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Business process inventory

Make work across people, inboxes and systems visible. Complete one worksheet per process with the people doing the work, using recent cases rather than an ideal procedure.

By Stolen OrbitRevision

When to use it and what to produce

Before choosing software or requesting a proposal, when nobody has a complete account of the steps, handoffs and exceptions.

A verifiable process map with a beginning, an end, an accountable owner and a baseline. Attach it to your project brief.

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1. Set the boundaries

Choose a concrete outcome. Avoid broad labels such as “administration”: separate activities with different starting events, data and responsibilities.

See a worked example

Illustrative example: incoming quotation request → complete draft in the CRM. A salesperson approves the draft; negotiation and sending are outside this process.

Describe what initiates the work and what evidence confirms that it is complete.

List roles, a backup owner and who resolves disagreements between departments.

Separate the standard path, urgent requests and cases requiring specialist judgement.

2. Trace actual work

Follow recent cases from the first request to completion. Distinguish handling time, waiting time and steps that require copying information.

See a worked example

Illustrative example: of 30 requests observed over two weeks, 8 need clarification. Preparing a draft takes 12 minutes; waiting for the customer can take days.

For each step record who acts, which system they use and what they pass on.

Record the period, case count and measurement method; distinguish estimates from measured observations.

Capture missing information, duplicates and reasons a case returns to an earlier step.

3. Pick the next improvement

Compare the bottleneck with the desired outcome. A shared rule or a better intake form may resolve the problem before AI is needed.

See a worked example

Illustrative example: trial field extraction into CRM drafts only. Compare completeness and review minutes before considering additional teams or external actions.

Connect the difficult step to an observable delay, error or repeated task.

Describe a limited change, the data it needs and the work a person will retain.

Specify who checks the result, when they check it and which comparison they use.

Pitfalls to avoid

  • Treating elapsed time as hours of labour.
  • Mapping only the standard path and discovering exceptions after launch.
  • Automating a step without assigning an owner to the final outcome.

Take the next step together.

Use this document to start a discussion about scope, evaluation and project ownership.

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