Business Process Pre-Mapping

After the methodology from the previous section is understood and utilized, the business project team can begin to decide on what they want their ideal future process to look like. After that, they map out their current process. Comparing both the future state and the current state together in the same structure allows the project team to physically see each step and understand what is changing and where efficiencies will be gained.

This technique of comparing present state to future state is particularly helpful for the following reasons:

• It allows the project team members to remain in scope and aligned as to the exact items they are expecting to change.
• It allows the company’s top management to see the project team’s objectives easily.
• It justifies the costs and manpower for the project by defining a specific case for exactly what the business project team hopes to accomplish, and what benefits their proposed project will have once it is developed and implemented.
• It will eliminate excess meetings and time by serving as the design document, and it can be referred to throughout the project by developers to understand the current and future states.

Pre-mapping activities

Because there are many people, thoughts, and departments involved, process mapping can be intensive. To ensure the least amount of backtracking and reworking possible, a few activities should take place before physically taking pen to paper (or marker to whiteboard) for mapping.

Define process scope and level

The project team must meet to determine the scope of the process and the level at which they need to map it. That is, they will determine the start point, end point, and level of detail. This needs to encompass a broad process while still making logical sense.

For example, let’s say the team’s project objective is to decrease the number of steps it takes to fulfill a customer order. If they started mapping at the point when the company begins to process the order, then the team has not provided a broad-enough background, understanding, and opportunity for improvement.

In this example, the process that is mapped should extend to at least the point when the order is received in the system. And to make it even clearer, if the process map shows when a customer needs to place an order to the preliminary steps to fulfillment, then there is an even bigger opportunity for the project, and it will be easier to create efficiency and improvement.

In a small or mid-sized company, it is beneficial to show that scope of the departments and that level of detail; however, for large companies, going that broad may not be an option. In that case, the scope would begin at the point that the process map starts, and if it’s determined that it would be beneficial, the preliminary activities that occur before the scope of the project can be tabled to the parking lot and addressed later for further process enhancement on future projects.

Phases

Just like projects operate in phases, there should be phases to implement a new process. Therefore, there may be different intermediary processes that should also be mapped in order to show the progression from the current state into the desired future state. The team should decide upon the general idea of the scope of each phase of project creation and implementation to make the intermediary processes align accordingly. Planning for this as a pre-mapping activity will reduce the amount of rework during mapping.

Planning to develop and execute in phases allows the teams to see what is working and what needs to be tweaked before it can be built upon. Working in phases also allows the team to show management its progress and to feel more committed and accomplished in the process transformation as they begin to see changes implemented and taking shape. Quite simply, phases make a large project seem possible and attainable.

When broken into phases, each phase should have its own summary of scope defined so that each is executed correctly. The scope encompasses the main goals and activities of each phase.

For example, if the scope of the entire project is to implement an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system for the finance and operations departments, the first phase would need to be a smaller chunk of that goal. A good first phase to prepare for the ERP implementation could be transitioning the departments from paper to an electronic process. In that case, a good summary of the first phase might look like:

• Phase 1 scope includes identifying the job functions with the Finance and Operations teams that use paper documents to enter information into the computer system. Determine how team members receive documents and who provides the documents to them. Change the output of the document from paper to electronic and update the process so the receiver gets their information from the new electronic location.
• Phase 1 scope does not include vendors or third-party warehouses that provide documents to the Operations team.
• The goal of Phase 1 is to reduce the amount of paper and create a system where information is sent electronically to prepare for the eventual implementation of the ERP system.

The team members who will participate in Phase 1 should also be listed.

Know your audience

The process map can serve different objectives. As a design document, its objective is to ensure the development team stays within scope. In this case, it is a good idea to create the process map so that it covers every detail of the process in order to reduce any uncertainties during development. The map should cover the level of detail that would be needed for the team members to accurately execute improvements for the project.

However, keep in mind that a process map could also be used as presentation material. If a process map is going to be presented to executives to showcase the project, then a higher-level map should be created. A presentation to executives would be different than a working document for specialists and analysts. An example of a higher-level map would be one that omits the step-by-step procedures of entering a new customer into the system, and instead has a step that would generally read “enter customer information into system.”

Set the baseline (review existing documentation)

Particularly in a larger company, there will not be any one person who understands the entire process or department inter-workings. Each key person involved in the project should review their department’s existing documentation, so they begin the process mapping activity with a complete understanding of their department’s operations.

Define and meet with key people

There may be important people and roles who have intimate knowledge of the company operations. Key roles could be jobs that perform approvals in the business process, whereas key people could be those who have had various roles in the company or have a long tenure and may have a greater understanding or background regarding the process and operations.

Perhaps they were only briefly involved or have not been looped into the project. As a group, decide on and discuss who those people are. The project team member from the related department should schedule time with these people to communicate the project objectives and gain their insight.

While these individuals may often be overlooked, it is a mistake to take their experiences and input for granted. Again, it is important to remember that planning now saves time and rework later, because you don’t know what you don’t know. It is always better to plan and be prepared than to assume.

Set milestones and check-ins

There are certain points in the project when stakeholders and sponsors should be updated on the progress to ensure that the process is being captured properly and is in agreement with the company. The team should set which points of time those should be.

A good rule of thumb is to get initial approval after the pre-mapping activities are completed to ensure that all the key people, stakeholders, and sponsors are aligned. This helps you avoid having to restart anything after spending a lot of time on the project. After the initial check-in, the team could set the schedule to update everyone at determined intervals and project milestones. Project milestones could be set when the phases are mapped.