Process Mapping is the basis for better business performance
I like to think of processes as "repetitive structures for action".
Unlike projects, which are one-off events with a start and an end date, processes are a set of work activities that are repeated in time and space, based on defined inputs and outputs defined.
Within these inputs and outputs, we can distinguish between suppliers (who or what provides the input for the process) and customers (the recipient of the output), which can be internal or external. Think of the difference between customer service and personnel recruitment processes: the former serve external customers, the latter internal customers (other processes of the organisation). The ultimate goal of the process is the satisfaction of its customer's needs, according to the "customer-supplier chain" philosophy.
The knowledge of one's procedural organisation (i.e. how an organisation works) is the basis for quality management (e.g. ISO 9001 requires a formalisation of the processes that have an impact on product/service quality), but also for the main standards in management (e.g. ISO 14001 for environmental management or OHSAS 18001 for occupational health and safety management). The focus on how can also become the basis for defining the structural organisation (who is in charge of what).
As explained in the book by Gandolfi, Bortoletto and Frigo-Mosca, Process Mapping, i.e. the detailed description of one's processes, must be the starting point for true process management (BPM). The very fact of describing processes in detail helps, in fact, to highlight gaps, inefficiencies, organisational duplications, inconsistencies, etc., so that they can be re-engineered.
Three types (or families of processes) can usually be distinguished in companies:
The interesting thing about the organisation-wide resource management (or support) processes is their output-input relationship with the key processes of the company: the output of their processes becomes the input for the key processes. Think of IT services: without them, the very functioning of the company is at risk.
In the field of Process Management, however, companies tend to focus on their management and business processes, leaving out the supporting processes, and thus have only a partial x-ray to see behind the scenes of their great organisational theatre.
As consultants, we are primarily concerned with x-raying the supporting processes in order to get to know them, structure and optimise them, and the first step is definitely Process Mapping. Through interviews, we gather information to organise it into a flow chart or diagram (with the support of visualisation tools such as Microsoft Visio).
In particular, we use inter-functional diagrams: we see the workflow through the functional units involved. In fact, a support process is often not only related to the relevant department, but requires the collaboration of other business functions or tools. Management, for example, may be in charge of AFC but represents the input for other support processes.
Thus, by drawing (below a map of the symbols that can be used), we immediately see where (and how often) process actors are involved in the flow of activities and so are the patterns of interaction between the different actors. Where they bifurcate, for example, may be according to the OR mode (either one or the other) or according to the AND mode (activities run in parallel).
To accompany this performance, they must not be missing:
1) data/information flow indications (data flow diagram): alongside the time/logical flow of activities, we also identify the flow of data and paper/information media used to carry out each activity.
2) The positioning of the different performance indicators: we must enter the indicators used to measure each process
The inter-functional diagram is the first step for analysing processes (the next step in BPM) because it allows one to identify tortuous and not very rational flows, continuous transitions between departments and interfaces. But also to understand which processes are measured: are the indicators balanced? Are they concentrated on a few processes? Does the allocation of indicators leave out key processes?
In particular, we focus on supporting processes, because they are closely related to the success of the core processes on which the company's business rests. We start with Process Mapping: we describe the processes, then analyse them, redesign them and finally... transform them, with the support of technology. Our consultancy goes through all the phases of the Business Process Management process, but - contrary to popular belief (we are IT consultants!) - technology only comes into play when we are in front of the goal, ready for the decisive goal... that is, when it comes to Process Transformation.
Technology, in fact, becomes just a way to work better: the flows re-designed by consultancy analysis are transposed to a tool that can standardise, measure and optimise them.
Article by Francesco Clabot, CTO of WEGG and lecturer in ITSM at the University of Padua
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