What is a Process?

Any workflow process is composed of many tasks, the flexibility of the management of these tasks can seriously effect the benefit of the business Process Management solution.

A process is an activity or series of activities that converts an input to an output by doing work.

A Business Process

Hierarchy of Process levels:

Processes can be described at different levels. A typical four level hierarchy is:

1) High Level: A top level description of a major business activity, e.g. “New product development”.

New Product Development

The High Level Business Process

2) Key Process: A key process is an expansion or a “break-out” of one of the process steps described at high level. A key process should still be described in relatively general terms.

For example, the key process of “Launch new Product” could be:

Launch New Product

The Key Process within the Business Process

3) Activity: This is the next expansion of each step in the key processes. For example, the activity of “Prepare Sales Literature” could be:

The Activity Within the Business Process

4) Task: A task level process relates to each step in the activity level process. For example, the tasks involved in “Design Brochure” could be:

The Task within the Business Process