Making system changes without understanding how the current process works can lead to costly mistakes.  It can introduce inefficiencies and create problems such as loss of productivity, risk to the service or product being provided or increase costs unnecessarily.

If companies  do not measure a process, how can it improve it?

Staff in organisations can waste a great deal of their time by repeating tasks and operations, wasting time by duplicating their efforts or redoing another staff member’s work.  They may be following poor instructions, doing activities slowly due to uncertainties in the way a job should be carried out and carrying out repetitive tasks that can be automated, delegated or simplified.

Process mapping enables companies to clearly define the current processes in some form of easily read flow chart or instruction list.  Once defined it is easier to identify the non value add activities,  capacity issues etc. and this brings us back to the question ‘Why should a business map its process?’

When the information around the process is reviewed and the waste elements identified, cost improvements can be identified, prioritised, costs calculated and then planned for implementation.