Skip to main content
TradeFlo

Map the paperwork: business process mapping

See where each job waits, before anything is built.

We sit with the people who handle one workflow and write down how it runs today.

Why does the same job keep coming back?

  • Nobody has written down who does what, so each new starter learns it from whoever is free.

  • The same detail is typed into several places, and the copies disagree.

  • Software gets chosen before anyone has checked where the work waits.

How to map a business process

You can draw the first map yourself with a pen, a whiteboard or the template below. Start with one workflow, not the whole business.

Download the process mapping template (CSV)

It opens in any spreadsheet, with one row per step and columns for who does it, what they hand on and where it waits. The first two rows are a sample.

  1. Pick one workflow and one recent job

    Choose the workflow that causes the most chasing, such as variations or supplier quotes. Take one job that went through it lately, so you map what happened, not what should have happened.

  2. List everyone who touches it

    Write down each person who receives, checks, types or signs something for that job. Include the person who decides what happens next.

  3. Walk the job from start to sign-off

    Start at the first document and give each step one line: who does it, what they get and what they hand on.

  4. Mark every handover and every wait

    A handover is where the work moves to another person. Note where it sits waiting for a reply, a signature or a price, and who has to move it on.

  5. Find the details typed twice

    Flag each place where a job number, an address or a price goes into a second system by hand. The copies drift apart there.

  6. Let the people who do the work correct it

    Show the draft to each person in the workflow. The map is finished when they agree it matches the work.

If you would rather we did it with your team, that is the service on the rest of this page.

What we do

We follow one recent job from the first document to the final sign-off. No AI runs at this step, and nothing is connected. We note each handover, where the work waits and who owns the next move. Your office lead reads the draft map and corrects it before it is final.

You receive: A written map of the workflow, checked by your office lead

Hands resting on loose paperwork, a ring binder and a calculator on an office desk

Example output

A written workflow map

Sample

Supplier comparison: workflow map

  1. Estimator receives the quotes

    Source: the project inbox and attachments

  2. Office prepares the comparison

    Waiting point: an exclusion needs clarification

  3. Buyer checks the package

    Decision: ask the supplier or accept the scope

What we will ask you

  • One recent job file, with private details removed

  • Time with each person who handles a handover

  • The step where the job most often stalls

Before the next step

Who decides

Your office lead confirms the map matches the work. Only then do we look at which systems to connect.

Before you start

Do you need access to our systems for the map?

No. We work from conversations and the documents you choose to share. Access comes later, at Connect, and only with your systems lead's sign-off.

Who should take part?

Everyone who handles a handover in that workflow, plus the person who decides what happens next.

What do we do with the map if we stop there?

Keep it. It is yours, and any team or supplier can build from it.

Start with one job file.

Send us a recent job that stalled. We will map it with the people who handled it.

Choose your region