It's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day of what we’re doing at work. But is our routine as efficient as it could be? Is our business or business unit running efficiently? Buzzwords like “optimize” and “streamline” make their way around offices today. However, before we can do anything to change our current workflows, we must understand what’s already in place. In this interactive workshop, we discussed how to capture and visualize process with senior members of the Cavi team! In this meetup, we went through the Cavi framework for visualizing process information. We understood what process really is, how to simplify it, and how to capture it on paper. Participants had a chance to ask questions and practice drawing some process maps (pen and paper provided). And we ended up the session with review and editing of our work.

1. Interactive Workshop: Learning how to
capture and visualize business
process

2. Agenda
• Define Process
• Define Process Improvement
• Define Process Capture
• Process Visualization
• Process Capture Simulation
○ Uber customer process
○ XMedia sales process
• Process Map Review
• Summary

3. Defining Process
What is “process” exactly?

4. Process Definition

5. Common Enabled Processes
• Preparing breakfast
• Placing an order
• Developing a budget
• Triaging a patient
• Cleaning a room
• Putting gas in the car

6. Defining Process Improvement
Create more value for less energy

7. Process Improvement Definition
Process improvement consulting is the integrated practice of:
1) Problem analysis: identifying and analyzing problems
impacting value creation
2) Value analysis: understanding how the process creates
value
3) Process redesign: creating more value for less energy by
redesigning the process

8. The Universal Improvement Lifecycle
2. Process
Capture &
Visualization
3. Process
Analysis &
Redesign
4. Process
Enablement
1. Problem
Analysis
The process
improvement
lifecycle is
universal,
regardless of
business or
personal context.

9. Defining Process Capture
Extracting process information using a
consistent methodology

10. What is Process “Capture”?
• You don’t have to make it up or fill in the gaps. Where work is being done,
process is there. Your job is to capture, not define, it
• process capture refers collectively to the methods used to properly retrieve and
store process information from workflow observation for structured future use
Snap a “photo” of the process!

11. What you THINK
it is..
What it ACTUALLY is.. What it SHOULD
be..
We should always begin with “What it Actually is…”
Understanding Process
As-is To-be

12. Starting Your (As-is) Process Capture
Process capture is always done on the “as-is”, or currently existing, process
The basis of “to-be”, or future state, process design will always come from the
as-is process capture
Before engaging with the business for capture:
• Ask for and review any existing documentation
• Understand the scope of expertise of the business SMEs coming to the
meeting – if the skills don’t match the scope being captured, adjust or seek
other SMEs appropriately
• Have a clear purpose, prepare questions, and provide
a high level agenda

13. General Capture Guidelines
Start the session by asking high level questions about the operational context
around the target process (establish the forest). Ask about:
• Size of business by both revenue & volume
• by product/service stream if possible
• Number of employees and org chart with roles and responsibilities
• Seasonal business patterns of note, revenue patterns over the last few
years or periods
• High level narrative about the business strategy and evolution as it impacts
this process

14. General Capture Guidelines
• Take notes on paper or the whiteboard in process flow form. This will help guide
conversation and make sure the right questions are being asked
• Have a second analyst in the room to help manage questions and parking lot, ask
for more details when appropriate, and make sure conversations stay on track

15. Back To the Basics: the 5 W Model
● What happened?
● Who was involved?
● Where did it take place?
● When did it take place?
● Why did that happen?
Story Telling!

16. 1. WHAT?
WHAT process are you analyzing? Make sure that every action you consider
falls within the scope of the target process. Start questions with “how does the
process start,” and follow through until the process is completed
It is important to establish a high level scope and keep conversation within that
context
• Don’t presume to understand the process, but establish a high-level start and
end point in your mind and drive conversation from one to the other,
capturing all relevant details on the way
• Make sure everyone agrees on the selected scope as well as the objective
for communicating that scope. Will the objectives of the communication be
met if everything within the target scope is captured?

17. 2. WHO?
WHO (which role) is performing the action in question? Knowing the role that
performs each action as well as how they interact with other people in other
roles to advance the process is integral in maintaining the physical aspects of
the story
It is critical to capture each role that performs the work
• Knowing the roles helps visualize the physical motions associated with
coordinating work
• Attempt to identify roles at a level that best organizes the largest amount of
process steps on the page. It doesn’t make sense to name very detailed
roles versus a higher level team role if it causes lots of pass offs and
confusion

18. 3. WHERE?
WHERE (in what physical system) is the action performed? Actions often can
not be performed without tools, and this is essential in understanding how
actions are being executed
• Without a system or tool designation, the process flow loses significant value
in explaining to readers how the process is completed
• Do not forget to list simpler systems like “Paper” or “Excel” if work is being
done manually – these are systems too, just not what would be thought of as
large or complex because of their familiarity and ubiquity

19. 4. WHEN?
WHEN is the action being performed? Use this question to gauge sequencing
and dependencies of all actions within the process
The timing of process steps is what holds the story together
• In general, actions will only fall into two types of timing:
– Linear dependencies
– Decision trees or forks
• Understanding the nature of step timing and dependencies enough to draw a
process map will ensure the appropriate depth of knowledge and guide high
quality questions around the process mechanics

20. 5. WHY?
WHY? The most important question of all. If it doesn’t make intuitive sense as
you walk through the process you must always ask why they are performing
the actions in the way described. This will help identify physical
inconsistencies, as well as make sure the story is clear and accurate
• QUESTION EVERYTHING!
• Understanding the why may be less critical in simply documenting the
process, but will be fundamental in communicating context and why the
process is the way it is
• Do not let weak, inconsistent, or convoluted process elements side track
conversations. Note any problems uncovered and always return to mapping
the target process needed to communicate your overall objective

21. General Guidelines
• If an action is described where a decision is being made or implied, make
sure to ask about all possible outcomes. For example, if “clear the
submission” is the next action, it is implied that a decision to clear is made
and it must be asked what will happen if the business fails to clear
• It is always good to confirm that this is the only way the process is
performed (i.e., are there alternate processes to achieve the same result?
Does everyone in the unit do it that way? Etc.)
• Always ask if there is anything additional they would like you to know about
the process. Just because you get to the end doesn’t mean they gave you
everything.

22. Visualizing the Story

23. Process Visualization
Creating the visual experience to promote understanding

24. Three Shapes, Infinite Complexity

25. Oval
• The Oval represents a start and/or end point of a process. A single page of
a process map will typically contain only one start terminal, but if a decision
diamond is used with two (or more) alternative process paths, the page
could then include end terminals for each of those process paths
[SYSTEM?]
Terminal Workflow
Action/Step

26. Square
● An uninterrupted action. Use the square for any single step that needs to be
completed. Lead with a verb to explain what action is being done
● The brackets contain a note of “Where” this step happens. For digital
processes, this will be the systems or tools used to accomplish the step
indicated within the Square (e.g. ‘Quickbooks’ or ‘CRM’)
[SYSTEM?]
Workflow
Action/Step

27. Diamond
• The Diamond shape represents a decision that must be made. The text in
this shape must be framed as a question, with all possible paths listed
Decision

28. Visual Partitions
• Like any form of visual media, with process maps there is a physical limitation
to what a reader can view at a given moment. This causes natural partitions in
the information (think pages of a book, frames in a video, etc.)
• In addition to having a point of view in which the information will be displayed,
that information must be visually organized, partitioned, and provided to the
reader in a way that effectively supports the understanding of the content being
communicated

29. Organizing Process
• Process is intuitively organized in only one way: groupings of discrete, actionable
steps that contain a logical start and end point
• Steps should always contain one, logically organized unit of action (this could
contain multiple actions if they are closely associated or will always happen
together)
• Every visual frame presented to a reader should also represent a complete
process step (albeit at a higher detail level) with a logical start and end point;
otherwise, you rely on the reader to absorb partial pieces of information and put it
together between frames – this causes confusion, damages story continuity, and
weakens communication effectiveness
Frame 1

30. Detail Layers
• For complex processes, where all the information can not fit in one visual frame,
layers of detail must be used such that every frame contains an entire process
with a logical start and end point
• Detail layers allow for complex processes to be simplified such that they can fit in
one frame. With less detail, a large process scope can be represented in less
space
• If a reader needs more detail, the higher level process frame can be explained in
more detail in lower level process frames that represent complete sub-processes
of the higher level process
Get out of
bed
Grooming Dress
Eat
breakfast
Brush
teeth
Shave Shower Comb Hair
Find floss
Floss
Teeth
Apply
toothpaste
to brush
Brush
Rinse Out
Mouth
Higher Level
Lower Level

31. The Entire Picture
• Starting at the highest detail layer that will fit the end-to-end target process in one
frame ensures every process element needed will be captured and properly
organized
• This structure can organize any process of any complexity and make it easy for
readers to understand the content
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3…N

32. Process Mapping Simulation

33. Process Mapping Review

34. Peer Review and Editing Process Flows
• DO IT! There is never an excuse not to have a peer review
done - it must be a scheduled part of the artifact creation
process
• Having a knowledgeable reader provide feedback before
reviewing with stakeholders can save time and
miscommunication many times over

35. Read for Comprehension
• Always first attempt to read the process flow from end to end
before jumping in with the “red pen”. While there may be
many opportunities for improvement visible at first glance,
editing will be more effective if you first try to understand the
author’s total intent
• Is the target process clearly scoped out from end to end?
• Does the process flow logically?
• How well can you understand the process (some
interpretation in an early read through may be necessary)
• What questions do you have regarding high level content or
intended message?

36. Summary
• Everything in motion is a process
• The as-is process must be captured as accurately as possible to start
requirements gathering
• Information capture using the 5 W method will help structure your process data
for intuitive “process story telling”
• Use the Mapping Language in whatever tool you have to easily visualize
captured process data into highly effective process maps

37. 37

38. Contacts
Hassan Khan
e: hassan.khan@caviconsulting.com
Samuel Chin
e: sam.chin@caviconsulting.com