Celonis Platform

Celonis  is used for process mining in material movement, tracking, buy analysis, well control tower, and asset management. Celonis  is especially valuable for identifying bottlenecks and routing inefficiencies in these live use cases.

One project involved material movement where Celonis was used to map material flow and spot bottlenecks and routing efficiencies. The data came from Databricks , where all cleansing and processing was completed before the data reached Celonis. This project achieved a proven impact of approximately 32 million dollars.

Several additional use cases have been implemented, and Celonis demonstrated great impact by identifying bottlenecks. As a result, automation was implemented to improve the overall process.

Action Workflows backed by PQL and views are the best features in Celonis. The reason for preferring Action Flows backed by PQL and views is that Celonis provides insights into targeted tasks that can be acted upon today. They set up the infrastructure for control API write-backs when ready with RPA  integration.

Currently, write-back capability to the source system is not available. The source systems being used are SAP and Oracle in most use cases. Action Flow is helping to trigger emails, but in the future, there is a desire to write back to the source system itself. Action Flow is excellent for current requirements.

The integration with SAP is good, but the integration with the Microsoft environment needs more capability. The combination of time saved and improved efficiency makes these features valuable.

Collaboration with ERPs should be improved. Compared to SAP Signavio, Celonis is less competitive for BPMN modeling. Deployment flexibility needs enhancement, as on-premises support is not as strong as SaaS support.

The most important area for improvement is the automation part. End-to-end automation capabilities are desired. Currently, workflows are being used, but actions should be able to go via email, task, APIs, and ultimately write back to the source. Adding RPA  capability that can interact with required systems and write back to the source would greatly enhance Celonis.

Task mining capabilities also require improvement. UiPath Process Mining  and Microsoft Process Mining have better task mining capabilities compared to Celonis.

Usability and support from Celonis need improvement. They should help clients find more value in the product. Cost is another significant concern, as Celonis is very expensive compared to other process mining tools. The license cost should be reduced.

Celonis should establish partnerships with clients to find more use cases and maximize the value gained from Celonis.

Celonis has been used for the past three years in the organization.

Celonis is stable.

Scalability is good. Since it operates in the cloud, it offers very flexible scalability.

Customer support is average and not particularly great based on personal experience.

Celonis has been in the organization for three to four years, but the tool has not been fully utilized until this year. The plan is to use Celonis to the maximum this year.

UiPath Process Mining  and Microsoft Process Mining were explored, and some gaps were identified in those tools. Celonis is a good solution and is clearly the leader in process mining.

One use case alone, the material movement project, proved an impact of 32 million dollars. Another use case called buy analysis resulted in an impact of approximately 200,000 dollars. Asset management also delivered a great ROI.

Full ROI has not been reached yet because the organization is concentrating more on process mining from this year onwards. However, it is hoped that the ROI goal will be achieved by the end of this year. An exact figure is not available at this time.

UiPath Process Mining and Microsoft Process Mining were evaluated as alternative solutions.

Celonis was found to be a very expensive tool compared to other options. Other tools are currently being explored as alternatives.

Celonis is deployed as a private cloud solution on Amazon Web Services  (AWS ). Celonis is a great tool and is clearly the leader in process mining. The key is making full use of the tool, though it can be difficult to get resources for implementation. Overall, Celonis is a good solution worth pursuing. The overall review rating for this product is a 6 out of 10.

I currently work as a data engineer as well as a developer in Celonis , which is my main use case for the platform.

For example, I work on the travel and expense project for the company using Celonis , where we track this data, what is going on, data sphere, and to see how the process flow is actually working in order to optimize that process, identifying where it takes more time and making it more efficient. These are the areas or goals in the process.

There is another example as well where we use Celonis in the duplicate checker application, which helps us identify whether a particular document is being duplicated or not, taking a few parameters into consideration.

The best feature of Celonis in my experience is the process optimization and the process explorer, a 3D process mining tool that allows us to explore how the processes work as per the as-is processes, comparing them and finding inefficiencies while figuring out how to make them more efficient.

There are other features as well, including action flow and the visualization tools of Celonis, which provide a very clear understanding of things. The action flow makes it more useful when it comes to process automation, either from another tool or within Celonis. Apart from that, there is a machine learning workbench integrated in a few use cases where Celonis could not process the data by itself, requiring help from machine learning using Python. From there, we can really customize the things and process the solution.

This cost saving is a very good example we have seen realized in the last few months due to the application of the duplicate checker, leading to a significant amount of cost saving. It is more money saved, but I cannot give the exact figure right now. It was realized as more than 50% compared to the last frequency or last time.

Many areas could be improved in Celonis, starting from the data engineering side, such as adding new functionalities for data extraction and optimizing how we prepare schedules and handle data loads, including repetitive loads. On the front end, it should have more visualization capabilities to support various types of charts that are current industry standards and should not miss any such feature. Additionally, for RPA  or process automation, it should support the latest requirements with the action flows and all types of enhancements.

User experience is always a much-needed part in Celonis, where users face certain challenges in making it a more customizable solution. I have observed some lacking instances, but now with the improvements in Celonis, it has been really good.

Celonis provides the most unique and relevant solution in the field of study. However, it receives a seven instead of a higher number because it should have more advanced capabilities compared to industry-standard visualization, integration, and data flow.

I have been using Celonis for more than 2.5 years.

Celonis is not entirely stable. Sometimes it does not work as a stable setup, but those instances are very minor.

Celonis is fully scalable, in my belief, but it depends on the license and the cost you are paying, which determines the level of service you receive.

I have interacted with customer support, but I would characterize it as a mixed response. Sometimes I get the work done, but other times I do not get much clarity on the support from the team.

I did not previously use a different solution before Celonis. This is the very first time I was introduced to Celonis.

Money is saved in the process, which I can tell you about the return on investment.

Celonis is a very good tool, and as for alternatives, it is the best actually in the market. People should always go for it and try it, as I am not aware of any other solution that excels in process mining expertise.

I did not choose any other options before selecting Celonis.

We are just a customer or partner for this vendor, with no additional business relationship.

Celonis is a very all-rounder tool, although it sometimes lacks the proficiency that it requires or should extend, but overall, it is a really good solution. I gave this review a rating of seven.

My name is Gulshan Mishra, and I currently work for a private company where I hold 4.5 years of experience in Celonis  Process Mining . I did multiple projects including Order-to-Cash process, Purchase-to-Pay process, and Accounts Payable process. I have also worked on new functionalities of Celonis , including Object-Centric Process Mining , Action Flows, Process Simulation, and AI-related functionalities such as Agent AI, Agent C, Copilot, Annotation Builder, and others.

My total and relevant experience is 4.5 years, entirely focused on Celonis Process Mining since I started my journey in the IT industry. My main use cases for Celonis involve working on different scenarios, with most being business process-related and some being custom processes as well. The specific use cases depend on the client and the processes where I have worked, though I have majorly focused on business processes as well as custom processes.

Specific examples of business processes I have worked on using Celonis include the Order-to-Cash process and Purchase-to-Pay process. In those processes, my first step with Celonis was establishing connectivity and extracting the data. I extracted relevant tables and columns, and when required, I pseudonymized those columns and performed Vertica SQL transformation using case activity table creation. After that, I identified bottlenecks as well as automation-related tasks.

Regarding my main use cases for Celonis, whenever working on any business processes or custom processes, I ensure to first create a wireframe to understand how to proceed with dashboard creation and what KPIs are required for building those business processes. I identify the pinpoint areas where root causes are happening and determine what solutions can be implemented. These findings can be presented to the client. By identifying these areas through data analysis and connecting with stakeholders to highlight pinpoint areas or root causes, I can indicate that working on those areas will generate more revenue.

The best features Celonis offers, in my opinion, include Object-Centric Process Mining and Annotation Builder. Object-Centric Process Mining provides a depth of understanding of every object, while Annotation Builder allows for customization of free text columns. For example, if a resolution is provided but later the IT team finds it incorrect, Annotation Builder can be used to suggest the correct category or product name.

In Object-Centric Process Mining, I first create objects, which can be anything from products, invoices, categories, customers, or billing. After that, I identify the event log, which should consist of activities, such as creating purchase orders or purchase requisitions. Once I identify the objects and events, I define the relationships between them, which can be one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-many. The benefit of Object-Centric Process Mining is that I gain a detailed view of every object. If I want to see the detail level for any particular object, I can do that. In case-centric process mining, however, I can only choose one case ID and see all the details related to that case ID, which is a more restricted view compared to the 3D layer of view available in Object-Centric Process Mining.

Celonis has positively impacted my organization as it holds a Titanium partnership with Celonis. Whenever I find myself stuck, I can directly connect with Celonis team, which offers many resources. For example, in my company, if I am not familiar with the data connectivity part, there is a dedicated team that can handle those tasks. Even when it comes to value realization, the Business Value Architect can take care of those needs.

There are a few things about Celonis that need improvement. One specific limitation is in the view module; when creating a filter bar, I cannot resize the filter section beyond the default size provided by Celonis. If I wish to include more than 15 filters, I cannot do so due to this limitation. Additionally, I feel that Copilot feature has several areas for improvement, as it sometimes gets stuck after providing a few responses, requiring me to restart the chat. For specific incidents, if I mention an incident with a certain service tier, the system uses the like operator and shows related results that may not be exactly what I need, which I have already raised with Celonis support team for resolution.

Celonis is stable. Celonis is reliable, and whenever there are downtime activities, they provide notifications. Generally, downtime occurs on weekends, and I have not experienced any significant issues during weekdays.

I would rate Celonis's scalability at five to six.

I have not previously used a different solution before Celonis.

In terms of return on investment, for money-saving KPIs, I would point to the importance of on-time delivery in the Order-to-Cash process. Other KPIs I focus on include investigating root causes, such as rework cases for late deliveries and identifying vendors that do not make payments on time. By analyzing these KPIs, clients can identify root causes and enhance their revenue generation.

Regarding pricing, I find that the costs for Celonis are higher than other market products. However, the functionality it offers justifies the investment, as it provides numerous features and benefits that make it worthwhile for clients and stakeholders.

My advice for others looking into using Celonis is to become familiar with SQL functionality as well as the ETL concept—extract, transform, load. A basic understanding of data warehousing is also essential. Although Celonis is not overly complicated, understanding the basic level of SQL, data warehousing, and ETL is beneficial. Only a familiarity with the UI is required for effective utilization. I would rate my overall experience with Celonis as an eight.

I have chosen a rating of eight out of ten for Celonis because of the pricing factor, and I believe much can be improved in the visualization.

I do not have any other improvements I would like to see in Celonis besides pricing and visualization.

My advice to others looking into using Celonis is to ensure before evaluating the product that your use case or process can fit into the tool. You might need to understand the business complexity, and you may need to split your use case into multiple processes, and then you can feed the smaller one to Celonis. Then you can understand how it can be executed end to end.

I have given Celonis an overall rating of eight out of ten.