A Business Process Map, Diagrams or Flow Chart is a visual representation of a business process.
It is used to show the actors, actions and the decisions that are made in the business process.
They use symbols such as circles, rectangles, diamonds and arrows to represent the steps in the business process and can be used to document the current (As-Is) process and future (To-Be) process.
They are mainly used to document the business process so that all the stakeholders would have a shared understanding of that business process.
It can also be used to help identify gaps, bottlenecks and issues which should be resolved with the future solution.
While drawing a Business Process Map can be a time consuming and repetitive task, it is very important that it is conducted because it is used to help ensure that the stakeholders have the same understanding of the business problem.
Because skipping this important step can lead to misunderstandings, delays and waste of resources.
For example, if the Business Analyst and the Stakeholders have a different understanding of the Business Process, the development team might end up building a solution that would not be able to fulfil the business needs.
Which can lead to frustrations, waste of resources and a loss of confidence by all the parties involved.
What are some Business process mapping symbols ?
Here are some of the commonly used Business process mapping symbols and how they are used in a business process.
Start/End: This is used to indicates the beginning or end of the process. It is used for the first and last step of your process.
Process: This is used to indicates an action that is being performed in the process e.g. an end user logging in to an application.
Decision: This shape indicates that a decision has to be made and based on that decision made there could be multiple outcomes. E.g. an approver needs to approve a request, the possible outcomes could be approve, reject or amend.
Alternate Process: This is used to indicate exceptions to the standard process or “happy line”.
A standard process is what we would like the process to do, but in situations where something else happens the alternate process would be used. Flow lines into an alternate process flow step are typically dashed.
Sub Process: This is used to indicate that there is another process that is being performed outside the process. E.g. in the sales order process, in order to process the sale the system would have a payment verification process that would be automatically performed by the application.
Document: This shape represents a step that results in a document creation.
Data: This shape indicates that information is coming into the process from an external data source.
Or: The logical Or symbol shows when a process splits into two or more branches. When using this symbol, it is important to label the outgoing flow lines to indicate the criteria to follow each branch.
Summing Junction: The logical Summing Junction flowchart shape is used to show when multiple branches merge into a single process.
Preparation: This indicates a pre-step in the process such as a set-up operation.
Delay: This indicates that there is a delay in the process caused by an event such as awaiting delivery of some good and services. Delay flowchart symbol represents any waiting period that is part of a process.
On-page reference: This is used to represent connections between processes. For example in large flowcharts you might have to stop at a point and continue on the next page because it is too big for a single page. Ideally though, these sort of processes should be broken down into smaller processes.
Off-page reference: This is used to link two processes together using hyperlinks. When you use this shape, a dialog box is displayed where you can create a set of hyperlinks between two pages of a flowchart or between a sub-process shape and a separate flowchart page that shows the steps in that sub-process.
Merge /Storage Flowchart: This indicates that multiple processes have been merged into a single one. It is commonly used in the storage of raw materials.
Extract /Measurement Flowchart: This is used to indicate into parallel paths. Also commonly indicates a Measurement, with a capital ‘M’ inside the symbol. It commonly indicates storage of finished goods.
What is an example of a Business Process Map ?
An example of a Business Process Map is a Sales Order Process.
