feature an explicit or implicit decision that a protagonist—whether it is an individual, a group, or an organization—must make.

For students new to learning by the case method—and even for those with case experience—some common issues can emerge; these issues can sometimes be a barrier for educators looking to ensure the best possible outcomes in their case classrooms. Unsure of how to dig into case analysis on their own, students may turn to the internet or rely on former students for “answers” to assigned cases. Or, when assigned to provide answers to assignment questions in teams, students might take a divide-and-conquer approach but not take the time to regroup and provide answers that are consistent with one other.

To help address these issues, which we commonly experienced in our classes, we wanted to provide our students with a more structured approach for how they analyze cases—and to really think about making decisions from the protagonists’ point of view. We developed the PACADI framework to address this need.

PACADI: A Six-Step Decision-Making Approach

The PACADI framework is a six-step decision-making approach that can be used in lieu of traditional end-of-case questions. It offers a structured, integrated, and iterative process that requires students to analyze case information, apply business concepts to derive valuable insights, and develop recommendations based on these insights.

Prior to beginning a PACADI assessment, which we’ll outline here, students should first prepare a two-paragraph summary—a situation analysis—that highlights the key case facts. Then, we task students with providing a five-page PACADI case analysis (excluding appendices) based on the following six steps.

Step 1: Problem definition. What is the major challenge, problem, opportunity, or decision that has to be made? If there is more than one problem, choose the most important one. Often when solving the key problem, other issues will surface and be addressed. The problem statement may be framed as a question; for example, How can brand X improve market share among millennials in Canada? Usually the problem statement has to be re-written several times during the analysis of a case as students peel back the layers of symptoms or causation.

Step 2: Alternatives. Identify in detail the strategic alternatives to address the problem; three to five options generally work best. Alternatives should be mutually exclusive, realistic, creative, and feasible given the constraints of the situation. Doing nothing or delaying the decision to a later date are not considered acceptable alternatives.

Step 3: Criteria. What are the key decision criteria that will guide decision-making? In a marketing course, for example, these may include relevant marketing criteria such as segmentation, positioning, advertising and sales, distribution, and pricing. Financial criteria useful in evaluating the alternatives should be included—for example, income statement variables, customer lifetime value, payback, etc. Students must discuss their rationale for selecting the decision criteria and the weights and importance for each factor.

Step 4: Analysis. Provide an in-depth analysis of each alternative based on the criteria chosen in step three. Decision tables using criteria as columns and alternatives as rows can be helpful. The pros and cons of the various choices as well as the short- and long-term implications of each may be evaluated. Best, worst, and most likely scenarios can also be insightful.

Step 5: Decision. Students propose their solution to the problem. This decision is justified based on an in-depth analysis. Explain why the recommendation made is the best fit for the criteria.

Step 6: Implementation plan. Sound business decisions may fail due to poor execution. To enhance the likeliness of a successful project outcome, students describe the key steps (activities) to implement the recommendation, timetable, projected costs, expected competitive reaction, success metrics, and risks in the plan.

“Students note that using the PACADI framework yields ‘aha moments’—they learned something surprising in the case that led them to think differently about the problem and their proposed solution.”

PACADI’s Benefits: Meaningfully and Thoughtfully Applying Business Concepts

The PACADI framework covers all of the major elements of business decision-making, including implementation, which is often overlooked. By stepping through the whole framework, students apply relevant business concepts and solve management problems via a systematic, comprehensive approach; they’re far less likely to surface piecemeal responses.

As students explore each part of the framework, they may realize that they need to make changes to a previous step. For instance, when working on implementation, students may realize that the alternative they selected cannot be executed or will not be profitable, and thus need to rethink their decision. Or, they may discover that the criteria need to be revised since the list of decision factors they identified is incomplete (for example, the factors may explain key marketing concerns but fail to address relevant financial considerations) or is unrealistic (for example, they suggest a 25 percent increase in revenues without proposing an increased promotional budget).

In addition, the PACADI framework can be used alongside quantitative assignments, in-class exercises, and business and management simulations. The structured, multi-step decision framework encourages careful and sequential analysis to solve business problems. Incorporating PACADI as an overarching decision-making method across different projects will ultimately help students achieve desired learning outcomes. As a practical “beyond-the-classroom” tool, the PACADI framework is not a contrived course assignment; it reflects the decision-making approach that managers, executives, and entrepreneurs exercise daily. Case analysis introduces students to the real-world process of making business decisions quickly and correctly, often with limited information. This framework supplies an organized and disciplined process that students can readily defend in writing and in class discussions.

PACADI in Action: An Example

Here’s an example of how students used the PACADI framework for a recent case analysis on CVS, a large North American drugstore chain.

The CVS Prescription for Customer Value*

PACADI Stage

Summary Response

How should CVS Health evolve from the “drugstore of your neighborhood” to the “drugstore of your future”?

Alternatives

A1. Kaizen (continuous improvement)

A2. Product development

A3. Market development

A4. Personalization (micro-targeting)

Criteria (include weights)

C1. Customer value: service, quality, image, and price (40%)

C2. Customer obsession (20%)

C3. Growth through related businesses (20%)

C4. Customer retention and customer lifetime value (20%)

Each alternative was analyzed by each criterion using a Customer Value Assessment Tool

Alternative 4 (A4): Personalization was selected. This is operationalized via: segmentation—move toward segment-of-1 marketing; geodemographics and lifestyle emphasis; predictive data analysis; relationship marketing; people, principles, and supply chain management; and exceptional customer service.

Implementation

Partner with leading medical school

Curbside pick-up

Pet pharmacy

E-newsletter for customers and employees

Employee incentive program

CVS beauty days

Expand to Latin America and Caribbean

Healthier/happier corner

Holiday toy drives/community outreach

*Source: A. Weinstein, Y. Rodriguez, K. Sims, R. Vergara, “The CVS Prescription for Superior Customer Value—A Case Study,” Back to the Future: Revisiting the Foundations of Marketing from Society for Marketing Advances, West Palm Beach, FL (November 2, 2018).

Results of Using the PACADI Framework

When faculty members at our respective institutions at Nova Southeastern University (NSU) and the University of North Carolina Wilmington have used the PACADI framework, our classes have been more structured and engaging. Students vigorously debate each element of their decision and note that this framework yields an “aha moment”—they learned something surprising in the case that led them to think differently about the problem and their proposed solution.

These lively discussions enhance individual and collective learning. As one external metric of this improvement, we have observed a 2.5 percent increase in student case grade performance at NSU since this framework was introduced.

Tips to Get Started

The PACADI approach works well in in-person, online, and hybrid courses. This is particularly important as more universities have moved to remote learning options. Because students have varied educational and cultural backgrounds, work experience, and familiarity with case analysis, we recommend that faculty members have students work on their first case using this new framework in small teams (two or three students). Additional analyses should then be solo efforts.

To use PACADI effectively in your classroom, we suggest the following:

Advise your students that your course will stress critical thinking and decision-making skills, not just course concepts and theory.

Use a varied mix of case studies. As marketing professors, we often address consumer and business markets; goods, services, and digital commerce; domestic and global business; and small and large companies in a single MBA course.

As a starting point, provide a short explanation (about 20 to 30 minutes) of the PACADI framework with a focus on the conceptual elements. You can deliver this face to face or through videoconferencing.

Give students an opportunity to practice the case analysis methodology via an ungraded sample case study. Designate groups of five to seven students to discuss the case and the six steps in breakout sessions (in class or via Zoom).

Ensure case analyses are weighted heavily as a grading component. We suggest 30–50 percent of the overall course grade.

Once cases are graded, debrief with the class on what they did right and areas needing improvement (30- to 40-minute in-person or Zoom session).

Encourage faculty teams that teach common courses to build appropriate instructional materials, grading rubrics, videos, sample cases, and teaching notes.

When selecting case studies, we have found that the best ones for PACADI analyses are about 15 pages long and revolve around a focal management decision. This length provides adequate depth yet is not protracted. Some of our tested and favorite marketing cases include Brand W , Hubspot , Kraft Foods Canada , TRSB(A) , and Whiskey & Cheddar .

Art Weinstein , Ph.D., is a professor of marketing at Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He has published more than 80 scholarly articles and papers and eight books on customer-focused marketing strategy. His latest book is Superior Customer Value—Finding and Keeping Customers in the Now Economy . Dr. Weinstein has consulted for many leading technology and service companies.

Herbert V. Brotspies , D.B.A., is an adjunct professor of marketing at Nova Southeastern University. He has over 30 years’ experience as a vice president in marketing, strategic planning, and acquisitions for Fortune 50 consumer products companies working in the United States and internationally. His research interests include return on marketing investment, consumer behavior, business-to-business strategy, and strategic planning.

John T. Gironda , Ph.D., is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. His research has been published in Industrial Marketing Management, Psychology & Marketing , and Journal of Marketing Management . He has also presented at major marketing conferences including the American Marketing Association, Academy of Marketing Science, and Society for Marketing Advances.

We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience, including personalizing content. Learn More . By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies and revised Privacy Policy .

Have a language expert improve your writing

Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes, generate accurate citations for free.

Knowledge Base

Methodology

What Is a Case Study? | Definition, Examples & Methods

What Is a Case Study? | Definition, Examples & Methods

Published on May 8, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on November 20, 2023.

A case study is a detailed study of a specific subject, such as a person, group, place, event, organization, or phenomenon. Case studies are commonly used in social, educational, clinical, and business research.

A case study research design usually involves qualitative methods , but quantitative methods are sometimes also used. Case studies are good for describing , comparing, evaluating and understanding different aspects of a research problem .

When to do a case study, step 1: select a case, step 2: build a theoretical framework, step 3: collect your data, step 4: describe and analyze the case, other interesting articles.

A case study is an appropriate research design when you want to gain concrete, contextual, in-depth knowledge about a specific real-world subject. It allows you to explore the key characteristics, meanings, and implications of the case.

Case studies are often a good choice in a thesis or dissertation . They keep your project focused and manageable when you don’t have the time or resources to do large-scale research.

You might use just one complex case study where you explore a single subject in depth, or conduct multiple case studies to compare and illuminate different aspects of your research problem.

Here's why students love Scribbr's proofreading services

Discover proofreading & editing

Once you have developed your problem statement and research questions , you should be ready to choose the specific case that you want to focus on. A good case study should have the potential to:

Provide new or unexpected insights into the subject
Challenge or complicate existing assumptions and theories
Propose practical courses of action to resolve a problem
Open up new directions for future research

TipIf your research is more practical in nature and aims to simultaneously investigate an issue as you solve it, consider conducting action research instead.

Unlike quantitative or experimental research , a strong case study does not require a random or representative sample. In fact, case studies often deliberately focus on unusual, neglected, or outlying cases which may shed new light on the research problem.

Example of an outlying case studyIn the 1960s the town of Roseto, Pennsylvania was discovered to have extremely low rates of heart disease compared to the US average. It became an important case study for understanding previously neglected causes of heart disease.

However, you can also choose a more common or representative case to exemplify a particular category, experience or phenomenon.

Example of a representative case studyIn the 1920s, two sociologists used Muncie, Indiana as a case study of a typical American city that supposedly exemplified the changing culture of the US at the time.

While case studies focus more on concrete details than general theories, they should usually have some connection with theory in the field. This way the case study is not just an isolated description, but is integrated into existing knowledge about the topic. It might aim to:

Exemplify a theory by showing how it explains the case under investigation
Expand on a theory by uncovering new concepts and ideas that need to be incorporated
Challenge a theory by exploring an outlier case that doesn’t fit with established assumptions

To ensure that your analysis of the case has a solid academic grounding, you should conduct a literature review of sources related to the topic and develop a theoretical framework . This means identifying key concepts and theories to guide your analysis and interpretation.

There are many different research methods you can use to collect data on your subject. Case studies tend to focus on qualitative data using methods such as interviews , observations , and analysis of primary and secondary sources (e.g., newspaper articles, photographs, official records). Sometimes a case study will also collect quantitative data.

Example of a mixed methods case studyFor a case study of a wind farm development in a rural area, you could collect quantitative data on employment rates and business revenue, collect qualitative data on local people’s perceptions and experiences, and analyze local and national media coverage of the development.

The aim is to gain as thorough an understanding as possible of the case and its context.

Receive feedback on language, structure, and formatting

Professional editors proofread and edit your paper by focusing on:

Academic style
Vague sentences
Style consistency

See an example

In writing up the case study, you need to bring together all the relevant aspects to give as complete a picture as possible of the subject.

How you report your findings depends on the type of research you are doing. Some case studies are structured like a standard scientific paper or thesis , with separate sections or chapters for the methods , results and discussion .

Others are written in a more narrative style, aiming to explore the case from various angles and analyze its meanings and implications (for example, by using textual analysis or discourse analysis ).

In all cases, though, make sure to give contextual details about the case, connect it back to the literature and theory, and discuss how it fits into wider patterns or debates.

If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Normal distribution
Degrees of freedom
Null hypothesis
Discourse analysis
Control groups
Mixed methods research
Non-probability sampling
Quantitative research
Ecological validity

Research bias

Rosenthal effect
Implicit bias
Cognitive bias
Selection bias
Negativity bias
Status quo bias

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

McCombes, S. (2023, November 20). What Is a Case Study? | Definition, Examples & Methods. Scribbr. Retrieved April 16, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/case-study/

Is this article helpful?

Shona McCombes

Other students also liked, primary vs. secondary sources | difference & examples, what is a theoretical framework | guide to organizing, what is action research | definition & examples, what is your plagiarism score.

International Conference on Business Process Management

BPM 2011: Business Process Management Workshops pp 87–98 Cite as

A Process Deviation Analysis – A Case Study

Jo Swinnen 9 ,
Benoît Depaire 9 ,
Mieke J. Jans 9 &
Koen Vanhoof 9
Conference paper

5146 Accesses

18 Citations

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing ((LNBIP,volume 99))

Processes are not always executed as expected. Deviations assure the necessary flexibility within a company, but also increase possible internal control weaknesses. Since the number of cases following such a deviation can grow very large, it becomes difficult to analyze them case-by-case. This paper proposes a semi-automatic process deviation analysis method which combines process mining with association rule mining to simplify the analysis of deviating cases. Association rule mining is used to group deviating cases into business rules according to similar attribute values. Consequently, only the resulting business rules need to be examined on their acceptability which makes the analysis less complicated. Therefore, this method can be used to support the search for internal control weaknesses.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution .

Buying options

Available as PDF
Read on any device
Instant download
Own it forever
Compact, lightweight edition
Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Alles, M., Vasarhelyi, M.: Process Mining of Event Logs in Auditing: Opportunities and Challenges. In: 1st International Symposium on Accounting Information Systems, Orlando (2010)

Google Scholar

Bozkaya, M., Gabriels, J., van der Werf, J.M.: Process Diagnostics: a Method Based on Process Mining. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Information, Process, and Knowledge Management: Eknow 2009, pp. 22–27 (2009)

Crerie, R., Baião, F.A., Santoro, F.M.: Discovering Business Rules through Process Mining. In: Halpin, T., Krogstie, J., Nurcan, S., Proper, E., Schmidt, R., Soffer, P., Ukor, R. (eds.) BPMDS 2009 and EMMSAD 2009. LNBIP, vol. 29, pp. 136–148. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)

Depaire, B., Vanhoof, K., Wets, G.: ARUBAS, An Association Rule Based Similarity Framework for Associative Classifiers, vol. 8, pp. 692–699 (2008)

Dobre, M.M.: Studies Bucharest Academy of Economic. Disclosure of Internal Control Deficiencies under the Sarbanes_Oxley Act of 2002. In: Amis 2010 - Proceedings of the 5th International Conference, Accounting and Management Information Systems, pp. 13–37 (2010)

Drymonas, E., Zervanou, K., Petrakis, E.G.M.: Unsupervised Ontology Acquisition from Plain Texts: The OntoGain System. In: Hopfe, C.J., Rezgui, Y., Métais, E., Preece, A., Li, H. (eds.) NLDB 2010. LNCS, vol. 6177, pp. 277–287. Springer, Heidelberg (2010)

Chapter Google Scholar

García, E., Romero, C., Ventura, S., de Castro, C.: Using Rules Discovery for the Continuous Improvement of e-Learning Courses. In: Corchado, E., Yin, H., Botti, V., Fyfe, C. (eds.) IDEAL 2006. LNCS, vol. 4224, pp. 887–895. Springer, Heidelberg (2006)

García, E., Romero, C., Ventura, S., de Castro, C.: Evaluating Web Based Instructional Models Using Association Rule Mining. In: Houben, G.-J., McCalla, G., Pianesi, F., Zancanaro, M. (eds.) UMAP 2009. LNCS, vol. 5535, pp. 16–29. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)

Günther, C.W., Rinderle, S., Reichert, M., van der Aalst, W.: Change Mining in Adaptive Process Management Systems. In: Meersman, R., Tari, Z. (eds.) OTM 2006. LNCS, vol. 4275, pp. 309–326. Springer, Heidelberg (2006)

Günther, C.W., van der Aalst, W.M.P.: Fuzzy Mining – Adaptive Process Simplification Based on Multi-perspective Metrics. In: Alonso, G., Dadam, P., Rosemann, M. (eds.) BPM 2007. LNCS, vol. 4714, pp. 328–343. Springer, Heidelberg (2007)

Jans, M.: A Framework for Internal Fraud Risk Reduction: The IFR Framework. PhD thesis, Hasselt University (2009)

Jans, M., Depaire, B., Vanhoof, K.: Does Process Mining Add to Internal Auditing? An Experience Report. In: Halpin, T., Nurcan, S., Krogstie, J., Soffer, P., Proper, E., Schmidt, R., Bider, I. (eds.) BPMDS 2011 and EMMSAD 2011. LNBIP, vol. 81, pp. 31–45. Springer, Heidelberg (2011)

Jans, M., Lybaert, N., Vanhoof, K.: Business process mining for internal fraud risk reduction: results of a case study. In: Proceedings of Induction of Process Models (2008)

Li, J.: Tutorial fuzzy miner plug-in 1.2.2 (2010)

Ross, R.G.: Principles of the Business Rule Approach. Addison-Wesley Information Technology (2003)

Rozinat, A., van der Aalst, W.M.P.: Decision Mining in ProM. In: Dustdar, S., Fiadeiro, J.L., Sheth, A.P. (eds.) BPM 2006. LNCS, vol. 4102, pp. 420–425. Springer, Heidelberg (2006)

Scheffer, T.: Finding association rules that trade support optimally against confidence. Intelligent Data Analysis 9(4), 381–395 (2005)

van der Aalst, W.M.P., de Beer, H.T., van Dongen, B.F.: Process Mining and Verification of Properties: An Approach Based on Temporal Logic. In: Meersman, R. (ed.) OTM 2005. LNCS, vol. 3760, pp. 130–147. Springer, Heidelberg (2005)

van der Aalst, W.M.P., van Hee, K., van der Werf, J.M., Kumar, A., Verdonk, M.: Conceptual model for online auditing. Decision Support Systems 50(3), 636–647 (2011)

Article Google Scholar

van der Aalst, W.M.P., van Hee, K.M., van der Werf, J.M., Verdonk, M.: Auditing 2.0: Using process mining to support tomorrow’s auditor. Computer 43(3), 90–93 (2010)

Weber, B., Reichert, M., Rinderle-Ma, S., Wild, W.: Providing integrated life cycle support in process-aware information systems. International Journal of Cooperative Information Systems 18(1), 115–165 (2009)

Weber, B., Wild, W., Lauer, M., Reichert, M.: Improving Exception Handling by Discovering Change Dependencies in Adaptive Process Management Systems. In: Eder, J., Dustdar, S. (eds.) BPM Workshops 2006. LNCS, vol. 4103, pp. 93–104. Springer, Heidelberg (2006)

Weijters, A., van der Aalst, W.M.P.: Rediscovering workflow models from event-based data using little thumb. Integrated Computer-Aided Engineering 10(2), 151–162 (2003)

Download references

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Hasselt University, Agoralaan Building D, 3590, Diepenbeek, Belgium

Jo Swinnen, Benoît Depaire, Mieke J. Jans & Koen Vanhoof

You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and affiliations.

University of Trento, Povo, Italy

Florian Daniel

CNAM-CEDRIC, Paris, France

Kamel Barkaoui

Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria

Schahram Dustdar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

About this paper

Cite this paper.

Swinnen, J., Depaire, B., Jans, M.J., Vanhoof, K. (2012). A Process Deviation Analysis – A Case Study. In: Daniel, F., Barkaoui, K., Dustdar, S. (eds) Business Process Management Workshops. BPM 2011. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 99. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-28108-2_8

Download citation

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-28108-2_8

Publisher Name : Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

Print ISBN : 978-3-642-28107-5

Online ISBN : 978-3-642-28108-2

eBook Packages : Computer Science Computer Science (R0)

Share this paper

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Find a journal
Track your research

Asking the better questions that unlock new answers to the working world's most complex issues.

Case studies

Energy and resources

How data analytics can strengthen supply chain performance

13-Jul-2023 Ben Williams

How Takeda harnessed the power of the metaverse for positive human impact

26-Jun-2023 Edwina Fitzmaurice

Banking and Capital Markets

How cutting back infused higher quality in transaction monitoring

11-Jul-2023 Ron V. Giammarco

At EY, our purpose is building a better working world. The insights and services we provide help to create long-term value for clients, people and society, and to build trust in the capital markets.

EY is now carbon negative

19-Sep-2022 Carmine Di Sibio

Our commitment to audit quality

13-Nov-2023 Julie A. Boland

No results have been found

Recent Searches

BEPS 2.0: as policies evolve, engagement is key

It remains to be seen whether the US will align its tax law with the OECD/G20’s global BEPS 2.0 rules. MNEs will feel the impact in 2024. Learn more.

How GenAI strategy can transform innovation

Companies considering or investing in a transformative GenAI strategy should tie generative artificial intelligence use cases to revenue, cost and expense. Learn more

Top five private equity trends for 2024

Read about the five key trends private equity firms will emphasize in 2024 as they create value

Select your location

close expand_more

IT Programers Working in Data Center Control Room

How federal agencies are reducing cybersecurity risk from suppliers

Building and streamlining C-SCRM capabilities for a hyper-federated federal organization through the lens of people, process and technology

1. Better question
2. Better answer
3. Better working world

How EY can help

The better the question

What risks are suppliers introducing to your organization?

Early detection of supplier risks will enable risk-informed decisions.

New technologies are accelerating the pace of digital change and the broad-scale use of automation, data analytics and the cloud. Government and public sector organizations are increasingly concerned about their resiliency capabilities and are looking to provide a safer, more secure and affordable approach to managing their systems and data. A breach from a supplier or third party could be one of the greatest risks they face.

A federal agency engaged Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) to establish its enterprise cyber supply chain risk management (C-SCRM) program, focusing on helping leaders make risk-informed supplier decisions, reduce supplier risks and meet multiple federal compliance requirements. Doing business with a supplier that provides services, products or software and – knowingly or unknowingly – could be breached presents a major risk. This may result in financial loss, intelligence leaks, stolen intellectual property or reputational harm.

With a focus on information, communication and technology (ICT) and other department services and products, the federal agency wanted a better understanding of the potential risk that a supplier could pose to the organization across multiple risk lenses, such as cybersecurity and foreign interest. By understanding the potential risk, a leader will be able to make a risk-informed decision prior to securing a procurement.

In addition to the risk elements, there are many regulations and executive actions designed to protect organizations from breaches or supply chain attacks. Both risk and regulatory compliance have driven C-SCRM to be a top concern for this entity and other federal agencies today.

The better the answer

Enterprise C-SCRM services drive results and reduce supplier risk

Establish the processes. Train people. Apply technology and the right tools. Focus on what’s important.

EY US is recognized for its extensive risk and regulatory experience, system implementation and superior service delivery in SCRM services. It brought these capabilities to its engagement with a federal agency.

The EY approach helped the entity establish the processes and implement a C-SCRM program by driving innovation and leveraging two leading-edge technology platforms:

Supplier assessment platform

Utilizing commercial best practices honed from 15+ years of experience, EY teams developed tailored processes and implemented a supporting technology solution for this federal agency. The SCRM processes are risk-based so that the level of diligence conducted increases based on the risk the supplier presents to the organization. The established process is accompanied by the ServiceNow Vendor Risk Management application, which EY teams tailored to:

Meet federal requirements while driving efficiency through an easy-to-use process
Enable entity customization to meet the needs of a hyper-federated federal department made up of more than 50 independent entities
Establish a centralized data set of supplier information providing enterprise visibility

The combination of best-in-class processes and a tailored technology solution set a new standard that government agencies are able to use to establish a leading-class C-SCRM program.

Business Relationship Economic and Threat Analysis

Business Relationship Economic and Threat Analysis (BRETA) is an automated tool that enables risk scoring by culling publicly and commercially available data sources from government and public sector resources to assess risks. It provides a multidimensional overview of threats in business relationships across six categories: financial, cybersecurity, geopolitical, technical, supply chain, and regulatory and compliance.

Working with the federal agency, EY teams used BRETA in combination with government data sources and analysts, conducting a detailed C-SCRM assessment to identify potential threats, monitor suppliers and offer actionable insights for risk mitigation.

A more resilient suppler ecosystem

From a risk perspective, the federal agency is now able to:

Make informed, risk-based decisions. Prior to acquiring products and services, the agency can now assess suppliers against multiple risk levels while addressing the impact on the organization.
Reduce risk and provide secure, quality services. By making risk-based decisions, ongoing supplier monitoring and risk remediation, the agency can negate working with suppliers that present an unacceptable risk to the enterprise. This helps improve supplier security and negate potential supplier breaches that could have a large-scale impact on the department.
Meet federal compliance. Due to recent breaches in the supply chain, regulators step in and introduce new regulatory requirements. The C-SCRM program is helping this federal agency meet and exceed numerous SCRM federal laws, regulations and standards while promoting transparency and better decision-making in governance, risk and compliance.

SCRM programs are essential to improving the overall cyber posture of an organization – what makes this solution so compelling is the speed to market to stand up a program, the unique risk assessment capability of the BRETA tool, the alignment to NIST compliance standards and ultimately the ongoing monitoring capability to capture new risks over time.

Scott Smith

Principal, EY US Government and Public Sector Cybersecurity, Ernst & Young LLP

The better the world works

Understand the threats. Measure the risks.

Delivering an enterprise service that integrates risk assessment and risk treatment into the supplier management life cycle

EY teams worked with a federal agency to define what would be its end process: risk-based assessment process, entity onboarding, monitoring activities, mitigating identified risks, understanding how to handle new requests for suppliers, training users and suppliers, and integrating the service with other entities outside of the CISO. The integration helped with the change management efforts by embedding the C-SCRM services into existing procurement approval processes (e.g., the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act ) and helped enrich the assessments by enabling intelligence teams to conduct a classified evaluation of high-risk suppliers.

After more than two years supporting this agency, EY teams has assessed over 2,000 supplier ICT or other department products and services. The C-SCRM assessments have helped change behavior while meeting government C-SCRM program requirements. Before the C-SCRM program, entities would have limited ability to assess a supplier and essentially would be “accepting” the risks present within the supplier – now leaders can make risk-informed decisions.

This was one of the first federal government agencies to stand up a C-SCRM program, and it is helping to set a standard for other government entities as they build their own programs to manage supplier cybersecurity risks at an enterprise level.

Our clients are facing increased uncertainty and disruptions, which is driving them to reassess their strategic imperatives and think differently about their operating environments. EY BRETA, coupled with our people, skills and experience, enables them to assess and monitor potential threats to their businesses and transform their decision-making from reactive to proactive.

Managing Director, Advisory Services, Ernst & Young LLP

Government & Public Sector services

Our Government & Public Sector practice provides a full range of consulting, strategy, tax and audit services.

Federal Government Consulting

Our Government & Public Sector team can help your federal agency achieve mission success. Find out how.

Digital Government

Our Government & Public Sector teams help governments transform their digital approach to improve citizens’ experiences. Learn more.

“Evaluation yes, but not like this”: Case study of a failed policy in the Mexican high school

This article addresses one of the most heated moments in recent education policy in Mexico, framed within the 2013 Educational Reform: The performance evaluation of high school teachers across the country, and the condition that they would potentially lose their teaching position if they refused to take the evaluation or failed it. Unprecedented in its type and scope, the evaluation triggered controversy throughout the country, polarizing the population on its benefits and negative effects. The purpose of this study is to recover, through a retrospective analysis, the experience, perception, feelings, and emotions that the evaluation generated in a group of high school teachers in the state of Morelos, Mexico. A qualitative methodology was used, employing techniques like the collection of newspaper sources, official documents, and television content, as well as conducting interviews with 25 out of 34 teachers selected by the educational authority to be evaluated. Pre- and post-evaluation interviews were conducted and presented. Among the findings, it was noted that teachers were willing to be evaluated, but considered the evaluation process to be disorganized, unfair, and even punitive.

Author Biographies

Luz marina ibarra uribe, universidad autónoma del estado de morelos.

Antropóloga social por la Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia (México), realizó estudios del Historia en la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México y es doctora en educación por la Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos. Es responsable del Cuerpo Académico Consolidado: Estudios Estratégicos Regionales e integrante de la Red Nacional de Investigadores en Educación y Valores (REDUVAL), del Consejo Mexicano de Investigación Educativa (COMIE), de la Red de Investigación en Emociones y Afectos desde las Ciencias Sociales y las Humanidades (RENISCE Internacional), de la Red Internacional de Colaboración en Temas de Innovación, Emprendimiento y Competitividad para el Desarrollo Económico y social (REDIIEMCO), así como de la Red de Investigación Educativa del CBTis No.76. Sus líneas de investigación son: género, valores, educación y políticas educativas. Actualmente es profesora-investigadora, titular C adscrita a la Facultad de Estudios Superiores de Cuautla (FESC) de la Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos (UAEM). Es perfil deseable PRODEP-SEP; miembro del Sistema Nacional de Investigadoras e Investigadores (SNII). Es autora de los libros: Trayectorias escolares de jóvenes bachilleres atravesadas por la pandemia, El acoso laboral en las instituciones de educación superior. Una visión desde el género y, Abuelas, madres y nietas. Escolaridad y participación ciudadana 1930-1990, publicados por la Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos y coordinador de seis libros más. Autora de diversos artículos y capítulos publicados en revistas indexadas y libros especializados en temas educativos y dictaminadora de diversas revistas especializadas sobre temas de ciencias sociales.

César Darío Fonseca Bautista, Centro de Bachillerato Tecnológico industrial y de servicios No. 76

Anthropologist, Master in Educational Research and Doctor of Education from the UAEM. Attached to the DGETI subsystem. Responsible for the Educational Research Network of his campus. Member of the SNI, COMIE, Reduval and Renisce. Coordinator of the books: Teachers, students and graduates of the industrial technological baccalaureate in the common curricular framework, and Collaborative work in upper secondary education, Author of articles published in specialized magazines, on topics related to upper secondary education.

PDF (Español)

How to Cite

Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License .

Most read articles by the same author(s)

Luz Marina Ibarra Uribe, Ana Esther Escalante Ferrer, César Darío Fonseca Bautista, El significado de estudiar para los jóvenes de bachillerato , Education Policy Analysis Archives: Vol. 21 (2013)

Education Policy Analysis Archives/Archivos Analíticos de Políticas Educativas/Arquivos Analíticos de Políticas Educativas (EPAA/AAPE; ISSN 1068-2341 ) is a peer-reviewed, open-access, international, multilingual, and multidisciplinary journal designed for researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and development analysts concerned with education policies.

Português (Brasil)
Español (España)

Submit a Manuscript or Revision

Recent special issues.

Youth and Adult Education, Literacies and Decoloniality

Global Policy Mobilities in Federal Education Systems

Teacher Subjectivities in Latin America

More information about the publishing system, Platform and Workflow by OJS/PKP.

Read our research on: Gun Policy | International Conflict | Election 2024

Regions & Countries

Political typology quiz.

Notice: Beginning April 18th community groups will be temporarily unavailable for extended maintenance. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

Where do you fit in the political typology?

Are you a faith and flag conservative progressive left or somewhere in between.

Take our quiz to find out which one of our nine political typology groups is your best match, compared with a nationally representative survey of more than 10,000 U.S. adults by Pew Research Center. You may find some of these questions are difficult to answer. That’s OK. In those cases, pick the answer that comes closest to your view, even if it isn’t exactly right.

About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts .

IMAGES

Business Case Analysis: Definition, Format & Examples of a Case Study
Case Analysis: Examples + How-to Guide & Writing Tips
How To Do Case Study Analysis?
Multiple Case Study Method
😍 Case analysis sample format. Case Analysis. 2022-10-17
what are the parts of a case study analysis

VIDEO

Fault Analysis
Mini Course Sensitivity Analysis case study and Triangulation intro
B Ed Practical Examination Record Analysis Case Study & Psychology Record in Tamil
A Case study on Statistical Process Control (Free Chapter video)
Process & Capacity Analysis
12th Accountancy Chapter 8 (Financial Statements Analysis )Case Study

COMMENTS

55 Process Improvement Case Studies & Project Results [2024]
Process improvement solutions help businesses define weaknesses and take action to solve these problems. In the case studies we collected, the most common project results that we came across are as follows: 1- Improved efficiency: Most businesses increase the efficiency of their processes by adapting process improvement methodologies.
Case Study Method: A Step-by-Step Guide for Business Researchers
Case study protocol is a formal document capturing the entire set of procedures involved in the collection of empirical material . It extends direction to researchers for gathering evidences, empirical material analysis, and case study reporting . This section includes a step-by-step guide that is used for the execution of the actual study.
What is Business Process Analysis?
Learn what business process analysis (BPA) is and the types, methods and steps for small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) to consider. Business process analysis (BPA) is an approach to analyzing business operation processes. It is a detailed, multi-step examination of each part of a process to identify what is working well in your current process, what needs […]
6 Steps of a Case Analysis (With Example)
6 parts of a case analysis. Explore these parts of a case analysis to understand the process of performing one a little better: 1. Preparation. Just like with any study, it's important to first prepare to conduct the case analysis. To begin, review the details of the case you're analyzing to make sure you understand it thoroughly.
What the Case Study Method Really Teaches
It's been 100 years since Harvard Business School began using the case study method. Beyond teaching specific subject matter, the case study method excels in instilling meta-skills in students.
3 Business Process Modeling Case Studies
Archana Uses Business Process Modeling to Discover Requirements More Effectively. Let me jump right in here. Our first story is Archana. Archana was a practicing business analyst when she started the business process course (this is now part of our flagship program - The Business Analyst Blueprint training program- as part of the online business analysis training we offer at Bridging the Gap).
Process Analysis Reports
Case Studies: Real-Life Examples of Successful Process Analysis Reports Michael Burry, the founder of Scion Capital, analyzed the US housing market using process analysis reports. Based on his report, he made informed decisions that led to his success during the sub-prime mortgage crisis.
Business process analytics: a dedicated methodology through a case study
For the specific case study, control-flow refers to how the status/sub-status of a case changes during its lifecycle. There are 13 distinct alternatives for the status/sub-status of a case (presented in Table 1).Although the set of activities (status changes) is small, we noticed that there are 2278 different variants of the same process (for a dataset of 7554 cases).
Writing a Case Study Analysis
Identify the key problems and issues in the case study. Formulate and include a thesis statement, summarizing the outcome of your analysis in 1-2 sentences. Background. Set the scene: background information, relevant facts, and the most important issues. Demonstrate that you have researched the problems in this case study. Evaluation of the Case
Process Improvement: A Case Study
CASE STUDY. This case study evaluates the process and methodologies used in certifying the win/loss review process as a Six Sigma Black Belt project at Microsoft Corporation. It shares the insights gained from a process improvement perspective but does not cover broader benefits and results, such as improvements in win rates or revenue performance.
Case Studies Involving Continuous Process Analysis
In this article, several example case studies are provided which highlight the benefits of continuous process analysis in a wide range of applications. Engineers at the Universidade Federal de Itajuba (UNIFEI)(Brazil) innovate practical solutions that improve the efficiency of crude oil processing.
PDF PREPARING A CASE STUDY: A Guide for Designing and Conducting a Case
2 Case refers to the unit of analysis or topic chosen for study (i.e., the individual, organization, or program). ... What is the Process for Conducting a Case Study? The process for conducting case study research follows the same general process as is followed for other research: plan, collect data, analyze data, and disseminate findings. ...
How to Write an Effective Case Study: Examples & Templates
Time-intensive process. Case studies require a significant time investment. The extensive data collection process and the need for comprehensive analysis can be demanding, especially for researchers who are new to this method. ... Examples & Templates A case study is a focused analysis of a particular subject. Explore the power of case studies ...
Writing a Case Analysis Paper
Case study is unbounded and relies on gathering external information; case analysis is a self-contained subject of analysis. The scope of a case study chosen as a method of research is bounded. However, the researcher is free to gather whatever information and data is necessary to investigate its relevance to understanding the research problem.
Do Your Students Know How to Analyze a Case—Really?
Give students an opportunity to practice the case analysis methodology via an ungraded sample case study. Designate groups of five to seven students to discuss the case and the six steps in breakout sessions (in class or via Zoom). Ensure case analyses are weighted heavily as a grading component. We suggest 30-50 percent of the overall course ...
Digital Case Study: Augmented Process Analysis and Optimization
The title "augmented process analysis and optimization" is derived from the fact that a text-based case study is extended by various real data and information to allow for an augmented view on the process. To enable students to learn from their own practice and experience, the approach follows the concept of action research as defined by ...
Case Study Methodology of Qualitative Research: Key Attributes and
A case study is one of the most commonly used methodologies of social research. This article attempts to look into the various dimensions of a case study research strategy, the different epistemological strands which determine the particular case study type and approach adopted in the field, discusses the factors which can enhance the effectiveness of a case study research, and the debate ...
What Is a Case Study?
Revised on November 20, 2023. A case study is a detailed study of a specific subject, such as a person, group, place, event, organization, or phenomenon. Case studies are commonly used in social, educational, clinical, and business research. A case study research design usually involves qualitative methods, but quantitative methods are ...
A Review of Case Study Method in Operations Management Research
A subtle but important point here is that these investigations did not expressly provide a rational and transparent process for conducting case study research in operations management. A critical and significant point is the stage after conducting the case study, i.e. the reporting phase. ... The first step in the data analysis process is ...
PDF Process Mining for Manufacturing Process Analysis: A Case Study
Process Analysis, Case Study . 1 Introduction . Manufacturing companies have paid a lot of attention to their competitive capability in order to meet the demand for high quality products with ...
Applied Sciences
By creating a complaint handling service process management Accimap model, the process mining results analysis can be carried out across different system levels. A case study in a big manufacturing company in China is implemented to verify our approach. In the case study, 42 complaint handling process management factors are identified and the ...
A Process Deviation Analysis
This paper proposes a semi-automatic process deviation analysis method which combines process mining with association rule mining to simplify the analysis of deviating cases. Association rule mining is used to group deviating cases into business rules according to similar attribute values. Consequently, only the resulting business rules need to ...
(PDF) A Process Deviation Analysis
This paper proposes a semi-automatic process deviation analysis method which combines process mining with association rule mining to simplify the analysis of deviating cases. Association rule ...
The process of change in accelerated experiential dynamic psychotherapy
Accelerated experiential dynamic psychotherapy (AEDP) is a highly integrative treatment that incorporates elements of short-term psychodynamic and emotion-focused, process-experiential, psychotherapies, as well as attachment theory. The current study employed a mixed-methods multicase study design to describe how the process of change unfolds in a "successful" and an "unsuccessful ...
Methodology for microclimatic urban canyon design case study
Case study process. Field visits and observations were conducted in order to document the current situation forming the base case for the study. Data gathering from the urban street canyon includes the following: ... Analysis and simulation were applied at three different timings along the day as shown in Figure (7); 7 am, 12 pm, and 3 pm; ...
Case study: How federal agencies are reducing cybersecurity risk ...
New technologies are accelerating the pace of digital change and the broad-scale use of automation, data analytics and the cloud. Government and public sector organizations are increasingly concerned about their resiliency capabilities and are looking to provide a safer, more secure and affordable approach to managing their systems and data.
"Evaluation yes, but not like this": Case study of a failed policy in
The purpose of this study is to recover, through a retrospective analysis, the experience, perception, feelings, and emotions that the evaluation generated in a group of high school teachers in the state of Morelos, Mexico.
Political Typology Quiz
Where do you fit in the political typology? Are you a Faith and Flag Conservative? Progressive Left? Or somewhere in between? Take our quiz to find out which one of our nine political typology groups is your best match, compared with a nationally representative survey of more than 10,000 U.S. adults by Pew Research Center.
Buildings
Large-diameter bored piles can safely transmit loads from structures by skin friction to the surrounding soil strata and end bearing at the bedrock layer, thereby providing a high compressive capacity. High-Strain Dynamic Testing (HSDT) provides a unique alternative technique to traditional Static Load Testing (SLT) for determining the static compressive resistance of the bored piles ...