Process Discovery & Workflow Modelling FAQs
Intelligent Actions helps organisations understand, model and verify their business processes before committing to software development, automation or digital transformation.
These frequently asked questions explain Process Discovery, workflow modelling, Agile Discovery™ and the Intelligent Actions Verification Engine.
What is Process Discovery?
Process Discovery is the process of understanding how work actually happens before deciding what technology, automation or software should be introduced.
It identifies what starts a process, who performs each task, what information they need, what decisions are made, how work passes between people, how exceptions are handled and what outcome the process is intended to achieve.
The objective is to create clarity before committing to development or automation.
Why should Process Discovery come before automation?
Many transformation projects begin with technology. An organisation chooses a platform, looks for opportunities to automate or starts considering artificial intelligence.
The difficulty is that the documented process and the real process may be very different.
Workarounds, informal decisions, assumptions and knowledge held by individual employees may never appear in a procedure manual.
Automating a poorly understood process can simply make existing problems happen faster.
Process Discovery allows an organisation to understand and improve the process before deciding how best to automate it.
What is workflow modelling?
Workflow modelling creates a graphical representation of how work moves through an organisation.
A workflow model can show:
* the tasks that need to be completed
* who is responsible for each task
* the information required
* decisions and approval points
* inputs and outputs
* dependencies
* hand-offs between people or departments
* exceptions and alternative routes through the process
A visual workflow makes it easier for everyone involved to understand, discuss and challenge a proposed process before software development begins.
How is workflow modelling different from traditional process mapping?
Traditional process mapping often records how an existing process currently operates.
Workflow modelling can go further by examining how a process should operate in the future.
The proposed workflow can be reviewed collaboratively, refined and verified before it becomes part of a software system.
This makes workflow modelling particularly useful when an organisation is planning automation, digital transformation or a new software application.
What is Agile Discovery™?
Agile Discovery™ is the Intelligent Actions approach to collaboratively creating and verifying a graphical workflow specification before software development.
Instead of waiting until software is being built to discover misunderstandings or missing requirements, stakeholders work together on a visual model of the process.
Requirements can emerge and change during discovery, but those changes can be incorporated into the model and checked before development begins.
How is Agile Discovery different from Agile software development?
Agile software development typically discovers and refines requirements while software is being developed.
Agile Discovery moves much of that discovery earlier.
Instead of initially iterating on code, stakeholders iterate on a graphical representation of the process.
This makes it possible to explore questions about responsibilities, approvals, information requirements, hand-offs, conflicting rules and exceptions before they become software changes.
How is Agile Discovery different from Waterfall?
Waterfall development generally attempts to define requirements before development and then progresses through a sequence of stages.
This can work well when requirements are already clear and stable, but changes discovered later can become expensive.
Agile Discovery also seeks clarity before development, but does not assume that every requirement is known at the beginning.
Requirements are developed collaboratively and iteratively through the workflow model until stakeholders are satisfied that the proposed process works.
What is the Intelligent Actions Verification Engine?
The Intelligent Actions Verification Engine takes a graphically captured business process and models its behaviour by animating the workflow.
This allows stakeholders to see how tasks, decisions, information, roles and hand-offs move through the process and to identify missing steps, conflicting requirements or unexpected behaviour before software development begins.
Where appropriate, webforms can also be created so users can see and review proposed screen displays as part of the model.
The result is therefore more than a static process diagram. It is an interactive model of how the proposed process and user interactions could work, giving stakeholders something they can see, discuss and verify before committing to development.
Why is verification important before software development?
Written specifications can be interpreted differently by different people.
A manager, user, analyst and developer may all read the same requirement and imagine something slightly different.
Verification gives stakeholders an opportunity to examine the proposed workflow together and identify those differences before they are translated into software.
Changing a workflow model is generally easier and less disruptive than changing a completed software system.
What problems can Process Discovery uncover?
Process Discovery can reveal problems such as:
* duplicated work
* unnecessary tasks
* undocumented decisions
* conflicting approval rules
* missing information
* unclear responsibilities
* unnecessary hand-offs
* processes dependent on knowledge held by one individual
* exceptions that have not been considered
* activities that could be simplified or removed entirely
Sometimes Process Discovery reveals that the best improvement is not new technology at all, but a simpler process.
Do I need to know exactly what I want before starting?
No.
One of the reasons for carrying out Process Discovery is that organisations rarely know every requirement at the beginning of a project.
The discovery process helps stakeholders identify requirements, challenge assumptions and refine the workflow collaboratively.
The process becomes clearer as the model develops.
Who should be involved in Process Discovery?
The people who actually perform the work should be involved wherever possible.
Managers may understand what a process is intended to do, while employees carrying out the work often understand the exceptions, workarounds and practical details.
Bringing these perspectives together helps create a more accurate model of the real process.
What kinds of processes can be modelled?
Workflow modelling is particularly suitable for processes involving people, information, decisions, forms, approvals and hand-offs.
Examples include:
* customer onboarding
* employee onboarding
* recruitment
* purchasing and approvals
* service requests
* case management
* order processing
* internal administration
* compliance workflows
* customer support
* document approval
* operational processes
The approach can be used wherever work moves through a repeatable sequence of activities and decisions.
What do I receive at the end of the modelling process?
The objective is to provide a clearly documented and validated representation of the proposed workflow.
Depending on the project, this can include a graphical workflow model identifying:
* tasks
* roles
* responsibilities
* inputs
* outputs
* decisions
* dependencies
* business rules
* hand-offs between participants
The resulting model can form the basis of a detailed requirements specification for subsequent software development or automation.
Can the specification be given to another software developer?
Yes.
One of the advantages of separating Process Discovery from development is that your organisation can understand and validate the process before deciding who should implement it.
The resulting workflow model and requirements information can therefore provide a clearer starting point for your own technical team, an existing supplier or another software development company.
Does Intelligent Actions develop the software as well?
The primary purpose of Intelligent Actions is to help organisations discover, model and verify their processes before the larger implementation commitment is made.
The important first step is understanding what the organisation actually needs and creating a specification that stakeholders can see, discuss and validate.
Once that has been achieved, the organisation is in a much stronger position to decide how the solution should be implemented.
Can Process Discovery help with AI projects?
Yes.
Introducing artificial intelligence without first understanding the underlying process can create many of the same problems as traditional automation.
Before deciding where AI should be used, an organisation should understand what work is being performed, what information is involved, where decisions are made and where human judgement is required.
Process Discovery provides that foundation.
Is Process Discovery only for large organisations?
No.
Smaller organisations can particularly benefit because important processes are often dependent on individual employees and knowledge that has never been formally documented.
Making those processes visible can help reduce dependency on individuals, improve consistency and make future automation easier.
Why use Intelligent Actions?
Intelligent Actions specialises in workflow modelling and Process Discovery.
Our approach is based on a simple principle:
**Discover your process first.**
By understanding and verifying a workflow before committing to development, organisations can make better-informed decisions about software, automation and digital transformation.
Want to discuss your process?
If you are considering software development, automation or digital transformation and want to understand your process before making a larger investment, talk to Intelligent Actions.
We can help you model the workflow, identify missing requirements and create a clearer specification before development begins.