What is Universal Process Notation?

Universal Process Notation is the simplest and at the same time most robust diagramming notation for capturing a wide range of flows, from business processes, through job diagrams, user journeys, and others. In this article I will cover precisely what it is, how to use it, and what are the benefits of using it. You can also read my other article Why flowcharts are awful for business process mapping? where I cover why UPN is much superior to other traditional diagramming techniques.

With UPN you can accomplish many things:

• Perform in-depth business analysis to help define detailed requirements
• Capture better, more actionable user stories for development
• Spot opportunities for process optimization and product innovation
• Drive better process adoption and standardization among your team

Over the years, UPN has been my superpower. Here are some of my accomplishments which were only possible thanks to rigorous adoption of this technique: 

• Was able to effectively manage a team of 24 developers (divided into 4 scrum teams) on my own for years
• Reduced number of issues in our development processes by 70% and eliminated all recurring issues
• Accelerated the number of monthly releases by 800% by optimizing our development processes
• Designed and delivered capabilities that accelerated our customers' job to be done completion by x541

All of the use-cases and accomplishments listed above deserve a separate deep-dive overview, which I plan to provide in the future. For the time being however, let's review this technique in detail.

Notation: basics 

Universal Process Notation is a modelling technique that relies on using just one building block:

The image above represents that building block that is compromised of following elements:

• Verb-based activity (What? happens)
• Flowlines
  • Input (When? does it happen)
  • Outcome (Why? does it happen)
• Resources
  • Human (Who? is responsible or involved)
  • Systems (With what? is the activity executed)

A UPN diagram is only composed of those building blocks, so it would look something like this: 

Verifiable outcomes

What truly sets apart UPN from other diagramming notations is emphasis on capturing distinct, verifiable outcomes of each process step.

Keep these rules in mind:

• This outcome provides the rationale for the activity and signals its completion.
• The outcome also acts as a catalyst or requirement for the following activity
• Outcome must provide clear, unique, verifiable set of conditions for completing the task

Verb-based activities

In the UPN diagram example below, take a look at the activity boxes in black vs in red. What is the difference?

In UPN you must capture what happens in the form of active verb + subject of action (hence the name 'activity'). This communicates what is exactly happening.

When we read activities 'evaluation plan' and 'fit' above, what is exactly happening? Is the sales development person supposed to draft an evaluation plan, check and verify and existing one, fill out the template one?

Similarly, when account executive is doing 'Fit', what does that actually mean? Is it 'Check and validate fit'? Is it 'Decide fit' ? The former would imply it is pre-set somehow earlier in the process, the latter would mean the account executive needs to make a decision themselves. And both have completely different implications for what the system like Salesforce would need to do to support it.

Capturing more information

The process diagrams captured in UPN are meant to be simple to read. Whilst a good UPN diagram captures detailed, verifiable outcomes and specific activities, capturing too much information may be overwhelming to readers. And it can even be overwhelming to ourselves!

That is why the activity text should be brief (think a short tweet, not a long post) while additional details captured as links and attachments.

Diagram size and structure

The U in UPN stands for Universal. UPN is meant to be digestible by anyone. But UPN notation is no silver bullet in and of itself. You can still make the diagrams difficult to read (one of my issues with flowcharts that I cover in depth here).

There are a couple of simple rules to make the UPN diagrams really best practices:

• Keep the diagrams relatively small (golden rule - no more than 12 boxes on the screen). Use attachments and sub-diagrams to capture more detail there.
• Left-to-right, top-to-bottom organization: in the Western world, we read from left to right, and from top of the page to the bottom. The diagrams should be drawn in the same way as this is how everyone is used to reading any information.

The diagram below, while drawn in UPN, and easy to follow (thanks to left-to-right orientation), is still too big and could use simplification

 There are 2 ways that UPN helps you to keep your diagrams compact and composable: using distinct roles and hierarchies. Let's discuss those in turn.

Distinct roles

There is a way to both make your diagrams leaner and more informative. By using RASCI responsibility matrix to tag roles involved in the activity, you can specify who is:

• Responsible
• Accountable
• Supporting
• Consulted
• Informed

Look at the example below. I was able to take 4 step process and represent it with just one box by specifying who is ultimately responsible, who needs to be consulted in the decision making process, and who needs to be informed about the outcome.

What is the hierarchy in Universal Process Notation?

UPN is a process diagramming notation that permits us to capture process steps in a hierarchical manner. Much like the folder structure on your computer or online drive, each step in a process can be broken down into sub-diagrams, representing smaller, more manageable steps:

 

The hierarchy in UPN allows us to capture the 'How?' of any step in the process

The 'hierarchy' in other diagramming notations, most notably C4 or Salesforce Diagramming notation, work differently than in UPN. Diagram levels in those other notations usually mean a different level of detail applied to the diagram or a different scope. In UPN however, the child diagrams capture the detail, the 'How?' of the process step.

The key to understanding the hierarchy in UPN is to comprehend that the sub-diagram must cover the scope of the parent step. The purpose of the sub-diagram is not to present a different picture of the same diagram, it is to capture a completely separate diagram altogether that explains the 'How?' of the singular step above.

This cascading structure creates a process hierarchy with virtually unlimited layers of depth. As a result, a business process diagram that could have been an overwhelming monolith is instead presented as a network of related, easily digestible diagrams.

Take the process step below 'Identify and segment potential leads,' for instance. What would have otherwise been a single, vague step can now contain its own process needed to segment captured leads. By diving deep into the how, we can dissect complex tasks into more approachable, executable sub-tasks. This method not only promotes better understanding but also encourages effective implementation.

Best practice cheat sheet

While simple, there are a few best practices to keep in mind to get your UPN diagrams to be the best in class. And doing good UPN helps elevate your business analysis skills. Download the one-page best practice cheat sheet below to keep those best practices in mind and evaluate your diagrams against it:

What’s next?

While UPN is simple and the most powerful modelling technique for business analysis, it is not a simple matter of just switching to this new notation. There are 2 things you will need:

• A proper tool: most diagramming tools are not built to support UPN notation which is still rather niche. To get the most out of it you should invest in a dedicated UPN tool. Right now I would recommend Skore or Elements.cloud, and with Elements.cloud there is the ability to register and use a free personal playground.
• Practice: UPN is simple to use but if you have never used it before or you are used to flowcharting then it requires practice to adopt new practices to get the most out of it.

If you would like to master Universal Process Notation, but even go beyond that, and become an expert in capturing and understanding the user problems, job to be dones, user flows and system automations, all as part of a unified, easy to read picture, then I would like to recommend my masterclass in Total Story Visualization.