What are Business Processes?
One of the interesting aspects of doing “Business Analysis” as a profession is the variety of definitions and concepts that used to describe similar ideas. Business processes are no different in that there are multiple definitions and examples for them — an Internet search will uncover many articles. My objective is to add another article to the global body of knowledge with a demonstration of the ideas that I feel best represent business processes.
Business Process Definition
As a definition for business process, I would like to present:
A business process is a related set of tasks or activities that are initiated in response to an event that achieves a result for the stakeholders of the process.
Furthermore, a well defined business process produces results that satisfy the following three characteristics:
- The results are Discrete and Identifiable
- The results are Countable
- The results are Essential
Discrete and Identifiable
By discrete we mean that the results of the business process can be compared against each other. By identifiable we mean these discrete results of the business process can be tracked and reviewed.
For example, in a restaurant the process “Prepare Meal” produces discrete results in the form of food for the customer. The food can be identified and tracked so that the server performing “Serve Meal” can deliver it to the correct table. At the end of the meal, the patrons settle the bill which is an accounting of the meals that were served to the table.
A non discrete process using our restaurant example would be along the lines of “Total Meal Quality Control Process”. The output of this process is not discrete as we do not have a result that can be easily distinguished from other results of the process. I would not consider this quality process to be a business process at all. In my practice I would consider this a persistent management process that contains a set of procedures which are enacted on the core business processes. (Stay tuned to see this in a future blog post on Value Chains)
Countable
This may seem a very obvious characteristics of a business process, however we go back to the example of “Total Meal Quality Control Processes” and ask, “How many times did we run this process?”. There are no discrete outcomes of the control process to count against as it is a continual activity, thus it would not fit the definition for a business process.
We can determine that “Prepare Meal” is a business process by the definitions presented here as the outcome of a “Meal is Prepared” can be counted.
Essential
A business process is meaningless for the organization if none of the stakeholders or customers receive a valuable result. A business process must provide something of value. If our restaurant had an employee performing “Dig Hole” out in the back (followed by “Fill Hole”) then the process would not be providing value for the patrons. Such processes should be questioned when discovered.
This brings up an important point about the Return on Investment of a business process mapping exercise. The act of discussing and documenting business processes opens the door to having value conversations with stakeholders. The result is the trimming of processes that have become obsolete through change or have been abandoned altogether.
Naming Business Processes
Proper naming of business processes helps steer us away from confusing conversations with business stakeholders and help fulfill the definition of the business process and the three characteristics of its results.
The best standard I have seen is using the Verb-Noun format. For example “Prepare Meal”; by using the Verb-Noun format, the order can be reversed. When the “Noun is Verbed” we have a countable result of the process — “Meal is Prepared”.
Conclusion of our Business Process Definition
To conclude, I would like to take the example of “Prepare Meal” that was evolved through this article and pass it through the definitions.
- A set of activities and tasks were performed (Prepare Meal Procedures)
- The tasks were triggered in a response to an order being received.
- The result provided value to the process stakeholder. In this case the customer who played the role of restaurant patron.
- The meal was discrete and identifiable — The customer was able to eat it and later see it itemized on the bill.
- The meal was countable. At the conclusion of the dinner service the restaurant manager was able to count the number of meals prepared.
- The result was essential to the business. The meal provided value to the customer who in turn paid their bill resulting in revenue for the restaurant manager.
If you enjoyed this article, press the Heart button below!
Follow me at:
(Twitter) https://twitter.com/ImperialZenta
(If you like wine) https://www.vivino.com/users/andrewrose42
