The Quickest Way to Make Sure an IT Project Fails? Don’t do Precise Process Mapping

Posted By Terry Vermeylen


two starfish dancing on the beach with ocean waves in the backgroundWhen I was managing the Supply Chain Project team that consolidated the IT systems of 9 hospitals and 23,000 users, the first thing I asked for was to map out business processes.  This would provide all team members with an exact picture of business functionality and also make sure all the technical requirements were included as well. The main reason why IT projects fail are due to inadequate Business Process maps producing poor gap analysis (where system functionality does not match customer requirements), missed tests, incomplete integration tests and a host of other severe problems.

What are the main causes of mediocre Business Process Mapping?

  1. The consultant firm sends in junior consultants that are weak in Workshop facilitation.
  2. The consultant firm sends in junior technical consultants.
  3. The client sends in the wrong business people or don’t send any.
  4. The team assumes process mapping is easy and races through it.
  5. The Project methodology does not include Process Mapping.
  6. Senior team members don’t think it’s important.
  7. The consultant firm underestimates the development complexity.
  8. The consulting firm has no clue what they are doing and only want to make money.

I like to map current and future process using Microsoft Visio. During the Workshops the questions that need to be asked by the facilitator and technical experts are:

  1. Who is responsible for the task, function, decision, report, form, interface or data?
  2. What is the action of the task and what is it related to?
  3. Where is the action performed? What department, what building?
  4. When is the action performed? Is it daily? Weekly?
  5. Why is the task done? What is the reason? Purpose?
  6. How is it done? Is a guide used? Is there a procedure?

Workshops should be a collaborative and fun environment with both the business and consultants writing out the process Post-its. The Post-its are then taped to the large sheet of brown paper and transferred to Visio.  This isn’t rocket science.

The Business Process are mapped in swim lanes using about 7-10 Visio shapes. The Visio can be saved in Adobe if required. The Visio maps should be easy to print for client validation.

This Business Process mapping technique can be applied to any IT project. Mapping is the foundation and building block for creating a comprehensive blueprint and realization plan including – gap analysis, functional, technical, organizational, data, security, interface, security, integration, reporting, forms and configuration requirements.

It should also reflect the RICEFW matrix requirements (Reports (R), Interface (I), Conversion (C), Enhancements (E), Forms (F) and Workflow (W).

Terry Vermeylen is President of Terry Vermeylen Enterprises and owns Worldclasssupplychain.com

Please feel free to contact him through LinkedIn for more information on Business Process Mapping.