Free Process Mapping Training
Free Process Mapping Training for Teams: SIPOC and Swimlane
Windy Hill Partners runs free process mapping training for teams: 2 live virtual sessions, 1 hour each, 1 tool per session. Session 1 teaches the SIPOC. Session 2 teaches the swimlane map. Your team keeps the templates and takes the first shot at its own process.
How the Sessions Work
How the training works: one hour, one tool, taught on a sample.
Process mapping training teaches a team to draw how its work moves: where it starts, who touches it and where it waits. Ask a room where a process starts and you'll get a different answer from everyone in it. Ask who it goes to next and you'll get another round. These 2 tools settle both questions on paper before anyone starts arguing about the fix.
Each session runs 60 minutes on video and covers 1 tool. We practice on sample processes, not yours, so nobody's own mess goes up on screen and the hour stays about learning the tool. Most teams start with the SIPOC and book the swimlane session once they've used it.
Both sessions are free. If the hour helped, I'd ask for a LinkedIn post about it. That's the whole price.
- Format: virtual, 60 minutes, live
- Cost: free
- Your team keeps: the 1-page templates and the free online tools
- Taught by: Bob Buckwalter, Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, PMP, MBA
Session 1: SIPOC training
SIPOC: where it starts, where it ends, who it touches
A SIPOC puts a process on 1 page: suppliers, inputs, the 5 to 7 big steps, outputs and the customers who receive them.
- 5 min: why nobody agrees where a process starts
- 20 min: build a SIPOC on a sample, center column first
- 15 min: small groups fill the template for a second sample
- 5 min: how to take a first shot at your own process
- 10 min: a preview of the swimlane map
- 5 min: questions
Session 2: swimlane training
Swimlane map: who hands off to whom, and where work waits
A swimlane map gives each role its own lane, so every handoff between people shows up as a line crossing a lane. Your team builds one on a sample, marks every handoff and every wait, and learns to click a step to see everything downstream of it.
Try the free Swimlane Studio →After the Sessions
Free to learn. Paid to take forward.
The sessions teach the tools. Using them on a real process, in a process mapping workshop with the people who run it, takes several hours, and that part isn't free. Your team's first draft usually raises more questions than it answers, which is the point: it shows where the process is fuzzy before anyone spends money fixing it.
Learn the tools
The SIPOC session, then the swimlane session. Free.
Your first draft
Your team maps 1 real process on its own with the templates. Free, and yours to keep.
Take it to a fix
Facilitated mapping with the people who run the process, finding the cause and building the fix. Paid, scoped work. It starts with a fixed-price operational assessment that hands you the plan.
Common Questions
Questions about the free process mapping training.
Is the process mapping training free?
Yes. Both 1-hour virtual sessions, the SIPOC training and the swimlane training, are free. Using the tools on your own real process with your team takes several hours, and that part is paid work.
What does the free process mapping training cover?
2 live virtual sessions, 1 hour each, 1 tool per session. Session 1 teaches the SIPOC, which shows where a process starts and ends and everyone it touches. Session 2 teaches the swimlane map, which shows who hands off to whom and where work waits. Both use sample processes, and your team keeps the templates.
What is the difference between a SIPOC and a swimlane map?
A SIPOC shows a process at its boundaries on 1 page: who supplies it, what goes in, the 5 to 7 big steps, what comes out and who receives it. A swimlane map shows the steps in detail, with each role in its own lane, so every handoff and every wait is visible. The SIPOC comes first because it sets the scope the swimlane map works inside. More on SIPOC vs process maps.
Do we work on our own process during the session?
No. Each session uses sample processes so the hour stays on learning the tool. Afterward your team takes a first pass at 1 real process with the templates.
Who are the sessions for?
Teams whose work changes hands between people: operations and shared services groups, and staffing or assistant firms whose people work inside client businesses.
How do we book a session?
Book a free call at windyhillpartners.net/contact.html or call 610-316-4056. We'll pick a date and a sample process that looks like the work your team does.
Book the first hour for your team.
Start with a free call. We'll pick a date and a sample process that looks like the work your team does.
Book a Free Call →