Process map
A process map is a visual picture of how a piece of work flows from a trigger to a result: the steps, who performs them, the decisions that change the path, and the hand-overs between people. It is used to understand, explain and improve a process. A useful process map shows the process as it really runs, not as it was once designed.
What is a process map?
Process maps exist at different levels. A high-level overview fits a business process on one page in a handful of boxes; a detailed map shows every step in lanes per role, with forks for decisions and loops for rework. The notation can be as simple as boxes and arrows or as formal as a standard modelling language.
A map shows the flow. It does not explain how to perform a step, and on its own it rarely shows the knowledge a step depends on — which is why a map can look complete and still miss what matters.
Not to be confused with a standard operating procedure, which tells one person how to do one step. See process map vs SOP.
Why it matters for SMEs
For example: a map of quote to order in an engineering company shows that every non-standard quote waits in the same place — the owner's desk. The bottleneck and the key-person dependency were known by feeling; the map makes them visible and discussable.
For SMEs, a map of each core process is often the first shared picture of how the company works. Its value depends on whether it is kept current; see process mapping mistakes that lose knowledge.
Process map in the MentX approach
MentX captures how your company really works: the knowledge of your key people and the processes they run. We offer both a hands-on service approach — mapping your processes and capturing the knowledge behind them, from meetings, workshops and a guided intake — and our own personality-aware knowledge base, with full source attribution, in your own Knowledge Space. We build on the tools you already use and add best-practice solutions where they fit.
A process map is the result of business process flow mapping, step two of the approach. Each step on the map then carries its knowledge, its owner and its sources.