There are many, many process mapping methodologies, philosophies and tools on the market – so why did we choose to build our own tool around the SIPOC concept? Because we’ve seen SIPOC mapping work – albeit on paper – and we were able to imagine how well it would work if the concept could be systemised.
This systemising / coding of a mapping approach which is more ordinarily associated with Powerpoint templates or Visio diagrams was the crucial step in allowing us to harness the key strengths of the SIPOC, multiply those thanks to the power of connected data – and address the most common criticisms of the format.
We’ve seen SIPOC mapping allow a project team to successfully abstract complex investment management process flows and represent an entire asset management function’s operating model in a manner that is presentable to a non-technical audience – while still satisfying the investment managers that the representation was correct.
Making the logical leap that related processes or steps within a process that could better be represented by an entire process in their own right could be navigated between and visually connected by a web application allows us to maintain that fundamentally simple SIPOC representation of a process on the surface – while satisfying the need, where appropriate, to allow a user to ‘drill down’ to infinitely granular levels of detail where required.
This simultaneously gives us the power to address a common criticism of SIPOC maps – that they “don’t give the same level of detail as a swimlane diagram” – while retaining the surface simplicity that so appeals to the business process owners.
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