1. Identify and define the process of interest. The goal is to stay focused on the scope of the process you are trying to map.
2. Understand the purpose for the process map. Is it to identify bottlenecks? To discover redundancies?
3. Meet with employees to get their ideas, suggestions, and comments. Don’t hesitate to ask challenging or probing questions.
4. Remember that processes have inputs, outputs, and enablers. An input could be an invoice; an output could be a payment check for a supplier, and an enabler helps a process achieve results. In AISs, information technology is itself a common enabler.
5. Show key decision points. A process map will not be an effective analytical tool without decision points (the intellectual or mental steps in a process).
6. Pay attention to the level of detail you capture. Did you capture enough detail to truly represent the process and explain it to others?
7. Avoid mapping the ‘‘should-be’’ or ‘‘could-be’’. Map what is.
8. Practice, practice, practice.