As Is Process Map - Lean Six Sigma Glossary

What is an As Is Process Map?

An As Is Process Map is a visual representation of a business process in its current state, used to understand and analyze the flow of tasks, activities, inputs, and outputs. It highlights the steps involved in completing a process, including any inefficiencies, bottlenecks, or duplications, and helps organizations identify areas for improvement. It provides a comprehensive view of the current process, facilitating change management and process optimisation.

Purpose of As-Is Process Map

The purpose and objective of an As Is Process Map is to understand and analyze a business process as it currently exists. It provides a comprehensive view of the process flow, tasks, activities, inputs, and outputs involved. By identifying inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and duplications, the map helps organizations optimise their processes, improve efficiency, and facilitate change management. The overall objective of an As Is Process Map is to identify areas for improvement and support the continuous improvement of business processes.

Elements of an As Is Process Map

An As Is Process Map consists of several elements, including:

Start and end points: Define the start and end points of the process, indicating where the process begins and ends.
Tasks and activities: Represent the tasks and activities involved in the process using symbols, shapes, or flowchart elements.
Inputs and outputs: Represent the inputs and outputs involved in the process, including materials, data, and information.
Connectors: Use arrows or lines to connect the tasks, activities, inputs, and outputs to show the flow of the process.
Swimlanes: Use swimlanes to represent the roles and responsibilities involved in the process, and to highlight handoffs between teams or departments.
Decision points: Use decision points to represent decision-making steps in the process, such as conditional branching or process divergences.
Labels: Use labels to provide descriptive information, such as task names or output specifications, and to clarify the process flow.
Notes: Use notes to provide additional information or clarification on specific aspects of the process.

These elements work together to create a comprehensive and informative visual representation of the current process. Enabling organizations to understand, analyze, and optimize their processes.

How to create an As Is Process Map?

Creating an As Is Process Map involves the following steps:

Define the scope: Determine the scope of the process you want to map, including its start and end points, and the tasks, activities, inputs, and outputs involved.
Gather data: Collect data on the current process through observation, interviews, or process documentation.
Create a process flow diagram: Use a diagramming tool to represent the process flow, including the tasks, activities, inputs, and outputs involved.
Validate: Review it with process stakeholders to validate its accuracy and make any necessary updates.
Analyze: Analyse the map to identify inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and duplications.
Identify areas for improvement: Based on the analysis, identify areas for improvement and prioritize optimization efforts.
Update the map: Update the map to reflect changes made to the process, and share the updated map with relevant stakeholders.
Continuously monitor and update: Continuously monitor the process to identify areas for improvement, and update the map as needed.

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Benefits of an As Is Process Map

An As-Is Process Map provides several benefits to organizations, including:

Improving Process Efficiency: It helps identify inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and duplications in the process, enabling organizations to optimize their processes and improve efficiency.
Facilitating Change Management: By providing a comprehensive view of the current process, it supports change management efforts and helps organizations transition to new processes.
Enhancing Communication: The visual representation of the process enables stakeholders to understand the process flow and improves communication across the organization.
Increasing Transparency: It provides a clear understanding of the current process, increasing transparency and accountability.
Identifying Areas for Improvement: The map helps organizations identify areas for improvement, enabling continuous process improvement and optimization.

Interpreting an As-Is Process Map

To interpret an As-Is Process Map, the following should be considered:

Process Steps: Identify the tasks, activities, inputs, and outputs involved in the process.
Process Flow: Understand the flow of the process and how tasks are connected.
Bottlenecks: Identify areas where the process slows down or gets blocked.
Inefficiencies: Identify areas where the process can be improved.
Duplications: Identify any duplicated efforts in the process.

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Sachin Naik

Passionate about improving processes and systems | Lean Six Sigma practitioner, trainer and coach for 14+ years consulting giant corporations and fortune 500 companies on Operational Excellence | Start-up enthusiast | Change Management and Design Thinking student | Love to ride and drive