Businesses are Processes, Processes are our Business
What is Business Process Mapping?
Business Process Mapping is the depiction of a process in diagrammatic form. Processes can be seen as sequences of
activities
designed to transform inputs into
outputs.
For example, a task like baking a cake will involve taking
various ingredients (inputs) and producing the cake (output) using the recipe (process). The recipe can then be broken down into more detailed
activities, mixing the ingredients, baking the cake and icing the cake.
The aim of business process mapping is to provide a clear and comprehensive picture of the way a particular organisational activity is undertaken, so that it can be analysed, measured, improved and controlled: an activity now referred to as Business Process Re-Engineering. When applied to all the processes in a specific business unit or organisation, it becomes a key enabler of Business Improvement and when it becomes truly embedded as an organisational operation it facilitates Continuous Improvement initiatives.
As a result, process mapping is at the heart of many recent operational efficiency programmes such as Six Sigma, Lean Manufacturing and Just in Time.
The best process maps are those which operate at several levels and allow for all of the key documentation associated with the process to be attached or linked. In this way different audiences can understand and utilise them without needing to spend hours drilling into unnecessary detail or searching for documents to which the process refers. QMAP operates in this way.