Lean Methods · Guide

Process mapping examples

Three worked process mapping examples — order handling, employee onboarding, and support tickets — showing the steps, the delays that typically appear between them, and the changes that remove the most waiting.

Example 1: Order handling (customer order to shipment)

1. Order arrives (email, portal, or phone)
2. Sales validates the details and pricing
3. Decision: credit approved? Finance review if not
4. Warehouse checks stock
5. Decision: in stock? Supplier purchase order if not
6. Pick and pack
7. Carrier collects; customer notified

Where the time goes: finance review waiting in an inbox, supplier lead time, re-keying the order into a second system.

The usual fix: pre-approve credit limits for repeat customers and set a stock threshold that reorders before an order arrives — both remove waiting rather than speeding up work.

Example 2: Employee onboarding (offer accepted to productive)

1. Offer accepted
2. HR creates the employee record and contract
3. IT provisions accounts, laptop, and access rights
4. Manager prepares the first-week plan and buddy
5. Day 1: welcome, equipment handover, introductions
6. Week 1–4: training, first tasks, check-ins
7. 30-day review

Where the time goes: IT requests raised late, access rights granted in sequence, first-week plan written the evening before.

The usual fix: trigger IT provisioning from the signed offer and run HR, IT, and manager preparation in parallel lanes.

Example 3: Support ticket (report to resolution)

1. Customer reports an issue
2. Ticket triaged and categorised
3. Decision: known issue? Send known fix
4. First-line attempts resolution
5. Decision: resolved? Escalate to engineering if not
6. Fix delivered and verified with the customer
7. Ticket closed; cause recorded

Where the time goes: waiting for missing customer information, the escalation queue, repeat tickets with the same cause.

The usual fix: capture required details in the intake form, agree a service level for escalations, and review recurring causes monthly.

Patterns across all three

• Most of the lead time is waiting, not working.
• Every handoff is a candidate delay.
• Steps that could run in parallel are run in sequence out of habit.
• Recurring problems repeat because the cause is never recorded, only the fix.

FAQ

What is a good example of process mapping?

Order handling, onboarding, invoice approval, or support tickets — each has clear start and end points, several handoffs, and visible waiting time.

How many steps should an example map have?

Between 7 and 15 for a first map. You can zoom into a single step later with its own detailed map.

Should an example include timings?

Yes, even rough ones — they show where the lead time really goes, which is almost never inside the steps themselves.

Related reading

• How to create a process map
• Value Stream Mapping (VSM)
• The continuous improvement process