Business process audit and mapping
Knowing what to automate before choosing a tool
We map your business processes, measure the time actually spent on each step and hand you a list of automation projects ranked by value, each with an implementation estimate.
Automating without knowing where to start
Most automation projects fail before the technical work begins: the most visible process gets automated rather than the most expensive one, or a way of working nobody ever questioned gets frozen into a tool. An audit is not there to produce a diagram, it is there to support a decision.
- —Nobody knows how many hours a month invoice processing, order entry or reporting actually costs.
- —The process described in the procedures stopped matching what teams do years ago.
- —Each department has built its own spreadsheets and workarounds, and no one has the full picture.
- —You already run automations, but they were built one at a time and nobody knows what still runs, or why.
How we work
Framing
A half-day workshop to set the scope: which processes, which departments, which pain points management considers a priority.
Observation
Interviews with the people who run the process, not only those who describe it. We record volumes, lead times and rework.
Mapping
Formalisation in BPMN: the real process, its variants and its breaking points. A document both the business and IT can read.
Prioritisation
Each project is estimated in expected gain and implementation effort. You decide on orders of magnitude rather than intuition.
What we use
The audit assumes no target tool: mapping is as useful for deciding not to automate as for choosing the right technology.
- BPMN 2.0
- The standard process modelling notation, readable by business teams and usable by technical ones.
- BPMN Studio
- Our own process editor, used to produce the maps and keep them alive after the engagement ends.
- Business workshops
- Interviews and job shadowing: the most reliable source on how the process actually runs.
- Volume analysis
- Extracting data from your existing systems (ERP, CRM, mailboxes) to put real numbers on times and volumes.
What you get
- A BPMN map of every process studied, in a format you can edit yourself.
- A ranked table of automation projects: expected gain, implementation effort, technical dependencies.
- A reasoned tooling recommendation, including when the answer is "automate nothing and simplify the process instead".
- A presentation to your management team, with the decisions that need to be made.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a process audit take?+
It depends on the scope. An audit focused on a single process, such as supplier invoice handling, takes one to two weeks. A cross-department audit takes longer, and we then split it into batches so you can start the first projects without waiting for the whole study to finish.
Do we need to have chosen an automation tool first?+
No, and it is better if you have not. Choosing the tool before mapping the process means bending the process to fit the tool. The audit produces a tooling recommendation: Power Automate, n8n, Make, custom development, or none of them.
What if the audit concludes we should not automate?+
That is a valid conclusion and we state it when it applies. Automating a badly designed process industrialises its flaws. In that case the recommendation covers simplifying the process itself, which is often cheaper and faster.
How much of our teams' time does this require?+
A limited amount: roughly one hour of interview per person involved, plus a half-day framing workshop and a closing presentation. We work from what already exists and do not ask your teams to produce documentation up front.
Do you work outside the Paris region?+
Yes. We are based in Paris and work across France. Interviews can be held remotely, though we prefer to be on site for the observation phase, which surfaces workarounds that interviews never reveal.
Let's look at your processes
A one-hour conversation is enough to identify the relevant scope and tell you whether an audit is justified in your situation.
Request a first conversation