Business process mapping embodies the belief that seeing is believing. While we all have varying levels of familiarity with our organization’s processes, it’s not until we see each step broken down and placed in a visual guide that we understand exactly what each function is, and its impact on the rest of the organization.

Process mapping has long been used to assess manufacturing processes by helping the company and employees identify activities, bottlenecks and waste. The picture process maps create helps employees visualize and quantify the amount of time spent on each activity during the entire process.

Before business drawing software was introduced in the early 1990s, process mapping was a mammoth production requiring days of meetings and drafting by skilled artists to create interaction after iteration as the map was defined and refined. Even after drawing software was introduced, the task of transferring the information to a computer to create the process map was painstaking. Process mapping still required employees from several different departments to devote two or more days to meet and use sticky notes and poster paper to accurately map processes. Recreating the process map on the computer depended greatly on the arability of the facilitator. Usually, several days passed before anyone saw an actual process map.

inProcess by PMC Solutions uses a user-friendly, web-based design to allow users to create process maps in a matter of minutes, not days. And instantly share that information with the entire organization. This means fewer work hours and spent mapping and more hours are spent tackling the real issue: improving processes and efficiency.