Understanding Business Processes

What is a Process?

• A sequence of linked tasks or activities that consume one or more resources (employee energy, time, infrastructure, machines, money) to convert inputs (data, material, parts) into outputs (products, services, or information).

Characteristics of a Process

• Resources
• Controls
• Activities
• Inputs: tangible (written data, parts, forms) and intangible (verbal requests)
• Process controls: activities involved in ensuring a process is predictable, stable, and consistently operating at the target level of performance with only normal variation.

Relationships among Policies, Processes, and Procedures

• Policies: guiding principles that influence decisions and actions across an organization, including laws, guidelines, strategic goals, and business rules.
• Processes: a series of activities that transform inputs into outputs, driven by the achievement of desired outcomes.
• Procedures: step-by-step instructions that implement a process, driven by the completion of a task.

Differences between Policies, Processes, and Procedures

• Policies:
  • Driven by environmental factors
  • Adhered to
  • Statements serve to guide process design and operation
  • Focused on satisfying controls
  • Define organizational constraints
  • Guide people, actions, and events
  • Change less frequently
  • Have widespread application
• Processes:
  • Driven by achievement of desired outcomes
  • Operated
  • Activities are completed by different people with the same objectives
  • Less detailed, describe what activities should occur
  • Focus on satisfying customers
  • Transform inputs into outputs through use of resources
  • Dynamic
  • Change gradually
  • Moderately spread
• Procedures:
  • Driven by the completion of a task
  • Executed
  • Steps are completed by different people in different departments with different objectives
  • Highly detailed, describe how activities are executed
  • Focus on satisfying rules and standards
  • Define the sequence of steps to execute a task
  • Static
  • Prone to change
  • Have narrow application

This quiz covers the basics of business processes, their importance in organizations, and how they interact with each other. Learn about the key elements of a process and how they contribute to organizational efficiency.