Business process mapping refers to activities involved in defining what a business entity
does, who is responsible, to what standard a business process should be completed, and
how the success of a business process can be determined.
The main purpose behind business process mapping is to assist organizations in becoming more
efficient.
A clear and detailed business process map or diagram allows outside firms to come in
and look at whether or not improvements can be made to the current process.
Business process mapping takes a specific objective and helps to measure and compare
that objective alongside the entire organization's objectives to make sure that all processes
are aligned with the company's values and capabilities.
ISO 9001 requires a business entity to follow a process approach when managing its business,
and to this end creating business process maps will assist.
The entity can then work towards ensuring its processes are effective, and efficient.
History Early history
The first structured method for documenting process flow, the flow process chart, was
introduced by Frank Gilbreth to members of ASME in 1921 as the presentation “Process
Charts—First Steps in Finding the One Best Way”.
Gilbreth's tools were quickly integrated into industrial engineering curricula.
In the early 1930s, an industrial engineer, Allan H. Mogensen began training business
people by using these tools of industrial engineering at his Work Simplification Conferences
in Lake Placid, New York.
A 1944 graduate of Mogensen's class, Art Spinanger, took the tools back to Procter and Gamble
where he developed their work simplification program called the Deliberate Methods Change
Program.
Another 1944 graduate, Ben S. Graham, Director of Formcraft Engineering at Standard Register
Industrial, adapted the flow process chart to information processing with his development
of the multi-flow process chart to display multiple documents and their relationships.
In 1947, ASME adopted a symbol set derived from Gilbreth's original work as the ASME
Standard for Process Charts.
Recent developments Business process mapping, also known as process
charts, has become much more prevalent and understood in the business world in recent
years.
Once created by a bricklayer to increase efficiency, process mapping is now being used by companies
and individuals worldwide.
Process maps can be used in every section of life or business.
The Four Major Steps of Process Mapping Process identification -- attaining a full
understanding of all the steps of a process.
Information gathering -- identifying objectives, risks, and key controls in a process.
Interviewing and mapping -- understanding the point of view of individuals in the process
and designing actual maps Analysis -- utilizing tools and approaches
to make the process run more effectively and efficiently
Process mapping has in recent years developed due to software tools that can attach metadata
to activities, drivers and triggers to provide a more complete understanding of processes.
The developments mean that process mapping is no longer two-dimensional but multi-dimensional;
capable of supporting several important business goals:
Business process re-engineering Regulatory compliance
Activity analysis Service level agreement role clarity
Simulation internal audit
Software tools can make process maps available using a web-browser allowing easier communication
to, and access by, multiple stakeholders.
This can improve organizational standards compliance, ease training, and foster end-to-end
process understanding - possibly improving inter-departmental activities.
Quality improvement practitioners have noted that various graphical descriptions of processes
can be useful.
These include: detailed flow-charts, work flow diagrams and value stream maps.
Each map is helpful depending on the process questions and theories being considered.
In these situations process map implies the use of process flow and the current understanding
of the causal structure.
Six Sigma practitioners use the term Business Process Architecture to describe the mapping
of business processes as series of cross-functional flowcharts.
Under this school of thought, each flowchart is of a certain level based on the amount
of detail the flowchart contains.
A level 0 flowchart represents the least amount of detail, and usually contains one or two
steps.
A level 4 flowchart represents the most amount of detail, and can include hundreds of steps.
At this level every task, however minor, is represented.
Primary Example
Flowchart is a primary type of business process mapping.
It consists of some symbols such as arrows, circle, diamond, box, oval or rectangle.
The type of Flowchart just described is sometimes referred to as a “detailed” flowchart
because it includes in detail, the inputs, activities, decision points, and outputs of
any process.
The example is Proposed Patient Appointment Procedure.
It starts with "preparation of appointment book" followed by a decision whether the appointment
is shore or fleet.
If the appointment is fleet, inform patient they can call 1500 to make own appointments
for next few days, if the appointment is shore, confirm 24 hours prior to appointment.
Next confirm that the patient confirmed.
If a patient did not call, the appointment is canceled, otherwise the patient is given
a confirmation number.
Finally confirm that the patient showed for the appointment.
If not, a standby patient is placed in the appointment slot, the appointment book is
marked “Failure” and a failure report is submitted from front desk to fleet liaison.
If a patient showed for appointment, put “Patient showed” in appointment book.
Example An easy example to follow is making breakfast
We must first understand that making breakfast is a process.
The ingredients are the inputs and the final breakfast ready to be served is the output.
This graph shows the breakdown of each process vertically and horizontally.
For instance, cooking ingredients is broken down into all of the different tasks that
need to be done: cook bacon, cook eggs, toast bread, and fry potatoes.
These tasks are then broken down further below.
In order to cook eggs, one must first heat the pan, pour the mixture, stir mixture, add
pepper, and remove eggs.
This is a prime example of how process mapping can be used in any situation/process in order
to understand all of the different parts so that we can complete the process with a better
understanding for more efficiency.
Although this is just a simple example, many aspects of business, including supply chain,
operations, marketing, finance, and accounting, use similar process mapping activities to
improve efficiency.
See also Business Model Canvas
Business process discovery Business process modeling
Ethnography IDEF
OBASHI N2 Chart
Organizational studies Process-centered design
SADT Systems engineering
Value stream mapping Workflow
References
Further reading Deming, W.E., Out of the Crisis, Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge Gilbreth, Frank and Lillian, The Quest of
the One Best Way, Purdue University, Frank and Lillian Gilbreth Papers.
Graham, Ben B., Detail Process Charting: Speaking the Language of Process, Wiley, Hoboken, N.J.
Amazon books.
Jacka, J. Mike & Paulette J. Keller, Business Process Mapping: Improving ..., google books.
Juran, J.M., Juran on Planning for Quality, Free Press, New York, NY
Sanders, Ross and Coleman 'The Process Map', Quality Engineering, 11(4) July 1999, 555
- 561.
Taylor, F.W., The Principles of Scientific Management, Harper and Bros., New York, NY.
For an example see Sousa, G.W.L., Van Aken, E.M., Groesbeck,
R.L., 'Applying an enterprise engineering approach to engineering work: a focus on business
process modelling', Engineering Management Journal, Vol. 14 No.3, pp. 15-24.