Flow Modeler

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Introduction

Once you’ve modeled your artifacts, you can begin using the Flow Modeler. The Flow Modeler enables you to create a visual representation of your entire workflow from start to finish. This visual representation allows you to pinpoint areas where improvements can be made, ultimately streamlining your process and enhancing productivity.

Setting Up your Flow Modeler

To access the Flow Modeler, click the Flow Modeler tab in your product value stream.

Upon first opening the Flow Modeler, you'll see that all states default to the value stream phase selected when the artifact set was added and the date range for the data shown defaults to the last 30 days.

You will also see each artifact type and its underlying states along with its corresponding flow item and flow state mappings. When artifact types span many projects, they will be represented as one row.

Note: If you need help deciphering the items in your Flow Modeler, you can refer to the legend at the bottom of the screen.

To begin setting up your Flow Modeler, drag and drop artifact states to reflect their sequence in the value stream.

Note: One artifact type can contain states spanning multiple phases.

When you're done ordering your states, click Save.

Manual Steps

You can also add manual steps to demonstrate parts of your process (e.g., Compliance Review, Funding Approval, Legal Review, etc) that are not represented by states in your tools. This allows you to create a comprehensive view of your workflow and determine areas of your value stream that should be placed into a measurable artifact state.

Note: Manual steps are for informational purposes only and cannot be calculated for Flow Metrics.

To add a manual step, click + Add Manual Step in the upper left corner.

A dialog box will appear prompting you to fill out the following fields:

Step Name: This is the name you will give to the manual step and will be referenced in your Flow Modeler (e.g., design review, legal review, etc).
What artifact type does this state belong to? This is the artifact type your manual step relates to (e.g., epic, story, etc).
Which phase is this state in? This is the phase where the manual step belongs (e.g., Ideate, Create, etc).
Flow State: This is the flow state appropriate for this manual step (New, Waiting, Active, or Done).

Once you have filled out the required fields, click Save to save your manual step.

After saving your manual step, it will appear in your product value stream as shown in the screenshot below.

Click Save again to save all of your changes.

Identifying Bottlenecks

Once you've finished arranging your product value stream, you can click Show Bottlenecks in the upper right corner to highlight where work is slowing down or piling up.

Turning on the Show Bottlenecks toggle helps you visualize the hotspots that need to be addressed.

Note: You can learn more about your bottlenecks by navigating to the Flow Metrics screen and clicking Find Bottlenecks in the Flow Load® section.

Hover over each bottleneck to uncover additional details.

Next Steps

Congrats! You've finished modeling your value stream. Now, you can determine the health of your product value stream by viewing your Flow Metrics.