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Process Map and Rework Register

Four sheets and four documents that carry the two things a swimlane cannot show: where the elapsed time goes, and what comes back.

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Pack of 8 files: 4 documents, 4 spreadsheets

Process Map and Rework Register

Mapping StandardDocument
What a Swimlane Cannot ShowDocument
Process NarrativeDocument
Handoff NotesDocument
Step RegisterSpreadsheet
Handoff MatrixSpreadsheet
System TouchpointsSpreadsheet
Rework Loop RegisterSpreadsheet

Process Map and Rework Register

Step Register

Larkspur Print and Packaging, order to dispatch

Measured from	260 jobs, six months to 30 September
Steps and lanes	13 steps across 6 lanes, one of them the customer
Touch time as a share of elapsed	7%

Two numbers per step, never added together

#	Step	Lane	Work	Wait before	Elapsed to here
1	Order received and checked	Customer Service	15 min	0	15 min
3	Artwork received and checked	Studio	30 min	2 d	2 d 2 h
5	Prepress imposition	Prepress	45 min	6 h	2 d 11 h
7	Proof approved	Customer	0	3 d 5 h	5 d 17 h
9	Press make-ready	Press	1 h 30	1 d 12 h	7 d 10 h
11	Die-cutting and gluing	Finishing	4 h	8 h	8 d 1 h
13	Pack and dispatch	Dispatch	1 h	4 h	8 d 7 h
all	13 steps	6 lanes	14 h 35	7 d 17 h	8 d 7 h

Step

Lane

Work

Wait before

Elapsed to here

Order received and checked

Customer Service

15 min

Artwork received and checked

Studio

30 min

2 d

2 d 2 h

Prepress imposition

Prepress

45 min

6 h

2 d 11 h

Proof approved

Customer

3 d 5 h

5 d 17 h

Press make-ready

Press

1 h 30

1 d 12 h

7 d 10 h

Die-cutting and gluing

Finishing

4 h

8 h

8 d 1 h

Pack and dispatch

Dispatch

1 h

4 h

8 d 7 h

all

13 steps

6 lanes

14 h 35

7 d 17 h

8 d 7 h

Why the columns stay apart

Step 3 is thirty minutes of work behind a two-day queue. It is not a two-day step, and the queue and the work get fixed in completely different places by completely different people.

Seven rows of thirteen shown. Zero and blank mean different things here: zero is a step that runs straight into the next one, blank is a wait nobody has timed yet.

Every result for this search is a diagramming tool. A canvas, a shape library, swimlanes, an export. Drawing was never the hard part. Look at what the notation can actually hold: in BPMN 2.0's own minimal element set, a task carries exactly two attributes, an id and a name, and a sequence flow carries its two endpoints. There is nowhere to write how long a step took, and nowhere at all to write how long the work waited.

So every arrow is the same length and the gap between two boxes reads as nothing. In a process crossing six teams, the gaps are where the time is. Every step in this pack carries two numbers in separate columns, the work inside it and the wait before it, never added together. The filled example runs fourteen hours thirty-five of touch time across eight days seven hours of elapsed time. Touch time is seven percent of the total, and that ratio is the finding.

Then the loops, which are the other half. Nobody narrating their own job says that a third of them come back to them, so rework is structurally invisible to a walkthrough and only surfaces from records. Send River the walkthrough and the status histories, or take the sheets blank, alongside the matrix that says who owns each step, the procedures those steps refer to and the plan for when a step's system is gone.

Thirteen steps, five loops, one quantity keyed five times

The map is drawn from the Step Register rather than beside it, so the picture and the numbers cannot drift apart.

Process Map and Rework Register

The MapRework LoopsHandoffsRe-keying

The Map

The map, with the waits drawn at their real size

Illustrative figures for a fictional folding-carton printer, Larkspur Print and Packaging. One block is six hours of queue. A dot is a wait under six hours.

Lane	Step	Wait before	Work	Comes back
Cust Service	1 Order received	none	15 min
Cust Service	2 Spec sheet raised	· 40 min	25 min	L5 18% to 1
Studio	3 Artwork received	░░░░░░░░ 2 d	30 min
Studio	4 Artwork corrected	· 20 min	2 h
Prepress	5 Imposition	░ 6 h	45 min	L1 34% to 4
Prepress	6 Proof produced	· 1 h	30 min
Customer	7 Proof approved	░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 3 d 5 h	0	L2 22% to 4
Prepress	8 Plates made	· 4 h	40 min
Press	9 Make-ready	░░░░░░ 1 d 12 h	1 h 30
Press	10 Print run	none	3 h
Finishing	11 Die-cut and glue	░ 8 h	4 h
Finishing	12 Quality check	· 1 h	30 min	L3 6% to 10
Dispatch	13 Pack and dispatch	· 4 h	1 h	L4 4% to 1

Lane

Step

Wait before

Work

Comes back

Cust Service

1 Order received

none

15 min

Cust Service

2 Spec sheet raised

· 40 min

25 min

L5 18% to 1

Studio

3 Artwork received

░░░░░░░░ 2 d

30 min

Studio

4 Artwork corrected

· 20 min

2 h

Prepress

5 Imposition

░ 6 h

45 min

L1 34% to 4

Prepress

6 Proof produced

· 1 h

30 min

Customer

7 Proof approved

░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 3 d 5 h

L2 22% to 4

Prepress

8 Plates made

· 4 h

40 min

Press

9 Make-ready

░░░░░░ 1 d 12 h

1 h 30

Press

10 Print run

none

3 h

Finishing

11 Die-cut and glue

░ 8 h

4 h

Finishing

12 Quality check

· 1 h

30 min

L3 6% to 10

Dispatch

13 Pack and dispatch

· 4 h

1 h

L4 4% to 1

The same eight days at one scale, one block per eight hours

Work	█ 14 h 35
Waiting	░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 7 d 17 h

Work

█ 14 h 35

Waiting

░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 7 d 17 h

Two waits are three quarters of the process. The customer finding print-ready files, and the customer approving a proof. Neither is anybody internal's step, which is exactly why the customer has to be a lane.

At a scale where the whole process fits on one line, all the work is one block. That is what a uniform-arrow diagram hides.

Rework Loops

Rework Loop Register

Counted in records, then confirmed with the lanes. Never the other way round. Denominator is 260 completed jobs.

Loop	Rate	Counted in	Cause	Days added	Caused by
L1 imposition back to studio	34%	88 of 260, prepress reject log	Files arrive with no bleed or in RGB and nothing checks them against the die line	1.5	L5, in part
L2 proof back to studio	22%	58 of 260, proof email threads	Colour was never set at order, so the customer meets the substrate at proof stage	2.8	L5, 9 of 58
L5 spec sheet back to order	18%	47 of 260, spec revision history	Paper weight and finish are not fields on the order form	0.4	none, first in chain
L3 quality back to press	6%	16 of 260, quality log	Registration drift on long runs on the older press	1.0	none, mechanical
L4 dispatch back to order	4%	11 of 260, dispatch hold notes	Credit is checked at invoicing, so a hold is found at the dock	3.0	none

Loop

Rate

Counted in

Cause

Days added

Caused by

L1 imposition back to studio

34%

88 of 260, prepress reject log

Files arrive with no bleed or in RGB and nothing checks them against the die line

1.5

L5, in part

L2 proof back to studio

22%

58 of 260, proof email threads

Colour was never set at order, so the customer meets the substrate at proof stage

2.8

L5, 9 of 58

L5 spec sheet back to order

18%

47 of 260, spec revision history

Paper weight and finish are not fields on the order form

0.4

none, first in chain

L3 quality back to press

16 of 260, quality log

Registration drift on long runs on the older press

1.0

none, mechanical

L4 dispatch back to order

11 of 260, dispatch hold notes

Credit is checked at invoicing, so a hold is found at the dock

3.0

none

Rank by days added and the order inverts. L4 runs at four percent and adds three days per occurrence. L5 runs at eighteen percent and adds under half a day. Rate alone would send the work at the wrong loop.

Then read the caused-by column. L5 is two missing fields on the order form, and it is feeding the two biggest loops in the process from four steps upstream. Fixing L1 where it hurts buys nothing, because the next job arrives with the same gap.

L3 is genuinely mechanical and says so. Forcing every loop into a chain is as misleading as having no chains at all.

Handoffs

Handoff Matrix

Arrival quality answered by the receiving lane only. Senders describe their own output as fine, which is honest and useless.

Crossing	Queue	Arrives usable	What the receiver chases every time	Verdict
Customer to Cust Service	0	94%	A purchase order number on 6% of orders	Fine
Cust Service to Studio	2 d	61%	Paper weight and finish, never captured at order	Broken at source
Studio to Prepress	6 h	66%	Bleed and colour space on a third of all artwork	Worst crossing
Prepress to Customer	1 h	98%	Nothing. The proof goes out clean	Fine
Customer to Prepress	3 d 5 h	78%	An answer. Nothing anywhere sends a reminder	Longest wait
Prepress to Press	1 d 12 h	99%	Nothing. Plates arrive correct	Fine but queued
Press to Finishing	8 h	88%	Registration on 12% of runs, reprint on half of those	Queue plus drift
Finishing to Dispatch	4 h	72%	A credit release on 4%, a count discrepancy on 24%	Two problems in one

Crossing

Queue

Arrives usable

What the receiver chases every time

Verdict

Customer to Cust Service

94%

A purchase order number on 6% of orders

Fine

Cust Service to Studio

2 d

61%

Paper weight and finish, never captured at order

Broken at source

Studio to Prepress

6 h

66%

Bleed and colour space on a third of all artwork

Worst crossing

Prepress to Customer

1 h

98%

Nothing. The proof goes out clean

Fine

Customer to Prepress

3 d 5 h

78%

An answer. Nothing anywhere sends a reminder

Longest wait

Prepress to Press

1 d 12 h

99%

Nothing. Plates arrive correct

Fine but queued

Press to Finishing

8 h

88%

Registration on 12% of runs, reprint on half of those

Queue plus drift

Finishing to Dispatch

4 h

72%

A credit release on 4%, a count discrepancy on 24%

Two problems in one

Studio said ninety percent at the prepress crossing. Prepress said sixty-six. Nobody was lying, and neither team had ever seen the other number. That twenty-four point gap is the most reliable single finding in a mapping exercise.

Multiply the column and end to end usability is under half. Every crossing is individually defensible. The process is not, which is how every lane honestly reports that things are fine.

Two crossings queue for over a day at ninety-nine percent arrival quality. Queue time and quality are separate problems, so they get separate columns.

Re-keying

System Touchpoints

Re-keying is never a step, so it never appears on a map. It appears here.

Step	System of record	Re-keyed from	Where it can differ	Verdict
1 Order received	Print MIS	Customer email or call	First entry, nothing to differ from yet	Origin
2 Spec sheet raised	Spreadsheet outside the MIS	Print MIS	Substrate and finish exist only here	Unreconciled
3 Artwork received	File server folder	not re-keyed	The folder name is the only link to the job	Fragile link
5 Imposition	Prepress job ticket	The spreadsheet	Third entry of the substrate, differs on 7%	Unreconciled
6 Proof produced	Email thread	Prepress job ticket	No record in the MIS that a proof was sent	Invisible to the MIS
9 Make-ready	Whiteboard in the press hall	Prepress job ticket	Fourth entry of the quantity	Offline
11 Die-cutting	Paper job bag on the pallet	Press docket	Fifth entry of the quantity	Re-keyed
13 Pack and dispatch	Print MIS	The job bag	Dispatched quantity disagrees with the order on 24%	Closes badly

Step

System of record

Re-keyed from

Where it can differ

Verdict

1 Order received

Print MIS

Customer email or call

First entry, nothing to differ from yet

Origin

2 Spec sheet raised

Spreadsheet outside the MIS

Print MIS

Substrate and finish exist only here

Unreconciled

3 Artwork received

File server folder

not re-keyed

The folder name is the only link to the job

Fragile link

5 Imposition

Prepress job ticket

The spreadsheet

Third entry of the substrate, differs on 7%

Unreconciled

6 Proof produced

Email thread

Prepress job ticket

No record in the MIS that a proof was sent

Invisible to the MIS

9 Make-ready

Whiteboard in the press hall

Prepress job ticket

Fourth entry of the quantity

Offline

11 Die-cutting

Paper job bag on the pallet

Press docket

Fifth entry of the quantity

Re-keyed

13 Pack and dispatch

Print MIS

The job bag

Dispatched quantity disagrees with the order on 24%

Closes badly

The quantity is typed in by hand five times across five systems. One order, five chances to differ, and the disagreement finally surfaces at the dock on a quarter of all jobs, where dispatch resolves it on the phone.

That phone call is rework that stopped being counted. Nothing goes back, so no reject log records it and no interview mentions it. It is twenty minutes on a quarter of everything, and absorbing it is always the locally rational choice.

Substrate and finish live in a spreadsheet outside the system of record. That single fact is the cause behind the two largest loops on the register.

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What's in the pack

Step Register

One row per step with the touch time inside it and the wait before it in separate columns, plus a running elapsed figure so a reader can see which single gap moved the total. Zero and blank mean different things: one is a step that runs straight into the next, the other is a wait nobody has timed.

Rework Loop Register

Every loop with its measured rate, the record it was counted in with the raw counts written out, the mechanism causing it, and the days it adds per occurrence. Ranking by days added rather than by rate reorders the list, which is the point of carrying both.

The caused-by column

Loops cause loops. A late loop is usually the visible end of a missing field four steps upstream, and the two sit in different lanes, so the register carries the chain. Fixing the last loop in a chain buys nothing, because the next job arrives with the same gap.

Handoff Matrix

One row per lane crossing with the queue time, the arrival quality answered only by the receiving lane, the rejection rate, and what the receiver has to chase every single time. That last cell is almost always one or two specific missing fields, and a missing field is fixable.

System Touchpoints

Where the same information gets entered by hand into a second, third and fifth system. Re-keying is never a step, so it never appears on any map, and it is where two records of one order quietly start to disagree.

The drawn map

Drawn from the Step Register rather than beside it, so the picture and the numbers cannot drift. Waits appear at their real size instead of as identical arrows, and every return path carries the share of work that takes it.

Mapping Standard and What a Swimlane Cannot Show

The rules on one page, plus the reference explaining why the standard picture omits both time and rework. Some notations rule sequence out on purpose: the federal function modeling standard states that its arrows do not represent flow or sequence at all.

Process Narrative and Handoff Notes

A filled narrative for a fictional printer with the map, the totals and the sample size, and the crossing conversations written up in the receivers' own words. Once the map holds, assigning responsibility for each step is the next piece of work.

How to use it

1
Open in River, or take it blank
Install the pack in River and hand it what you have, or download the four documents and four CSV sheets and fill them yourself.
2
Fix the two edges
The observable event that starts the process and the one that ends it. A purchase order arriving is a start point. Order intake is not.
3
Send the walkthrough and the records
The walkthrough gives you the sequence and the touch times. The status histories, reject logs and version counts give you everything the walkthrough cannot.
4
Ask one question per crossing
What share of work arriving here is usable exactly as it arrives, asked of the receiving lane. Then ask what they chase every time.

Frequently asked questions

Is this free, and what do I get?

Free, with no signup gate on the download. Four documents and four spreadsheets. The AI half is optional: send a walkthrough and whatever records show work going backwards, and River builds the register, draws the map from it and counts the loops. More in the template library.

Why not just use a diagramming tool?

Because drawing is the part that was never hard. A canvas gives you shapes and swimlanes, and then every arrow on the finished picture is the same length. A two-day queue and a step that runs straight into the next one look identical, so the improvement work goes at the boxes.

Why keep touch time and wait time in separate columns?

Because they get fixed in completely different places. Twenty minutes of work behind a two-day queue is not a two-day step. Add them together and the number tells you to make somebody faster, when what the process needs is for the queue in front of them to stop existing.

Can I not just ask people where the rework is?

You will get the happy path. Nobody narrating their own job says that a third of them come back to them, because rework is the exception in the story people tell about their work. So the loops get counted in the records first, then taken back to the lane for the cause.

Which records actually hold the rework?

Anything that marks work going backwards. Status histories that visit a status twice, file version counts, reject reason fields, revision numbers, proof email threads, a quality log, a reprint or credit note log. The filled example counts five loops against a stated denominator of 260 jobs.

Why does the customer get a lane?

Because leaving them out deletes the largest number on the sheet. In the filled example the two customer waits, finding print-ready files and approving a proof, are three quarters of the elapsed time. Neither is anybody internal's step, so on most maps neither one exists.

What do we do with the map once it holds?

Group the loops by where their fix lands rather than where they happen, and several usually resolve to the same two missing fields at step one. Then set the ownership with a matrix that survives the redesign and write up whatever procedure the changed steps now need. Where a crossing queues behind one supervisor, the span and layer analysis says whether that is structural.

Sources

Written by

Chandler Supple

Co-founder & CEO, River

Chandler has spent the last six years working in AI, building tools for millions of users and Fortune 100 companies. In 2025, he co-founded River to build a new kind of operating system for AI agents.

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Reviewed by

Brian Joseff, Co-founder, River

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Map where the time actually goes

Take the documents and CSV sheets blank, or install this pack in River and send it a walkthrough plus whatever records show work coming back.

Edit with AI

Process Map and Rework Register

Larkspur Print and Packaging, order to dispatch

Two numbers per step, never added together

Why the columns stay apart

Thirteen steps, five loops, one quantity keyed five times

The map, with the waits drawn at their real size

The same eight days at one scale, one block per eight hours

Rework Loop Register

Handoff Matrix

System Touchpoints

What's in the pack

Step Register

Rework Loop Register

The caused-by column

Handoff Matrix

System Touchpoints

The drawn map

Mapping Standard and What a Swimlane Cannot Show

Process Narrative and Handoff Notes

How to use it

Open in River, or take it blank

Fix the two edges

Send the walkthrough and the records

Ask one question per crossing

Frequently asked questions

Is this free, and what do I get?

Why not just use a diagramming tool?

Why keep touch time and wait time in separate columns?

Can I not just ask people where the rework is?

Which records actually hold the rework?

Why does the customer get a lane?

What do we do with the map once it holds?

Sources

Chandler Supple

Related workspaces

More free templates

Map where the time actually goes