Setting Up the Project

The production of Process Maps for a Business or Quality Management System (BMS) is not a small undertaking and is usually set up as a Project. This enables the aim, content and timescales to be defined and allows for the monitoring of progress towards that goal.

When creating a BMS, there are several aspects that need to be considered:

• What do we need to include?
• Who are the audience for the system?
• What do they need to know?
• What is it going to look like (e.g. company logo and branding)?
• How are we going to ensure a consistent look and feel across the System?
• What information does the organisation need from the Process Maps?

Most of these would be part of the initial discussions on the acquisition of the tool, but while the tool provides the framework, the maps will be created by or with the relevant Subject Matter Experts. The Authors of the maps will require guidance on how to create the maps to ensure the consistent look and feel. They will also require guidance on what data (Properties) are to be added within the activity, deliverable and node shapes, so that it can be extracted using Reports. It may also be useful to provide advice to the Authors of documents, to ensure their consistent look and feel.

All this information should be included in a documents. Within this Help we have called it a Process Governance Framework.