Business Process Mapping (BPM) can be an incredibly valuable exercise for an organisation. In the simplest terms, it visualises and defines the processes within an organisation. Not only does this help provide clarity to job roles and business procedures, it can often be the catalyst for changes that improve a business’ efficiency and performance.
What is a Business Process Map?
A Business Process Map is the documentation that prescribes how problems, information and decisions are processed. It identifies a roadmap to solutions by documenting the necessary steps in any given process, from managing data flows to fielding client requests. They help analyse, understand and improve segments within a particular process, thereby improving efficiency.
Flowcharts are a common format for Business Process Maps, documenting workflows and activity from beginning to end. This will include the many variables within a process, such as feedback loops, ad hoc inputs and decision gateways. At any one time, a stakeholder should be able to see all the available options and directives.
What should Business Process Mapping cover?
It is essential that a Business Process Map is clear and detailed. In theory, an outsider should be able to review a Business Process Map and have a strong understanding of the activities and responsibilities within an organisation.
Effective Business Process Maps will provide clarity to operational roles and will often cover workflows across multiple roles within a business. This can be invaluable when onboarding new employees or clients and decreases the training time required. This also helps delineate responsibility and remits, which can be a significant obstruction within large organisations.
What are the benefits of Business Process Mapping?
In addition to the operational benefits of a Business Process Map, they also provide significant organisational value. BPM considers specific objectives, which can then be compared and aligned to an organisation’s wider goals and objectives. This helps outline performance and can highlight processes that are either working efficiently or require improvement.
One of the key benefits relates to quality assurance and management. Process documentation is required for compliance with many valuable quality accreditations, such as the ISO 9001 standard. As data security becomes more critical to a business, an effective Business Process Map demonstrates the actions and contingencies an organisation employs to safeguard data
Who should use Business Process Mapping?
Business Process Maps are an essential tool for project managers overseeing operational delivery. However, they can also be relevant to c-suite executives, particularly chief operating officers, to review and analyse how a business is performing. This can be crucial when scaling a business or making an organisation more agile to adapt to market developments and innovations.
So, whilst there are many reasons to use BPM, they can all be summarised as improving efficiency and performance across an organisation. But how does this extend to IT and technology solutions specifically? In our next blog, we’ll be talking about how business process maps play a critical role in a business’ path to digital transformation.
