Business process
A business process or business method is a collection of interrelated tasks, which solve a particular issue.
3 types of business processes
Management processes
the processes that govern the operation of a system. Typical management processes include "Corporate Governance" and "Strategic Management
Operational processes
processes that constitute the core business and create the primary value stream. Typical operational processes are Purchasing, Manufacturing, Marketing, and Sales.
Supporting processes
which support the core processes. Examples include Accounting, Recruitment, IT-support.
A business process can be decomposed into several sub-processes, which have their own attributes, but also contribute to achieving the goal of the super-process. The analysis of business processes typically includes the mapping of processes and sub-processes down to activity level.
Business Process Modeling Notation can be used for drawing business processes in a workflow
A key characteristic of Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is the focus on business processes. Davenport (1993) defines a (business) process as
”a structured, measured set of activities designed to produce a specific output for a particular customer or market. It implies a strong emphasis on how work is done within an organization, in contrast to a product focus’s emphasis on what. A process is thus a specific ordering of work activities across time and space, with a beginning and an end, and clearly defined inputs and outputs: a structure for action. ... Taking a process approach implies adopting the customer’s point of view. Processes are the structure by which an organization does what is necessary to produce value for its cust ...