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Software for Business Process Modeling?

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steveorg:
I had considerable experience with large business process documentation projects at mid-size and Fortune 100 public companies a few years ago as a Sarbanes-Oxley implementation consultant and project manager. I learned a tremendous amount about flowcharting best practices that acknowledge the limitations of real world considerations when processes frequently evolve because of changing technologies and organization charts. In these environments it was usually best for the process to be owned by a key participant in the process. That means that a considerable number of people had to become competent to maintain flowcharts after initial development with the help of a consultant. In one case that involved 45 people that were responsible for over 200 processes. I think that the lessons of these best practices apply to organizations of all sizes when non-BP professionals are the primary participants.

Because of the training challenges, varying skill levels, frequent change of personnel that are responsible for the documentation and ultimate infrequent use of the software, the best practices could be summarized with the ancient imperative to Keep It Simple. (I'll leave off the second "S").
1. Choose no more than 6-7 symbols that are allowed on the flowcharts.
2. Provide simple but complete documentation on the meaning of the symbols, the prescribed template structure for the document (including little things like process/sub-process name and numbering conventions and even date formats), the proper way to tie the process into controls and other processes, and basic usage of the software.
3. Produce flowcharts that only require basic usage skills. Consider any usage beyond that to be a bonus.

I wanted to say all of that so my software recommendations make sense. Software where the basics are easy to learn is essential. Fortunately that includes many of the choices mentioned in this thread. In my experience, all except one of the companies used Visio. One of the reasons is that outside stakeholders such as auditors also commonly used Visio. I personally also have experience with Smartdraw and Edraw (Visio clone), both of which would be as good in this context as Visio. I also took a superficial look at yEd and my initial impression is that it would also work well. You certainly can't beat the price!

Target:
Because of the training challenges, varying skill levels, frequent change of personnel that are responsible for the documentation and ultimate infrequent use of the software, the best practices could be summarized with the ancient imperative to Keep It Simple. (I'll leave off the second "S").-steveorg (June 11, 2010, 05:30 PM)
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I've been following this thread and this seems to be the best piece of advice so far.

Rather than committing to a (potentially?) complex and expensive solution you would be much better served working with what you have and upgrading only when your requirements exceed the capabilities of your current solution (and it should be readily apparent when this happens).

It's really easy to get caught up in the excitement of implementing best practices etc, but at the end of the day do you really (really?) need a solution like that (why cough up for a cutting edge solution when all you need is notepad?)     

IainB:
Yes, +1 for @Target's/@steveorg's advice for a minimalist and KISS approach.

And I still think it was a mistake to come down from the trees.

steveorg:
My previous post was focused on the original question about software for Business Process Modeling. However, it is worth mentioning that other valuable BPM information was imparted by IainB that is also consistent with KISS. To me the most important thing he said was You might also want to add process improvement into that mix, because you are likely to stumble over potential areas for significant process improvement once you start to scrutinise a process.-IainB
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If anything, the word "likely" is not strong enough, especially in an environment that is new to BPM. Unless professionally designed, most processes do not work well. They could be inefficient, use underlying technologies sub-optimally or incorrectly, do not take proper advantage of other available technologies and almost always are badly controlled. Controls ensure timeliness and accuracy while preventing fraud.

Process improvement is an important consideration for several reasons. Better processes usually improve the bottom line while increasing employee and customer satisfaction. You may want to make that case to your employer if the project is under-resourced. It's also important that you lay the groundwork to get stakeholders to embrace process changes. Just one influential person that is too emotionally invested in the status quo can poison the whole project.

superboyac:
This is interesting.  I'm not really in a position to offer advice on improving business processes.  But you never know what may come up in the future.  What is the proper way to learn about business processes and what to do to improve them?  This sounds like MBA stuff to me.  Maybe it's time I get one.

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