45 Reasons to Model Business Processes

To model a process is to diagram, describe, and formally document everything about a process.  I think the term “process modeling” implies something more sophisticated, elegant, or complex than what it really is.  To me, process modeling is just a fancy term for the simple act of inspecting a process.

Arguably, the work of inspecting something nearly always results in good things.  The discipline of inspection is what enables one to deliberately focus in on something.  Often, that something has been in front of  us, and taken for granted, day-in and day-out.  But as soon as we stop, focus, and examine it, we’re able to see things about the object that we’ve never seen before.  Often, we’re able to see both problems and opportunities through inspection.  Problems and opportunities that we might never have seen if we hadn’t “stopped, looked, and listened” if even for a few moments.

There are many reasons to stop and inspect your processes.  Here are at least 45 of them:

Reduce Training Time
Improve Communication And Coordination
Set Performance Expectations
Help Prevent Legal And Compliance Problems
Increases Productivity
Cut Costs
Required For CMMI Certification
Achieve Consistency
Set Fair Criteria For Individual performance Appraisals
The Best Opportunity To Improve Performance
Reduce Misunderstandings
Improve Understanding
Reduce Points Of Confusion
Eliminate the Unnecessary
Combine the Redundant
Develop Similar Methods
Standardize Systems Across Business Units
Facilitate Process Governance
Improve Process Performance
Lower Implementation Costs
Lower Risk
Faster Time To Market
Enables Rapid Change
Supports Team Collaboration
Improve Accountability
Reduce Errors
Support Compliance
Improve Customer Satisfaction
Standardization
Implement a Common Vocabulary
Performance Visibility Integrate Legacy Systems
Spot Bottlenecks (Problem Solving)
Improve Quality
Identify Flaws
Root Cause Determination (Problem Solving)
Prioritization (Efficiency)
Prepare For Software Maintenance
Share Process Information With Customers
Share Process Information With Prospects
Provide Specifications for Automated Workflow
Identify Capacity Constraints
Support Consolidation
Identify And Correct Variances
Eliminate The Need To Reinvent The Wheel
Test All Assumptions