Process modeling is the graphic representation of the process and all its steps. It is part of a methodology called Business Process Management, and it is crucial to make a company thrive.
To understand more, see: business process modeling definition and benefits.
In this article, we will approach some business process modeling examples and the practical side of the concept.
Business process modeling examples
The first thing to do is always determine the scope of the project, the process to model. A clear demarcation of the limits of the process is essential, as well as a definition of the goals to achieve.
Let us imagine a crowdsourcing company that wants to change the layout of its website. The first thing to do is to identify and determine what is happening now. Understand all the process, how does the client uses the website, where it clicks, what is the order of the actions. With that information, it is time to create a flowchart representing all the actions and the steps. When we can visualize something, it is much easier to understand it. Analyzing the chart, we can see where things go wrong or slow, and what can be done. After improving, it is important to implementing and continue to analyze it, to see if the betterments work.
Another business process modeling example is a furniture company. It is not necessary to have a change of mind to start the model, but only to want to improve. The process of sales works like this: the arriving of the client on the store, his attendance, his request and the payment. A business process model example of this process would be like this:
It is a straightforward and clear example of a business process modeling. With that in hands, the manager can study the process and identify the improvement points and bottlenecks. Note that every action has a correspondent symbol, which will let you know if this is a beginning, a decision-making point, etc.
Learn how to do it: business process modeling notation.
Business process modeling steps
There are some steps to follow when modeling a process, like the following ones:
- Identify the process and produce an ‘as is’ model – how is the process now. Check out this free tool for process modeling!
- Review, analyze and update the ‘as is’ process model – based on your knowledge, the people involved and simulations.
- Design the ‘to be’ model – how the process should work.
- Test and implement the ‘to be’ – in real life situations.
- Continuously update and improve the new model – never stop improving.
Now that you saw some business process modeling examples, also read about business improving examples and start to execute it!