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Do you need a process map in a project? Well, in this video, I'm going to share with you how to do that in very few simple steps. And since we're talking about processes and projects, stay tuned to the end, 'cause I'm going to share with you how you get your hands on an amazing checklist I have to ensure your projects don't fail. Hi. If you're new here, welcome. My name is Adriana Girdler, and you landed on a practical, the, not a, the best practical project management channel out there in YouTube world. Again, my personal humble opinion. Would love it if you would consider joining this amazing community by subscribing. Now on that note, let's get over to process mapping for our projects. What is process mapping? Think of it simply as a visual tool that explains ways of working. So it takes something from start to finish and explains all the steps that it takes in sequential order of the inputs and the actual activities in the outputs in a visual representation so it's really easy to understand. It's an extremely helpful tool that I use in projects all the time. Why process map? Well, in projects, there's usually things we have to get done, and as a result of needing to get those things done, which I'll explain in a moment, if you put it in a visual tool like a process map, it's a really great way to explain it to other people that you need to explain it to or to use it in order to create other documents. So let me explain. There are times on projects you may not know the full gamut of what actually the process goes through, so you can just do a current state process map which explains how things happen from start to finish. You may also be in a project where you're coming up with new ideas. You're thinking of what we call a future state. So you may want to brainstorm what that new process is going to look like so you create it in a process map to show the sequential steps of the ways of working. Another opportunity that you may consider with process mapping is you may have some improvements that you want to do. So you take a look at the current process that you're looking at in your project and you find areas of improvement. And last, process maps, when they're done with great detail, are amazing, amazing tools for training documents 'cause it lays it all out. Biggest challenges of process mapping. There are two main ones that I see all the time. The first one is, how deep of a process map do you create? And that becomes really difficult 'cause you kinda have to know what you're doing to know how deep you go into it. If it's too high level, it's not going to give you the right information. If it's too in-depth, it can be slightly overwhelming. So depending on what you're going to do, it becomes really important to know. Mid level process mapping tends to be something that you can create and go to. By the way, I have examples for you too, so don't think I'm not going to share with you how to do those things. I will in a moment. And then the other issue too are the symbols that you use for process mapping. There are tons of symbols out there, and if you're in engineering or in a technical field, let me tell you, they all represent something and it's important to use it. But I find for me and projects when I do process mapping, yes, I have technical people on my team, but I have a lot of non-technical people. So I really stick to the simplicity of what I use symbol-wise, so just like boxes and decision diamonds and arrows and really keeping it clean and smart and simple 'cause you want everyone to understand it, not just the technical people. Okay, now let's take a look at some examples so you know how to do it. Let's start off with a mid level process map. Let's go over to my computer. So here's an example of a mid level process map. I just want to draw your attention. This actually is a much bigger map than what I'm showing you. Now, there would be a lot more boxes happening off to the right here, but I just want to give you an idea. What I spoke about earlier with the symbols, it's very simple. I try not to make it complex 'cause there's a lot of people who are non-technical who will read this. So I use color code so that people know who's responsible for that box even though there may be references to other people. And simple decision diamonds here, whether it's a yes or no. And arrows. It really is that simple that you can move forward with a process map. So it's also something to consider too. I do it very linearly. So if something truly is linear, I show it in that way. I have some maps that wrap a room because it really is step by step. And I know sometimes you can see maps that are in a swim lane, but that doesn't show the reality of it. So it's really important, from a process mapping perspective, is do show the linearness 'cause that is another tool and piece of information of how long it takes for the process to occur. And if something can happen in parallel, you're going show it in your process map as well, whereas in other ways, if we're strictly looking at trying to get a process map fitting on a PowerPoint page, we lose some of the essence of what a true process map is trying to tell us, which is not only the steps, but how the steps are being executed. So let's now dig a little bit deeper in this. So this is a mid level, and from a mid level perspective, you can see I have as a RFP, they're trying to figure out how to engage with a vendor and what is the cost. We have less than 100K and over 100K, so that's over 100,000. And so when we look at less than 100,000, it goes directly to the selection of a vendor, and they actually have four types that you can select from which, as I said earlier on, you have multiple process steps here. But now let's go to over 100K. This is the RFP process. So when we take a look at this, you can see now the mid level detail. I'm getting a little bit specific here, not specific to a point where every single step is being captured, but enough where I know what's happening and it can guide me to what I need to do in a way that is not too high level, but not too much in the weeds where this would be like 20 pages. So the first step is line of business, LOB, reaches out to procurement to assess the situation, determine if the project has the right vendors. Do they have them? Nope. They have to do an RFI. That's a request for information process. And they follow that, and once they're done that request for information process, it feeds back into the RFP process. So now let's just go back into the RFP process. Do they have the right vendors? Yes, they do. So the line of business, 'cause it's purple, engages or with email to procurement into the RFP process via meeting invite or email to discuss the business needs. They're now engaging with each other. Now, procurement, which is blue, and line of business discusses business needs. So what this box is now telling me is that it's procurement who drives this activity and then procurement asks line of business to draft business needs based on RFP document detail. So they're now working together. Procurement is driving this by telling line of business what they need to do and giving them the templates. Line of business, which is purple, creates the brief and discusses details with procurement, identifying suppliers that the RFP will go to. So this is just the beginning. Once that's done, they're now saying, "Okay. Let's now go to the RFP process." So procurement and line of business issue the RFP to suppliers and ensure that the vendors all have their NDAs, that's non-disclosure agreements. They receive proposals back, have pitch presentations. They negotiate with the potential to suppliers that they've sort of whittled it down to. And then they check to see if the vendor exists in the database and has a current MSA or is a new vendor. Then once they've picked everything, they upload to a quick sign and obtain three signatures and they receive a fully signed copy back and save it for future reference. So they've negotiated, picked their selection, done everything in order to move it forward. And based on that selection, it goes to: What kind of vendor is it? Is that vendor that they've picked from the RFP, is that a new vendor, an existing one, is it a preferred vendor, or is it one that has an expired MSA? And then that would continue on in the process of this vendor engagement. So you can see there's enough information in here to let you know what to do if I were to read it on my own. I would still have to have a little bit of information on the process, like where to go to get things. You could add that here. So this is considered a mid level. It's not high in regards to go to procurement, do an RFI, do an RFP, pick your vendor. That's really high level but this is the mid level to give you enough information so that you can be successful. Now let's take a look at a high level process map so you can understand the difference between the two. Here now is a very high level process that you can use, as I said earlier on, if you're trying to figure out what is this full process all about. Because some people don't understand it holistically. They only know a part of it because their department is involved in it, but they don't understand how it is from start to finish. And again, or if you're looking for some new idea, you may create a very high level process map. It has value. But what does happen, just so you know, is most organizations only do high level process mapping. And you'll see from this, it doesn't give you enough information to help with training documents or details or anything like that. It only allows you to see very high level what's going on, but that's it, just to see, no other information. So let's walk through this one. This is an Order to Cash high level process. For this organization, they actually have the customer in gray, finance is in this lovely yellow, customer care is blue, and supply chain is green. So this is how they get an order through from it coming in to actually the cash portion of the customer paying. So let's take a look at it. So customer order sent a company and there's five ways that it's sent over here. Then customer care enters the order. The order entry type, there's four ways that they do it: They do it through an order system; they manually write it up; they create it, which is done automatically; or through EDI. Then they go and the info is checked. It goes into journal status for one, two and three, as you can see here, but for number four, EDI, sales order is generated automatically, so it bypasses its journal status. Finance then does a QC for pricing and credit check and the order is then confirmed and released by the customer care group. Now it goes to supply chain. So supply chain prints out the shipping confirmation. The picked orders are going to the warehouse. Supply chain is ready to pick. They pick the order, they load it on the trucks, and they drive and deliver the orders and the customer now receives it. So you can see how high level this is. I promise you, there is tons of other activities happening in here. Now, once a customer receives it, that's when supply chain drives, creates a meter ticket for bulk and comes back with their order. The supply chain updates the pick document for bulk, finance bills the customer, and then customer service order closes. The order is closed out in the system once the invoice goes out. And that's the end of this process that they call Order to Cash, so really from the start of an order coming in all the way to the end when you're invoicing it. This is very, very high level, but it does give you some good information to understand holistically what is going on, but that really is it. Now that you know how to process map, you need to get this. The link is under this video: How do identify things that are going to make your project fail. 'Cause you don't want that to happen, not when you're spending all this time process mapping in order to get your ideas out there to make sure that you're doing a good job. So grab this. It's underneath the link. Until the next video, see ya.