Establish how the work runs today
In your words: “We do not know how work really happens”
- Process discovery
- Current-state mapping
- Operating baseline
Processes are described through interviews, local diagrams and tacit knowledge; there is no governed end-to-end representation. This becomes most visible when decisions must cross functions, systems or organisational boundaries and no single owner can supply a trusted answer.
A governed, connected view of how work runs gives every team the same starting point. It replaces individual descriptions with one baseline that can be queried, owned and kept current.
With an agreed baseline, improvement, automation, audit and AI start from something true. Each new change or programme builds on shared knowledge instead of rebuilding it, and the effort saved compounds.
A shared process system of record, validated through analysis, lets decisions begin from an agreed baseline. Leaders and delivery teams work from the same picture, explore relationships quickly and govern updates as the organisation changes.
- Faster, more reliable decisions; a defensible baseline for improvement, automation, audit and AI
- A trusted operating baseline
- Faster ownership and impact analysis
- Less duplicate discovery and reconciliation
- Stronger foundations for improvement, assurance and AI
- Where are your critical processes currently documented?
- How often do different teams describe the same process differently?
- What decision is currently blocked because the true process is unclear?
- Which executive decision currently takes too long because operating-model evidence must be assembled manually?
- What governance event causes the process baseline to be reviewed and updated?
APQC identifies breaking down operational silos and establishing sustainable process management as core organisational challenges.
APQC: Process Management
ISO explains that managed processes and their interactions support consistent results, performance evaluation and continual improvement through the process approach and PDCA cycle.
ISO: The process approach in ISO 9001