Process Mapping in Visio vs Engage Process – Introduction
A lot of people we talk to are currently using Microsoft Visio or other similar process drawing tools for process management just as I was before I found the Engage Modeler and Engage Process Suite. We often get asked the question about what is the key differences between the products. Here we give a quick overview of the fundamental differences and some of the benefits of using Engage Process to understand an existing process.
Microsoft Visio does provide powerful process mapping capabilities to capture and document your processes.
With Microsoft Visio, you can map to the level of detail you need to understand a business process.
It provides many other stencils to draw other diagrams like room layouts or organization charts.
Visio makes it easier to map processes than using other generic tools such as Powerpoint, Excel, or Word (yes people do sometimes use these for process improvement).
You can create maps in several different formats.
The software is mature.
Cons of Visio
Visio is very difficult to use live in a workshop (i would say impossible).
Visio is complex and takes a trained business analyst to get the best from the software.
Standard shapes are easy for business analysts to understand but do not help business users to interpret and view maps.
There is a very limited capability to share and collaborate using additional tools.
Data collection in the maps is standard and does not offer the ability to add more data.
There is no validation of maps which means different analysts can create very different maps making it difficult to interpret for anyone except the mapper.
To view maps from different perspectives you must draw another map for things like swimlane views vs value stream view.
No calculations can be done in Visio meaning that analysts must make manual calculations to look at things like time, cost, or benefits.
There are no analysis features.
There is no single repository of process information data is collected in different mediums(Word, Excel, Emails, etc) and needs to be manually brought together.
You cannot publish processes or get feedback directly on the maps for continuous improvement.
Extra costs can be incurred by getting consultants to help with the exercise.
Visio is not available on Mac/Linux.
Limited reporting capabilities.
No central repository of processes e.g. a digital process handbook.
No free trial.
What is Engage Process?
From GetAppEngage Process Suite is a business process management (BPM) tool that allows businesses to create custom processes using a visual editor and data mapping tools. The all-in-one process creation and optimization platform aims to help users to visualize their processes, collaborate as a team, assess process effectiveness, and identify areas for improvement.
Engage Process is designed from the ground up to help people facilitate a process workshop and to create a process model live in a virtual or remote process workshop. It is a user-friendly tool whether you are a trained business analyst or not. Everyone needs to be able to create process maps and deliver process improvement in a modern organization.
Engage Process is a process modeling and continuous improvement tool, not just a drawing tool. You can understand the lead time, break time, and processing time-related to your live process as well as the costs of delivery and many other statistics. This is automatically calculated with the real process data you can add to process steps.
Engage Process Suite is made up of multiple modules to help you map the value chain and assist with process delivery. From the modeler where you map, analyze, and brainstorm to the process viewer where you share and collaborate on processes all elements of Engage Process integrate to make improvement easier for you.
Benefits of Engage Process
Free trial. Evaluate the solution before you buy it and we give you free training too.
Map live in the workshop. No more waste(see the compare benefit further down the list) and trees lost to mountains of post-it notes being transferred into Visio or other mapping tools.
What you see is what you get. The map that gets shared after the workshop mapping process is exactly the same as what participants saw in the workshop avoiding the confusion caused when a wall of post-its is transferred into another medium like Visio. Create a shared data visualization and get everyone on the same page.
User-friendly icons. Instead of just standard shapes users can define and add their own icons which make sense to the business user i.e. a telephone for a phone call.
View the process from multiple perspectives showing a variety of data with just one click. No more drawing new maps for a role swimlane just click a button and view from that perspective.
Capture all the process data in one place. Engage Process allows you to capture all the process data directly within your process models. Add more fields and additional attributes then use them to view from multiple perspectives or report on them.
Brainstorm ideas and challenges with a digital post-it function with apps for mobile access but also access through a browser on any device. Sort and prioritize live and export to word, excel, and pdf or share it digitally.
Process maps aren’t just pictures of a process they are process models. Automatically calculate lead time, processing time, break time, costs, and many other statistics with ease.
Use the powerful analysis tools to find your bottlenecks, issues, and potential savings.
Capture feedback or improvement ideas directly on your processes. No more time wasted keeping everything up to date manually.
Compare your As-Is with your To Be Processes and see the real benefits of change. See the example below comparing process management using Visio and using Engage Process instead.
If you understand the process costs and the benefits of the changes you can make better business decisions over priorities and investments.
Map processes in a traditional workshop or remote with ease.
Publish a digital process handbook or procedure manuals to support training, knowledge management, and continuous improvement of all your organization’s processes.
Export process maps and data easily into multiple formats. Handy wizard to tailor reports with just the data you need. Easy one-click export.
Help enable a Continuous Improvement culture in your organization by engaging everyone in improvement and providing the tools to make it easy.
Digital Kanban board to help you manage and deliver improvement (or any) project
Engage Process Modeler Cons
Requires an internet connection.
Creates demand for more licenses as parts of the organization are exposed to the system and want access.
Will cause difficult decisions on pivoting projects by exposing the costs and benefits of change.
Process Mapping in Visio vs Engage Process – Conclusion
If you are serious about process change there can only be one choice. If for no other reason than the time and costs saved for analysts there is significant ROI on that alone. Add to that the better information and outputs you will have about your business processes which will enable better decisions and ROI we believe there is no contest here.
Visio is a process drawing tool and Engage Process is an excellent mapping tool and continuous improvement platform. If you are looking for operational excellence, business process improvement, and/or better change management then look no further.
