How do you map as-is and to-be processes?

Direct answer

What a strong answer covers

How it works

The as-is map is evidence, not opinion: it is built by observing the work, interviewing the people who do it, and pulling numbers from the systems, then drawn as actors, steps, handoffs, systems, waiting times, exceptions, and volumes. The pain points come from that picture, such as a handoff that waits two days or a step that is redone 30 percent of the time. The to-be process is designed against measurable outcomes and shows what changes for each role, which controls remain, which systems are involved, and what is needed to move from one to the other, including the transition period where both exist.

Example

Mapping supplier onboarding as-is showed 14 steps across procurement, legal, and finance with an average of 23 days, 11 of them waiting for a signature that legal handled in batches. The to-be process used an e-signature tool triggered automatically after the compliance check, cut the steps to 9, and targeted 7 days; the transition plan ran both paths for a month with a comparison of cycle time.

Common mistakes

• Drawing the as-is from the documented procedure instead of how work actually happens.
• Designing the to-be without a metric that says whether it worked.
• Ignoring the roles whose work disappears or changes and meeting resistance at rollout.

A useful answer structure

Answer from your own work.

Do not memorise a script: use only examples you can explain honestly in follow-up questions.