Every company has them, yet they are rarely equally clear to everyone involved: business processes. Anyone faced with the task of restructuring or documenting workflows soon finds themselves asking: which method should I use to represent processes? The options range from strictly logical IT diagrams to elaborate visual representations. Every format has its place – the key factor is the target audience.

An overview of the three best-known approaches

To help you make the right choice for your next project, we have summarised the most common methods of process visualisation for you:

• The classic flowchart: Ideal for simple, linear yes/no decisions in operational areas. It is quick to create, but quickly reaches the limits of its clarity when dealing with highly complex, cross-departmental processes.
• BPMN 2.0 (Business Process Model and Notation): The global standard for IT and process specialists. Perfectly suited for programming systems and precisely defining technical interfaces. For the wider workforce, however, this symbol-heavy language is usually too abstract.
• The dialog picture / The illustrative process map: This approach translates logical workflows into a vivid, pictorial landscape. It is ideal for internal communication, onboarding and change management, as it focuses on people and the overall objective.

Checklist: How to find the right method

Before you start mapping out your processes, you should ask yourself three key questions:

1. Who is the target audience? (Specialists or the entire workforce?)
2. What is the primary objective? (Technical automation or cultural understanding?)
3. How flexible is the process? (Rigid sequence or agile framework?)

If your aim is to break down silos and create a shared understanding across departmental boundaries, visual representation is the most effective choice.

As experts in visual communication, we help you strike exactly the right balance between structure and dynamism.

Would you like to find the best approach for your company? Visit our landing page and find out how we can map your processes together.

THE TARGET PICTURE

Creating transparency about the target system, making it understandable and easy to communicate to all employees, providing the opportunity for personal identification and describing the way into the future to ultimately provide a higher-level orientation for the entire company - these were the reasons why ALMO decided to create a dialog picture.

Together with DIALOGBILD and Goldpark as professional partners, a dialog picture was developed and implemented for ALMO. During the first step, the already existing target system was supplemented by a „north star“ and derived core statements. This creative process was moderated and supported by Goldpark.

The target picture was developed on the basis of the „north star“, key messages and ALMO's strategy and corporate mission statement. It was important for the company to integrate employees and executives into the development process. Therefore, executives and employees of all departments as well as members of the works council participated in three workshops.

The target development workshops were presented by DIALOGBILD in an open and integrating way. The participants were able to voice their opinion and their thoughts and DIALOGBILD managed to enthuse everyone - including the critics - for the target picture and ensure the personal identification with the images content. This created a positive undertone for the target picture even before its official implementation.

DIALOGBILD provided the ideas for the implementation of the target picture as part of an interactive event and also supported ALMO during the event. Goldpark was an important source of ideas, especially in the development of the target pictures content, the description of the „north star“ as well as preparing the executives for the target picture implementation.

AUDI INGOLSTADT: CAR BODY CONSTRUCTION AT A GLANCE

Future is an attitude …

... a vision that more than 43,000 employees in Ingolstadt alone work on effectively and with passion. For more than 70 years, well-known models have rolled out of production all over the world. Enthusiastic customers can follow the basic principles of production on a guided tour of the plant. When designing the visitor route, the company once again opted for a dialog picture to visualize the individual processes of production in the body shop. The processes and interrelationships can be grasped at first glance and are presented in an easily understandable way from a bird's eye view.

In the process, the content of the dialog picture was developed in several web conferences. Together with an illustrator and consultant from DIALOGBILD and a team from AUDI AG under Christopher Nussbaum's leadership, the topics were developed and partially sketched live. In this way, all participants could be actively involved in the development process and had the opportunity to help shape the dialog picture. After the final fine-tuning of the content, the dialog image was finally visualized in color and in a high level of detail.