Stop 04 · Process Modeling & AnalysisTopics · 4/9

As-Is vs To-Be Process Mapping

In short

You can't plan a better route if you don't know where you're standing. As-Is maps show today's reality. To-Be maps show the improved version. The difference between them is your project.

Documenting how a process currently works (As-Is) before designing how it should work (To-Be) — skipping the As-Is analysis often means redesigning around a misunderstood current state.

The purple blob stands in a messy hostel room holding a sketch of a tidier layout.

Think of it like this

Rearranging your hostel room

Before moving anything, you sketch where the bed, desk and cupboard are now, and notice you walk around the bed ten times a day. Then you sketch the new layout. Skip the first sketch and you might create a new problem while fixing the old one.

Watch it happen

College fee refund: today vs planned

As-Is

Paper form signed by three offices
Student chases each office in person
Often takes around three weeks

To-Be

One online form, routed automatically
Status updates sent by SMS
Target: under five working days

Map As-Is with the people doing the work, measure it, then design To-Be. The gap between them becomes the requirements.

The big ideas

What you need to know

As-Is is the honest picture

Include the workarounds, the waiting and the extra steps. A cleaned-up As-Is hides the problems you're meant to fix.

Measure the As-Is

Note time per step, waiting time and error rates. Numbers let you prove the To-Be is actually better.

To-Be is a design

Remove steps, merge handoffs, automate checks. Every change should link to a pain point from the As-Is.

Check To-Be is realistic

Validate it with the people who'll run it. A beautiful To-Be that ignores staff limits will be ignored.

Save yourself the pain

Common mistakes

Oops

Skipping As-Is because 'we already know it's bad'.

Do this instead

Map it anyway. You'll find steps that exist for a good reason and must be kept in the To-Be.

Oops

Designing To-Be around a tool you already picked.

Do this instead

Design the better process first, then choose tools that support it.

Your mission

Map a real As-Is and To-Be

~40 min

Quick check

Why should you measure time and errors in the As-Is process?

Go deeper

1Map both an As-Is and a To-Be version of a hypothetical inefficient process.
2Learn why understanding the As-Is state, even when it's clearly broken, is still essential first.
3Practice identifying the specific gaps between As-Is and To-Be that justify the change.