Microsoft Visio® is a very commonly used tool for the mapping of business processes. Many BPM modeling tools claim to have Visio import abilities, but the real functionality they offer is no more than a “tick the box” for answering a RFQ (request for a quotation). This seems to be designed more as a way to gain a foothold for submitting and winning  sales proposals rather than offering the really needed functionality of importing quality Visio diagrams.

The main objective of process mapping is to achieve transparency and to align business processes (BPs) with company rules or legal regulations for the benefit of compliance. BPs are documented as diagrams using for instance flow charts or BPMN™ notations. Process modeling on the other hand is the analysis and optimization of the business architecture. Doing so involves a functional decomposition of BPs and the use of different views and viewpoints like organizations, data, goals or the organizations’ performances.

Surveys from leading analysts tell that Microsoft Visio® is the tool that is used for more than 70% of business process management (BPM) scenarios. In complex IT applications like SAP® ERP or Oracle® ERP projects, consultancies and system-integrators create business blueprint documentation with Microsoft Visio®. With the integration of Visio® into the leading test-management suite HP ALM, our R&D team has closed the so far open gap between requirements and process management on one side and the test management of complex IT applications on the other side.