Using process mapping tools to make a business and financial case

by | Feb 14, 2022 | 0 comments

A business case is a key project document, especially in Agile projects. A business case captures the business analysts’ findings and their proposal for how to decide and implement a business case. For a business case to be impactful, it needs to effectively sell stakeholders on the benefits of each clearly defined solution, enabling effective decision-making processes.

 

Identifying options

A key part of a business case is to present multiple solutions. This can be achieved by first brainstorming possible options, shortlisting, evaluating and adding to the business case.

As a business analyst, a good way to evaluate a solution is to process map it. The Engage Process Modeler is a BPMN based process mapping tool that takes the hassle out of process mapping and provides a visual map that can be created and finished in a workshop. Creating a process map for each solution will help to demonstrate the benefits and drawbacks of each.

Creating process maps for potential solutions using a facilitated workshop

 There are two types of workshop techniques that are commonly used, techniques for discovery and techniques for documentation. Discovery techniques enable the facilitator to gather information and views from the attendees. Picking the correct technique is vital to the situation and context of the objective set out. Some of which include:

  • Brainstorming – participants call out ideas on a given topic which are collated either on a whiteboard or flipchart or on digital software like Miro or Engage Process. Once all of the information has been added to the brainstorm, it can be sorted into groups or priorities.
  • Round-robin discussion – participants are asked for their ideas in turn.
  • Brainwriting – participants write down ideas that are then collated and grouped.
  • Stepwise refinement – asks a question to the group and continually asks ‘Why?’ to every answer given to get to the root of the problem, idea or situation.

Once the information had been surfaced using the discovery techniques, it needs to be effectively collated using the documentation techniques. This may include process models, data models, use case diagrams, rich pictures and process maps. During a process mapping workshop, the main output of the workshop would be the completed process maps. Using a digital tool such as the Engage Process Modeler allows the facilitator to process map live in the workshop so that the participants can see the map being built, leading to a more accurate map.

 

Assessing financial feasibility

A key factor in choosing a solution from a business case is the financial feasibility, this shows how much the process or project is intended to cost to build and or maintain. This is commonly not easily done through traditional process mapping tools such as Visio and Post-It Notes. However, the Engage Process Modeler makes it quick and easy to evaluate a process and furthermore, enables comparison between As-Is and To-Be process maps along with comparing the differences between the proposed solutions.

Below is a video demonstration of how the evaluation and costing works in the Engage Process Modeler.