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Chapter 7
Expenses incurred
Employee prepares
expense report

Expenses incurred
Employee copies
report and receipts
Employee prepares
expense report
Employee attaches
receipts for all
expenses > $25
188 Sales manager Employee modifies
reviews report expense report
Employee mails
expense report to
sales manager
Expense Sales manager
report mails report back
approved No to employee
?
Sales manager Employee modifies
Yes reviews report expense report
Sales manager mails
expense report to
corporate office Expense Sales manager
report mails report back
approved No to employee
1 ?
Yes
Sales manager mails
expense report to
corporate office
1
Source Line: Course Technology/Cengage Learning.

FIGURE 7-3 Hierarchical modeling of Fitter’s expense-reporting process

For training purposes, it is important to document the detailed steps a salesperson
must follow to complete an expense report; however, the details can make the process
map cumbersome for process-improvement activities. In hierarchical modeling, the four
steps that the salesperson follows to complete an expense report can be condensed into
one step: “Employee completes expense report.” Hierarchical modeling software provides
the user with the flexibility to move easily from higher-level, less detailed views to lower-
level views with more details. Hierarchical modeling can aid in process mapping by
allowing a user to create a broad, high-level view of a process and then add more detail as
the process is analyzed.
Another widely used and widely recognized type of process-mapping technique is
deployment flowcharting (also known as swimlane flowcharting). This type of flowchart
depicts team members across the top, with each step aligned vertically under the
appropriate employee or team. Figure 7-4 shows the Fitter expense-reporting process as a
deployment flowchart. This process-mapping technique has the advantage of clearly
identifying each person’s tasks in the process.

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