On May 23, 2014 we wrote a blog post on the importance of business process mapping. It is great to hear that our readers are not only grasping the importance of documenting their business processes, but are using them to help focus their process improvement efforts.

One of the questions we received in our inbox blogquestions@brannerconsulting.com was:

“Do you have any suggestions on process mapping software?”

This is a great question and really depends on how you will use the process map. For example, are you using the process map as a drawing to depict the process or will you need the process map to integrate with other software development tools in a larger BPM (Business Process Management) system?

We have used multiple software packages for process mapping depending on its intended use, including Microsoft Visio, Smartdraw, and even Microsoft Excel in some cases. In addition, there are a lot of open source software available that we have tried.

Ultimately, we used the following criteria for selecting the software:

(1) Ease of use

(2) Variety of features

(3) Customer Support

(4) Costs

The following sites evaluate process mapping or flow charting software packages and can assist with your selection process depending on your criteria.

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Branner Consulting, LLC can help you document your business processes and identify improvement opportunities so that you can become more efficient and productive. Contact us to help you get started!