A successful organization runs on an effective business process. But what does that entail? Depending on who you ask, some would say that an effective process must be clearly defined and free of waste. Others would say it should produce consistent results. The truth is, it’s a combination of all the above.
This presents a deeper question: How do you create an effective business process? That’s where modeling enters the picture. Truly effective business processes start at the drawing board — figuratively and sometimes literally. Keep reading to get the rundown on the practice of business process modeling and different techniques you can use to do it effectively.
Breaking down business process modeling
What is business process modeling?
Business process modeling is a structured approach to recording a set of expected activities as well as who’s responsible for each activity. It’s a map of what’s happening in a company — a set of living documents that show how work gets done.
“The purpose of business process modeling is not only to record but also to improve,” says Jeff Skipper, an expert at accelerating change within organizations and a certified change management professional. You’re taking the time to lay out processes step-by-step, which means you also have the opportunity to see how you might combine, shorten, or entirely eliminate those steps for more efficiency.
Terri Adkisson, a fractional COO and business growth consultant, adds that your modeling visuals and notes should be dynamic. You shouldn’t go through a process once and never review it again. “Operations change within a company, especially when the unexpected happens. Be sure to review your processes and update your documentation regularly.”
Who should be involved with business process modeling?
There are a number of business process modeling techniques available, but Skipper notes that different situations require different techniques — what he refers to as “fit for purpose” use cases.
For example, some techniques are synchronous and require heavy involvement from subject matter experts (SMEs), who are those closest to and most knowledgeable about the process. “But sometimes you can’t pull these SMEs away from their jobs for too long, which may necessitate using a technique with less direct interaction.”
Skipper says that regardless of the technique, someone must lead and facilitate the modeling process. It’s common for this leader to be an outside consultant. This is because people who participate in the business process find it difficult to objectively break it down into the level of detail required.
Adkisson adds that business processes are often complicated because you must distinguish their formal and informal elements. Formal elements are clear and may be written, while informal elements tend to be unwritten and passed along by word of mouth — aka tribal knowledge.
For example, looking at a process formally, you may only see major steps, such as document handoffs and approvals. Looking at a process informally, you may see regular breakroom meetings between key SMEs that help solidify a process’s results.
“That’s why it’s key to have someone with the capability to look at a process and see not only what’s obvious, but also what’s not obvious,” Adkisson explains. A good facilitator will identify these knowledge gaps. They’ll know which questions to ask to reveal how a process truly comes together.
“Keep in mind that, while finding the right facilitator is certainly important, the most essential resources in business process modeling are the SMEs,” says Skipper. “A facilitator can only help unearth key process insights that are available for discovery. If SMEs aren’t knowledgeable or experienced in the process, even the best facilitator’s efforts will fall short.”
How do you handle the change element of business process modeling?
“There’s an important ‘people’ element to consider with business process modeling — psychology comes into play in a major way,” says Skipper. You’re asking people to do something different than what’s normal for them, and it’s human nature to push back against change. “People may not feel comfortable with the change because it’s new, or they may think they’re going to fail.”
Skipper recommends reminding employees of the process parts they already know. For example, a 10-step process may only have one or two steps that are changing significantly. Walk through the process and showcase how much is staying the same — how employees are already competent in these areas — and how much is changing. “This will help ground them, mitigate their fears, and pave the way for them to quickly adapt to the new approach.”
For example, say a process is changing because you’re moving from Excel to Power BI, a business analytics service. Such a major change can be jarring to your workforce. However, reminding employees that they’re already familiar with Excel’s formatting and filtering features — which are also present in Power BI — will help their transition.
What is an example of business process modeling in action?
Skipper uses garbage collection as an example of how to map out a process. You would talk to the garbage collectors, of course — they’re the SMEs closest to the process. At a high level, their input may look like this:
- Walk into depot
- Grab personal protective equipment (PPE), such as reflective jackets
- Discuss with manager the schedule, route, and partner for the day
- Leave depot and proceed through route
- Arrive back at depot and provide end-of-day report
“The facilitator would help break this high-level overview down into detailed process steps,” Skipper explains. “They would likely speak with the manager to identify performance metrics. They may even speak with people along the route to help differentiate between good and bad garbage collection. All of these insights go into improving the process.”
8 business process modeling techniques
1. Business process modeling notation (BPMN)
Adkisson says BPMN is an all-purpose technique for modeling the flow of a process. As a visual tool, it helps modeling participants understand how a process works from beginning to end. “You can easily model most processes using this technique and capture all kinds of elements: how a product or customer moves through the company, how information flows, where reports are submitted, where information such as a credit check is received, and so on. You can visualize it all in one BPMN diagram.”
A BPMN diagram has four main visual elements:
- Flow objects are the events, activities, and decision points.
- Connecting objects are the order of activities, messages, and flow object associations.
- Pools and swimlanes are the accountable entities and parties for flow objects and connecting objects.
- Artifacts are supporting visuals that organize and explain the diagram.
Adkisson adds that BPMN is an iterative technique, meaning you should go back through a process multiple times to refine it. “After each pass, you need to go back and ask participants if you got it right. Add what’s missing and repeat until you capture everything needed to complete the process.”
2. Kanban boards
“A basic Kanban board shows what you need to do, what you’re currently doing, and what you’ve done,” says Adkisson. “You can use Kanban boards in processes that require multiple parties’ input, such as creating a newsletter. Boards are common in lean management, where each Kanban lane is a step in a value stream map that shows not only the creation process, but also opportunities for added value.”
Kanban boards are useful when you want to add some visualization to your business process modeling sessions. While you can create digital kanban boards, you can also make tangible ones using cards, Post-it notes, or similar objects.
3. PERT charts
If you’ve studied project management or you’re currently practicing it, you probably know about the program evaluation review technique (PERT) chart. This type of chart is also useful in business process modeling, only it helps you visualize a process instead of a project.
PERT charts are structured as flows or network diagrams with several visual elements:
- Nodes are numbered boxes or circles representing the major phases of a process.
- Vectors are labeled lines representing process tasks.
- Directional arrows illustrate task sequences.
- Diverging arrows can show concurrent or parallel tasks independent of other tasks.
PERT charts are useful for identifying all tasks and activities necessary to complete a process, including task dependencies. But one downside is that large, complex processes can make these charts appear convoluted and confusing.
“This type of chart helps with identifying bottlenecks,” says Adkisson. “For example, a car manufacturer may be having trouble meeting production goals. A PERT chart could help identify the bottleneck, which may be a lack of computer chips, and the chart would show the extended timeline for that component. It doesn’t matter that they’re manufacturing car bodies and engines fast enough if there aren’t enough computer chips to supply the vehicles.”
4. Interviews
Taking the interview approach is exactly how you would probably imagine — the facilitator would talk through the process one-on-one with SMEs and ask each SME to spell out the steps, give examples, etc. “This is a more linear approach, but it can help give each SME a voice. In larger groups, some SMEs don’t speak up to provide input or correct their peers.”
Naturally, you might receive contradicting information across multiple interviews. That’s why it’s important to bring everyone together once interviews are over. You can then discuss any discrepancies and determine the best path forward. “Not only does this help identify and fill gaps in the process, but it also helps people adapt to the upcoming changes,” Skipper explains.
5. Workshops
Unlike an interview, a workshop brings SMEs and other participants together, whether physically or virtually, from the beginning. Skipper considers this one of the most effective techniques because it fosters discussion and brainstorming — everyone is able to provide input and piggyback ideas off one another. “While effective, a workshop needs a very strong facilitator who can not only ask the right questions, but also keep people on track in the discussion.”
You can hold workshops in a few different ways:
- Sticky notes: The facilitator has participants map out the process by writing different steps on sticky notes. Then everyone works together to put the notes on the board in order. “Once the notes are on the board, the discussion really starts. You’ll take each sticky note and gauge whether there’s enough detail. If not, work with the group to break the steps down further,” says Skipper.
- Silent sticky notes: This is similar to the above exercise, only there’s no talking allowed. You may use this if the group is large because, as Skipper notes, debates tend to make the exercise longer. “Plus, no one gets to dominate the discussion if no one can talk.”
- No sticky notes: In this exercise, participants just talk through the process while the facilitator takes notes. “This option is great when people aren’t the best at writing, don’t want to write, or just aren’t great with technology (for virtual workshops),” Skipper explains.
According to Skipper, a good test for knowing a workshop’s effectiveness is seeing whether someone unfamiliar with the process can walk through the notes and understand what to do.
As for the output of the exercise, you’ll likely use PowerPoint, Vizio, or Word — in which case, it would be a written, detailed standard operating procedure (SOP).
6. Critical incident technique
Critical incident technique (CIT) involves SMEs telling the facilitator about either a significant incident that occasionally happens on the job or a less significant incident that occurs frequently. In either case, the incidents are likely to disrupt the process or cause harm.
“CIT is useful for any processes that carry a high amount of risk,” Skipper explains. “This could be any form of risk — personal safety, equipment damage, reputational harm, revenue loss, etc. So you should use CIT for processes such as repairing oil field equipment, not submitting vacation requests.”
Skipper says the facilitator will start out by asking SMEs to identify these incidents in the process, then ask follow-up questions like these:
- What was the cause of this incident?
- How often does this incident occur?
- How can we prevent it?
Skipper shares an example process where CIT could be beneficial. Take accounts payable — an SME says someone accidentally sent a million dollar check to the wrong supplier. “The facilitator will ask the SME to break the incident down. Where did it go wrong? There should be a focus on both the positive and negative of the incident to get a sense of how the process really works and how it can be improved.”
7. Surveys
“If you can’t pull SMEs away from their jobs for too long, a survey is a useful way to collect their input,” says Skipper. “While not the best option for more critical processes, surveys can work if you take the time to develop questions that are clear and use a combination of closed- and open-ended formats.”
Jotform, a powerful form builder, has survey templates you can customize to suit your business process modeling needs.
8. Blended approach
The blended approach uses a combination of multiple techniques, as sometimes you may need different techniques for different parts of process modeling. Which techniques you choose depends on the context. “In fact, most processes can benefit from using more than one technique. The only time you would stick to one technique is when there’s a small group and the process is already well defined,” says Skipper.
Using multiple techniques may be more costly and take more time, but Skipper says it’s worthwhile because of the potential to reduce lost revenue, maintain your reputation, improve employee safety, etc.
For example, you may use the workshop technique to kick off your business process modeling event with a large group, then follow up by sending a survey to participants. In this case, the survey saves time by addressing specific parts of the process in an organized way. “A survey can also act as another equalizer for times when someone dominated the more interactive sessions,” Skipper explains.
Regardless of the business process modeling techniques you use, Jotform can help as your information gathering tool. Jotform has plenty of templates for collecting and organizing insights from participants. Get started with a Jotform template today.
Photo by Yan Krukau
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