MSG Team's other articles

11299 The Purpose, Scope and Value of a Six Sigma Project

Before the Project Begins Six Sigma projects are meant to make the organization efficient. It is for this reason that one must ensure that the projects are efficient in themselves. One of the main criteria for a project to be efficient is that it must have well defined goals. Only once the goals are defined […]

12001 Why Nations and Firms must Pursue Growth, but, Sustainably and Responsibly ?

How the Growth at all Costs Mantra is Harming Us Ever since the time of the Enlightenment in the Nineteenth Century, the world has been chasing growth and more growth in all aspects of economic and social as well as political spheres. While it is natural for nations and firms following the capitalist model of […]

10199 Looking beyond BRICS for the Next Economic Hotspots

Looking Beyond BRICS: The MINT Grouping The BRICS or the acronym given to the grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa in so far as promising economic growth is concerned, has now reached a stage where global investors are on the lookout for the next emerging economic hotspots. Indeed, for much of the […]

9356 Early Bird Catches the Worm: Why First Mover Advantage Matters to Everyone

What is the First Mover Advantage? In business, as in life, being early and being first to launch products, enter markets and an agile and flexible approach to being there first matters. As the saying goes, The Early Bird Catches the Worm, the first mover advantage is indeed significant and matters to everyone, including businesses, […]

11638 Trust is the Key to Building Successful Companies and Great Nations

The Importance of Trust in Building Successful Companies and Great Nations Recently the former Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, made an impassioned plea for building trust among the economic agents and between the citizenry as that would have a salutary effect on the country’s economy. In a hard hitting article, Dr. Singh, decried […]

Search with tags

  • No tags available.

The first step in the measure phase of a six sigma project is to create a detailed process map of the processes and sub-process under question. Participants often get confused between a high level process map and a detailed process map. This article will help articulate the link as well as the differences and clear the confusion.

What is a Detailed Process Map ?

Processes generally have an enormous amount of detail. This amount of detail if put at one go on paper or a computer screen will intimidate the person looking at it. It is virtually impossible to make sense of such overwhelming amount of information. For this reason, a drill down approach is used to represent processes.

The first visible process map contains 6 to 7 elements. These elements may actually be sub-processes. This means that they have their very own process contained within them. For simplicity sake they are being represented as one element.

When process mapping is done which contains the details from these sub processes, it is called a detailed process map.

How is it Linked to High Level Process Map ?

The detailed process map is contained within the high level process map. It is easier to understand with the analogy of a website. You can think of the high level process map as the home page of the website. It contains the links to other pages (other processes i.e. detailed process map).

During execution when the process reaches a given stage. First the internal processes are executed. Then the result is passed on to the next element in the process. A detailed process map contains the exact steps, the exact inputs, outputs, metrics and the exact people that are needed to execute the process.

The use of Swim Lanes to Simplify the Process

Swim lanes is a technique used in process mapping to simplify the work procedure. The process is divided into several swim lanes. These are represented by the different people that will perform that job. Hence if a task falls in Person A’s swim lane, he is responsible to get it done.

Detailed process maps are often prepared in the swim lane format. This is because often there are multiple detailed process maps. Keeping track of who is supposed to do what may get confusing. Swim lanes help to simplify them.

How do Detailed Process Maps Help in Data Collection ?

A detailed process map contains information about the exact type, quality etc of the input required and of the output expected. It also contains precise information about how the process should behave. Creating a detailed process map helps us clarify the process inputs, outputs and variables. Once we have all of them listed we can then start prioritizing and identifying the important ones.

Article Written by

MSG Team

An insightful writer passionate about sharing expertise, trends, and tips, dedicated to inspiring and informing readers through engaging and thoughtful content.

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Articles

Characteristics of Data – Central Tendency and Dispersion

MSG Team

Causes of Measurement Variation

MSG Team

Steps Involved in Conducting a Measurement System Analysis

MSG Team