Hyperautomation technologies are rapidly transforming business operations, and effective process mapping has proven essential to incorporate them, enhancing operational efficiency and competitiveness in the market. However, beyond adopting tools, it is crucial to rethink processes and ways of working.
Therefore, before embarking on any automation project, starting with process mapping and gaining a clear understanding of how the company operates is essential. Mapping and evaluating workflows help identify automation needs in each area—whether technical or business—and determine which tasks and processes are suitable for automation and how to achieve it.
Process maps bring performance, efficiency, and scalability gains when adopting technological tools and frameworks such as RPA and BPM. They aid in understanding the entire value chain, evaluating both strategically significant business processes and everyday manual processes that can be improved and automated.
In this article, explore what process mapping is and how it can not only increase the productivity of technical areas but also support business areas in scaling the ROI of automation projects.
What is process mapping?
Process mapping is a business analysis method that documents how one or more business processes operate. It is used to understand how a particular process is currently executed, identifying tasks, inputs, outputs, and workflow patterns.
In summary, process mapping helps:
- Understand how a process works by detailing its activities and their relationships.
- Identify improvement opportunities by highlighting activities that can be automated, simplified, or eliminated.
- Communicate processes to employees, clients, and other stakeholders.
Types of process mapping
Various types of process mapping exist, each with its objectives and benefits. Here are some common ones:
Flowchart
Process flowcharts provide a graphical representation of a process, offering a simple and easy-to-understand tool for communicating how a process works. They are useful for purposes such as process improvement, communication, and process analysis.
Horizontal Flowchart
A horizontal flowchart represents a process from top to bottom, with process activities shown in horizontal lines and relationships indicated by symbols. It is suitable for linear processes, making it easy to understand and communicate.
Mapoflowchart
A mapoflowchart combines elements of a flowchart with elements of a map. Process activities are represented by lines, symbols denote relationships between activities, and circles indicate process inputs and outputs. This type is suitable for processes with a geographical component, visualizing how a process moves through physical space.
SIPOC
SIPOC, an acronym for Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs, and Customers, is a process mapping tool used to understand process boundaries and relationships among stakeholders.
Unified Modeling Language (UML)
UML is an object-oriented system modeling language that uses symbols and connectors to represent system elements. In the context of process mapping, it can model business processes executed by a system.
Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN)
BPMN is a standard notation for business process modeling, using symbols and connectors to represent process elements. It is a powerful tool for documenting, communicating, and analyzing processes.
Choosing the right type of process mapping depends on the mapping goals. For simple documentation accessible to teams and business management, a flowchart may suffice. If the aim is to identify process improvement and automation opportunities, SIPOC could be suitable. BPMN and UML are ideal for communicating how a process should be executed.
At an operational level, the specificity of process mapping applications determines its granularity, considering all process steps and requirements. Therefore, many companies complement managerial-level process mapping with BPM or orchestration tools.
Process modeling for RPA and BPMN
Process modeling is essentially a detailed breakdown of process mapping, providing comprehensive documentation of processes, areas, stakeholders, task lifecycles, tools, and dependencies. This modeling can be organized using specific tools, templates, or maps.
For automation projects with RPA and BPM, having a detailed model of the processes and tasks to be automated is crucial. In these cases, process modeling can be divided into three main components:
- Scope Definition: The first step is defining the scope of process mapping, including identifying the process boundaries and stakeholders involved. In general, it is worth mapping processes involving tasks such as:
- Rule-based tasks with few exceptions.
- Intensive tasks taking more than an hour to complete.
- Tasks with structured data involving clearly defined inputs and outputs.
- Data collection: The next step is collecting data about the current process, which can be done through interviews with business users or analysis using IT orchestration tools.
- Diagramming: The process is then diagrammed to visually represent the collected information. This can be done manually or with the support of BPM and RPA tools.
If you are on the path to identify business activities suitable for automation through RPA, note that BPMN notation can be employed to model different aspects of a Robot Process Automation project.
Key BPMN elements for RPA process mapping
BPMN notation offers a complete set of elements for orchestrating process modeling. Among them, a subset can be used to model operational-level action sequences where RPA solutions operate. Here are some key BPMN elements useful for RPA process mapping:
- Start Event: It is recommended that BPMN diagrams signal the process’s start with a start event. This event can be simple, timer-based (for scheduled processes with recurring execution), or message-based (for processes triggered by a service call).
- End Event: Used to indicate the completion of the process execution. The simple end event is often used.
- Sequence Flow: Indicates the sequence of process steps.
- Tasks: Represent each operation step. If a task is repeated multiple times, the loop symbol can be used.
- Subprocess: Represents the decomposition of a business process by affinity, goal, or outcome. It is suitable for representing a set of recurring activities.
- Gateway: The exclusive gateway is the only applicable BPMN gateway in RPA. It can be used to determine different step sequences based on information processed in previous steps.
- Boundary Event: The error boundary event (signals steps to be taken in case of failures) and the timeout event (directing to a different action sequence than planned) are boundary events applicable to RPA process modeling.
- Annotations: Can be used to facilitate understanding of process steps.
Remember that for RPA process modeling, it is important to consider factors such as:
- Eligible automation activities: Which process activities are eligible for RPA automation?
- RPA technology: Which RPA frameworks are suitable for the process? A low-code approach for business users or high-code for technical users?
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