Business Intelligence Applied: Implementing an Effective Information and Communications Technology Infrastructure

A Summary: What Is a Process?

Having reviewed what a business process is, and how it is intertwined with ICT, next a summary of business process identification is given. A process has the following characteristics:

• Processes can be mapped to value-producing activities within an organization, and within those activities, operating procedures can explain the individual steps that will be taken.
• A process is a structured, measured set of activities designed to produce a specified output or outcome for a particular customer or market segment.
• A process has known inputs, a defined set of work activities and operating procedures, and known outputs.
• A process is a high-level view of an organization that transcends the organizational hierarchy and its departments or parts. This high-level view includes activities and associated operating procedures.
• Cost, time, quality, and customer satisfaction are all measurable attributes of processes. Processes should also be measured in terms of organizational payoff.
• Process levers are important. Levers are those activities and events that must go right for a process to have a positive impact on the overall organization.
• For process change initiatives to be successful, all of the characteristics of a process must be identified and dealt with appropriately within a specific time and organizational framework. In addition to the above, all change initiatives must have the following characteristics:
  • The impact a process change will have on an organization's ...