In a recent gathering of municipal leaders and process-improvement professionals, Peterborough County in Ontario demonstrated how smart process mapping can align people, policy, and technology – producing tangible improvements in operational efficiency and staff collaboration. The presentation, delivered by Dena Kempt, Corporate Process Analyst at Peterborough County, was part of the North America chapter of the Council & Municipality Transformation Reference Group organized by PRIME BPM.
Kempt’s talk – titled “Bridging the Gaps: Using Process Mapping to Align People, Policy, and Technology” – went beyond theory to cover concrete real-world applications. She referenced transformative case studies, including the redesign of the paramedic payroll process and the county’s preparations for an enterprise-wide ERP system. In each instance, process mapping served not merely as documentation but as a strategic tool to reveal inefficiencies, clarify roles, and prepare the organisation for digital transformation.
Some of the key takeaways from the session included:
•Turning mapping into insight – Process maps captured not only tasks and decision points, but time, system dependencies, roles, and documentation. This holistic view helped reveal inefficiencies and duplications that static flowcharts often miss.
•People-first approach – Rather than treating mapping as a mechanical exercise, Peterborough County engaged staff as subject matter experts. This fostered buy-in and surfaced real issues. Kempt described the process as “almost therapeutic,” giving employees space to voice frustrations and suggestions without fear.
•Cross-department clarity – By mapping workflows from all involved departments, bottlenecks in workflows – such as in paramedic payroll – became visible. For example, the payroll team realised they received excessive or mistimed inputs, while paramedic administration gained clarity on what data the payroll actually needed, so roles and submission deadlines were redefined.
•Policy validation through reality check – Process mapping exposed where theoretical policies (like document-retention rules) did not align with actual operational behaviour – allowing the county to refine or replace ineffective policies.
•Mapping before systems – The county used process mapping to document “as-is” workflows before committing to ERP implementation. This disciplined approach ensured the new system would reflect real-world operations, reducing risk of disruption or mismatch.
Attendees from multiple municipalities participated in lively discussions, sharing their own pain points and dissecting how a mapping-first approach might help. Many underscored the critical role of senior leadership support and having dedicated internal resources to keep process-improvement momentum alive.
The Council & Municipality Transformation Reference Group – powered by PRIME BPM – aims to foster peer learning, collaboration and knowledge sharing among local governments embarking on digital transformation, compliance, and continuous improvement initiatives. Through such collaborative forums, municipalities can learn from each other’s successes and pitfalls, avoiding repeated mistakes and accelerating service quality improvements.
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PRIME BPM is a cloud-based, AI-powered Business Process Management (BPM) software designed to help organisations map, analyse, improve, and monitor their business processes with ease. It provides an intuitive interface and built-in methodologies (including Lean, Six Sigma, BPMN 2.0 standards) so both business users and process experts can quickly create standardised process maps, calculate process metrics like cost and efficiency, prioritise improvements, simulate process changes, and track ongoing performance-all from one central platform.
This release was published on openPR.
