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PLENUA
Tool

Process map
template

One page on which you write down how a process actually runs — including the exceptions and shortcuts nobody wrote down. It is the first document produced in every implementation we do.

Fill in the map online →

No sign-up and no email address. Your progress is saved in your browser.

What it covers

Six things
you need to write down.

The tool walks you through them in ten questions. Deliberately short — a map that doesn’t fit on one page will not be read.

The trigger

What starts the process: a form submission, a signed contract, a particular day of the month.

The steps in order

Who does what and in what order. Separating what always happens from what happens sometimes.

The time at each step

Even an estimate. This is the column that shows where the process really loses time.

The exceptions

What happens when something goes differently. The section most often skipped and the most important one.

Measures before and after

How many hours it takes today. Without that number you cannot prove the implementation was worth it.

The process owner

Who makes the decisions. Implementations mostly drag on because there is nobody to ask.

Fill in online

A process map
in ten questions.

You don’t need to know how processes are documented. Answer in order and the map writes itself. Your progress is saved in the browser — you can come back tomorrow.

One rule. Answer as things really are — with the exceptions, the shortcuts and the “it depends”. A description of an ideal process is useless. If you start hesitating on a question, that is exactly the point where the process has not been settled yet.
0 of 10 answersSaved in your browser0%
Part 1 · what we are talking about
1
What do you call this process internally?

It doesn’t have to sound official. Use the words you use between yourselves.

Why we ask: if you can’t name it in one sentence, you are probably talking about several processes at once.
2
Who runs it and who decides the rules?

Two different roles. Sometimes the same person, more often not.

Why we ask: implementations most often stall when there is nobody to settle a small detail.
3
How many times a month does it repeat?

A rough number is enough.

Why we ask: below a dozen or so times a month, automation rarely pays back the cost of implementing it.
Part 2 · how it runs
4
What starts this process?

A specific event after which somebody starts working. If there are several, list them all.

Why we ask: the number of triggers tells us how many channels have to be connected.
5
What happens next, step by step?

Write in plain sentences, one per line. For each, note who does it and where — in which tool, inbox or spreadsheet.

Why we ask: if by the third step you start writing “it depends”, this is not a process yet, just a habit shared by a few people.
6
How many minutes does one run take?

The total of all the steps. An estimate is perfectly fine.

Not sure? Count it step by step
What happensWhoWhereMinutes
1
2
3
4
Total of the steps0 min
Why we ask: this is the only number that will prove anything changed after the implementation. Measure it now — afterwards nobody remembers how it was.
Part 3 · where it breaks
7
When does an exception to the rules have to be made?

Situations where somebody deliberately does something differently.

Why we ask: the exceptions decide whether the process can be automated in full or only in part.
8
What happens when somebody forgets about it?

Answer honestly. This is a question about real costs, not about procedures.

Why we ask: it shows whether a mistake can be undone — one of the four readiness conditions. Check them in the readiness test.
9
Where does the process most often get stuck?

The point where something waits, comes back or goes missing.

Why we ask: this is usually the part worth starting with.
10
If one thing were to change — what would it be?

One sentence. Not a list.

Why we ask: the answer is the goal of the implementation. Everything else is a means to it.
Your map in numbers
Answers0 of 10
Time for one run—
Repeats per month—
Hours per month—
Cost of the process per month—
Answer questions 3 and 6 to see how much time and money this process takes.

or ·

How to use it

Fill it in before you
automate anything.

Including if you have no plans to work with us.

Fill it in with the person who runs the process, not the one who manages it. The difference can be surprising.
Write down how it is, not how it should be. A map of an ideal process is useless.
If by the third section you start writing “it depends” — it is not a process yet, just a habit shared by a few people.
Measure the time before you change anything. After the implementation nobody remembers how it used to be.
Next step

Filled in the map
and know where the time goes?

Bring it to a free consultation. A call with a completed map takes half as long and ends with a specific quote.

Book a free consultation →