The art of process mapping and why it's important!

Introduction

Anyone who has worked with me over the last few years will know my love of Visio process maps. As someone who is passionate about continuous improvement and identifying operational efficiencies, nothing aids that activity better than a document process flow or process map.

What is process mapping?

A process map is a diagram that shows what each step in a business process looks like, who is involved, and what outcome should be expected. It is essentially a roadmap to assist with navigating through the process by identifying the data, activities, material, and people that take part in it. Basically, it lays out the entire journey from start to finish.

Why is it important to map a process?

Process mapping can be helpful when examining precisely what takes place in a given procedure and understanding the present state of your organisation. Charting out the consecutive steps making up a business process helps you pinpoint any potential slowdowns or superfluous steps. When this information is presented visually, it helps to explain both the present system and any proposed changes to users.

For example, if you're outlining the onboarding process for new employees, you can double check that everyone involved is aware of their role, and all resources are available on their start date. Having all the steps in one place lets you customise the procedure to make it as efficient as possible.

This is not a novel approach; modern concepts trace back to historical thought leaders such as Fredrick Winslow Taylor, Henry Ford, and Taichi Ohno. Today, pursuits like Total Quality Management (TQM), Continuous Improvement (CI), Lean, and Six Sigma all strive to involve people while using various tools to identify and eliminate wasteful elements in organisational processes as described by Martin Lunn Chapter 13 Organisational Considerations – The effective change managers handbook.

Defining the Scope of Process Mapping

Competitive benefit is secured by closing performance gaps that impede business growth. This can be accomplished if organisations enhance their business procedures to increase customer value. Process mapping techniques assist individuals with these improvements.

The first major challenge is determining which processes should be improved and why. According to Martin Lunn, two questions must be answered satisfactorily:

1. Does the selected process have a significant and verifiable impact on corporate production, with the potential benefits aligning with declared business objectives?
2. Is there total consent from leadership concerning the process being charted, as well as the projected commitment of resources and implementation of expected enhancements being focused on?

Unless both of these prerequisites are satisfied, process mapping will not be accurate. Moreover, if it does not increase company success in the proper direction, it is very likely to fail during implementation as leaders move on to other issues. The best way to ensure engagement is through the formation of a project scope that specifies:

·      The process needing improvement.

·      The beginning and end points of the mapped process.

·      The desired outcome or enhancement.

Mapping out a process helps to create consensus about the current situation (what is/ as is), the inefficiencies or added value that can be eliminated, and how the desired future state (ideal/ to be) should look. Seeing the flow of values through the process gives clarity that wouldn’t be conveyed in words.

Sometimes, starting with a map of the future state makes more sense when making radical changes or striving for an 'ideal state'. In such cases, it can help people to distance themselves from what is currently happening.

In my opinion, process mapping is best done using paper and pens at a workshop setting where everyone involved in the process can participate and input. Technology during the early stages of the mapping process can give editorial power to the person with control over a keyboard and mouse, so interactive whiteboards or web-based tools can be used to ensure the involvement of all participants.

Encouraging full participation and engagement from all parties involved is crucial. To achieve this, everyone must be given the opportunity to come together, get up, and create process maps as a collective unit. The final product should reflect the hard work of each team member and leave them feeling accomplished and proud.

By involving all stakeholders in the process, everyone has a chance to share their perspective on how the steps are carried out currently. These processes often benefit from local optimisation, where employees improve their individual section without seeing how it fits into the complete picture of the entire process. Once these details are collected, they can be used to create an accurate "current state" process map that identifies opportunities for improvement.

The next step is creating a "future state" map based on this information. Since it's set in the future and meets any limitations put forth by the original scope of improvement, it becomes difficult to argue against its efficacy. This is where employee involvement truly shines; when everyone passionately believes they can make changes for the betterment of the company, customer value improves accordingly.

In turn, this leads to improvements in lead time, quality or cost that can be felt throughout the organisation.

The Advantages of Process Mapping

1. Standardises Workflows

Process mapping allows you to document a preferred approach to any task. Since multiple people more often than not build the map, it typically takes into account multiple views and creates a comprehensive result. The maps can then be used as reference points for current standards and updated when conditions change. Having this centralised resource enables teams to stay aligned with each other and also sets consistent processes for common business activities.

2. Encourages Compliance

Process mapping can be an effective means of ensuring regulatory compliance. If an organisation is under the scrutiny of complex laws, process maps can help spread awareness among team members about their duties and how they should carry them out. In cases of auditing, these documents can serve as evidence that the company has taken proper measures. Furthermore, process mapping can also support risk management and quality control initiatives by providing a fast way to check each step against established rules.

3. Displays Improvement Opportunities

For those aiming for continuous growth, process mapping is essential. Managers, engineers, and supervisors can look at the maps to identify areas where greater profitability or efficiency may be achieved. They might discover opportunities to reduce wastage while increasing production output by examining each phase in the workflow and judging its value in terms of final results. Whenever changes are made, revising the maps will communicate these updates to everyone involved.

4. Transfers knowledge

Process mapping allows employees to document their workflows, which can come in handy when a team member takes on a new task that someone else had previously been handling. The practice is especially useful for small teams where each individual works across many different tasks and departments. Creating a process map makes everything transparent, allowing other colleagues to support the same task in times of absence and it can also act as a training tool for those who are leaving the company.

5. Increases cross-functionality

Process maps also illustrate how the work affects other teams and customers. To build collaborative teams, employees need to understand how each team contributes to reach a common goal. Process maps point out which groups collaborate together on projects, which groups send stuff back and forth to each other, and how it all leads up to the desired outcome.

6. Enhances Clarity

Process mapping provides an extra resource that spells out every important detail. Most process mapping software includes features that list who’s responsible for what step. For instance, if a graphic designer creates images based on copy from writers for a landing page, they can go over the process map to figure out who wrote the tagline. This helps with communication and makes working together smoother.

7. Enhances Autonomy

When everyone has access to clear info, employees may be able to locate solutions by themselves instead of having to rely on managers for answers every time. Process maps can include links to videos, instructions or policy documents that help people make autonomous decisions. This gives them room to grow, encourages decision-making abilities while saving manager’s time.

8. Offer clarity to customers

If it is suitable, you could make your process maps available to clients. This will provide them with an understanding of the products or services they are purchasing and how they are created, implemented, or managed. Inviting the customer to be involved in mapping out processes may help foster trust between both parties and allow for customisation to their needs.

9. Enable problem-solving

Process mapping can assist when facing unanticipated obstacles. For example, if defects frequently appear in the quality assurance stage, mapping out the process can help identify where these issues arise and who can eliminate them. The visual nature of these diagrams can evoke creative answers from people too!

10. Establishing parameters

For projects with multiple sequences and task transitions, it is important to indicate when each phase starts and ends. This will help make sure that resources are allocated properly, deadlines are met, and expectations are clear among teams, supervisors, and customers. For example, a creative team can use process mapping to decide how much time they should dedicate to brainstorming before settling on a concept and moving on to the designing stage. Project Managers or clients will be able to refer to the process map in order to monitor the progress and understand when a product should be delivered like a brain guide or a sketch.

11. Evaluating efforts

When it comes time for completion, you can use the process map as a tool to measure how well you stuck to your plan. You may notice where you could have been more efficient allocating resources or assigning duties. If essential aspects like cost and timeline were taken into account during process mapping, then any discrepancies between what was planned out and what actually happened can help you identify areas needing improvement for next time you start this specific process or perform similar tasks.