Business process mapping
| Business process mapping |
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| See also |
Business process mapping is used to carry out transformations in the operation of the economic system in the following situations:
- implementation of quality management systems,
- implementation of process management,
- Lean manufacturing implementation,
- modeling of the organizational structure,
- organizing the company's operation during restructuring,
- shortening process execution time,
- reducing the costs of performing processes,
- implementation of integrated IT systems,
- transition to Internet-based business,
- creating integrated supply chains.
Process definition in process mapping
The process definition should include:
- beginning and end of the process,
- the structure of the process,
- entry and exit,
- suppliers and customers,
- the owner of the process,
- assessment criteria,
- impact on the result of the entire organization,
- meters,
- measurement and assessment tools,
- criteria and control methods, including feedback,
- resources and deviations,
- documentation of the process and its course.
The desired result is achieved with greater efficiency when activities and related resources are managed as a process. This is the essence of the process approach - one of the eight principles of quality management. The quality management system can be divided into a series of processes interrelated with each other. The process approach aims to create the processes occurring in the organization and to shape them so that their efficiency and effectiveness are as high as possible.
To identify the process, you should specify: the target, the entrance, the exit, the indicator (meter) and the owner. The process consists of links between internal clients, however, the entry and exit of processes may be related to external clients.
Entrances and exits can be tangible and intangible. The most common connections between processes (entries and exits) can include: raw materials, semi-finished products, end products, energy, information and financial resources. In fact, organizations, by creating a map of processes, divide processes in different ways, they also call them differently.
Types of processes on the process map
Most often the processes occurring in the organization are divided into:
- management processes,
- main processes,
- auxiliary processes.
The main processes in a typical production enterprise usually include:
- shopping,
- projects,
- production,
- sale.
The auxiliary processes can be:
- maintenance,
- internal transport,
- supervision over control and measurement equipment.
Management processes include:
- planning,
- personnel Management,
- system review whether
- internal audits.
Creating a process map
The process map in general identifies processes and more important subprocesses. A subprocess is a separate part of the process, which due to its nature and its separateness from other parts, can be treated as a separate, smaller process (e.g. in the recruitment process of a large company, the subprocess of employee adaptation can be separated). There is no single standard for creating a map. Most often it shows information or material flows between processes.
Note: Some authors mistakenly write about the process map (one). Such a drawing consists not of processes but of tasks. It is therefore a block diagram, not a map of processes.
Rules for creating a process map
The following rules should be used when preparing a process map:
- we draw processes from left to right,
- each process / activity diagram should start and end with the beginning / end symbol,
- all symbols are connected by arrows,
- the direction of the arrows must be compatible with the flow of the process,
- all lines describing the process must be attached to symbols,
- avoid situations where the scheme / activity is divided into several pages,
- the scheme must be simple (detail should be avoided),
- the process boundaries should be visible,
- the central (most important) place should be visible in the diagram.
In addition, it is necessary to determine the level of detail of the process map, during which we must consider for what purpose we create a map. When we want to present the common principles of the process, the map will contain fewer details, but in the case of "implementing new products for production or when we are looking for the cause of the problem in the process" we need to consider a more extensive map structure. Thanks to this, we can get to know places where money and time are used ineffectively and eliminate them in the future. The more detailed and complex the processes, the number of people preparing the process map should be greater.
Process mapping
The course of process mapping consists of the following stages:
Stage I - identification of processes for which the methods are used:
- top-down method, where the general activity of the organization is defined in the first place along with its goals, and then the * elements are specified in more detail,
- bottom-up method, more time-consuming, but more precise, which involves the analysis of activities performed in the organization * and the formulation of running processes based on them.
Stage II - includes:
- division of processes into executive (main) and support (auxiliary),
- distinction of key processes from the point of view of achieving business goals,
- reflection of the course of processes within individual departments.
The following procedure is usually used for process mapping:
- identifying the main participants of the process using a technique known as relationship mapping,
- creating a detailed process map, presenting all the activities that make up the process.
Relationship mapping is used to reduce functional and hierarchical barriers, improve cooperation between the various links in the sender-recipient relationship, as well as to determine functional persons who are to participate in the further improvement of the analyzed processes.
References
- Larsen, S. Business Process Mapping.
- Aldowaisan, T. A., & Gaafar, L. K. (1999). Business process reengineering: an approach for process mapping. Omega, 27(5), 515-524.
- Biazzo, S. (2002). Process mapping techniques and organisational analysis: Lessons from sociotechnical system theory. Business Process Management Journal, 8(1), 42-52.
