You are reading a guide that explains how to build up your organization's Operational Knowledge. This article covers how to accomplish stage 2 in operational knowledge maturity scale.
Why design To-Be business processes?
The purpose of 'To-Be' process design is to create a clear, optimized vision of how processes should function after improvements or automation are implemented.
A successful future state (To-Be) design addresses the pain points and inefficiencies uncovered in the current state (As-Is) process. It ensures that the new process is scalable, efficient, and aligned with business goals, providing a roadmap for implementation that reduces risk and enhances long-term success.
When to capture a To-Be business process from the As-Is?
You should amend the As-Is process when the current process is sound but needs optimization, when you need to preserve certain aspects, or when you face organizational or resource constraints. Consider these scenarios:
Process Works but Needs Tweaks: The existing process functions well and only needs optimization or minor enhancements.
Change Resistance: The organization is resistant to major changes, making incremental improvements more feasible.
Preserve Knowledge: Valuable aspects of the current process should be retained while optimizing other parts.
Incremental Strategy: The approach is to evolve processes gradually rather than implementing radical changes.
In case if existing ways of working need to be completely re-thought from ground-up, and none of the scenarios above apply to you, you should follow this separate guide.
Two different approaches
Capturing a To-Be business process may be done in different ways, depending on cultural dynamics of the organization, internal politics, and your familiarity with the subject matter. Considering following scenarios:
If you have As-Is diagrams captured with all the pain points and desired KPIs, and you are a subject matter expert, you might consider drafting a To-Be yourself and submitting it for review to the business as a proposal.
If your stakeholders are subject matter experts and have strong opinions on how they want to run their departments, you should consider doing a To-Be design workshop together.
This solution guide will cover the steps for the #1 scenario. If you are interested in the #2 scenario, check the guide on Capturing the future To-Be way of operating from scratch, as the steps are almost exactly the same.
Prerequisites
Understanding of UPN diagramming methodology
Completed As-Is documentation using Elements' process mapping, with captured pain points and inefficiencies.
Process-led-change product license
How to capture a To-Be business process from As-Is?
Step 1: Publish the 'As-Is' diagrams
One of the unique aspects of the Elements application is a modern and sophisticated versioning of the diagram content.
Instead of having to create multiple separate diagrams, covering the same content or scope, through different 'stages' of the project, in Elements you can have just one single source of truth. The diagrams can be 'published', which creates a view-only snapshot of the diagram at a given point in time.
Take your 'As-Is' diagram (and its children) and publish it. That way all the knowledge (sticky notes, pain points captured through data tables, etc.) will be preserved. You can then start work on the To-Be, by removing and amending the captured diagrams to reflect the needed improvements.
Step 2: Review the As-Is process for priority areas for improvement
As part of your As-Is analysis, you should have captured pain points and ideas, either in the form of sticky notes or data table records.
Run a report on the sticky notes, or on the data table, on the selected diagram and lower level diagrams. This will help you list all the issues and all the ideas for improvement captured during the previous workshops against specific steps in every diagram.
Step 3: Amend the process (To-Be)
Once you have identified the process, and particular part of the process, you need to change, in the 'Draft' version of the diagram, go into 'Edit' mode.
Amend the process diagram as required to solve the business problem. This is now your new and updated To-Be process diagram. You can work on it as many times and as long as you wish. All changes are only reflected in the 'Draft' version of the diagram until you are ready to publish it.
Step 4: Validate the To-Be process with stakeholders
Why validation matters: Before finalizing the future state, it’s critical to gather feedback from stakeholders who understand both the operational challenges and the broader business goals. Their insights can ensure the To-Be process is practical, addressing all pain points, and aligned with the company’s strategic objectives.
Best practices for validation:
Engage the right stakeholders: Identify key individuals from different teams who understand the pain points and have a vested interest in the improved process. This might include process owners, business analysts, and department heads.
Use Elements’ collaboration tools: Share the To-Be diagrams directly in Elements, allowing stakeholders to add comments and sticky notes on specific process steps. Encourage asynchronous feedback, enabling more participation.
Focus on measurable improvements: As part of the review, highlight where specific pain points from the As-Is have been addressed. Use metrics, such as time saved, reduced errors, or improved user satisfaction, to quantify expected outcomes.
Ask targeted questions: If you are presenting the process diagrams during a workshop or a call, ask questions that lead to actionable insights:
“Does this new step fully resolve the issue you experienced in the As-Is?”
“Are there any gaps in the To-Be that might create new challenges?”
“How do you see this change impacting your team’s daily work?”
“Does this solution meet the expectations we set when reviewing the As-Is?”
“Are there any anticipated challenges with implementing this future state?”
“What additional support or resources do you think will be needed to make this transition smooth?”
Once the 'To-Be' state (updated Draft) of your business process diagrams have been approved by the stakeholders, it is time to capture detailed deliverables.
Continue to this solution guide on conducting fit-gap analysis to learn how.