Business Process Mapping

Business
process
mapping
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This document is part of the of the Performance Management

Support Portfolio a series of guides to the key elements of
Performance Management, produced by the Local Government Data
Unit Wales and the Welsh Local Government Association.
This paper is based largely on a publication published by Audit Scotland

in 2000 The map to success.
We wish to acknowledge our thanks to Audit Scotland for the use of and
reproduction of this publication.
Each document can be accompanied by the provision of advice, guidance
and training support. For further information, or to use the Portfolio
within your organisation, contact:
Local Government Data Unit Wales 029 2090 9500
Welsh Local Government Association 029 2046 8600
ISBN - 0-9548488-7-X
Published by:
Local Government Data Unit Wales
Columbus Walk, Cardiff, CF10 4BY
Telephone 029 2090 9500
Email enquiries@dataunitwales.gov.uk
Web www.dataunitwales.gov.uk
Local Government Data Unit Wales, 2005
This material may be reproduced as long as its source is quoted. Any queries
should be sent to the Local Government Data Unit Wales at the above address
or e-mail enquiries@dataunitwales.gov.uk
Business process mapping
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Contents
1. Introduction
2. What is process mapping?
2.1 So what exactly are process maps?
3. How can process maps help drive improvement?
4. Elements of process mapping
4.1 Process flowcharts

4.1.1 High level flowcharts
4.1.2 Activity flowcharts
4.1.3 Task flowcharts
4.1.4 Deployment flowcharts
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8
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10
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5. Process definition charts
14
6. How to do process mapping
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6.1 Decide why you want to process map

6.2 Decide which processes you will map
6.3 Decide who is going to be involved
6.4 Produce the flowcharts and maps
7. Using process maps

7.1 Understand your own processes
7.2 Make sure your processes link with those of your partners
7.3 Benchmark your processes
7.4 Improve your processes
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9. Further help
25
Appendices
(1) Standard symbols used in flowcharts
26
(2) References and further reading
27
Local Government Data Unit - Wales
8. Summary

1. Introduction
Expectations on councils to deliver high quality, responsive
services, and to ensure that those services are continuously
improving have never been greater. Increasingly councils are
required not only to promote the interests and priorities of their
communities in the services they provide, but also to identify and
exploit opportunities for greater efficiency in all that they do.
Frameworks are in place across the UK at both national and local levels
to support councils in achieving continuous improvement across their
services. In Wales the Wales Programme for Improvement (WPI) places
a number of requirements on Welsh councils, including:
Carrying out an annual risk assessment, identifying key risks faced

by the council which provide a focus for improvement activities over
the coming year;
Negotiation with regulators to produce a Regulatory Plan containing

a proportionate programme of targeted inspections focusing on high
risk areas of service.
Publication each year of an Improvement Plan which sets out what

the council aims to achieve required improvements corporately and in
services over the coming 12 months this might include reallocation
of resources, changed structures and processes or detailed reviews
into problem areas; and

In addition, national initiatives such as the Performance Measurement

Review aim to provide local authorities with the tools they need to
assess current performance, plan for improvement and track progress
into the future.
A clear challenge for councils is to become more effective and efficient
in the way they do things, in relation to delivery both of front-line and
supporting services. Sometimes this might involve looking in some
detail at the way processes and activities currently work, and how these
might be improved. Process mapping can be an invaluable tool for
this, and is being used by a number of councils as they seek to achieve
continuous improvement in the services they provide.
This paper explains what process mapping is and how councils might
use it to improve performance. Throughout we have included illustrative
examples of how process mapping has been used both by local
authorities and other organisations. We have also included a series of
health checks common traps that managers and staff can fall into
when embarking upon process mapping and which need to be avoided.
The aim is to help people in local authorities think about how they
might use process mapping as one of a range of approaches to
challenge ways in which they currently do things, and identify
positive changes.
What the paper does not do is provide in depth practical guidance on
carrying out process mapping. Should you need this, further help is
available. Details of where to get it are included at the end of the paper.
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2. What is process mapping?

Every organisation delivers its services to its customers through a set
of interrelated processes. Together these make up a complete service
delivery chain all the activities that, together, ensure customers
get the service they want. The problem is that in just about every
organisation the individual processes that make up this chain are usually
the responsibility of different departments, or teams, or sections.
For example, many processes need to come together for a council
to provide a quality library service: recruitment and training of staff,
payroll systems, purchasing systems, building repairs, cleaning, printing
of documentation, marketing and publicity, and so on. All the customer
is concerned about, however, is the quality of the final service, not the
background processes. To deliver a quality service to the customer, it is
vital that each individual process delivers what is required.
It is, perhaps, not surprising that the customer often does not receive
the service that they expect given the many interrelated processes that
have to be completed. The service delivery chain is only as strong as its
weakest link. If any one process fails then the customer will not receive
a quality service. In the public sector the problem is often compounded
further since many services are delivered by a multi-agency approach
in which the individual processes will be the responsibility not just of
different parts of one organisation but different parts of several.
The technical definition of a process is:
a set of activities that converts inputs into outputs which meet
agreed customer requirements.
Outputs are the end results of the activities for example a service
provided to a customer, a committee report produced or an invoice paid.
In other words, a process is simply the way we do something using
resources to produce results. A process might be fairly high level
providing a social work service, for example, or ensuring effective
community consultation as part of service planning or it might be
more focused on a very specific activity such as dealing with a tenants
request for a housing repair.
Processes exist in every organisation work gets done and services
are provided. Everyone working in an organisation is involved in some
process or another.
Inputs are the things that we need in order to be able to carry out these
activities for example, equipment, supplies, budgets, people, and
information.

Figure 1: Process model for the Personal Social Services data collection
and publication activity at the Local Government Data Unit - Wales
Input
transformed
resources
Environment
Raw data
Transformation process:
Data validation
Input resources
Data set production
Outputs: National
Statistics
Customers:
e.g. Assembly,
Local Authorities etc.
Publication
Staff IT
Input
transforming
resources
Environment
Source: Analysis of the Data Units PSS data collection and publication
activity applied to Slack et als (2004:98) transformation model
Over time it is likely that many of these processes have developed in an

ad hoc way. They may not be properly documented or even understood
by the staff involved, and they may no longer represent the best way
of providing a service or carrying out some set of activities. Thinking
in a rigorous and methodical way about the processes that are in place
to deliver services must be a key part of the search for performance
improvement. Process maps help this type of thinking.
2.1 So what exactly are process maps?

Process maps are diagrams that show in varying levels of detail what
an organisation does and how it delivers services. The mapping shows the
major processes in place, the key activities that make up each process, the
sequencing of those activities, the inputs and resources required and the
outputs produced by each activity. Process maps are a way of ensuring that
the activities making up a particular process are properly understood and
properly managed in order to deliver the best services to customers.
Process maps are made up of two main elements, represented by diagrams:
Flowcharts that show the sequencing of activities in a particular
process; and
Process definition charts, which shows, for each activity, the inputs
and resources that are required, the outputs that will result from the
activity and the controls that regulate or influence the activity.
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Combining flowcharts and process definition charts will provide a

complete process map, although many services will find simply the
production of flowcharts a useful aid to service improvement.
More detail on these elements is provided in section four.
Health check 1: Are controls stifling efficiency?

Often controls have evolved in processes over a long period of time in an
ad-hoc fashion, e.g. in response to a specific event or recommendation
made by audit or a regulator. This sort of evolving control environment
can lead to a cumbersome and/or inefficient process. In the significant
majority of cases, where additional controls are introduced into a
process, this will lead to additional processing costs. These costs are,
however, often hidden in additional processing/staff time. The best
approach with controls is, wherever possible, to have them built into the
system/process so that they operate automatically.
The key rule with controls is to ensure that they manage risks at the
optimum level and not to have so much control on a process that every
possible risk is mitigated, with no regard for the additional burden that
the extra controls impose on a system. The question that needs to be
answered is:
Are the additional costs associated with the extra controls
outweighed by the benefits of additional risks being managed?
If the answer to this question is no, then some careful thought should go
into assessing the real merits of imposing additional controls. A much
better approach is to consider this on a systematic basis, looking at the
process in its entirety. Rather than looking at the existing controls, assess
the key risks associated with process, and then ensure that on an endto-end basis adequate controls exist on the system to manage the risks
identified. Internal audit should be well placed to assist with this approach.

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3. How can process mapping help

drive improvement?
Mapping processes, particularly those that are most complex, can assist
services in ensuring that service quality is achieved that the customer
actually gets the service they are meant to. Process mapping can be a
useful tool in driving service improvement by:
Helping ensure that managers and staff understand all the activities
that make up the process their sequencing, the resources required to
complete the process successfully, the standards and performance
targets to be met;
Enabling roles and responsibilities to be clearly agreed and defined,
ensuring everyone involved in the process, regardless of where they are
in the organisation, knows who is meant to do what;
Helping ensure that activities and services provided on a multidepartmental or multi-agency basis are properly integrated and
connected so that the customer does not fall into the gaps between
departments and different organisations. This will become more vital as
joint working is encouraged by the Welsh Assembly Governments
Making the Connections agenda;
Helping councils understand the needs of service users. A key part of
process mapping is agreeing the outputs required from the process. By
definition such outputs are intended to satisfy customer requirements.
The map enables managers to properly understand and define such
requirements;
Encouraging a positive, challenge culture (a key part of the
modernisation agenda). By producing a process map managers and staff
are encouraged to ask why?: Why do we do this? Why do we do it this
way? Why do we do it in this order? Why dont we do it differently? and
Encouraging and contributing to the search for performance
improvement. Mapping processes contributes directly to performance
benchmarking, performance improvement and service redesign.
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Case study 1: Citigroup

Citigroup implemented a common on-line system upon which its 28,000
employees claiming expenses could administer their claims. The
solution implemented was based on business process management and
brought local practices across 100 different countries as close to a single
common policy as possible. The results of the implementation not only
improved employees travel claim processing and turnaround but it had
spin off benefits in that it provided robust management information to
allow corporate procurement of certain facilities used on a regular basis.
Source: BPMG.org
Case study 2: Mental health service in London

A Mental Health Trust in London and the Community Mental Health Trusts
realised there were problems with access to outpatient clinics, which were
being described as a 'lottery system'. The team used process mapping
to really understand how new patients were referred, where they had to
wait and what the patients experienced. The team soon realised that there
were high non-attendance rates, lengthy waiting lists, misuse of consultant
resources and a high potential for gaps in communication.
Source: Improvement Leaders Guide to Process Mapping, analysis and redesign: NHS
Modernisation Agency

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4. Elements of process mapping

In this section we take a closer look at the elements of process mapping
introduced in section two.
4.1 Process flowcharts

Flowcharts are a key part of process mapping and, for many
organisations, the starting point for understanding and improving
processes. A variety of flowcharts may be produced at different levels to
provide varying amounts of detail. Here we look at three main types:
a high-level flowchart;
an activity flowchart; and
a task flowchart.
In effect, each of these shows increasing amounts of detail about a
particular process.
In addition, a deployment (or responsibility) flowchart can also be
produced.
4.1.1 High-level flowchart

This type of flowchart shows the main activities involved in some high-level
process. It is useful for providing a summary or overview of what is involved.
Consider a situation where, within our service, we need to ensure staff
have the appropriate skills and training to do their jobs and to deliver
service plan commitments. As such we can consider this a high-level
process. We might then develop a flowchart like that in figure 2 to show
the main stages involved in the process.
Figure 2: High-level flowchart
1
2
Identify the skills staff
will need to deliver the
service plan
3
Assess the current
skills and competence
of staff
5
Develop programme of
training events to meet
these needs
6
Implement programme
of traing events
Source: The Map to Success Audit Scotland
Agree and prioritise

the training needs
of staff
Monitor and review

impact of training
events
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In this flowchart the main activities required to complete the whole

process have been identified. Note that each of these is numbered. This
will help keep track of where we are as we develop the flowchart further.
4.1.2 Activity flowchart

An activity flowchart follows on from a high-level flowchart. For any one
of the key activities in Figure 2, we can develop an activity flowchart
showing the more detailed activities that would need to be completed
for this part of the overall process. Figure 3 shows the activity flowchart
that we might have developed for stage 5 (Implement programme of
training events) of the high-level flowchart in Figure 2. Each of the key
activities required for this part of the process is clearly shown, together
with the sequencing.
Figure 3: Activity flowchart to implement a programme of training events

5.1
5.2
Agree attendence
numbers for each event
Confirm budget
available
5.5
5.4
Book Catering
5.6
5.3
Book accomodation
5.7
Book trainer
Agree dates
5.8
Photocopy training
material
Book equipment
(OHP flipcharts)
5.9
Run events
5.11
Recharge costs to
service budget
Notify participants
5.10

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4.1.3 Task flowchart

The task flowchart follows on from the activity flowchart and focuses
on the detailed tasks that make up a particular activity. Typically, a
task flowchart shows in detail the work that has to be completed for
the defined part of the process. Figure 4 shows the flowchart that
might apply to Task 5.4 Book accommodation that we had in Figure
3. We might have a situation, for example, where accommodation
bookings are initiated by the training manager in the HR service. An
administrative assistant then completes a proforma request form, which
is sent to the facilities manager in central support services. The facilities
manager checks for room availability on the date requested. If a room
is available, the facilities manager notifies HRs administration assistant
who, in turn, notifies the training manager and the service manager.
Finance is notified in terms of any recharge costs incurred. In the event
that the facilities manager does not have accommodation available on
the requested date, the flowchart moves us to a different set of tasks.
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Figure 4: Task flowchart

Start
Training manager provides

event details
Admin assistant completes

facilities request form
Request form signed by

training manager
Form sent to
facilities manager
Facilities manager checks

room availability
Booking
recorded
YES
NO
Notify admin
assistant
Room available?
Admin assistant notifies

training manager

training manager and
service manager

training manager
Notify finance
department of charges
NO
Connect to process for
booking external facilities
End
YES
Organise new date?
Confirmation notice sent

to admin assistant
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Producing these kinds of flowchart stimulates challenge by both the staff

involved and managers. It is impossible to look at the chart in Figure 4
and not challenge the way things are currently done - looking for parts of
the process that can be eradicated, simplified or speeded up; considering
whether roles and responsibilities could be altered to make the process
more efficient and effective. Remember, every process requires resources
and the less efficient and effective a process, the more it is costing us
from a resource-use perspective.
Case study 3: City and County of Swansea
The modernisation of key corporate systems and the implementation of a
new electronic care management system were identified as key priorities by
Swansea Social Services. Money was obtained from the National Assembly
for Wales Performance Management Development Fund to appoint
a Business Process Officer, whose principle task was to map existing
processes in preparation for Business Process Re-engineering across the
department in preparation for CRM. Once in post, the officer worked with
colleagues in the social services performance unit to develop a systematic
approach to process mapping. This involved the following steps:
1. Meeting with managers to identify critical processes to be mapped, and
identifying the major inputs and deliverables associated with them,
along with constraints and enablers;
2. Working with people involved in the selected processes to produce an
objective as is map. The aim here was to get as wide a range of perspectives
as possible in order to get a true picture of what currently happened;
3. Working with staff to validate the process maps produced and begin to
identify possible improvements; and
4. Publication of process maps with comments, suggestions and
recommendations.
The exercise in social services has brought a number of tangible
benefits, including:
Identification of differences between documented processes and what
actually happens on the ground;
Better understanding between managers and staff around high level
objectives and how operational processes contribute to them;
Identification of immediate and longer term improvements which have
improved both efficiency and effectiveness;
Ownership and buy-in from staff, helping to build a greater culture of
challenge within the department;
Examination of the interaction and synergy of processes between
partner agencies, for example in the health sector; and
Review of key processes to accommodate new requirements under the
Unified Assessment Process.
The key remaining challenge is to extend the approach within social services
and more widely across the council the benefits obtained so far need to be
communicated to secure further investment necessary for this to happen.
Source: Welsh Local Government Association
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How technical you want your flowcharts to be depends primarily on what

they are for and who will use them. The purpose of flowcharting is not to
produce a highly technical and visually sophisticated diagram, but to help
the service improve its performance by understanding its processes better.
Highly technical flowcharts can be off-putting to staff unfamiliar with them.
On the other hand, if flowcharts are to be used across a wide audience,
there is merit in ensuring standard symbols are used. Appendix 1 contains
the standard symbols used in process mapping flowcharts.
Task flowcharts are particularly useful for showing the detail of what
happens on a day-to-day basis. It is important that such flowcharts are
constructed to show what actually happens rather than what should
happen and as a result they are often known as as-is flowchart.
If the flowchart is constructed on the basis of as should be, it will lead
to a conclusion that the process works efficiently and effectively and
that no real performance improvement is required. Only by examining
the actual flow of tasks will problems and shortcomings be revealed.
An approach called walk-through can be useful at ensuring this. Walkthrough simply indicates that we follow the exact course of a particular
process on a step-by-step basis (physically if possible) to confirm what
really happens. This will normally require talking to the relevant staff
involved in each particular task of the process and assessing what they
actually do to complete that task (not what they should do). Clearly such
an approach has to be undertaken sensitively and with mutual trust.
Health check 2: Do staff always follow documented procedures?
The answer is a definite no. In order to obtain staff buy-in you will need
to offer assurance that staff will not be subject to any action for not
following documented procedures - they might have made the change to
improve the process.
4.1.4 Deployment flowchart

The final type of flowchart that can be useful in process mapping is the
deployment flowchart. This shows the different parts of the organisation (or the
different organisations) involved in a particular process. Deployment flowcharts
can be developed for any level flowchart high-level, activity or task. Looking
at processes this way again encourages a positive challenge attitude and
stimulates consideration of reconfiguring or redesigning services. Deployment
flowcharts can also be particularly useful at mapping responsibilities for
complex inter-agency processes, ensuring each agency is clear about its
own contribution and how that links to those of other partner agencies.
Instead offer an amnesty to staff, as you want to establish how the

process works in practice not how it has been previously documented.
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5. Process definition charts

Flowcharts are all that some organisations use for their process mapping.
However, there is a final diagram that might usefully be included: a
process definition chart (PDC). The principles are shown in Figure 5.
Figure 5: Process definition chart
Constraints
Inputs
Process or
Activity
Outputs
Resources/
Mechanisms
Activities are the functions or detailed tasks that make up a named process.
Inputs are what are required to be able to complete the activities and
produce the outputs. Typically, inputs are transformed or used up by the
process, e.g., a persons time, budget spend, physical materials etc.
Outputs are produced by the process.
Controls regulate the process. Controls might be internal (agreed
procedures, standing orders, available budgets etc) or external (legislation,
imposed standards or the limited availability of a given resource).
Resources (or mechanisms) are required to produce the outputs.
However, unlike inputs, resources are not used up or transformed during
the process. Resources might include equipment, people, and facilities.
A photocopier, for example, might be a resource for a process while
supplies of paper and toner will be inputs.
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A process definition chart for Activity 5.4 Book accommodation (Figure 3)

might look like that in Figure 6.
Figure 6: PDC for activity 5.4 Book accommodation
Budget
Facilities
request
form
Room
Booking
System
Confirmed
Booking
5.4
Book accommodation
Event
Details
Finance
Recharge
Recorded
Admin
Clerk
will these inputs be available and, if so, where do they come from,
i.e., which earlier processes produce outputs, which become the
inputs to this process?
are the resources available to allow us to complete this process?
do we, and our staff, understand the key constraints that are relevant
for this process. For example, does the admin assistant understand
that there is an agreed room booking system? and
have we clarified the outputs from this process? Do they meet
customer requirements (in the sense that the next process will
require these outputs as inputs).
The key input is the facilities request form that must be completed.
Resources are the event details plus someone to complete the activity, the
admin assistant in this case. Constraints on the process are the available
budget and the room booking system. The output is a confirmed booking
together with the recording of a finance recharge. PDCs, like deployment
flowcharts, can be produced for any of the flowcharts we have introduced.
Potentially, flowcharts and PDCs can be combined to give a complete map of
a particular process. These complete process maps are typically produced
using a standard methodology known as IDEF (Integration Definition for
Function Modeling). While the complete process map may look complex,
it does serve a number of useful purpose by forcing us to consider:
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6. How to do process mapping

Having seen what process mapping involves, and gained some insight into
its potential contribution to service improvement, this section provides
brief pointers on how do to go about process mapping. A simple step
approach, like the one that follows, can be helpful.
6.1 Decide why you want to process map

First, we need to be clear as to why we are wanting to process map. The
reason for this is that it will help us make appropriate decisions in terms
of the effort and resources we put into the process mapping exercise. At
its simplest, process mapping can be an informal approach to looking at
how work is currently done. This might be undertaken by team members
in preparation for the induction of a temporary member of staff to cover
maternity leave. It might be part of a more formal exercise to challenge
current practice and identify possibilities for change for example as part of
a business planning cycle, or a fundamental review undertaken as part of a
councils WPI improvement plan. At its most complex, process mapping could
involve formally documenting all processes to produce an IDEF-based process
atlas for the whole service (a process atlas shows all flowcharts and process
maps from the high level to the task level, with all maps interconnected).
6.2 Decide which processes you will map

Whilst it might seem appealing, it is not usually feasible to process map
your entire service at one go. You need to prioritise which processes to
look at first. For example, you might decide to focus on processes:
Which are core, or critical, to successful delivery of your service and/
or the organisations overall priorities;
In highly visible front line services such as customer services, or
functions that directly support the front-line;
Where performance trends are not encouraging;
Where a significant problem or shortcoming has been identified
which poses a potential risk to your councils overall performance
and/or reputation; and/or
About which you have received recurring complaints from customers.
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Case study 4: Orthopedic services in an NHS trust

The Trust opted to map the whole patient journey, from referral to
discharge from the orthopaedic service. It took time but gave a clear idea
of some of the key issues and frustrations. They had not realised how many
hoops the patient had to jump through in order to get from beginning to
end. The team found the map an invaluable source of reference for their
improvement work from the beginning. They realised they had to carefully
prioritise the changes to be made. They focused on the achievable and
were able to make significant improvements as a consequence.
Source: Improvement Leaders Guide to Process Mapping, analysis and redesign: NHS
Modernisation Agency
6.3 Decide who is going to be involved

Process mapping is primarily about trying to see where you can improve
your performance. To get the most out of process mapping you need to
involve the right people. Clearly this will vary from service to service, and
roles and responsibilities will need to be clearly defined. It can be helpful
either formally or informally to identify and involve the following:
the process owner the individual (or group) with the authority to
make changes to the process;
process members people operationally involved in the process being
mapped;
a process supplier someone from another team which supplies
inputs, resources or constraints to the process being mapped; and
a process customer someone who is reliant on the output from this
process for their own work.
The answer is probably no or that that they think they know. Many
processes have operated for some time, with changes having been made
either informally or to address a specific issue at a specific time. Even if
they were written down when initially designed the document is unlikely
to reflect what actually happens now. The people who understand
enough detail to do process mapping are the staff that have the day-today operational responsibility.
The message here is not to rely on managers alone but to involve
operational staff when process mapping.
Health check 3: Do management know how processes operate?
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6.4 Produce the flowcharts and maps

There are no formal rules to producing process maps other than accepted
methodologies such as IDEF. A number of common success factors,
however, should be considered:
management commitment to the exercise. If the exercise is seen
by those involved as yet another management fad, it is unlikely to
produce worthwhile results;
effective communication with those involved and those who might be
affected so they know what process mapping is about and why it is
being undertaken;
developing a systematic approach to process mapping and how the
results will be used to help improve performance. The purpose of
process mapping is to improve performance and service delivery;
providing adequate training to those involved, particularly if a formal
approach to the production of process maps is being taken;
providing adequate time and resources for those involved; and
looking for quick wins processes which may be relatively quick and
easy to change and improve and that will show immediate benefits
to those who do the work. This will encourage the mapping team in
its further efforts and will also send positive messages to other staff
about the purpose and benefits of mapping.
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Case Study 5: Denbighshire County Council

Like all councils in Wales, following reorganisation of local government in
1996 the newly formed Denbighshire County Council was faced with the
challenge of synchronising varying approaches to service delivery that
had been used by the former county and district councils. Obviously in
doing this the Council sought to build on the best of existing practice to
optimise effectiveness and efficiency. In no area was the need for this as
evident as in handling first time enquiries from the public. Performance
in this area was seen as below standard, and the benefits to obtaining
improvement were of obvious value to residents and the Council in terms
of reputation. A fundamental question for the Council was the degree to
which it would be possible to address current shortcomings by shifting
tasks from back to front office.
As part of its Implementing Electronic Government strategy,
Denbighshire set about analysing business processes in relation to high
volume public contacts. Two Business Process Analysts were appointed,
and they worked with external consultants to map processes in these
areas. The work was done in a number of stages:
1. Initial research, leading to the production of As is process maps;
2. Assessing of these processes using a Process Challenge Document
and engagement of staff in a debate on the opportunities for
improvement through the transfer of functions to front office; and
3. Using the intelligence gathered to design as should be maps, to be
implemented via clear action plans and signed off by the relevant
manager.
Denbighshires approach provides an example of a successful

partnership between its own specialist staff and external consultants
in introducing the concept and practice of process mapping. Up front
technical, software and consultancy/facilitation support helped internal
specialists develop their own awareness and skills, which could then
be taken forward in developing the approach in other areas of service
across the Council.
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7. Using process maps

No service will want to produce process maps for the sake of it. They are
intended to help understand and improve processes. However, this can
be achieved on several different levels and each level will depend on the
service itself and its approach to improvement. These simple steps set out
how process maps can be used for improvement.
7.1 Understand your own processes

At their simplest, process maps help ensure that you properly understand
your own processes: how work is done, who does the work, what inputs
and resources are required, what outputs are produced and the constraints
under which work is completed. The value of such understanding for
yourself and your staff should not be underestimated. All too often we take
it for granted that, everyone knows how things are done around here.
7.2 Make sure your processes link with those of your partners
Given that it is highly unlikely that you will be providing services to your
customers without some support from other internal services and/or,
increasingly from external agencies, process maps are a useful way of ensuring
that your processes link with those of your partners at all levels. The use of
a deployment flowchart can help ensure responsibilities are identified and
agreed. Complete process maps make it clear what the various dependencies
are between your activities and those of your partners where you are reliant
on them for inputs or resources and where they may be reliant on you.
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7.3 Benchmark your processes

Once you have mapped your key processes, there is an ideal opportunity
to benchmark your processes with those of other organisations to help
you compare performance and identify opportunities for improvement.
Process maps enable you to look at the resources and costs involved
(detailing inputs and resources) as well as the deliverables the
quantity/quality of the outputs. Because the benchmark data you
require is clearly defined (from the map), this means that there is no
need to go into a detailed, laborious, time-consuming (and frustrating)
data benchmark exercise with partners. A sharply focused collection of
key process data can be organised with attention then going into why
performance differences between partners processes occur:
Is it because different inputs are used?
Is it because different outputs are produced?
Is it because processes are organised and managed in different ways?
What improvements to your processes can you now identify?
Health check 4: Could process mapping become a cottage industry?
7.4 Improve your processes

Given a full understanding of your processes, it is almost inevitable that
you and your staff will start thinking about how they can be improved.
Questions resulting from process mapping might include: Can we simplify
the process? Can we remove certain tasks that are not really adding value?
Can we realign tasks and responsibilities with the people involved?
Running along side the improvement agenda in local government is

a myriad of intra and inter authority working groups. Some of the
groups have been very effective and others less so. One of the issues
with some of the less effective groups is that they have spent so much
time, for example, collecting data for benchmarking, that there is little
appetite to do much with the outputs in terms of service improvement.
Therefore, before embarking on a process mapping exercise, ensure
that you have the commitment to use it for improvement, otherwise it
will be effort wasted. Remember that unless you are mapping processes
for, say, accreditation to an externally assessed standard, or to drive
improvement in an identified service area, it is a means to an end and
not an end in itself.
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Case study 6: Renfrewshire Council

Like many other council services, the Finance and IT department in
Renfrewshire Council has been conducting service reviews as part of
its commitment to Best Value. One of these focused on council tax
collection and as part of their efforts to develop detailed activity cost
information, the department commissioned an external consultant to
map the existing processes. Because of the benefits this produced in
service performance, the department decided that process mapping
would be used by staff involved in a subsequent service review looking
at the accounting and budgeting service provided by the council.
A small service review team was established, including staff from
other departments who were seen as customers of accounting and
budgeting, and a range of grades from within the function. A twoday workshop was organised to agree the remit for the review and to
introduce staff to process mapping techniques. The team produced
flow-charts for all its key processes and then used these to produce a
detailed list of activities undertaken in each process.
The team then went on to record staff time involved in each activity
and to estimate a cost for this. This allowed the team to assess the
costs of each process and the constituent activities and to identify
the non-value adding activities. Around 11 per cent of all costs were
eventually classed as being incurred by such non-value adding work.
This led to a situation where the team were positively challenging
the way some work was done and whether some work needed to be
done at all. The detailed activity information allowed the team to
identify where this non-value adding work was happening and what
the causes of this were. Overall, process mapping has helped the team
understand activities better, developing an increased understanding of
where time and costs are incurred and targeting improvements in the
way the service is delivered.
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Improvement of the process might take several forms:

Streamlining: this involves looking at the existing process and
considering options for eliminating or combining steps in the
processes. We might do this by:
eliminating non-value adding parts of the process;
reducing checking, referrals for approval and sign-off; or
combining steps of the process.
Redesign: this involves redesigning the existing process to standardise
procedures, automate or de-skill a particular task, redesigning facilities
and layout, incorporating technology changes. In our illustrative
example, we could consider providing the admin assistant with direct
IT access to the room booking system used by the Facilities manager.
Reengineering: business process reengineering involves fundamental
reviews of organisation structures and systems around core process
maps. Could/should we alter the relevant parts of the organisational
structure to enable processes to be carried out more efficiently and
effectively?
Exxon Chemicals in the UK process mapped their travel booking
system.As a result they were able to reduce the number of steps
involved from 35 to 11 saving both time and costs. DTI

23

Case Study 7: Cardiff County Council

To gain ISO 9000 accreditation, Cardiff County Council has committed
to mapping all its processes using a standard process mapping software
package. Via business plans posted on the Councils CIS (Cardiff
Improvement System) database, managers and all members of staff are
able to access maps of processes across the councils services, and see
changes and improvements that have been made. The collation and
updating of the process maps is supported by the Councils corporate
performance management section and coordinated within departments
by specially trained and qualified Quality Coordinators. Recognised
benefits of this approach have been encouraging a culture of challenge
in relation to current processes and a growing willingness of managers
and staff to modify them as part of ongoing service improvement.
However, a number of challenges remain, including:
Spreading awareness and skills among managers and staff to prevent
process mapping being seen as an end in itself and to optimise
its use as a basis for re-engineering and a driver for change and
improvement;
Encouraging interaction between sections and departments to facilitate
the compilation of comprehensive activity flowcharts, which can then
be used to drive whole-process improvement. Often activities and
tasks within individual teams and sections work well, but it is how they
fit with those carried out by colleagues in other parts of the council
and beyond that affect the ultimate quality of service delivered to the
customer;
Devising ways of critically challenging processes in the context of
strategic objectives processes may work well in themselves but
deliver little in relation to the councils overall priorities, or contravene
its values.
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8. Summary
Process mapping is not rocket science. It provides a structured
framework for any part of an organisation to review how it currently
provides services to its customers. It encourages staff to challenge and
then improve the way they carry out their work and deliver services.
The purpose of process mapping is not to produce complex diagrams.
It is to assist services in improving performance. It is a well-proven
technique that can be used as services plan for continual improvement
in their performance.
9. Further help
Further help for those authorities beginning to process map is available
from a number of sources:
Other manuals and briefings included in the following section;
The Local Government Data Unit Wales and the Welsh Local
Government Association we are happy to help with individual
queries and will, if there is sufficient demand, look to supplement this
introductory briefing with formal training sessions for authorities; and
The contacts provided for the case studies from Welsh councils. We
want to encourage practice - exchange between authorities, as this
provides an opportunity for different councils to learn directly from
each other.

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Standard flowcharting symbols

Appendix 1
Start or end
Task or activity
Data
Stored Data
Delay
A decision
with two
possible
outcomes
Document
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Further reading and references

Appendix 2
Bal J. (1998) Process analysis tools for process improvement,
The TQM Magazine 10, 5 342-354.
Cheung Y. and Bal J. (1998) Process analysis techniques and tools for
improvement, Business Process Management Journal 4,4 274-290.
Collins, P. (1997) Using process mapping as a quality tool,
Management Services Vol. 41 No. 3, pp 24-26.
Bendell, Boulter and Kelly (1993) Benchmarking for Competitive
Advantage, FT/Pitman Publishing.
Hunt, V. Daniel (1996) Process mapping. How to reengineer your
business processes, John Wiley and Sons.
Lee R.G. and Dale B.G., Business process management: a review and
evaluation, Business Process Management Journal 4,3 214-225.
Reding K.F., Ratiiff R.L. and Fullmer R.R. (1998) Flowcharting business
processes, Managerial Auditing Journal 13, 7 397-402.
Slack N., Chambers S. and Johnson R. (2004) Operations Management
(4th ed.), Prentice Hall, Harlow England.
TQMI 1994 Business Process Improvement. An Approach to
Implementation, TQMI.
Yingling R. (1997) How to manage key business processes,
Quality Progress, April, 107-110.
27
Local Government Data Unit Wales

8 Columbus Walk, Cardiff, CF10 4BY
Telephone 029 2090 9500
Email enquiries@dataunitwales.gov.uk
Web www.dataunitwales.gov.uk

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Business

This document is part of the of the Performance Management

This paper is based largely on a publication published by Audit Scotland

Business process mapping

2. What is process mapping?

2.1 So what exactly are process maps?

3. How can process maps help drive improvement?

4. Elements of process mapping

4.1 Process flowcharts

5. Process definition charts

6. How to do process mapping

6.1 Decide why you want to process map

7. Using process maps

(2) References and further reading

Local Government Data Unit - Wales

Business process mapping

Business process mapping

Carrying out an annual risk assessment, identifying key risks faced

Negotiation with regulators to produce a Regulatory Plan containing

Local Government Data Unit - Wales

Publication each year of an Improvement Plan which sets out what

Business process mapping

In addition, national initiatives such as the Performance Measurement

Business process mapping

2. What is process mapping?

Local Government Data Unit - Wales

Business process mapping

Data set production

Over time it is likely that many of these processes have developed in an

2.1 So what exactly are process maps?

Business process mapping

Combining flowcharts and process definition charts will provide a

Health check 1: Are controls stifling efficiency?

Local Government Data Unit - Wales

Business process mapping

3. How can process mapping help

Business process mapping

Case study 1: Citigroup

Case study 2: Mental health service in London

Local Government Data Unit - Wales

Business process mapping

4. Elements of process mapping

4.1 Process flowcharts

4.1.1 High-level flowchart

Source: The Map to Success Audit Scotland

Agree and prioritise

Monitor and review

Business process mapping

In this flowchart the main activities required to complete the whole

4.1.2 Activity flowchart

Figure 3: Activity flowchart to implement a programme of training events

Source: The Map to Success Audit Scotland

Local Government Data Unit - Wales

Business process mapping

4.1.3 Task flowchart

Business process mapping

Figure 4: Task flowchart

Training manager provides

Admin assistant completes

Request form signed by

Facilities manager checks

Admin assistant notifies

Admin assistant notifies

Admin assistant notifies