Creating discovery maps

When you create a new process blueprint, it automatically opens in the Discovery Map view. The Discovery Map view is good to use for initial brainstorming or interviewing sessions with process experts because it allows you to quickly enter milestones and activities contained in those milestones. In the sections below, you can learn how to use the Discovery Map view to map your process.

discovery map showing three milestones and five activities

Adding milestones and activities

To add a milestone or an activity, select a milestone after which you want it to appear and perform one of the following actions:
  1. Click the Add milestone or the Add Activity button.
  2. Click enter.

To give you milestone or activity a name, select it and type the name.

Moving and converting the elements

Moving and converting the elements defines their order and relationships between them. You can configure your elements directly on the map, or on he process outline on the left side of the screen. The process outline represents a list of contents of your discovery map. You can perform the following actions while mapping your process:

  • To change the placement of elements, you can drag and drop milestone and activities on the canvas. For example, you can change the order of the milestones and activities, or a drag an activity from one milestone to another.

  • To copy an activity, right click it and click Copy activity. To paste it, select an activity after which you want it to appear, and click Insert Copied Activity.

  • To convert an activity into a milestone, drag it into the milestone row.

  • To convert an activity into a child activity of an activity above it, click tab.

  • To convert a milestone into an activity, drag it into one of the activity rows. If the converted milestone contained activities, the activity will be automatically turned into a subprocess.

  • To convert a milestone into an activity inside a previous milestone, select it and click tab. If the converted milestone contained activities, the activity will be automatically turned into a subprocess.

Deleting elements

To delete an element, right-click it and click Delete. Alternatively, select it and click shift + delete.

Next steps

When you finish creating a discovery map, you can go on to transform it into a process diagram. For more information, see Creating process diagrams.

If you want to improve your discovery map, see Making your diagrams more effective.