As-Is and To-Be Processes

If you are looking to implement a?continual improvement?initiative, it is essential to understand the?'As Is - To Be'?model and?how crucial it is to successful process improvement.

Put simply, if you want to improve a business process, you first have to know its current state (As Is) and then you need to model the improved future state (To Be). For continual improvement: repeat.

How the As Is - To Be Model Works

In a nutshell, the model is applied by firstly documenting what is currently done using?As Is?process maps to:

? Capture an accurate visual picture of your organisation's processes

? Visualise process breakdowns and areas of risk

and then, discussing and changing those process maps to show the proposed?To Be?way of doing things, thereby:

? Modelling the impact of any future process changes before you make them

This approach not only enables the impact of the changes proposed to be understood before they happen, but avoids the very real possibility of making things worse, by changing things when you don't really understand why they are done that way.

In addition, it is impossible to quantify any improvement when you don’t know what the start point was.

Defining the As Is Process

The?As Is?process?shows your current processes - what your organisation?currently does.

It is important to bear in mind that this As Is analysis may only show you?what?can be improved, but not necessarily?how. Mapping the As Is process will only reveal your business processes as they are today.

Having said that, capturing the As Is process is often more helpful in defining the To Be, than perhaps expected, for the following reasons:

• The person responsible for doing a process often has really good ideas about how to improve it, but doesn't have the authority to do so
• Talking through and documenting what someone does, often makes them think about better ways to do it
• Often different people are doing the same thing in different ways and one of those ways is a lot better than the others
• Thinking about what you do as a process and seeing it mapped out can really help people to think about ways to improve it

Defining the To Be Process

The?To Be process?shows your proposed future processes - what your organisation plans to do.

By creating a process model of the To Be you can discuss it with those people who will be impacted by the changes planned and both take on board their view of the outcome of the changes and work to get their buy-in.

You can also quantify the return on investment from the changes proposed.

Why As Is - To Be Matters

Naturally, not every business requires an in-depth analysis of the?As Is?and the?To Be. But here are a few example scenarios when analysing your As Is processes is particularly necessary:

• It is known that issues with the current state exist. These issues could have been reported by employees or customers (such as frustrated customers, bad service, delays, financial difficulties, etc.)
• Your system has customers or business users confused about the correct steps to take in order to complete a business process
• You are interested in automating your present business processes
• Your business processes are not well enough documented
• Your business processes are not streamlined across different departments of the organisations
• You want to create a functioning business activity model
• You want to move from a paper-based to a mobile process mapping solution

[streamlined → having been made simpler and more efficient or effective]

How to Implement an As Is - To Be Process Cycle - Essential for Effective Continuous Improvement

Implementing an As Is - To Be model and then continuously making improvements does take time and resources, there is no getting away from that. However in terms of an implementation plan, there are in fact just?10 steps:

1. Define your business objectives
2. Involve all stakeholders so that you can...
3. Capture your As Is processes?ACCURATELY!!!?(an inaccurate process will make business improvement extremely difficult)
4. Analyse gaps and deficits in your As Is processes - where are time, money or materials wasted?
5. Create a To Be process model, using (a copy of) your As Is process maps as the start point
6. Compare your As Is and To Be process maps
7. Determine what need be changed in order to get to your To Be
8. Estimate and thoroughly analyse the business risks of making these changes
9. Implement your To Be process so that it now becomes your new As Is process
10. Analyse the effectiveness of your new As Is process (start from the beginning) and create another To Be map from the new process data.

Finally, always remember: getting your team on board and having shared goals equals motivated employees and greater support throughout the?continual improvement journey.

How to Develop As-Is and To-Be Business Process?

One effective technique for transforming vision into results is to develop and populate an As-Is and To-Be BPMN diagrams. The As-Is diagram describes the present state of the organisation's process, culture, and capabilities. The To-Be diagram describes the future state; in other words, how the organisation's process, culture, and capabilities will appear in the future. This studying of As-is and To-be process results in identifying the difference between the current and target business state, known as gap, which is an important part of any?business process reengineering/improvement initiative.

A business process model and notation diagram, or BPMN diagram for short, is?used to build easy-to-read business process model flowcharts, which can be shared across organisations and industries. BPMN diagram symbols are categorised into four main groups: flow objects, connecting objects, swim-lanes, and artifacts.

More about BPMN (business process model and notation diagram)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_OWoVRUXXo&feature=youtu.be

Flow objects are the pieces of the puzzle that form the overall workflow. The three main flow objects are known as activities, events and?gateways.

Activities:?Activities are rounded rectangles, illustrating a specific task performed by a person or system. There are many activities process designers can create, such as activities that occur once, occur multiple times, or if a specific set of conditions are met.

• Task:?The precise action that must be performed. Tasks are very specific and cannot be disassembled into additional tasks.
• Transaction:?Involves a payment process.
• Sub-process:?This indicates a set of additional tasks categorized together.
• Call:?A common process used in other areas of the workflow.

Events:?Events are circular symbols that serve as a trigger: initiating a starting point, intermediate step, or end point of a particular process. Some popular event symbols are:

• Message:?A message, like an email or text is sent or received.
• Link:?A process is part of a larger ecosystem and links off into a separate set of tasks.
• Error:?An issue has occurred, interrupting the workflow.
• Timer:?Timer symbols can mark the kickoff of a timer (a customer can cancel a free trial within a 30-day window or they’re charged a monthly fee), or a certain day of the week (on Mondays, the system compiles a list of recent free trial recipients.)
• Escalation:?A higher-up within the organization becomes involved in the process. For example, a borderline loan application requires manual review by a senior manager.

Gateways:?Gateways within a BPMN diagram are diamond-shaped symbols that map decision points. They can be “forks in the road,” that determine the direction a process shall turn next. Examples of gateway symbols include:

• Exclusive:?An example of an exclusive gateway is awaiting to hear the right secret code from a strange knock on a clubhouse door—do you allow them entry or turn them away?
• Event-based:?In this fork in the road, a specialized decision must be made. For example, if a list of new users are generated on a given day of the week and no new users signed up, the system will not generate a list.
• Parallel:?Parallel gateways do not await a certain condition. They can take place concurrently.

Understanding connecting object symbols

Connecting objects illustrate how different pieces of the puzzle connect with one another. There are four types of connecting objects:?sequence flows,?message flows,?and?associations.?They’re represented by arrows.

• Sequence:?Maps the sequential flow of objects.
• Association:?Depicts the relationship between different data and objects.
• Message:?Indicates a message sent between various participants in the workflow.

How to do Process Improvement with As-Is and To-Be Processes

The?as-is state of a process?is the “now” state. It’s how the process operates before you make any changes or improvements. The?to-be process, on the other hand, is the future state.

To actually make your process improvement initiative work, you need to document and map both states. The “as-is” allows you to get an accurate view of how the process works. Unless you’re someone personally responsible for working with that specific process, this part is essential for understanding how to make any sort of improvements.

Once you already know how the process is, you can analyze it and propose certain improvements. At that point, you need to document the to-be state. Having a map of the new process makes it easier to implement for several reasons…

To help you actually understand how the two process states can help, we’ll explain how to document them and use the documentation for?process improvement.

Step #1: Documenting the As-Is Process

Before you can actually document the as-is process state, you need to have a very clear understanding of it.

Unless you’ve worked the process yourself enough times, you’ll have to do some research.

There are several ways to gain an understanding of the process…

• Observation?– The most straightforward approach. Simply observe the process as it’s going on.
• Interviews?– Personal interviews with employees working on the process.
• Questionnaires?– Surveys on the process in question. More efficient than holding interviews, but generally less informative.
• Project Teams?– A special team composed of individuals who are either employees working on the process itself, or process improvement experts.

In most cases, it’s usually a good idea to add “interviews” to the process research mix. The people who are most knowledgeable about the process are, as you could have guessed, the employees who actually work on it. They can be a wealth of insight – some of them might even already have ideas on how to improve the process.

Ideally, you’d want to consult with employees who play different roles within the process.

So for example, let’s say you’re working with a?client onboarding process. You’d want to talk with an employee from each of the following departments:?sales,?onboarding, and?customer service.

Once you’ve got all the information on the process, you can start mapping it.

The most straightforward way to do that is with a?process flowchart. Simply draw the different steps within the process, and you’re all set. So, for example…

There are 3 main ways to do?process mapping…

• Pen & Paper?– The most straightforward option. Just grab a pen & paper and draw the flowchart.
• Flowchart Software?– Software made for the purpose of creating workflow diagrams. Better than pen & paper, since you can share the document with your employees.
• Workflow Software?– Used for digitizing and keeping track of processes. This has the added benefit of making the processes run faster and smoother since no one will ever ask “who’s supposed to do X, again?”

Not sure which software provider to choose from? Check out our comparison post of different?workflow management systems.

Step #2: Analysing the As-Is Process and Finding Improvements

Before you can start with the to-be process documentation, you need to figure out what it looks like.

You need to analyze the as-is process and find any inefficiencies and flaws, some of which can be a bit hard to spot. Since every business has completely different processes, there’s no one sure-fire way to do this. You could, however, ask yourself the following questions to get some insight.

• Are?deadlines frequently missed?within the process?
• Are some of the process steps taking?unusually long?
• Are some of the process steps a?time or money sink? Why?
• What process step has the?highest impact on output? Are there any ways to make it?more efficient? Can you use technology to?automate it?

This step can be a bit hard if you’re not a full-fledged process improvement consultant. To learn how to do it right, read up our guide to?process analysis.

Step #3: Documenting and Implementing the To-Be Process

Once you’re done with the analysis, you should have several different ideas on how to improve the process.

At that point, you can start creating the to-be process map. This works just about the same way as mapping the as-is process: you create a flowchart that’s just about the same as the as-is process, with any adjustments you made present.

With the to-be process, the implementation is the harder part. Sometimes, your improvements might turn out to be not as effective as you’d thought. Others, your employees will take a while to get used to the new process.

There are several best practices we recommend to help make the implementation easier…

• Start Small?– While your new process might seem to be a great idea at a glance, it might turn out to be a disaster. To account for this, start the process on a small scale. Once you’re certain that the new process is empirically better, you can scale it up & apply it company-wide.
• Enforce the Process?– You can’t just go up to your employees out of nowhere and say, “we’ll be doing things completely differently from now on.” They need to be made aware of why you’re making changes to the process and how it’s going to affect their work. Then, you need to make sure that they stick to the new process. There are 2 ways to do this: frequently check on their work, or use workflow management software to enforce the new process.
• Benchmark the Metrics?– You have to be 100% certain that the new process is better than the old; otherwise, you’re only going to end up wasting time. Pick the right metrics to benchmark post-implementation. This way, you can be sure that the changes you make are definitely positive.

Post-Implementation

Implementing the to-be process state isn’t exactly the end of your work.

You need to make sure that the changes you’ve made are actually beneficial for the company. To do this, you need to make sure that the new metrics from post-implementation hold up to the old.

The simplest way to do this is by employing workflow management software. The software keeps track of your process output, letting you know whether the improvements you made are beneficial.

Source:

• https://www.visual-paradigm.com/tutorials/as-is-to-be-business-process.jsp
• https://www.processmaker.com/blog/bpmn-diagram-and-symbols/
• https://www.processmaker.com/blog/
• https://tallyfy.com/
• https://www.triaster.co.uk/guide-to-continual-improvement-4-pillars.php