An Overview of As Is Business Process for Shared Services Teams

Shared services teams are designed to create consistency, scale, and control, but many operate with processes that are only partially documented. An as is business process view helps leaders see how work actually moves across teams, systems, approvals, queues, and exceptions before they redesign or automate anything. For shared services leaders, the value is practical: expose hidden friction, identify manual dependencies, and decide which workflows are ready for improvement.

Why shared services need an honest view of current work

The official process and the real process are often different. Invoice routing may be documented as a standard approval flow, but staff may chase missing purchase orders by email. Vendor onboarding may have a checklist, but compliance documents may be reviewed outside the system. Employee onboarding may involve HR, IT, facilities, and payroll, yet no single team may own end-to-end status. Procurement workflows, service request management, reconciliation reporting, SLA tracking, exception queues, and knowledge base updates often depend on informal workarounds.

An as is process view captures these realities without assuming the solution. It shows where work starts, who touches it, which systems are involved, what data is required, where approvals happen, where delays occur, and how exceptions are resolved. This is essential before automation because a poorly understood process will not become better just because it is digitized.

What Leaders Often Get Wrong

The common mistake is using process documentation as a compliance exercise rather than an operational diagnostic. Teams create a process map, store it in a folder, and move on. That approach misses the real value. The as is business process should help leaders make decisions about workflow redesign, automation priority, staffing, controls, reporting, and support.

Another mistake is relying only on manager input. Managers may understand policy, but frontline staff know where workarounds exist. Shared services teams should include request creators, processors, approvers, exception handlers, reporting owners, and support teams in the review. Otherwise, the documented process may look clean while the operational reality remains messy.

How to build a useful as is process view

A useful as is business process view should document the workflow at the level where improvement decisions can be made. It should include the trigger, request type, data inputs, systems used, task owners, approval points, handoffs, service levels, exception types, documents required, and reporting outputs. For shared services, this may cover invoice processing, employee onboarding, vendor setup, procurement approvals, HR service requests, ticket triage, reconciliation reporting, and approval escalations.

The view should also capture volume and variation. A workflow that handles thousands of requests per month may justify automation even if each request is simple. A workflow with high exception rates may need process redesign before automation. A workflow with sensitive approvals may need stronger governance and auditability. The goal is to connect process understanding to business action.

What to assess before redesign or automation

Before changing the process, leaders should assess data quality, system dependencies, ownership gaps, access rules, policy variation, exception causes, and reporting needs. They should ask whether required fields are consistently captured, whether service levels are visible, whether approvals follow policy, whether teams can see aging work, and whether performance reporting is trusted. These questions help determine whether the process should be simplified, standardized, automated, or supported differently.

Shared services teams should also evaluate integration points. Invoice workflows may touch ERP and procurement systems. HR onboarding may connect HRMS, identity access, and ticketing platforms. Service requests may flow through portals, email, and knowledge bases. If the as is process ignores these system touchpoints, redesign decisions will be incomplete.

Why as is documentation should support governance

An as is process view should not disappear after improvement planning. It should become the baseline for governance, training, automation design, and continuous improvement. When leaders know the current process, they can measure whether future changes reduce handoffs, improve SLA performance, reduce rework, and make exceptions easier to manage.

Governance should include process ownership, version control, change approval, documentation updates, and periodic review. This is especially important when shared services teams support multiple business units or geographies. Without governance, standardized processes slowly become local workarounds again.

How Neotechie Can Help

Neotechie helps shared services teams move from undocumented operational friction to controlled workflow improvement. The team can support as is process discovery, automation opportunity assessment, workflow redesign, RPA implementation, system integration, exception handling, reporting, and managed support. Neotechie works across leading RPA and automation platforms, including Automation Anywhere, UiPath, and Microsoft Power Automate.

For shared services leaders, Neotechie’s role is to connect process understanding to execution: which workflows should be standardized, which should be automated, which require better reporting, and which need support after go-live. Teams reviewing current-state workflows can Explore Neotechie’s automation services.

Conclusion

An as is business process view gives shared services leaders a grounded picture of how work actually runs. It prevents premature automation, exposes control gaps, and creates a practical foundation for redesign. If your team is preparing to improve shared services workflows, Neotechie can help map the current state and turn the findings into reliable execution.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What is an as is business process?

It is a documented view of how a process currently works, including systems, owners, approvals, handoffs, exceptions, and reporting. It should reflect operational reality, not only the official policy.

Q. Why is as is process mapping important for shared services?

Shared services teams handle repeatable work across functions, so small process gaps can create large delays at scale. As is mapping helps identify manual work, unclear ownership, SLA issues, and automation opportunities.

Q. Should shared services automate before mapping the current process?

No, automation should follow a clear understanding of the current workflow, data quality, exceptions, and control requirements. Mapping first helps avoid digitizing broken processes.