Business Analysts provide a critical role in organizations.  In fact, without this role, Business Owners and Developers must work together on a software project, which can be frustrating to both sides.  Indeed, Business Owners may not get what they want and Developers may spend time building functionality that was not needed.  OUCH!   Why is that?  Because the Business Owners and Developers have not learned to communicate to their mutual benefit.  Enter the Business Analyst whose role is to define the needs and recommend solutions that deliver value to the stakeholders (e.g., Business Owners, users, customers, etc.)

According to the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) BA’s do the following 

Should we use flow charts, swim lanes, value stream mapping, proprietary software notation, or BPMN?  Yes, there a number of notations you could use, and you want to pick the right one for your organization.

The first question to ask is what is the purpose of the process diagramming notation?  Since there are several purposes for process diagramming at different stages of a BPM/ process improvement project, you may switch to one type of notation or another at different times.

Purpose 1:  A high level map to scope the project and as part of the charter.  Here I suggest using a simple flow chart with 6-10 steps using rectangle for activities/steps, diamond shaped decision diamonds and directional arrows.  You could actually create it in PowerPoint, but I usually do it in Visio.  The purpose of this map is to get people understanding what a process looks like. 

A high level process map is:

If you don’t get off to the right start with a BPM Project, there are all kinds of consequences such as:

• Needing to change process owners mid stream
• Wasting time focusing on the wrong goals
• Not involving the right resources
• Missing critical information and making poor decisions
• “Buying” the technology solution

Not quite!  I can’t tell you how many companies I have worked with who announced we have modeled all the current state process or say we want to begin by modeling all their As Is processes.  And they ask, can you help us with that?  There is nothing wrong with modeling processes, but it takes a long time and it doesn’t produce improvements.  Modeling processes is just one of the first steps.  I suggest modeling the processes you want to improve and do them in groups of three or one by one. Then analyze each and improve them to see business results.

So if you’ve only done the process diagramming, what do you need to do next? Look at the roadmap below showing the phases of a BPM/ process improvement project.