  Memory effects in open quantum dynamics are often incorporated in the
equation of motion through a superoperator known as the memory kernel, which
encodes how past states affect future dynamics. However, the usual prescription
for determining the memory kernel requires information about the underlying
system-environment dynamics. Here, by deriving the transfer tensor method from
first principles, we show how a memory kernel master equation, for any quantum
process, can be entirely expressed in terms of a family of completely positive
dynamical maps. These can be reconstructed through quantum process tomography
on the system alone, either experimentally or numerically, and the resulting
equation of motion is equivalent to a generalised Nakajima-Zwanzig equation.
For experimental settings, we give a full prescription for the reconstruction
procedure, rendering the memory kernel operational. When simulation of an open
system is the goal, we show how our procedure yields a considerable advantage
for numerically calculating dynamics, even when the system is arbitrarily
periodically (or transiently) driven or initially correlated with its
environment. Namely, we show that the long time dynamics can be efficiently
obtained from a set of reconstructed maps over a much shorter time.
