The 4 Steps in Business Process Mapping

Business
Process
Mapping
by CSDP
Corporation

This presentation is an overview of the 4 steps to
performing Business Process Mapping (BPM). We
explain each step including how to build a case for
BPM.
Overview

Using a customer
scorecard to keep customers at the
forefront of your processes
Step
1
Process Identification -

Process Identification
The purpose of this step is to gain a full understanding
of all the steps of a process. Many companies take a
departmental view, but rather than using this silo’d
view, a better way is to look processes from the
customer’s perspective.

First, identify your customer trigger events,
which are all the interaction points your
company has with its customers.

Then develop a customer scorecard. Have your
team members do short interviews with
customers to find out what customers need,
want, and require of the processes and how the
processes are currently performing.
Compile the data and look for problems, trends,
and things that are working well.

Determine best practices and goals for
improvement. Look at the visible and
transparent supporting processes (the things
your customer never sees).
Create a graphic presentation of the major
processes, including how they interrelate and
support each other.

Read the Technology Services Association’s
(TSIA’s) report Process Is the Key to
Technology Project Success to better
understand why processes are the single
most important element in determining the
success of a new technology project. The
report discusses common problems with
service lifecycle management business
processes, including the top two reasons
poor processes create technology project
failures.

8 Areas of Focus
Step
2
Information Gathering
-

In this second step, you ‘ll need to conduct process interviews and
review any existing documentation to gather information on and
have a full understanding of the following 8 areas in your service
lifecycle management operations.
Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

Responsibilities: Identify the key
responsibilities of the process area and
who is responsible for those actions.

Objectives: Answer the question:
What is being accomplished? This will
help you determine the objectives and
goals for the process.

Activities: Look at what actions are being
performed in the process (including current policies
and procedures), when and where the actions are
performed, and how the actions are performed (in
other words what is being utilized to perform the
action e.g. pencil and paper, specific software,
database, etc.). Be sure to identify every task and
every decision.

Inputs: This is whatever enters something into
the process. This can include resources (people),
materials, and equipment (software). Be specific by
listing out types of materials, names of reports or
queries, software being used, etc.

Outputs: This is whatever is produced
as a result of this action; the key
deliverables of each activity including both
products and services as applicable.

Customers: You should already have your customer
scorecards from the previous step. Be sure you’ve captured
information from all recipients of the outputs of each activity
including both internal and external customers.

Risks & Controls: Here you need to
identify what risks exist with this process (ask
yourself: what can stop this process from being
accomplished and what could go wrong?) and
what controls can be put in place to minimize
those risks. Make sure you have at least one
control for each risk.

Key Performance Indicators
(KPIs): These will help you define the measures of success
for the process; for example, you can measure cycle times for
the process. These can also be broader to include multiple
processes; for example, SLA compliance and workforce
utilization.

Who and What to Ask to Get the to
Root of the Process
Step
3
Interviewing and Mapping
–

Break down each process into the individual steps being performed (from start to
finish) and document work that is actually being done from the people actually doing
the work, not what is supposed to be done or what you think is happening. Do this
through observation, interviews, and/or meetings. Get specific about the items, tasks,
steps, and decisions in the process so you don’t overlook important areas for
efficiency improvements. Use the questions on the next page as a guide to help you
break down the steps in your process.
Once you’ve documented the process, verify your
work with people who actually perform the process.
Is anything missing or inaccurate? Could a person
not familiar with the process understand the flow?

• Who performs each activity?
• What generates the process/task?
• What forms and reports are used?
• What computer systems, specific software
programs, and files are used?
• How do we do it? Why do we do it?
• Are there any alternatives to the activity?
• What products/tools/supplies are needed?
• What decisions are made in the process?
• What happens next? What sequence are
the activities performed in?
• Who reviews it and when?
• What approvals are needed?
• How long does it take?
• How does this affect the customer?
• What is the nature, frequency and cause
of errors/problems?
• How are errors/problems/exceptions
handled?
• Where does the output go?
• What rules need to be taken into
consideration?
• What other processes is this process liked
to?

Use the 7Rs of Process Innovation
Step
4
Analysis –

Analysis
Analysis should be occurring throughout the process and again when the existing
processes are fully mapped. Look at each step in each process and evaluate it
thoroughly. If a step does not add value to the process, ask yourself why it is being
performed.
• Can it be eliminated, combined, or the effort reduced?
• Does each step of the process support the overall business objectives?
• Is there any role or responsibility ambiguity?
• Where are the delays between steps?
These questions are just the tip of the iceberg…

Analysis
One good way to organize your analysis is to use Stephen Shapiro’s 7Rs of Process Innovation: Rethink,
Reconfigure, Reassign, Re-sequence, Relocate, Reduce, and Retool as originally described in his book 24/7
Innovation: A Blueprint for Surviving and Thriving in an Age of Change. Here are some specific suggestions
questions he recommends for each step:
Rethink
• Why do it this way? What are the assumptions?
• Is there a completely different way to accomplish this objective?
• Is there a better, faster, cheaper way to complete the most expensive,
slowest, poorest quality steps?
Reconfigure
• How can the activity be eliminated?
• Can we consolidate common activities?
• How can reconciliation be reduced by putting quality at the source?
• Can we eliminate handoffs and non-value adding work?
• How can sharing information with suppliers and clients improve the process?

Analysis
Re-sequence
• How can predicting increase efficiency?
• How can parallelism reduce time?
• How can we minimize the number of interconnections
and dependencies?
Relocate
• Can the activity be moved closer to the client or the supplier?
• Can an activity be moved to related activities?
• How can we decrease cycle time by reducing travel time and distance?
Reduce
• How can the frequency of the activity be reduced increased?
• How would more information enable greater effectiveness?
• How can critical resources be used more effectively? Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

Analysis
Reassign
• How can the customer or suppliers/partners perform this activity?
• How can the activity be outsourced?
• How can cross-training integrate and compress tasks?
Retool
• How can technology transform the process?
• How can the activity be automated?
• How can skill-level changes improve the process?
You can view a more complete list of Stephen’s questions along with situations where the
questions might apply here. Additional information can be found on
Stephen’s website (including a great blog). In our last blog in this series, we’ll address how to
build the business case for a Business Process Mapping project.

Build the Business Case for a
Business Process Mapping Project
Wha
tNex
t?

BPM Benefits
• Improving organizational efficiency & productivity
• Aligning processes with your business objectives
• Providing the ability to respond more quickly to business and
environmental changes
• Increasing effectiveness
• Maximizing customer interactions
• Gaining competitive advantage
• Improving process communication

Build the case for BPM
To get a business process mapping project off the ground, make sure you
have a clear understanding of why you want to embark on this project.
Whether you are trying to fix a problem or address an opportunity, you
need a compelling business case. This starts with:
– A clear understanding of the business reason(s) for the project
– Exactly what you are trying to improve
– Why it needs to be improved
– Benefits of the improvements
– Consequences of not making the improvements
– Analysis of risks
Often, it helps to start with the processes that are causing the service operation
the most or most immediate pain. Some typical areas are service contracts and
entitlements, RMAs, vendor/supplier management, etc. Also consider whether the
processes are manual, paper-intensive, inconsistent or inefficient.
If they are, they can be good candidates for a business process mapping project.

Next, you need a clear description of the problem. Start by developing a baseline
of the current state. To help identify the problems, make sure you understand:
• Who is performing the activities
• What are they doing
• When and where are they doing it
• Why and how is it being done
Now, define benefits and impact of the BPM project on the organization. You might
need to describe the impact to the business if the problem is not solved. This could
include threats like loss of market share, lower profits, over or under-delivering on
service, etc. Benefits will be directly linked to the problems you’ve identified.
When you think about benefits like increasing customer satisfaction, get more
specific with things like faster problem resolution, increased first time resolution,
increased customer self-service, etc. Increasing efficiencies could be described
more specifically as reduced rework, avoiding unnecessary inventory investments,
better scheduling of field technicians, etc.

Include performance metrics and success criteria by looking at your
corporate objectives. Do the target processes influence any
corporate objectives? Tying process improvements directly to overall
corporate objectives will help build value for the project. Whatever
the goals may be, make sure they are SMART (specific, measurable,
attainable, relevant, and timely).
Finally, make sure you have an executive or department to sponsor
and champion the project. You’ll need resources (people and money)
to make a BPM project a reality. Getting an executive to sponsor
your project and personalize the business case toward him/her.
Show the overall benefits of the project and how it will benefit your
sponsor specifically.
In the Technology Services Industry Association’s (TSIA)
report, Process Is the Key to Technology Project Success, John
Ragsdale addresses the top two reasons why poor processes lead to
technology project failures. So if one of the reasons you are
embarking on a business process mapping project is the need for
updated technology, this is a report you should read.

If you’re looking to hire a BPM consultant to help with
your BPM project, the report discusses several benefits
of this approach:
“Professional services consultants can provide different
perspectives based on industry best practices and can
move projects along more quickly. Consultants can also
help when you’re too focused on the details to see the
bigger picture and can suggest alternatives that your
team may not think of. When looking for a consulting
firm, make sure they have real world expertise in the
area of services that you are trying to fix and transform.
Not all consulting firms have this expertise.”

View a replay of our webinar, Take Your Service Operation from OK to
Very Good: Best Practices in Business Process Mapping.
On the webinar, John Ragsdale, VP of Technology Research with TSIA, highlighted the
importance of defining processes before any technology project. We also addressed the
benefits of Business Process Mapping and provided a high level overview of four steps to
perform BPM.
Read our Business Process Mapping Project brochure.
See all the steps in an infographic.
Read our BPM White Paper.
Next Steps

CSDP is a services-led software company with solutions that can automate the entire post-sale service
delivery process including:
• Field Service
• Reverse Logistics
• Customer Support
• Service Contracts, Warranty & Entitlements
Our clients have realized improved customer satisfaction by up to 15 points, increases in service
profitability exceeding 10%, decreased average cost per repair of 50% and increases in first call
resolution greater than 20%.
The Service Relationship Management (SRM)© product suite addresses the complete end-to-end
service delivery lifecycle including Contact Center, Dispatch/Mobile, Depot Repair, Inventory Control &
Management, Knowledge Management, Marketing and Quote Generation, Warranty Entitlement,
Training, Contracts/Billing, Reports, Scheduling, and Time Tracking. Our software is fully tailored to fit
your company's needs and easily integrates with your existing infrastructure so that it implements
quickly and begins generating ROI immediately.
CSDP's SRM© software solution has been delivered to some of the world’s foremost Fortune 500
companies to include IBM, Xerox, Fujitsu, Whirlpool, Rockwell and PSE&G.
About CSDP

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Contact us at 888-741-2737 X 107
E-mail us at info@csdpcorp.com
CSDP Corporation
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Irvine, CA 92618
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The 4 Steps in Business Process Mapping

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The 4 Steps in Business Process Mapping