Introducing a hybrid business process mapping model – A comprehensive framework derived from the idef0 and flow chart methods

Business process mapping has been heralded as a key method for improving Business Process Management. Thereby enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of business operations. There are a number of critical success factors however that need to be in place in order to attain this. One of them is the method or technique to be used for the capture, documentation, modeling, communication and improvement of business processes. There exist a wide plethora of methods, each of them with a particular area of focus. This paper aims to select two of the common systems; Flow chart and IDEF0 and consider a hybrid model of process modeling that can avail complementary strengths and address gaps that exist within each of the approaches. The proposed model was tested against the scenario of manufacturing business process activities in order to assess and demonstrate its capabilities. A hybrid approach was developed and implemented against this scenario. It was found that the hybrid approach did manage to address gaps effectively. The new system offered greater precision, smoothness of activity flow and improved sequencing meanwhile retaining a level of simplicity that maintained the usability of the method. Nonetheless, the challenges that bear upon the success of process mapping continue to be relevant. process mapping focuses on the aspect of process change. Where insufficient attention is given to organizational change, process mapping projects will not reap the expected benefits.