Process Map

A process map contains process diagrams with steps that drill down to more detailed diagrams.

A process map engages stakeholders to visualize and quickly understand what a process does, preventing miscommunications and possible solution reworks.

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Mapping Out Complexity (Key Story)

Mapping Out Complexity excerpts:

• Follow the Map
  • A process map lays out the steps visually, showing the steps, who performs them, and why. Visualizing a process this way makes reviewing it much easier. Each box in a map contains a step. The text at the bottom of the box shows who does what, answering the questions above. Arrows connect the boxes, each with a label showing what motivates the next step.
  • While a process map resembles a concept map, the two have fundamental differences. In a process map, the boxes show an action and the arrows show the motivation of that action. In a concept map, the boxes show people, places, or things in the scope of the solution. The arrows show the relationship between those items. The concept map acts as an additional reference by showing who and what performs actions in the process map.
• Exceptional Mapping
  • A process map can show alternate paths. The steps below, extracted from the sales process map, show what happens in these cases.
• Mapping More Details
  • Sometimes a process step has enough complexity to warrant its own process map. For example, the “Submit ProposaI” step includes several steps of its own:
  • A process can have multiple subprocess steps creating a hierarchical structure. A subprocess can have one or more subprocess steps, capturing even more process details. In the case above, the top level is the sales process map. “Submit Proposal” breaks down into steps in the next level. Breaking down “Submit draft proposal for review” adds a third level to the hierarchy.
• Process Mapping Considerations
  • A process map should show at most ten steps in each diagram. This makes reviewing diagram(s) easier for the stakeholders. If a process has more than ten steps, consider consolidating related steps into a subprocess, then breaking that subprocess down another process with the consolidated steps.
• Summary Steps for a Successful Process Review
  • Lay out the steps in a process map, visually showing
  • Create a new process map for complex steps that have their own steps.
• A process map shows stakeholders a visual layout of complex process steps, so they can understand and review the process efficiently.
• Additional Information
  • I used Elements.cloud to create all the process maps shown in this article. It is designed to create process maps, and offers other useful tools for documenting a Salesforce org. Some use general drawing tools such as Google Draw or Microsoft Visio.
    

What's the Story?

What's the Story? excerpts:

• Stepping Into User Stories
  • Mapping Out Complexity shows a process map for submitting a proposal to a customer
    

Making the Cases for a Solution

Making the Cases for a Solution excerpts:

• Making a Use Case
  • Let’s create an example use case for a sales representative submitting a draft proposal for management review. It is the third step in the process map below, labeled “Submit draft proposal for review”:
  • The process map shows the condition for the case with the incoming arrow labeled “Proposal ready for review.” The arrow comes from the action, “Draft proposal.” Combining them makes the precondition for the use case:
• Summary
  • Process maps and user stories typically inform the creation of use cases. Use cases only specify system behavior in the context of interacting with a user. They do not specify system implementation - architects, developers, and designers deal with that.
    

Showing Customer Concepts

Showing Customer Concepts excerpts:

• Concept Map Considerations
  • To some, a concept map may resemble a process map with its boxes and labeled arrows. It does not show process flow, only relationships between people, places and things shown as concepts on the map. process mapping happens later in the development cycle.
    

Continuous Improvement of Discovery

Continuous Improvement of Discovery excerpts:

• Putting the steps in a process map showed the ticketing manager my understanding in a clear, visual way. Each box depicts a step, connected by arrows labeled with the motivation for each step.
• While the process map demonstrated my understanding of ticket request needs so far, I had questions for the ticketing manager