Process map from description prompt: free ChatGPT template
Updated · By Robert Breen
Use this when someone explains a process out loud, or in a long email, and you need it on one page. People describe work in the order they remember it and skip the handoffs. This prompt rebuilds it as numbered steps with an owner, an input and a handoff for each, and pulls out every yes or no decision as its own point.
It also lists what the description doesn't answer, often the most useful part. Use the map to write an SOP, assign roles or decide what to automate.
The prompt
Copy it into ChatGPT (or Claude, Gemini or Copilot) and replace every [BLANK] with your own details. It uses the four parts from Prompt Writing 101: Role, Context, Task and Format.
Role: You are an operations analyst at [COMPANY] mapping a process from a description. Context: The process is [PROCESS]. It starts when [START] and ends when [END]. The roles involved: [ROLES]. The description, as given: [DESCRIPTION]. Task: Rebuild the process as numbered steps in the order the work happens. For each step give the owner, the action, what they need to start and what they pass on to whom. Where the work splits on a yes or no question, number it as a decision point and say which step follows each answer. Use only what the description says. If a step, owner or rule is missing or unclear, add it to "Questions to answer" instead of filling it in. Format: A table with columns Step, Owner, Action, Needs, Hands off to. Then a "Decision points" list, then "Questions to answer". No emoji, short plain wording.
Fill in the blanks
[COMPANY]- Your company's name.
[PROCESS]- A short name for the process, such as "chasing late vendor orders".
[START]- The event that kicks it off.
[END]- What "done" looks like.
[ROLES]- The job titles involved, not just names, so the map survives staff changes.
[DESCRIPTION]- The explanation as given: notes from a call, a long email or a voice memo transcript.
Example, filled in
A made-up example from the free lesson Build an AI Vendor Follow-Up Agent in n8n. Ridgeline Supply Co. is the made-up warehouse and distribution business from the operations lessons, where an agent logs vendor follow-ups in a "Vendor Follow-Ups" sheet. Before automating, the operations manager maps how the team does it by hand. The description is invented.
Role: You are an operations analyst at Ridgeline Supply Co. mapping a process from a description. Context: The process is chasing late and pending vendor orders. It starts when a buyer sees a purchase order with no ship date or a missed delivery date and ends when the vendor confirms a ship date or fix and the row in the Vendor Follow-Ups sheet is marked closed. The roles involved: buyer, receiving lead, operations manager. The description, as given: "Every morning the buyer checks open POs. If something's late, they email the vendor rep and ask for a ship date and tracking, and give them a day to answer, two if it's just pending. It goes in the Vendor Follow-Ups sheet. If a shipment shows up short, receiving tells the buyer, and the buyer asks for the missing items or a credit. If the vendor doesn't answer, I guess the buyer follows up again, and at some point it comes to me." Task: Rebuild the process as numbered steps in the order the work happens. For each step give the owner, the action, what they need to start and what they pass on to whom. Where the work splits on a yes or no question, number it as a decision point and say which step follows each answer. Use only what the description says. If a step, owner or rule is missing or unclear, add it to "Questions to answer" instead of filling it in. Format: A table with columns Step, Owner, Action, Needs, Hands off to. Then a "Decision points" list, then "Questions to answer". No emoji, short plain wording.
What a good answer looks like
- Numbered steps from the morning PO check to closing the row, each with an owner.
- Decision points such as "Is the order late or only pending?" and "Did the shipment arrive complete?", each pointing to the next step.
- The receiving-to-buyer handoff called out, since it lives only in someone's head today.
- Questions like "How many follow-ups before it goes to the operations manager?" and "Who marks the row closed?"
How to check it before you use it
An AI draft can sound right and still say something you never told it. Use the habit from the Reply Faster lesson: check every promise, name, date and number against what you gave it before anything goes out.
- Walk the map with the people who do the work. They will spot the step everyone forgot to mention.
- Make sure no owner or rule was invented. "I guess" in a description should become a question, not a step.
- Answer the open questions before you turn the map into an SOP or an automation.
Practice it in the free lesson
Build an AI Vendor Follow-Up Agent in n8n: Build an AI agent for Ridgeline Supply Co. that writes follow-up messages for late or pending purchase orders and saves them to Google Sheets — chat trigger, AI Agent, system prompt, model, memory, and the Sheets tool. You do every step yourself in a practice copy of n8n, and nothing touches your real accounts.
Also useful: Build an AI Maintenance and IT Request Form · Prompt Writing 101: Role, Context, Task, Format
Terms used here
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