10 Effective process mapping examples to use right now in your business

When business process optimization and visibility get complicated, it can be appealing to turn to the simplicity of process mapping. A business process map takes stakeholder views and opinions relating to the process in question, and constructs a visual representation of each step in diagrammatic form. Process mapping can be a useful way for businesses to start understanding what’s going on across teams and departments.

Since process mapping is a straightforward technique for gaining an impression of how your business operations are running, examples of process mapping applications are wide and varied. There are plenty to choose from, whether you’re lacking insight into a particular function or business process, or simply want process documentation. And with so many different types of business process maps available – from flowcharts to swimlane diagrams – those processes can be granular and micro, or high-level and holistic.

Here are 10 examples of how to use process mapping and a look at how process mining and process intelligence are enabling businesses to better understand how their processes are running and how they could run better.

Process mapping for supply chain management

Supply chains are a prime candidate for business process mapping since they’re a giant chain of interconnected micro-processes. Procurement, fulfillment, and inventory management are just a few of the related functions, which means that improving a supply chain process has wide-reaching benefits. Process mapping can help surface those improvement opportunities.

1. Cut procurement cycle times with a high-level process map: Gain a big-picture overview to identify opportunities for process improvement, such as vendor selection and issuing purchase orders.

2. Evaluate supplier performance with a value stream map: The timeline component will clearly reveal delays and waiting times, so you can more easily see how suppliers are impacting other metrics.

3. Understand inventory management issues with a detailed process map: Investigate how inventory is being transacted to determine which materials are at risk of stockouts or, conversely, which may be at risk of excess and obsolescence.

Process mapping for finance

Finance and shared services processes have a tangible bottom-line business impact. Without process visibility, revenue can get lost without you even realizing, and opportunities to maximize profits can slip under the radar. Business process mapping can bring you a step closer to surfacing those process improvements.

4. Recover revenue with a detailed process map: Breaking down the different steps in your invoicing process can help you discover where they’re being duplicated, missed, or lost. Even if you’re not noticing these more immediate issues, a business process map can improve your invoice-tracking and dispute-management process, while highlighting opportunities to streamline touchpoints.

5. Optimize the procure-to-pay process with a flowchart: Uncover unnecessary or duplicated steps in your workflow that are protracting cycle times, or areas of non-compliance. Identifying opportunities where accounts payable (AP) processes could run more effectively – such as more seamless and consistent invoice payment – also strengthens vendor relationships.

6. Boost cash flow with a rendered process map: Comparing your current accounts receivable (AR) process to hypothetical future states can help you identify different ways of prioritizing collections earlier in the sales process, getting cash through the door faster.

Process mapping for transformation and migration projects

System migrations are particularly vulnerable to process weaknesses, with many moving parts and a delicate order that needs to be executed properly. Effective processes minimize disruption and delay, so businesses aren’t left without sufficient systems to continue operating. Process mapping can help avoid the consequences of systems disruption on revenue and customer service.

7. Avoid delays or friction in migration project management with a swimlane diagram: Capturing all dependencies and input across the business gives system migration or transformation initiatives a clear, guiding foundation to keep referring back to. A swimlane diagram can serve as a blueprint that helps all stakeholders understand their roles, responsibilities, where they fit in the wider process flow, and their impact on other interdependencies.

8. Reduce the business impact of migrations with a detailed process map: Zooming in on each process step can help you explore opportunities to strategically prioritize implementation requirements, run processes concurrently, or work around different functions to minimize downtime.

Process mapping for sustainability and ESG improvements

While many businesses can direct all their attention on big sustainability initiatives that overhaul systems and structures within their organization, there are a lot of (often quicker) gains that can be achieved from workflow mapping.

9. Track emissions sources with a swimlane diagram: Evaluate different teams’ contributions and how a complex process could be streamlined to benefit your overall carbon footprint. That might include eliminating duplicate steps or shortening lengthy processes.

10. Reduce waste with a SIPOC diagram: Pinpoint causes of surplus stock or delays in your inventory management and fulfillment process flow, such as process blindspots causing inaccurate lead times or resulting in sub-optimal safety stock levels.

Take process mapping further with Celonis

These process mapping examples do, however, come at a cost. Process mapping requires considerable manual effort and time, involving interviewing, surveying, and workshopping. And even after all that effort, you still only have visibility into how people think processes run rather than how they actually run. But there is another way.

Celonis Process Intelligence gives organizations a data-driven approach to business process management, powered by artificial intelligence combined with the unique business context in which the business operates (i.e., what makes something good or bad for the business).

It enables accurate, end-to-end transparency across your business processes, derived from process mining that extracts real-world, objective data from your systems. With a digital process twin, you can drive continuous improvement, while powerful process automation can even apply improvement actions for you, lowering the burden further still. Find out more about how the Celonis platform works.

Bill Detwiler

Senior Communications Strategist and Editor Celonis Blog

Bill Detwiler is Senior Communications Strategist and Editor of the Celonis blog. He is the former Editor in Chief of TechRepublic, where he hosted the Dynamic Developer podcast and Cracking Open, CNET’s popular online show. Bill is an award-winning journalist, who’s covered the tech industry for more than two decades. Prior to his career in the software industry and tech media, he was an IT professional in the social research and energy industries.