2. Business Processes

Business processes are the recurring activities organizations use to produce value. This chapter examines process structure, integration across systems, and improvement through redesign, automation, and measurement.

Video

Introduction to Business Process Management: The Complete Training Course (2:53:00) by Eric Kimberling - Digital Transformation

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Learning Objectives

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:

1. Map a process through its activities, handoffs, owners, and completed outcome.

2. Distinguish task automation from process improvement and redesign.

3. Match operational, managerial, and decision-support information to the work it supports.

4. Explain how integration, collaboration, and the IS function support process performance.

Concept Map

Business Processes

Processes

• Activities
• Roles
• Handoffs

Integration

• Data
• Systems
• Coordination

Improvement

• BPM
• Automation
• Quality

Glossary

#	Term	Explanation
1	Business process	A structured sequence of work activities that creates a product, service, or decision outcome.
2	Workflow	The movement of tasks, information, and responsibility from one step or role to another.
3	Activity	A specific unit of work within a process.
4	Handoff	A point where work or information passes from one person, team, system, or organization to another.
5	Bottleneck	A step whose limited capacity slows the whole process.
6	Process map	A visual representation of process steps, decisions, roles, and information flows.
7	Functional area	A major part of an organization, such as sales, operations, finance, human resources, or IT.
8	Cross-functional process	A process that requires coordination across more than one department.
9	Transaction processing system	A system that records routine business events such as orders, payments, reservations, or shipments.
10	Integration	The connection of processes, data, and systems so work can move across boundaries.
11	Data handoff	The transfer of data from one step, system, or role to another.
12	Enterprise system	A system designed to coordinate data and work across major organizational functions.
13	Process performance	How well a process meets goals for speed, cost, quality, flexibility, and reliability.
14	Cycle time	The total time needed to complete a process from start to finish.
15	Throughput	The amount of work a process completes in a given period.
16	Exception	A case that does not follow the standard process path and requires special handling.
17	Automation	The use of technology to perform tasks or route work with less manual effort.
18	Business process management	A discipline for modeling, measuring, improving, and governing business processes.
19	Process improvement	A deliberate change intended to make a process faster, cheaper, more reliable, or more valuable.
20	Business process reengineering	A fundamental redesign of a process rather than a small incremental improvement.

Lecture Slides

Chapter 2 Slides

These lecture drafts follow the authored sections and aligned assignments.