Visualise Every Step
- Process Mapping
A good process map makes it easy for employees to get an overview of the business. How should you go about creating a good process map?
ISO 9001 encourages us to work in a process-based manner. The challenge for most businesses then becomes creating clear process maps that all employees can easily recognize. It is also important to be able to clearly see what my area of responsibility is and how this area connects with the rest of the business.
First: Why Process Mapping?
First, one must understand the difference between a classic organisational chart and a process map.
An organisational chart is a vertical and functional description of the business. An organisational chart doesn’t say anything about what we do, who we do it for or how we do it.
A process map, on the other hand, shows the organisation as a system where the customer, the product and the workflow are connected. It becomes possible to see how work is really done through processes that cut across functional boundaries and departments.
A process map, on the other hand, shows the organisation as a system where the customer, the product and the workflow are connected. It becomes possible to see how work is really done through processes that cut across functional boundaries and departments.
ISO 9001 is very specific here, requiring you to identify processes and manage them to meet customer expectations. Managing according to processes is therefore necessary if you want to hold an ISO certification and is recommended in any case.
Establishing a process map helps the employee to see the entire production line instead of only focusing on maximising their goals internally in their own department.
Process Categories
Processes are often divided into three categories: Core Processes, Support Processes and Management Processes.
Core Process
When working with quality, core processes should have a customer focus. When deciding which processes are core, you start with customer needs and end with customer satisfaction. They follow the willingness to pay. These are the processes that ensure earnings directly and represent the development and delivery of your products and services.
Support Process
Supporting processes are those processes whose purpose is to help the main processes create satisfied customers. They do not create value directly, but consume resources to support the main processes. Examples include invoicing, IT support and HR.
Management Process
The purpose of management processes is to set strategy and chart the course for the organisation. In some cases, it can be difficult to determine what is support and what are core processes. Here, a good assessment will provide the right answer.
Process Mapping in Practice
There are several ways to map processes. One method we have good experience with in 4human QM365 is to gather a small number of knowledgeable people from all areas of the organisation. If it’s a large organisation, you can divide it into several sub-collections using the same methodology
- Silent brainstorming
Everyone sits around the same table. The question everyone gets is: What’s going on in our company? What am I doing? Everyone writes on sticky notes, key words, silently, without co-operation. Time approx. 10 min - Sticky notes on the wall:
All sticky notes go on the wall or on a whiteboard. - Silent sorting: Group notes that are similar to each other and belong together (affinity method). This is done without discussing or talking. Try to sort the notes in a natural order. Notes relating to leadership should be at the top, support should be at the bottom, and a large block in the centre is the core. Set aside 10-15 minutes for this.
- Put names on each group of notes. Endeavour to use verbs + nouns. E.g. “Remove paint” and “Deliver quotation” instead of “Paint removal” and “Quotation delivery”. This way you get an active, rather than a passive, process map.
The advantage of this methodology is that you can gather a lot of information in a very short time. Discussions are often time-consuming and this is largely avoided when using the method described above. You create involvement and ownership. Everyone gets to contribute to the process map – it’s not drawn by the QA manager who uses his words and concepts and sets up what he thinks is relevant.
If you work in a company that has a production map, work map or flow chart, you need to consider working somewhat differently for this part to ensure that the flow is correct.
Building a process map
A good process map is an important foundation for building a simple and comprehensible management system – regardless of the standard you’re implementing, so after a good process mapping you have a good basis for building your own graphical process map. In our management system, it’s made simple. There are functions for designing each box as you like in terms of size, colour and desired icon. You also design the desired text and realisation between the boxes with graphic elements such as arrows and lines.
Although the rich functionality enables advanced process maps, we recommend making these maps as simple as possible. Remember that they should provide valuable information not only to the certifier or quality manager, but perhaps first and foremost to each individual employee. So the process map needs to be easy to understand and easy to use. Our software has powerful functions for linking all relevant information to the individual process, such as
All information on a sub-process is available directly from the process map in QM365 Manage.
- Process description – documentation visible directly in the map
- Documents – governance documents, templates and registrations-
- Activities – additional documentation in text boxes-
- Risks- Laws and requirements-
- Objectives- Links to relevant websites and tools
In addition, the process map can be sorted by positions and roles so that a user can see all the information that is relevant to them. The process map can also handle different businesses and large departments where you can share certain processes if desired.
In QM365, we have extensive experience in helping our customers to create simple, efficient process maps!
Do you need help with process mapping?
Feel free to contact us for a no-obligation chat about how we can support your process mapping work. We can help you with software to draw up and communicate your process map – and we have consultants who can help you map your processes.
