Sooner or later, in your projects, you will reach the point where someone has to firmly define business processes, roles, and responsibilities. After all, CRM is about building and standardizing processes in your organization or in your client’s business. Whatever you do on the Salesforce platform, first you have to map it to get all stakeholders on the same page. It is impossible to plan a successful project without it.
To effectively represent all of these processes, roles, and responsibilities, you need to present them visually so that all stakeholders understand them intuitively. Process mapping comes into play here because it creates visual representations of business processes.
Process mapping applies to any steps that define what a company does, who is responsible for what, how conventional business procedures are accomplished, and how success is measured. The primary goal of business process mapping is to demonstrate the relationship between a business’s actions and inputs to achieve a clear, consistent, and concise output. It compares a specific target to the organization’s general objectives to ensure that its operations are consistent with the company’s values and capabilities.
What Is Process Mapping?
There are a number of reasons companies need a new or improved business process map, but most commonly, they are used to foster a formal approach to quality management. As a business analyst, process mapping is a crucial tool you can use for a range of project types – from improvement projects to more intensive reengineering projects.
Process maps help you look at existing workflows in a new way and help you keep your focus on strategic planning. Process mapping creates visual representations of business processes. It includes any activity that defines what a business does, who is responsible for what, how standard business processes are completed, and how success is measured.
The main purpose of business process mapping is to show the relationship between the steps and the inputs of a business to establish a clear, consistent, and concise result. It takes a specific objective and compares that objective to the organization’s overall objectives to make sure their processes are aligned with the company’s values and capabilities.
Mapping Your Business Processes in a Diagram
A process map is a hierarchy of diagrams, meaning you are able to drill down to give more detail. This enables each diagram to be kept to eight to ten boxes while being able to describe a broad scope or complex processes. There is no limit to the number of levels you can go down.
When mapping a process, make sure it’s easy to understand for everyone in any business unit. The scope of business process mapping includes end-to-end operations, inputs such as goods or labor, and the relationships between each stage. A process map might span numerous departments and potentially involve external partners.
The Most Important Business Process Mapping Steps
There are several approaches to making a process map. Which one you’ll use, where, and when depends on your specific situation with a given business or project. Let’s look at some of the best practices for creating a process map for your organization:
- Determine the process you need to map
- Where do you want to start? Perhaps a process underperforms or has a significant impact on a consumer. Choose a process and get started.
- Form a winning team
- Who should be on the team?
- Team members needed to manage the process and provide feedback on it.
- Collect all relevant information
- Where does the procedure start and end?
- What measures should be taken between the start and the end?
- What are the inputs and outputs of the process?
- Who needs to do what, and when?
- Create the process map
- Keep the order of the phases in mind from start to finish.
- Analyze the process map
- Try to identify inefficiencies and bottlenecks in the processes.
- Consider where you can make changes or which processes might be deleted.
- Create new and improved steps
- At the beginning, introduce tiny improvements to the process.
- Manage the process
- Monitor to determine how well the new and enhanced process is working and whether it needs additional optimization.
How to Explain Complex Processes in a Simple Way?
There are a number of different ways that business processes can be laid out, such as flow diagrams, flowcharting, and SIPOC. But let’s start with the UPN.
UPN (Universal Process Notation) is a diagramming notation method used to map out business processes that has been designed to be easily understood by all stakeholders and viewed online. It is not proprietary to any company and doesn’t require any specialized software. In other words, you can use it for free as you like. It can be used along with other types of diagrams.
There, you should use simple, clear symbols and text to represent processes. Each activity in a process is described with a verb phrase, indicating what needs to be done and who is responsible for each activity. Activities are connected in a diagram and also have attachments like documents or metadata. Any activity box can link to a more detailed diagram, allowing for both high-level overviews and detailed views.
Five Principles of UPN
- No more than eight to ten activity boxes on a screen
- Drill down from an activity box to a lower level to describe the detail
- Attach supporting information to an activity box
- View and edit controlled by access rights
- Version control and history of changes at the diagram level
Capability Model
Capability models or industry blueprints are excellent for scoping out the specific area you’re mapping as well as demonstrating context within the larger organization. They explain the high-level process areas.
Detailed Process Map
A thorough process map depicts a drill-down version of a process, including complete details for each step and any additional steps along the way. This map is optimal for providing all of the data for a process step and documenting all of the decision points within that process.
SIPOC
A SIPOC map represents the process’s major parts, including suppliers, inputs, processes, outputs, and customers (hence SIPOC). This map is useful for identifying the key elements in a process before creating a more thorough process map. It is also useful for defining the scope of a complex process.
Value Stream Map
A value stream map visualizes the flow of materials and information required to provide a product to a client. This type of map is optimal for documenting measurements of process step inputs and outputs, as well as for identifying waste inside and between processes. It can also be used to document, analyze, and enhance the flow of information and materials in order to obtain insight into decision-making and process flows.
Tools and Software for Business Process Mapping
You don’t need expensive software or additional costs for creating process maps. Later on, if the volume of work increases, you may want to consider acquiring process mapping software based on your long-term needs and the size of your organization. It is not difficult to find process mapping software platforms that are either free to use or have limited free versions. Your organization is most likely already using some of them.
Google Drawings
Google Drawings, a part of Google Workspace that many of us use anyway, is a simple process mapping tool. It integrates with Google Drive for access and sharing, real-time collaboration, and offers a variety of shapes to be inserted into the chart.
Lucidchart
One of the most popular diagram tools, Lucidchart, helps you create flowcharts, process maps, org charts, and other diagrams. It supports real-time collaboration, data linking, and integration with various apps.
Canva
Another platform that many of us are using. Canva offers templates and features for creating process maps, supports easy customization with real-time collaboration, and integrates with other tools. Ideal for visualizing workflows.
Summary
Process mapping visually describes business processes, roles, and responsibilities, ensuring that they are in line with organizational goals. It helps with strategic planning, quality management, and workflow optimization by making processes explicit and consistent.
Finding free, user-friendly, and powerful tools should not be difficult. But first, make sure to visualize the entire process and keep all key issues at the top of your mind.
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