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VideoMotor Fuels Tax Minute Episode 119: Process Mapping for Tax Departments
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In this episode of Motor Fuels Tax Minute, Leanne Sobel and Kelly Grace are joined by Christie Smith to discuss the fundamentals of process mapping and what organizations can expect when getting started. The conversation covers the role of stakeholder interviews, the importance of involving departments that impact tax processes and common challenges such as communication gaps and operational silos. Christie also explains why honest discussions about current-state processes are critical to identifying issues, improving collaboration and creating a more effective operating environment across departments.
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Detailed Description of Weaver’s Motor Fuels Tax Minute, Episode 119
00:00:00
Kelly: Welcome to this week’s Motor Fuels Tax Minute, where we talk all things motor fuel. Today, we have Christie Smith, one of our managers here in the Motor Fuels Tax group, joining us today to talk through process mapping.
00:00:11
Kelly: And this is going to be a little bit of a series. We’re going to just start with, what does it even look like? Somebody’s like, “I want to do process mapping.” Where do you even start?
00:00:21
Christie: Well, process mapping is a lot of meetings. It’s a lot of sitting down with the stakeholders that are involved in whichever department processes you’re mapping.
00:00:38
Christie: For example, if you’re mapping tax processes, of course, you’re going to map everything that the tax department does, but then you’re also going to meet with outside departments such as accounts payable or inventory or any number of departments that touch tax and where their outputs have an effect on tax.
00:01:06
Kelly: What do you think is most challenging about it? Because we’ve gone through this a few times now, and we’ve got to meet with lots of groups, lots of great people. But what did you find challenging about it?
00:01:17
Christie: I think the biggest challenge is, as much as people want to say how important communication is within a department and between departments, in so many companies, each department works in a silo.
00:01:34
Christie: The really difficult part is getting those differing teams to get together and hash out what’s really going on and own it. And then the next step is to figure out what needs to go on and figure out how to get there.
00:01:54
Kelly: One last question, Christie, before we wrap this up. We talked about the challenges, and you brought up the best point is for the different groups to be honest about what’s going on.
I think it’s tempting, especially when you have a lot of important people in the room, a lot of VPs or C-suite executives or directors. You want the world to look perfect. Do you think it’s beneficial to make the world look perfect?
00:02:19
Christie: Well, if it was perfect, why would you be doing the mapping in the first place? I honestly think if you’re not honest, you’re wasting your time and everyone else’s. Why not just lay it out and get all the problems identified and start figuring out how to fix them?
00:02:38
Leanne: That’s so true, Kelly and Christie. And it’s so important for companies to do. I know that is very daunting, but just from that high level overview, it’s really critical to understand how your company operates.
00:02:52
Leanne: Thank you, Christie, for joining us. We’ll dive into this a little deeper with some of our other team members. And that was this week’s Motor Fuels Tax Minute.
00:03:02
Christie: Thank you.
