Business Process

Term Definition
The term business process refers to a collection of activities required to achieve a commercial result. Each business process will have inputs, methods and outputs. The inputs are what must be in placed before the method can be applied. When the method is applied to the inputs, outputs are created.

A business process is a collection of related structural activities that produce something of value to the organization, its stakeholders or its customers. It can be part of a larger, encompassing process and it can include other business processes that have to be included in its method. Business processes can be viewed as workflows.

There are two types of business processes, core and supporting. Core processes are those processes, which are part of the core business and deliver customer value. For example, a core process for a manufacturer might be to deliver parts. Supporting processes are those processes that support the core processes. In the manufacturing example, a supporting process might be to recruit production staff. There may also be sub processes, decisions and activities. A sub process is a part of a higher level process which has it's own goals, inputs, outputs and owner. Activities are parts of the business process that do not include decision-making, and as such do not require decomposition. Activities might be items such as a shut off machine, or answer phone.

Organizations review their business process in order to improve their operating efficiencies. Before processes can be improved or reengineered, the organization would have to define exactly what it is that the company does, who is responsible for doing it, to what standard a process should be completed and how the success of a business process can be determined. This process is called business process mapping and is a key element in reengineering, process improvement and quality management.

Area of Application
Project Management
Time and Expense

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