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Business Process Mapping Standards

Business process mapping is a visual way to represent the activities of an organization through specific symbols. The first documented use of process mapping was in 1921 and standards for the symbols were established in 1947. Effective process maps require understanding activity and information flow, process requirements, roles and responsibilities. The goal is to make processes more efficient by defining what the company does, employee roles, and how success can be achieved. Process mapping can highlight bottlenecks and help employees better understand their roles, leading to increased efficiency and accountability. Developing an accurate process map is a process that requires understanding the perspective of employees and customers to design effective maps.

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127 views

Business Process Mapping Standards

Business process mapping is a visual way to represent the activities of an organization through specific symbols. The first documented use of process mapping was in 1921 and standards for the symbols were established in 1947. Effective process maps require understanding activity and information flow, process requirements, roles and responsibilities. The goal is to make processes more efficient by defining what the company does, employee roles, and how success can be achieved. Process mapping can highlight bottlenecks and help employees better understand their roles, leading to increased efficiency and accountability. Developing an accurate process map is a process that requires understanding the perspective of employees and customers to design effective maps.

Uploaded by

Stan Kwitnieski
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Business Process Mapping Standards

By Shane Thornton, eHow Contributor

Business process mapping is a visual way to represent the business activities performed by the members
of an organization. A business process map requires an understanding of activity and knowledge flow,
process requirements, rules and guidelines, cycle time, cost and all employees' roles and responsibilities
who are involved in the process. The effective development and implementation of a process map aims to
make a business process more efficient and run more smoothly.

History
The first documented use of a process flow chart was by Frank Gilbreth in 1921, when he made a
presentation to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers titled "Process Charts: First Steps in
Finding the One Best Way." The American Society of Engineers officially made Gilbreth's original
process symbols, which were rectangles, ovals, circles and diamonds, part of the ASME Standard for
Process Charts in 1947.

Standards
To help with the visual appearance, different activities have specific shapes or symbols associated with
them. The four most commonly used shapes include rectangles that represent standard process steps,
ovals that show the starting and finishing steps, diamonds that represent a necessary decision that must be
made and circles that are considered connectors. Every activity, including its inputs, functions and
employee roles, is required to be included in the process map. This will allow suggestions and
improvements to be made to the process with more ease.

Significance
Business process mapping aims to increase efficiency by defining exactly what the company does, how it
operates, clearly explaining employees' roles and responsibilities, having standards for the time and
quality of an output of a perfect process and how success can be accomplished.

Benefits
Business process mapping highlights and helps companies alleviate bottlenecks in the process.
Bottlenecks are any steps in the process that slow down the process cycle time. Furthermore, employees
tend to be easier to initiate and enjoy taking pride in their work with the increased accountability they
receive after seeing a visual representation of every step of the process. When developed correctly,
business process mapping will give all members of an organization a better understanding of what is
trying to be accomplished both short-term and long-term.

Implementation
Making a business process map is in itself a process. The company must understand the process from
both the employees' and customers' perspectives, collect data and information, design the actual maps and
finally focus consistent analysis and effort to make the process more efficient and effective.

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