5.9 Basic Lean Tools: Process Mapping

The final tool that we will discuss in this chapter is process mapping. Process mapping is a tool used to visually show all the steps in a process from beginning to end. In the Total Quality Management literature, process mapping is often referred to as flowcharting. These are similar tools and depict the steps, decisions, paperwork, etc., that are completed to perform a task. The best way to think of a process map or flow chart is to compare it to a road map. Online road maps show the driver all the roads, turns, and real-time traffic jams from start to finish.

Process mapping is a similar tool but for business processes.

• It helps an organization better understand how it completes a process, which can be helpful when trying to improve efficiency.

• It shows other individuals and companies how you do something.

• It helps to assign and display responsibilities between individuals or departments in complex processes or operations that span boundaries within either a company or supply chain.

This subsection aims not to make you into process map champions, but rather to familiarize you with how to recognize and read a process map.

Think again of the road map. You know that on the map roads have specific colored lines for streets and freeways, water bodies are blue, numbers and names are placed on roads, and a scale depicts distance. You instantly recognize these common symbols, colors, and numbering systems.

Process maps work similarly. Some standardized symbols and lines have assigned meanings. For example, an activity is displayed as a rectangular box with rounded corners. A decision is a diamond. Lines are used to connect the symbols and show the flow of the process. More than a dozen other symbols represent various specific tasks: start/end of the process, a merge of flows, paperwork, etc.

Figure 5.14, Billing Submission to Client, presents a straightforward map process, beginning with sending a bill to a client. It begins at the “Start” symbol. The first activity is to “Receive update of newly issued billings.”

Next, a decision is made (i.e., the diamond symbol) about whether the person can find the client’s file folder. At this point, if yes, the path continues to the file folder (a unique symbol for paperwork) or, if no, to the following process of finding the buyer’s information sheet (another piece of paperwork). This simple process is visually depicted from beginning to end.

The concept and application of process mapping can be a handy tool for organizations. As identified above, a company can use this tool to improve operations. Going back to our road map analogy, recall Beatle George Harrison’s famous quote, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.” A process map will help your company know two critical steps: where it’s going and how it gets there.