Process mapping is an invaluable tool for modern-day operations management. It provides clarity about the current state of your processes, makes them more visible across the company, and helps identify areas for automation and process improvement. Process mapping also highlights waste, streamlines workflows, and promotes understanding. Process mapping allows you to visually communicate the important details of a process instead of writing lengthy instructions.
Also known as a top-down process flow chart, it is the simplest of the common types of mapping. The basic flow chart works best for simple processes. It describes the main steps of the process in a top-down way, with similar tasks and activities grouped at different points on the graph. Process maps detail the workflow needed to complete a task.
These maps are visual representations of a process. A process map can detail something simple, such as how to make a bed, or something much more complicated, such as when to drop a bomb on an enemy target. Most companies have the general objective of being more efficient. To achieve this, all parts of your company must work harmoniously together.
Business process maps can help achieve this by providing a clear diagram of how a company can achieve its objectives. Throughout the history of business process mapping, procedures have been adopted and changed by different companies and industries, leaving their mark on them in the form of new flow charts and different types of maps. A flow chart can be anything from a simple visualization of the steps of a process to something more complex, such as a deployment or a top-down flow chart. It shows who and what is involved in a process and can be used in any company or organization and can reveal areas in which a process should be improved.
Process mapping has been simplified thanks to software that provides a better understanding of processes. This type of mapping provides a concise picture of the steps needed to take a product, service, or other process from beginning to completion and the sequence of steps that must be carried out. A value stream map is often used in Lean and Six Sigma approaches and is useful for eliminating waste and improving the flow of materials and information. Process maps help you understand the important characteristics of a process, allowing you to produce useful data for use in problem solving.
The purpose of business process mapping is to highlight both the order in which the measures should be taken and who is responsible for each step. Process mapping is about communicating your process to others so that you can achieve your management objectives. Frank Bunker Gilbreth presented it to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) in 1921 with his presentation entitled Process Graphics: First Steps to Finding the Best Way. ASME adopted a version of Gilbreth's original concept and set of symbols in 1947 when it established its standard for process graphics.
Six Sigma is based on data and statistics in its methodology, but it also includes several types of process maps. This type of map visualizes the current state of a project and indicates how it can be improved in the future. They also support collaboration between stakeholders involved in the exercise and often bring a certain level of automation to processes. While this is an example of a very simplified process map, many parts of the company use similar diagrams to understand processes and improve process efficiency, such as operations, finance, supply chain, sales, marketing, and accounting. Process mapping is an essential tool for modern-day operations management that provides clarity about current processes, makes them more visible across an organization, identifies areas for automation and improvement, highlights waste, streamlines workflows, promotes understanding, simplifies communication about processes, reveals areas for improvement, supports collaboration between stakeholders involved in an exercise, brings automation to processes, and helps companies become more efficient.
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