Define process modeling

- Have you ever wondered how organizations fit together and perform all their functions? Add on top of that, organizations are needing to change and respond to market and user demands. These constant changes require the organization to be aware of how they perform their activities, and how these activities fit into the bigger picture of achieving their expected outcomes and goals. This is where business process modeling comes in. It's a fantastic visual way to represent how an organization comes together and performs the work and services needed. Effective process modeling allows us capturing various levels of detail through the benefits of pictures, and how the different parts of the organization interact with one another. Business process modeling is the technique of capturing the series of processes and how they relate to one another. The reasons we create process models is to provide a visual representation of who does what, and in what order. These models provide us with a better awareness of the end to end processes, and identify the additional information and detail needed to deliver successful change. With process modeling providing the framework for detailing and documenting important aspects of the organization. These models enable us to represent the current state, the way things are done today, potentially define the future state, the way we want things to be, and recognizing the gaps between the two in a consistent format that can be easily compared and understood by many. The value business process modeling represents to the organization is to visually demonstrate the flow of activities between various stakeholders, and the interaction that enables outcomes to be achieved. In modeling terminology, the stakeholders are referred to as actors. An actor can be a person, department, system, or an external entity to the organization. The effectiveness of business process modeling is to firstly help clarify the steps needed in a particular process. We then need to add our understanding how the people, processes and technologies within an organization interact to create the overall system and outcomes. Business process modeling is used in understanding the business operation, and hence, is useful in analysis and design. So what are the benefits of process modeling? Firstly, it's a great way to ensure that you understand how the organization runs and performs its business activities right now. And how they touch and relate to the outside world. Secondly, it helps identify areas of the business that are not well understood, and helps in clarifying responsibilities across the whole process. Thirdly, it helps identify and breaks down complex business processes, and provides the ability to analyze and identify process inefficiencies. And lastly, these models become artifacts to help you with your training documentation, in understanding and enabling the end user of what the old and the new way looks like. Business process modeling leverages the effective use of visuals and modeling techniques in helping organizations and individuals work from the 30,000 foot view down to the level of detail that is needed by those who are actually going to perform the process activities. Leveraging these vital approaches in designing and delivering organizational change goes a long way in bringing people on the organizational change journey.