Business process diagramming in Elements application is done exclusively using Universal Process Notation. We believe that UPN is the best diagramming notation for user journey and business processes discovery. In this guide, we will explain why and how to leverage it to best results.
Why Universal Process Notation?
Universal Process Notation is the simplest and at the same time most robust diagramming notation for capturing a wide range of flows, from business processes, through job diagrams, user journeys, and others.
With UPN you can accomplish many things:
Perform in-depth business analysis to help define detailed requirements
Capture better, more actionable user stories for development
Spot opportunities for process optimization and product innovation
Drive better process adoption and standardization among your team
Notation: basics
Universal Process Notation is a modelling technique that relies on using just one building block:
The image above represents that building block that is compromised of following elements:
Verb-based activity (What? happens)
Flowlines
Input (When? does it happen)
Outcome (Why? does it happen)
Resources
Human (Who? is responsible or involved)
Systems (With what? is the activity executed)
A UPN diagram is only composed of those building blocks, so it would look something like this:
One of the benefits of UPN is that through its modelling simplicity it takes all of the cognitive and mental effort away from choosing the right shapes or colors.
Neither creators nor end users of those diagrams have to decode anything with a legend. Instead, all of the focus should be put on the text and explanations captured in the diagram.
Verifiable outcomes
What truly sets apart UPN from other diagramming notations is the emphasis on capturing distinct, verifiable outcomes of each process step.
Keep these rules in mind:
This outcome provides the business rationale for the activity and signals its completion
The outcome also acts as a catalyst or requirement for the following activity
Outcome must provide clear, unique, verifiable set of conditions for completing the task (ask yourself, how would we know and verify that someone has done this?)
If you don't capture clear, unique, and verifiable outcomes for your activities, then you are not capturing a UPN diagram!
Many people who make a switch from BPMN or flowcharts to UPN say that capturing useful, detailed outcomes is the single hardest thing to adopt in the beginning.
While the notation may seem simple, or even simplistic to BPMN veterans, UPN in reality offers a trade-off: simplification of the notation itself, for the price of capturing a lot of textual detail on boxes and lines.
Verb-based activities
In the UPN diagram example below, take a look at the activity boxes in black vs in red. What is the difference?
In UPN you must capture what happens in the form of active verb + subject of action (hence the name 'activity'). This communicates what is exactly happening.
When we read activities 'evaluation plan' and 'fit' above, what is exactly happening? Is the sales development person supposed to draft an evaluation plan, check and verify and existing one, fill out the template one?
Similarly, when account executive is doing 'Fit', what does that actually mean? Is it 'Check and validate fit'? Is it 'Decide fit' ? The former would imply it is pre-set somehow earlier in the process, the latter would mean the account executive needs to make a decision themselves. And both have completely different implications for what the system like Salesforce would need to do to support it.
Diagram size and structure
The U in UPN stands for Universal. UPN is meant to be digestible by anyone. But UPN notation is no silver bullet in and of itself. You can still make the diagrams difficult to read.
Quick tip
Whenever you are drawing a UPN diagram ask yourself - "If I am not here to explain it, would other people understand what is going on?"
UPN diagrams are meant to be universally understood and explain themselves. Hence why the simple notation and textual detail.
But the bigger, more complex the diagram you draw, the more difficult it is to follow along.
There are a couple of simple rules to make the UPN diagrams really best practices:
Keep the diagrams relatively small (golden rule - no more than 12 boxes on the screen). Use attachments and sub-diagrams to capture more detail there.
Left-to-right, top-to-bottom organization: in the Western world, we read from left to right, and from top of the page to the bottom. The diagrams should be drawn in the same way as this is how everyone is used to reading any information.
The diagram below, while drawn in UPN, and easy to follow (thanks to left-to-right orientation), is still too big and could use simplification
There are 2 ways that UPN helps you to keep your diagrams compact and composable: using distinct roles and hierarchies. Let's discuss those in turn.
Distinct roles
There is a way to both make your diagrams leaner and more informative. By using RASCI responsibility matrix to tag roles involved in the activity, you can specify who is:
Responsible
Accountable
Supporting
Consulted
Informed
Look at the example below. You can represent a 4 step process and represent it with just one box by specifying who is ultimately responsible, who needs to be consulted in the decision making process, and who needs to be informed about the outcome.
Capturing complex OR / AND logic
One of the most common questions we hear is 'where is the decision diamond?' In flowcharts, it is a symbol that represents a decision point or a question that needs to be answered. UPN supports only one shape, hence there is no diamond. So what now?
An activity can have multiple flowlines coming out of it.
If those flowlines have different origin points (they do not overlap), it represents different outcomes and different paths a process can follow.
An activity can have multiple flowlines coming out of it.
If those flowlines originate from the same point, it represents the same outcome and parallel paths the process will follow. In this case, the same outcome triggers 3 different subsequent activities simultaneously
An activity can have multiple flowlines coming into it.
If those flowlines come at different target points, it represents separate triggers for an activity. In this case, any of the 3 flowlines represents an input that on its own is enough to start the next step.
An activity can have multiple flowlines coming into it.
If those flowlines all arrive at the same target point, it represents multiple necessary conditions for an activity to start. In this case, all 3 activities must be successfully performed for the next activity to begin
Hierarchical diagramming in Universal Process Notation
A key attribute of UPN notation is that it prescribes us to capture process steps in a hierarchical manner. Much like the folder structure on your computer or online drive, each step in a process can be broken down into sub-diagrams, representing smaller, more manageable steps:
Different approaches to hierarchies
The 'hierarchy' in other diagramming notations, most notably C4 or Salesforce Diagramming notation, work differently than in UPN. Diagram levels in those other notations usually mean a different level of detail applied to the same diagram or a different scope.
In UPN however, the child diagrams capture the detail, the 'How?' of the process step.
The key to understanding the hierarchy in UPN is to comprehend that the sub-diagram must cover the scope of the parent step. The purpose of the sub-diagram is not to present a different picture of the same diagram, it is to capture a completely separate diagram altogether that explains the 'How?' of the singular step above.
This cascading structure creates a process hierarchy with virtually unlimited layers of depth. As a result, a business process diagram that could have been an overwhelming monolith is instead presented as a network of related, easily digestible diagrams.
Take the process step below 'Identify and segment potential leads,' for instance. What would have otherwise been a single, vague step can now contain its own process needed to segment captured leads. By diving deep into the how, we can dissect complex tasks into more approachable, executable sub-tasks. This method not only promotes better understanding but also encourages effective implementation.
UPN best practice checklist
Below is a useful checklist you can use to ensure your UPN diagrams follow the notation's best practices:
UPN quick guide video