Overview
A process is a series of interlinked tasks each of which takes a set of inputs and returns a set of outputs, which, when taken together, accomplish some buiness objective.
Process modeling is the act of identifying the steps that occur in a process. This includes defining the necessary inputs to any step of the process, and the outputs of that step, including how the inputs and outputs align in order to create dependencies among steps. This helps to identify inefficiencies, bottlenecks and risk in a process.
Business process modeling can often be cast within the framework of systems thinking and modeling.
The typical way to model a process is by creating a process diagram that makes the steps and inputs/outputs explicit. The diagram app provides a means to create business process diagrams.
Goals of Business Process Modeling
- Clarify the Process - diagram the process in a way that can be understood and discussed. This can be used to educate others on the process, or to make it easier to engage in process improvement
- Create Process Stability - ensure that the process is followed the same through each iteration in order to guarantee predictability and quality.
Types of Business Diagrams
- Business Process - a simple diagram of the steps and decision points of a process.