Businesses require consistency and predictability. Without those essential factors, an organization is forced to operate with uncertainty and a lack of reliability, neither of which are conducive to business sustainability. However, attaining consistency and predictability within a business is not easily done, which is why any business concept, that helps achieve that, must be actively considered. Business process flows are an excellent example of such a concept. They are a practical way of ensuring that two essential things are achieved in any process: focus and consistency.

This article will provide an overview of the definition, the principal benefits of business process flows, and the simple steps to create successful business process flows. 

Process Flows in Context 

At its simplest, a business process flow is the sequential representation of a process and the various components thereof. These components can include operational factors such as actions required and the people and resources needed to achieve them, as well as applicable timelines. It helps define and layout all the aspects of a business process, so that said process is easily understood. One could say that a process flow provides a ‘snapshot’ overview of a given process. It allows employees to have a good understanding of how a business works. 

Importantly, a process flow can be devised for any type of work or process in any type of organization. Therefore, a process flow can be as effectively used to describe how a purchasing order should be processed by the finance department, as it can be by a sales team to pitch a new product to potential customers. Process flows are used by industries as diverse as software development, auto assembly, and healthcare management. Below is a standard template for a process flow that can be used by a company’s to automate HR-related processes like the onboarding case: 

As can be seen in the process flow diagram above, a business process flow provides a breakdown of the various inputs and outputs within a process. Each of these workflow components is usually denoted by means of shapes, typically ovals, diamonds, and rectangles, with each being connected by lines that indicate the possible paths. The ‘flow’ within a business process flow and workflow design usually follows an A to Z logic, i.e. from commencement or start of a process to its logical conclusion or end-goal, whatever the latter might be. 

Benefits of Business Process Flows 

There are many benefits to having process flows, including process mapping, the principal ones of which include: 

• Communication: everyone can understand a specific process, and be trained accordingly. 
• Standardization: processes can be reliably replicated. That is why they should be an integral and invaluable part of standard operating procedures (SOPs).
• Comprehensiveness: process flows can be established across all verticals and at all levels within an organization. 
• Maximization:  all resources can be used to their full potential. 

 There are also systemic benefits to having business process flows in place: 

• Cost minimization: understanding exactly how processes work means that cost efficiencies can be implemented where possible. 
• Risk management: understanding your process means being able to identify potential risks and better able to mitigate them. 
• Agility: process flows should ensure fewer (or no) bottlenecks, errors, and duplications, making for a more Agile business. 
• Continuous improvement: knowing each step of a process means being able to improve processes as needed. 

These benefits are applicable to process mapping itself, which is the actual diagrammatic compilation (i.e. mapping) of a process and its various components. 

Simple Steps to Create Process Flows 

The beauty of process flows is their simplicity, however complicated or technical the actual process might be. As such, simple steps can be taken to ensure that your process flow will be effective: 

Step 1: Name it – the process flow should be specifically named according to the naming conventions used by your organization. 

Step 2: Give it a purpose – what is the intent of the process flow? Why is this specific process flow in place and to what end? 

Step 3: Scope it – give the process flow the needed extent of the scope by asking a simple question: what inputs and outputs should be included and excluded? 

Step 4: Map inputs and outputs – go through each stage/phase/level of the process and identify the required inputs and outputs for each. Be specific in the inputs and think of possible variables for outputs. 

Step 5: Provide direction – a process flow should comprise a series of directional arrows based on ‘Yes/No’ or ‘What If/What Then?’ questions posed that help connects inputs and outputs (i.e. components within the process flow). 

Step 6: Assign duties and responsibilities – where needed in the process flow, applicable responsible people or line management should be indicated. 

Step 7: Make it visual – a process flow should be mapped and its diagrammatic representation/workflow diagram to be readily available to any person who may need to understand the process and its objectives/intent. 

A final point: consider workflow automation powered with RPA and AI/ML capabilities of your business flows: Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is already being used by many businesses to enhance and automate repetitive process flows. RPA software can be used in order to choose which processes in a business should benefit from automation. Sales ordering process, enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer service, and payroll are just four examples of typical processes that can benefit immensely from Robotic Process Automation. 

Conclusion

In today’s fast-paced and competitive world, organizations are constantly looking for ways to increase their efficiency and reduce costs. Business process flows are a critically important means by which a business can give itself the structure and sense of purpose needed to succeed. Process flows can help foster transparency, enhance collaboration, and create business intelligence.

Comidor workflow automation platform allows users to design any type of business process flow, automate and optimize workflows end-to-end, and incorporate intelligent automation functionalities, like RPA, AI, and Ml. There are many benefits associated with Comidor. It can help organizations save time by automating tasks, enhance customer service, and improve company culture through transparency.

In closing, value-adding performance by management and employees alike don’t just magically happen. It is the culmination of intelligent automation decisions made and actions put into practice. The real magic is in being able to ensure that business processes are created appropriately and work as planned again and again. 

Author bio
Bryan Christiansen is the founder and CEO of Limble CMMS. Limble is a modern, easy-to-use mobile CMMS software that takes the stress and chaos out of maintenance by helping managers organize, automate, and streamline their maintenance operations. 

Processes are at the heart of every business. Without business processes, tasks do not have a unified method of completion and data does not move through the pipeline properly. In order to fully establish these processes in your workplace, you need to know what they are going to look like. Process mapping has emerged to assist businesses in the planning of their daily processes. What is process mapping, you ask? We’ll answer this question and more below. 

What is Process Mapping? – Definition

Business process mapping is not to be confused with business process modeling. Instead, process mapping is a technique that uses workflow diagrams to visually describe business processes. A workflow diagram shows the relationships between tasks and visualizes process information like the flow of work, who is involved in the process, what execution and quality standards are followed, and what is the expected outcome.

Process mapping is a part of business process management (BPM) and is usually implemented with the help of BPM software tools. Its main purpose is a deep understanding of the processes, internal transparency, and continuous improvement. 

Diagrams help managers identify whether the execution aligns with the business values and objectives, measure performance, and become more effective. Business process analysis and visualization are also encouraged by ISO 9001: 2015, as it effectively contributes to quality management.

Benefits of Business Process Mapping

Companies and large enterprises all over the world use business process mapping to translate business data into useful information, identify improvements that can be made, optimize business processes, and become more effective.

With process mapping, process information becomes easily accessible and deeply understood by everyone involved while repetition mistakes are prevented. A flowchart can define the way in which processes should be executed ensuring that quality standards are followed every time the same workflow runs. 

Business process mapping offers a variety of benefits your organization won’t want to miss out on, including:

• Defined norms. Without established processes, there’s no clear method on how to complete tasks. Once you’ve completed process mapping, your team will know exactly how to complete their tasks and move the process forward. 

• Improved visibility. In addition to defined norms, you’ll also have clarity on who completes what tasks throughout the process. This will improve collaboration and increase transparency throughout the entire project. 

• Increased productivity. Eliminating the confusion around processes, your team will be able to focus more on the tasks at hand and know how to complete workflows efficiently. 

• Streamlined onboarding. As you bring on new team members, you’ll have a much clearer picture of how to train them on your processes and where they fit into the flow of work. 

Investing in process mapping software can help you further automate your processes and start reaping the benefits quickly. Keep reading to learn more about how to do process mapping and where to find the best software.

How to Do Process Mapping

Knowing how to do process mapping is an essential part of creating business processes. To map a process, you should follow the steps below:

1. Identify the process you want to map.
2. Identify the purpose of the mapping: what you would like to optimize or measure. 
3. Set the start and endpoints.
4. Analyze the process by identifying the activities and the connections between them.
5. Set the sequence of the activities.
6. Use basic mapping symbols to create the flowchart (for example you can use the BPMN 2.0 notation).

As mentioned above, you can use symbols and notations to visualize the information. Most of the time, process mapping tools with ready (drag and drop) symbols and connectors are used to simplify the flowchart creation.

Business Process Map Flowcharts

A flowchart is the most basic example of a business process map. It uses basic symbols to describe actions, activities, tasks, subprocesses, decision points, documents, the flow of work, completion time, events, gateways, people, and systems involvement.

The symbols are similar to UML symbols. The most common symbols used are:

1. Circles: represent the start and endpoints
2. Rectangular boxes: process steps (tasks, subprocesses)
3. Diamonds: decisions that must be made to move on, they usually have two branches
4. Arrows: represent connections between elements

Download the complete BPMN 2.0 Notation guide today to learn more about these symbols and how to use them.

When creating a flowchart, there are three main styles you can use to visualize your processes. These are:

1. Basic flowchart. This flowchart uses a top-down identification method. When creating this flowchart, you’ll plot out all of the major tasks needed for a process. Jot down all of the subtasks that are done under each major task and evaluate your process from there. You’ll be able to pinpoint bottlenecks and see where you can automate or streamline repetitive tasks. 
2. Data flowchart. If your processes are data-heavy, this flowchart may be the best choice. Instead of tracking tasks, it follows the movement of data through the process. You can clearly see where data may get lost in translation or be inaccurately interpreted. 
3. Business modeling flowchart. For this flowchart method, you’ll want BPMN software. Using this process mapping software, you can create a diagram that depicts bottlenecks, repetitive tasks, and more. 

Evaluate how you would like to visualize your process and choose a flowchart accordingly. 

Process Mapping Tools

To start with business process mapping, you should carefully select your process mapping tools. Comidor is a powerful business process management platform with BPMN 2.0 drag & drop workflow designer.

Make process mapping a little easier by establishing your workflows as well. With definitive workflows, you can better visualize your overall process and place each workflow where it belongs along the way. Automate these workflows with ease using the BPM 2.0 Comidor Workflow Designer. 

Process Mapping Examples

We’ve outlined just a few process mapping examples to give you a better idea of how you can utilize this technique in your own workspace. 

Employee Onboarding

Onboarding new employees often comes with a monumental amount of paperwork and bottlenecks that are much too time-consuming. You can use process mapping to layout your traditional process for onboarding and identify where these bottlenecks can be automated.

Then, using BPM software, you can create automated workflows and manage your HR processes without the repetitive and time-consuming tasks taking up your entire day. Your HR team and the candidates they’re contacting will appreciate the streamlined process. 

Project Management

Massive projects can easily be sidetracked when team members do not have clarity on their tasks or are unable to collaborate effectively. By completing process mapping, your team can better understand their role in the project and to whom they can communicate questions. They will also more clearly see where bottlenecks are holding up the process and how they can support each other through project management. 

Sales Approval

The next process mapping example we’ll be discussing is sales approval. Sales teams understand just how tedious their tasks can become. With so many requests and approvals flooding in, it’s easy to become overwhelmed and fall behind. By reviewing your process through business process mapping, you can identify opportunities for automation and speed up your approval process. 

Purchase Order

Finally, we will be presenting the purchase order example. Every business deals with procurement projects on a daily basis. A purchase order can be modeled using RPA easily. RPA software enables businesses to automate the creation of documents, saving time, eliminating typography errors, and boosting productivity. Here is a short video that shows you how to use the Comidor RPA Document Creator tool in a real-life procurement project. 

Comidor Process Mapping

With an emphasis on business process management, Comidor understands the need for clear and concise processes. That’s why we’ve developed our BPMN 2.0 designer.

With this visual designer, you’ll be able to map out your processes from start to finish with ease. Identify bottlenecks and areas of improvement quickly and create automated solutions at your fingertips. Request a demo of our latest version today!

Comidor can virtually map and track any organizational process through its Workflow unit. Through this business process workflow documentation we will provide you with important information for Comidor Workflows and Workflow Automation.

Workflows fully exploit the organizational structure to provide unprecedented process design and action monitoring. Through Workflows Designer, the user can navigate and modify existing processes or create a new one using BPMN 2.0 with drag-and-drop functionality.

By attaching Workflows in a Process users are able to see in real-time the Workflow stages (Processes or Tasks). When changing the state of a workflow step (e.g. once a certain task is completed), the process goes to the steps that follow and the workflow stage is automatically updated.

• Most importantly, User fields and User Forms can be matched at any step of a workflow, to help departments add meaningful information in a process with custom fields.
• Workflows can be either connected with an Application, Process Template, Scheduling or be driven manually by creating a Process (of any type).
  • If a workflow is linked to an App, it cannot be used in other Processes.

 

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Workflow connection with Process

From the Modules Menu Button, navigate to a “Process” type Unit e.g. Generic Process. Click on the “+” button to create a new entry and in the “Workflow” field, search for the workflow name. The following cases refer to workflow connection with a Process:

• A Process (of any type: Generic Process, Project, Opportunity, Event, Training, Issue, Ticket, Topic, Job Posting, Campaign) connected with a Workflow. When the state is “Running”, the Workflow will start.

• A Process Template connected with a Workflow. If Process Template’s initial state is “Running”, the workflow will start automatically, as per Process creation. Alternatively, it will start by manually changing the Process state to “Running”.
• Scheduling is connected with a Workflow. The workflow will start automatically, as per Process/App creation based on the defined repetition plan.
• Alternatively, link a workflow with a process-enabled application in App Builder. Note that if you link a workflow with an application, you cannot use the aforementioned options.

When a new Process with a linked workflow is set as “Running”, the first workflow step is triggered. Then, while the states of Workflow steps range between completed/failed/canceled, the workflow moves on to the following steps, and so on.

In each process record, the end-users can check all workflow tasks that have been triggered automatically based on the workflow design, their state, assignees, dates started & ended and duration, in the respective button.

Users can also check the run diagram, which will highlight the path that was followed; in green are displayed the completed steps and in blue the pending ones. In case of a workflow design error, the step with the error will be highlighted in purple colour.

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Workflow creation

To access Workflows:

1. Click on App Factory icon > Process Automation > Workflows.
2. To create a New Visual Workflow, simply click on the “+” icon.
3. Now, add the details of the Workflow.

 

1. • Give the Visual Workflow name as Title, select User group which has the accountability of the process.
   • Click on the 3 dots to add more info.
     • Choose the maximum duration of workflow in days, set the pre-defined minimum priority status.  You can also set a prefix that accompanies all process instances, e.g. if you create a new process with a workflow whose prefix is DOC, then the code of the first process that will contain the respective workflow will be DOC1, the code of the second one will be DOC2, the code of the third one will be DOC3 and so on.
     • Do not forget to give access and change rights to specific users and/or groups and add a short description.
     • Define the Business Owner of the process/workflow by choosing a user from the list.
     • In the Link with UserApp field, you can see if this workflow is being used in an application.
     • If you wish the workflow to be only completed automatically (when the active path reaches the end) leave the option “Allow Manual Completion” unchecked. Check it only, if you want the users to make a manual change to the state of the process(e.g. cancel, fail, pause, etc). Keep in mind that if a workflow is completed/failed/canceled manually, the paths cannot be re-activated.
     • Add a Category to your workflow design, to group all similar workflow designs. With this filter, you can display this workflow design in Enterprise Canvas.
     • Define if this design’s Status is Prepared or Not Prepared. This field is used as a filter in Workflow reports.
     • Describe the Controls,  Policies, and SPP information of this process/workflow.
   • Give the Description, Scope, and Purpose of this process/workflow.
   • Then, click on the “Save” button.
2. Alternatively, you may import a BPMN 2.0 Workflow by pressing the “Actions” button and selecting the related option.BPMN 2.0 files that you exported from Comidor or another product can now be imported into Comidor. Each BPMN2.0 file import is unique and does not overwrite other BPMN2.0 files from prior imports. Specific functionality includes:
   • Ability to import a BPMN2.0 file into Comidor.

• • Group mapping is available in order to correlate the parties involved in the imported workflow. If there are already assigned parties in Comidor, they will be identified by the platform.
  • You can correlate the involved parties, by typing their name or choose from the pre-defined options in the drop-down list. The group mapping is available for:

• • • Groups
    • Users
    • Roles
  • Hover your mouse above the info icon to see in which task each role, user or group is used.

 

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Manage a Visual Workflow Design

After the Workflow creation, the system directs you to the Workflow Summary interface, in order for the user to either edit details or start designing! Click on:

1. Summary “Pencil” button to edit initial details.

2. “Actions” button options:

• Delete the Workflow.
• Copy / Version the current workflow design.
  • Give a Title to the copied Workflow design
  • Or click check on the Version option
  • Keep in mind that the DB must be reloaded.
  • Click on the Versions tab to see all versions that you have created.
  • Schedule the date range of the version you want to be active.

• Option Export BPMN 2.0 document, saves the Workflow as a BPMN2.0 file to your computer for future import activities.

 

3.  Process Mapping: Comidor allows users to add process mapping in HTML, including enriched text and pictures. You are able to apply styles, fonts, and other format options. Just click on the respective tab and then on the “Pencil” button.

4. Business Process document allows users to export the full workflow design and architecture including all components, resources, and stakeholders involved. The export is in PDF format and the document includes Business process diagram, Process elements in detail, Personnel allocation, Workflow Controls Contents, Workflow Policies Contents, and SPP Contents.

5. Business Process Guidelines: Comidor platform gives you the ability to view the end-users’ simple interface and get informed about the actions needed to be taken.

Click on Business Process Guidelines tab and you will see the following:

• a flowchart with the start and end points, stage and description (work practices) of every work practice of the workflow
• linked process policies to the workflow
• linked process controls to the workflow
• linked process SPP to the workflow

To display the start and end points, stage, and description per workflow stage, go to the design, click edit on the respective element (e.g. task), and add the respective information. (those three fields are by default hidden, choose “Show more options”: Yes to view them)

6. Link your workflow design with:

• Controls
• Policies
• SSP

Click on the respective tab, then on the “+” icon, and select from the existing list of Controls, Policies, and SPP records.

See how to create new Controls, Policies, and SPP.

7. Click on the Design tab or Design preview “edit” button to start creating the workflow.

With Comidor BPMN 2.0 designer, you can map and optimize any process that takes place in your company. See step-by-step all elements in the Workflow Designer.

8. User fields can be used to add custom fields, which can then be included in a user form that will be attached later in the workflow stage.  User forms can be used to add a custom form,  where you can drag-and-drop system or custom fields and then attach it in a workflow stage (activities: tasks or subprocesses). Also, you can apply Field Rules to show or hide certain fields in forms, based on rules you set.
Learn more at User Fields and User Forms.

 

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Workflow Analytics

Navigate to each Workflow in the Analytics tab, to get insights on each Workflow usage.

• Set Analytics Filters to get the results you wish.
  • Choose between Total or Delayed Tasks to be displayed.
  • Monitor the Duration and Cost of each step.
  • Narrow your results to tasks that were assigned to a specific user or group.
  • Select the period of time you are interested in.
  • Click on Refresh.
• Pinpoint the total and delayed instances and tasks that were created within one workflow. Cost is calculated based on the duration of each task multiplied by the cost rate of the user that completes each task. See more in the Services unit.

• See your results in a table view, graph, or pie chart. All types of graphs are printable and downloadable.

• View workflow analytics with the “Delayed Task” Filter to measure the scheduled time and the actual time it took for a task to be completed. This feature enables users to identify bottlenecks.

• View workflow analytics with the “Total Task” Filter to measure how many times every task is executed in total. This will identify your “critical path”, your process “optimal path” and ultimately help identify where the focus should be for better resource management.

 

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Workflow Change Tracking

Comidor platform gives you the ability to track and monitor the changes that are incorporated into any workflow.

You can track changes applied in specific tasks of the workflow as well as compare different versions of the same workflow.

Audit Trail Log

1. Access a workflow you would like to modify from unit Workflow Designs.
2. The necessary changes can be applied in Design. For example, change the name of a task’s title.
3. Once you have saved all changes, select Update Log so as to see who applied the change, when as well as the old and new values of the updated field.

Workflow version comparison

Comidor users are able to compare the different versions of a workflow.

• • From the “Actions” button, select Compare Versions so as to choose the versions you would like to compare.

• • Insert the numbers of the versions you would like to compare and then click Ok.
  • A new tab with the workflow information appears. This includes the two workflow designs as well as a description of all applied changes. New elements are given in green, deleted elements in red, and changes in existing elements in orange.

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Click here to view some Workflow Examples.