Blueprint to Build: Choosing the Right Mapping Technique
Before any workflow can be automated, it has to be understood. This document compares SIPOC, swimlane diagrams and BPMN, three practical techniques for mapping a process, spotting bottlenecks and judging whether a workflow is genuinely ready for automation.
Technique Overview
Blueprint to Build: Choosing the Right Mapping Technique Definition
Process mapping is the practice of visually documenting how work moves from trigger to outcome, showing steps, decisions, handoffs and the people or systems responsible for each. SIPOC (Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs, and Customers), swimlane diagrams and BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation) are three mapping techniques, each suited to a different level of detail:
- SIPOC gives a high-level scope.
- Swimlanes show who does what and where handoffs happen.
- BPMN adds the precision needed to hand a process to a developer or an automation platfor
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Business Evidence
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Further Reading
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Blueprint to Build: Choosing the Right Mapping Technique references (4 of up to 20) *
- American Society for Quality (nd) SIPOC Diagram. Available at: asq.org/quality-resources/sipoc
- ArvatoConnect (2025) Written evidence to the Public Accounts Committee on operational delivery in government (GCS0007). Available at: committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/142929/html/
- Hammer, M. (1990) Reengineering Work: Don't Automate, Obliterate. Harvard Business Review, 68(4), pp. 104-112. Available at: hbr.org/1990/07/reengineering-work-dont-automate-obliterate
- IBM (nd) What is Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN)? Available at: www.ibm.com/think/topics/bpmn
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