Process Management: Business Processes (Just the Quotes)

"Linking the basic parts are communication, balance or system parts maintained in harmonious relationship with each other and decision making. The system theory include both man-machine and interpersonal relationships. Goals, man, machine, method, and process are woven together into a dynamic unity which reacts." (George R Terry, "Principles of Management", 1960)

"If we view organizations as adaptive, problem-solving structures, then inferences about effectiveness have to be made, not from static measures of output, but on the basis of the processes through which the organization approaches problems. In other words, no single measurement of organizational efficiency or satisfaction - no single time-slice of organizational performance can provide valid indicators of organizational health." (Warren G Bennis, "General Systems Yearbook", 1962)

"Five coordinating mechanisms seem to explain the fundamental ways in which organizations coordinate their work: mutual adjustment, direct supervision, standardization of work processes, standardization of work outputs, and standardization of worker skills." (Henry Mintzberg, "The Structuring of Organizations", 1979)

"At the heart of reengineering is the notion of discontinuous thinking - of recognizing and breaking away from the outdated rules and fundamental assumptions that underlie operations. Unless we change these rules, we are merely rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. We cannot achieve breakthroughs in performance by cutting fat or automating existing processes. Rather, we must challenge old assumptions and shed the old rules that made the business underperform in the first place." (Michael M Hammer, "Reengineering Work: Don't Automate, Obliterate", Magazine, 1990) [source]

"Conventional process structures are fragmented and piecemeal, and they lack the integration necessary to maintain quality and service. They are breeding grounds for tunnel vision, as people tend to substitute the narrow goals of their particular department for the larger goals of the process as a whole. When work is handed off from person to person and unit to unit, delays and errors are inevitable. Accountability blurs, and critical issues fall between the cracks." (Michael M Hammer, "Reengineering Work: Don't Automate, Obliterate", Magazine, 1990) 

"Reengineering triggers changes of many kinds, not just of the business process itself. Job designs, organizational structures, management systems - anything associated with the process - must be refashioned in an integrated way. In other words, reengineering is a tremendous effort that mandates change in many areas of the organization." (Michael M Hammer, "Reengineering Work: Don't Automate, Obliterate", Magazine, 1990) [source]

"A business process is a collection of activities that takes one or more kinds of input and creates an output that is of value to the customer. A business process has a goal and is affected by events occurring in the external world or in other processes." (James A Champy & Michael M Hammer, "Reengineering the Corporation", 1993)

"A process perspective sees not individual tasks in isolation, but the entire collection of tasks that contribute to a desired outcome. Narrow points of view are useless in a process context. It just won't do for each person to be concerned exclusively with his or her own limited responsibility, no matter how well these responsibilities are met. When that occurs, the inevitable result is working at cross–purpose, misunderstanding, and the optimization of the part at the expense of the whole. Process work requires that everyone involved be directed toward a common goal; otherwise, conflicting objectives and parochial agendas impair the effort."  (James A Champy & Michael M Hammer, "Reengineering the Corporation", 1993)

"Reengineering posits a radical new principle: that the design of work must be based not on hierarchical management and the specialization of labor but on end-to-end processes and the creation of value for the customer." (James A Champy & Michael M Hammer, "Reengineering the Corporation", 1993)

"Enterprise Engineering is not a single methodology, but a sophisticated synthesis of the most important and successful of today's change methods. 'Enterprise Engineering' first explains in detail all the critical disciplines (including continuous improvement, radical reinvention of business processes, enterprise redesign, and strategic visioning). It then illustrates how to custom-design the right combination of these change methods for your organization's specific needs." (James Martin, "The Great Transition, 1995)

"Management is a set of processes that can keep a complicated system of people and technology running smoothly. The most important aspects of management include planning, budgeting, organizing, staffing, controlling, and problem solving." (John P Kotter, "Leading Change", 1996) 

"To attain quality, it is well to begin by establishing the 'vision' for the organization, along with policies and goals. Conversion of goals into results (making quality happen) is then done through managerial processes - sequences of activities that produce the intended results." (Joseph M Juran, "How to think about quality", 1999)

"Process makes you more efficient." (Steve Jobs, BusinessWeek, 2004)

"Enterprise architecture is the process of translating business vision and strategy into effective enterprise change by creating, communicating and improving the key requirements, principles and models that describe the enterprise's future state and enable its evolution. The scope of the enterprise architecture includes the people, processes, information and technology of the enterprise, and their relationships to one another and to the external environment. Enterprise architects compose holistic solutions that address the business challenges of the enterprise and support the governance needed to implement them." (Anne Lapkin et al, "Gartner Clarifies the Definition of the Term 'Enterprise Architecture", 2008

"Implementing new systems provides organizations with unique opportunities not only to improve their technologies, but to redefine and improve key business processes. Ultimately, for organizations to consider these new systems successes, the post-legacy environment must ensure that business processes, client end users, and systems work together." (Phil Simon, "Why New Systems Fail: An Insider’s Guide to Successful IT Projects", 2010)

"Organizations often fail to understand that business processes do not exist in a vacuum; they must be viewed against the backdrop of the technology used to enable those processes. Systems and business processes are related in a symbiotic - but not causal - manner." (Phil Simon, "Why New Systems Fail: An Insider’s Guide to Successful IT Projects", 2010)

"Processes take place over time and result in change. However, we’re often constrained to depict processes in static graphics, perhaps even a single image. Luckily, a good static graphic can be just as successful, perhaps even more so, than an animation. Giving the reader the ability to see each 'frame' of time can of f er a valuable perspective." (Felice C Frankel & Angela H DePace, "Visual Strategies", 2012)

"Understanding an organization's current processes and issues is not enough to build an effective data governance program. To gather business, functional, and technical requirements, understanding the future vision of the business or organization is important. This is followed with the development of a visual prototype or logical model, independent of products or technology, to demonstrate the data governance process. This business-driven model results in a definition of enterprise-wide data governance based on key standards and processes. These processes are independent of the applications and of the tools and technologies required to implement them. The business and functional requirements, the discovery of business processes, along with the prototype or model, provide an impetus to address the "hard" issues in the data governance process." (Neera Bhansali, "Data Governance: Creating Value from Information Assets", 2014)

Process Management: Cycle Time (Definitions)

"The amount of time needed to complete an activity." (Dale Furtwengler, "Ten Minute Guide to Performance Appraisals", 2000)

"The speed with which an operation takes place from beginning to end. In product development, cycle time is often the time it takes from concept to product launch." (Steven Haines, "The Product Manager's Desk Reference", 2008)

"The time required to execute a process from start to finish." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management", 2011)

"The available time in each workstation to complete tasks in order to process a product. The cycle time often be used to determine the production capacity of the assembly lines." (Hindriyanto D Purnomo, "Metaheuristics Methods for Configuration of Assembly Lines: A Survey", 2014)

"The time interval required to complete a task or function. A cycle starts with the beginning of the first step in a process and ends with the completion of the final step." (Ciara Heavin & Daniel J Power, "Decision Support, Analytics, and Business Intelligence" 3rd Ed., 2017)

"The time that an entity spends in the system, from the beginning to the end of a process." José I Gomar-Madriz et al, "An Analysis of the Traveling Speed in the Traveling Hoist Scheduling Problem for Electroplating Processes", 2020)

"The total process time from beginning to the end in order to complete a cycle of the operation." (Gökçe Ç Ceyhun, "An Assessment for Classification of Distribution Network Design", 2020)

"How frequently an item or product actually is completed by a process, as timed by direct observation. Also, the time it takes an operator to go through all of his or her work elements before repeating them." (Lean Enterprise Institute)

"The time taken to complete an activity." (Microsoft, "Dynamics for Finance and Operations Glossary")

Process Management: Process Reengineering (Definitions)

"Reengineering is the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical contemporary measures of performance such as cost, quality, service and speed." (Michael M Hammer, "Reengineering the Corporation", 1993)

"The process of analyzing a legacy system and producing a new, more maintainable system." (Richard D Stutzke, "Estimating Software-Intensive Systems: Projects, Products, and Processes", 2005)

"Activities that seek to radically change business processes and support systems in an organization." (Joseph Sarkis & R P Sundarraj, "Implementation Management of an E-Commerce-Enabled Enterprise Information System", 2009)

"Activity consisting in rationalizing and streamlining business processes, often associated with the implementation of an Enterprise System" (Andrea Masini, "ERP-Driven Performance Changes and Process Isomorphism", 2009)

"Reengineering involves a major restructuring (or overhaul) of an organization’s key operations. Another term for reengineering is business process redesign. There are certain features that are typical of a reengineered process. This includes: 1) Creating cross-functional teams, 2) Streamlining the business process, 3) Designing multiple versions of a business process and 4) Sharing information and resources." (Richard A Gershon, "Intelligent Networking and Business Process Innovation: A Case Study Analysis of Home Box Office and Dell Computers", 2009)

"The examination and modification of a system to reconstitute it in a new form and the subsequent implementation of the new form." (Teta Stamati, "Migration of Legacy Information Systems", 2009)

"A technique for evaluating how an enterprise (or part of an enterprise) operates. This involves process modeling, specifically with an eye to identifying processes that do not contribute to the enterprise’s profitability." (David C Hay, "Data Model Patterns: A Metadata Map", 2010)

"A methodology in which an organization fundamentally and radically changes its business processes to achieve dramatic improvement." (Linda Volonino & Efraim Turban, "Information Technology for Management" 8th Ed, 2011)

"The process of analyzing and radically transforming existing business activities, eliminating or minimizing costs and maximizing value in order to achieve breakthrough levels of performance improvement." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management", 2011)

"The radical redesign of an organization's business, where one takes a current process and makes changes to increase its efficiency and create new processes." (Linda Volonino & Efraim Turban, "Information Technology for Management" 8th Ed., 2011)

"The radical redesign of processes for the purpose of extensive (not gradual) performance improvements." (Joan C Dessinger, "Fundamentals of Performance Improvement" 3rd Ed., 2012)

"the analysis and redesign of workflows and business processes to improve costs and customer service." (Thomas C Wilson, "Value and Capital Management", 2015)

"Using information technology to improve performance and cut costs. Its main premise is to examine the goals of an organization and to redesign work and business processes from the ground up rather than simply automate existing tasks and functions." (William Stallings, "Effective Cybersecurity: A Guide to Using Best Practices and Standards", 2018)

"Involves the analysis and redesign of firms’ processes and workflows to achieve sustainable improvements in quality of response and cost competitiveness." (Debasish Roy, "Critical Success Factors of Analytics and Digital Technologies Adoption in Supply Chain", 2021)

Process Management: Process Reengineering (Just the Quotes)

"At the heart of reengineering is the notion of discontinuous thinking - of recognizing and breaking away from the outdated rules and fundamental assumptions that underlie operations. Unless we change these rules, we are merely rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. We cannot achieve breakthroughs in performance by cutting fat or automating existing processes. Rather, we must challenge old assumptions and shed the old rules that made the business underperform in the first place." (Michael M Hammer, "Reengineering Work: Don't Automate, Obliterate", Magazine, 1990) [source]

"In reengineering, managers break loose from outmoded business processes and the design principles underlying them and create new ones. [...] Reengineering requires looking at the fundamental processes of the business from a cross-functional perspective. [...] The reengineering team must keep asking Why? and What if? Why do we need to get a manager’s signature on a requisition? Is it a control mechanism or a decision point?" (Michael M Hammer, "Reengineering Work: Don't Automate, Obliterate", Magazine, 1990) [source]

"In short, a reengineering effort strives for dramatic levels of improvement. It must break away from conventional wisdom and the constraints of organizational boundaries and should be broad and cross-functional in scope. It should use information technology not to automate an existing process but to enable a new one." (Michael M Hammer, "Reengineering Work: Don't Automate, Obliterate", Magazine, 1990) [source]

"Reengineering triggers changes of many kinds, not just of the business process itself. Job designs, organizational structures, management systems - anything associated with the process - must be refashioned in an integrated way. In other words, reengineering is a tremendous effort that mandates change in many areas of the organization." (Michael M Hammer, "Reengineering Work: Don't Automate, Obliterate", Magazine, 1990) [source]

"Business process reengineering encompasses the envisioning of new work strategies, the actual process design activity, and the implementation of the change in all its complex technological, human, and organizational dimensions." (Thomas H Davenport, "Need radical innovation and continuous improvement? Integrate process reengineering and TQM", Planning Review 21 (3), 1993)

"Business Process Reengineering seeks radical rather than merely continuous improvement. It escalates the efforts of JIT and TQM to make process orientation a strategic tool and a core competence of the organization. BPR concentrates on core business processes, and uses the specific techniques within the JIT and TQM 'toolboxes' as enablers, while broadening the process vision." (Henry J Johansson, Business process reengineering: Breakpoint strategies for market dominance", 1993)

"Business reengineering isn't about fixing anything. Business reengineering means starting all over, starting from scratch. Business reengineering means putting aside much of the received wisdom of two hundred years of industrial management [...] How people and companies did things yesterday doesn't matter to the business reengineer." (James A Champy & Michael M Hammer, "Reengineering the Corporation", 1993)

"Reengineering is the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical contemporary measures of performance such as cost, quality, service and speed." (James A Champy & Michael M Hammer, "Reengineering the Corporation", 1993)

"Reengineering posits a radical new principle: that the design of work must be based not on hierarchical management and the specialization of labor but on end-to-end processes and the creation of value for the customer." (James A Champy & Michael M Hammer, "Reengineering the Corporation", 1993)

"Thorough rethinking of all business processes, job definitions, management systems, organizational structure, work flow, and underlying assumptions and beliefs. BPR’s main objective is to break away from old ways of working, and effect radical (not incremental) redesign of processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical areas (such as cost, quality, service, and response time) through the in-depth use of information technology." (Elvira Rolón, "Healthcare Process Development with BPMN", 2010)

Process Management: Just in Time (Definitions)

"A manufacturing method in which product parts and components arrive at the manufacturing facility as needed for production of ordered product, rather than being stockpiled on site. This method requires strong supply chain management." (Steven Haines, "The Product Manager's Desk Reference", 2008)

"A theory in materials management that calls for delivering materials at time of installation only, thus, not having any materials stored on-site." (Christopher Carson et al, "CPM Scheduling for Construction: Best Practices and Guidelines", 2014)

"Information delivered at the time it will be used, not before and not after." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management", 2011)

"An inventory scheduling system in which material and parts arrive at a work place when needed, minimizing inventory, waste, and interruptions." (Linda Volonino & Efraim Turban, "Information Technology for Management" 8th Ed., 2011)

"An inventory management practice where inventory items are supplied just in time for use to minimize inventory levels." (Rod Stephens, "Beginning Software Engineering", 2015)

"An approach of sequencing the arrival of material to a work center just prior to consumption to avoid large work-in-process inventories." (Gartner)

"Producing or conveying only the items that are needed by the next process when they are needed and in the quantity needed." (Lean Enterprise Institute)

Process Management: Six Sigma (Definitions)

"A disciplined approach to enterprise-wide quality improvement and variation reduction. Technically, it is the denominator of the capability (Cp) index." (Clyde M Creveling, "Six Sigma for Technical Processes: An Overview for R Executives, Technical Leaders, and Engineering Managers", 2006)

"A set of practices originally developed by Motorola to systematically improve process quality by producing output within specification." (Tilak Mitra et al, "SOA Governance", 2008)

"A statistical term meaning six standard deviations from the norm. Used as the name for a quality improvement program that aims at reducing errors to one in a million." (Judith Hurwitz et al, "Service Oriented Architecture For Dummies" 2nd Ed., 2009)

"1.Generally, a rigorous and disciplined statistical analysis methodology to measure and improve a company’s operational performance, practices and systems. 2.In many organizations, simply a measure of quality near perfection. 3.In data quality, a level of quality in which six standard deviations of a population fall within the upper and lower control limits of quality, allowing no more than 3.4 defects per million parts or transactions." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management", 2011)

"A methodology to manage process variations that cause defects, defined as unacceptable deviation from the mean or target, and to systematically work toward managing variation to prevent those defects." (Linda Volonino & Efraim Turban, "Information Technology for Management" 8th Ed, 2011)

"Quality program developed by Motorola that focuses on achieving a defect rate of fewer than 3.4 defects per million items. (196, 238)" (Leslie G Eldenburg & Susan K Wolcott, "Cost Management" 2nd Ed., 2011)

"A systematic quality improvement process used on both the production and transactional sides of the business to design, manufacture, and market goods and services that customers may desire to purchase." (Joan C Dessinger, "Fundamentals of Performance Improvement" 3rd Ed., 2012)

"A highly structured approach for eliminating defects in any process, whether from manufacturing or transactional processes. It can be applied to a product or a service–oriented process in any organization." (Robert F Smallwood, "Managing Electronic Records: Methods, Best Practices, and Technologies", 2013)

"A business management strategy originally developed by Motorola in the 1980s. It is essentially a business problem-solving methodology that supports process improvements through an understanding of customer needs, identification of causes of quality variations, and disciplined use of data and statistical analysis." (Sally-Anne Pitt, "Internal Audit Quality", 2014)

"An approach from the production environment for managing quality that targets a mere 3.4 errors per million instances as its performance goal." (Boris Otto & Hubert Österle, "Corporate Data Quality", 2015)

"Business management strategy developed by Motorola with the goal of improving business processes." (Adam Gordon, "Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CISSP CBK" 4th Ed., 2015)

"The initiative focused on increasing profits by eliminating variability, defects, and wastes that weaken customer loyalty." (Kijpokin Kasemsap, "Applying Lean Production and Six Sigma in Global Operations", 2016)

"It is series of tools and/or processes to continuously improve workflow processes through its proper measurement. Six sigma is a highly structured and data-driven approach and methodology for reducing waste or non-value added activities and associated costs." (Alan D Smith, "Lean Principles and Optimizing Flow: Interdisciplinary Case Studies of Best Business Practices", 2019)

"Managerial approach focused on a team that aims to improve performance by eliminating waste and defects. Improving performance and reducing process variation leads to the reduction of defects and improved profit, employee morale and product/service quality." (Sorinel Căpușneanu et al, "Throughput Accounting: Decisional Informational Support for Optimizing Entity Profit", 2019)

Process Management: Control Charts (Definitions)

"A toolset used to monitor and control a process for variation over time, which varies with the type of data it monitors." (Clyde M Creveling, "Six Sigma for Technical Processes: An Overview for R Executives, Technical Leaders, and Engineering Managers", 2006)

"A tool set used to monitor and control a process for variation over time. Varies with the type of data it monitors." (Lynne Hambleton, "Treasure Chest of Six Sigma Growth Methods, Tools, and Best Practices", 2007)

"A graphical device for tracking process performance over time." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management", 2011)

"A control chart is a time sequence graph with additional features that identify data out of expected limits. In a typical individual/moving range statistical process control chart, the upper and lower control limits (UCL and LCL) are three standard deviations from the historical mean of the set of readings. If the measurement remains within the upper and lower controls limits, then the process is in control. In control means that any differences between the readings are affected only by normal or common cause variation (variation inherent in the process being measured). A process is in control when measurement points fall within the upper and lower control limits, and the points graphed on a control chart do not display any non-random patterns." (Laura Sebastian-Coleman, "Measuring Data Quality for Ongoing Improvement ", 2012)

"A graphic display of process data over time and against established control limits, which has a centerline that assists in detecting a trend of plotted values toward either control limit. " (For Dummies, "PMP Certification All-in-One For Dummies" 2nd Ed., 2013)

"A statistical process control tool used to monitor a process and determine whether it is statistically controlled. It graphically depicts the average value and the upper and lower control limits (the highest and lowest values) of a process." (SQA)

Process Management: Process model (Definitions)

"A formal, detailed description of a process that covers policies, activities, work products, roles, and responsibilities. Typically contains standards and procedures and identifies methods and tools as well. Contrast with process architecture." (Richard D Stutzke, "Estimating Software-Intensive Systems: Projects, Products, and Processes", 2005)

"A formal description of a business process. The definition is performed via a process definition language (PDL), which in most cases is WfMS-dependent." (C Combi & G Pozzi, "Workflow Management Systems for Healthcare Processes", 2008)

"Any description of a process (not necessarily formal), that shows a series of steps aimed at accomplishing some goal." (Harry S Delugach, "Formal Analysis of Workflows in Software Development", 2009)

"A means of representing the interrelated processes of a system at any level of detail with a graphic network of symbols, showing data flows, data stores, data processes, and data sources/destinations. Process modeling techniques are used to represent processes graphically for clearer understanding, communication, and refinement." (Anthony D Giordano, "Data Integration Blueprint and Modeling", 2010)

"Processes models (PM) are processes of the same nature that are classified together into a model. It involves the description and/or prescription of processes by the instantiation of levels to define process procedures and fuzzes." (Oluwole A Olatunji & William D Sher, "The Applications of Building Information Modelling in Facilities Management", 2010)

"(1) A framework wherein processes of the same nature are classified into an overall model, e.g. a test improvement model. (2) A method-independent process description of development processes." (IQBBA, "Standard glossary of terms used in Software Engineering", 2011)

"A model of the functions, activities, and procedures performed in any organization. A business process model may consist of: 1.A context diagram showing the relationship of the overall process to those outside the model’s scope, along with the inputs to and outputs from the overall process, 2.One or more functional decomposition diagram showing how the overall process is made up of contributing processes at lower levels (a “vertical view”), 3.One or more process flow diagrams showing how the outputs of one process serve as the inputs to other process (a “horizontal view”). The process flow may be cross-functional or within a single function, 4.One or more business process model diagrams, each depicting the inputs, outputs, start and end events, component activities, roles, and metrics of a single process, 5.The business definition of each process, and 6.The value chain analysis of the process, identifying relationships to data, organizations, roles, and systems." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management", 2011)

"A detailed workflow diagram that expands upon a process map by including detailed descriptions of subprocesses, activities, and tasks including all input, output, decisions, and exceptions, as well as measurements of the resources consumed (such as time, FTEs, material, capital, systems, etc.) during the execution of the process. Supports analysis via drill-down examination and can provide the metrics necessary for use by software capable of process simulation and what-if scenario testing of alternative variables." (Carl F Lehmann, "Strategy and Business Process Management", 2012)

[Process Modeling and Analysis:] "The tools and techniques used to (1) map a workflow diagram illustrating the activities and tasks associated with a business process; (2) add complete detail necessary to identify and measure all the resources consumed during the execution of the processes; (3) measure performance outcomes; (4) simulate changes to activities, tasks, sequences, resources, assumptions, and so on using what-if scenarios to test and recalculate performance outcomes; (5) conclude the best combination of adjustments or changes necessary to optimize performance outcome of the process." (Carl F Lehmann, "Strategy and Business Process Management", 2012)

"A model showing the processes carried out by a system and the data interfaces between those processes; same as a data flow model." (James Robertson et al, "Complete Systems Analysis: The Workbook, the Textbook, the Answers", 2013)

Process Management: Process Improvement (Definitions)

"A program of activities designed to improve the performance and maturity of the organization's processes, and the results of such a program." (Sandy Shrum et al, "CMMI®: Guidelines for Process Integration and Product Improvement", 2003)

"Continuous improvement of work processes to achieve project goals and stakeholder satisfaction efficiently and effectively." (Timothy J  Kloppenborg et al, "Project Leadership", 2003)

"(1) A program of activities designed to improve the performance and maturity of an organization’s processes. (2) The results of such a program." (Richard D Stutzke, "Estimating Software-Intensive Systems: Projects, Products, and Processes", 2005)

"The organized activity of defining, infusing, and improving the processes used by individual projects and organizations to develop software." (Richard D Stutzke, "Estimating Software-Intensive Systems: Projects, Products, and Processes", 2005)

[internal process improvement (IPI):] "An appraisal mode of usage in which organizations appraise internal processes, generally to baseline their process capability, to establish or update a process improvement program, or to measure progress in implementing such a program." (Sally A Miller et al, "People CMM: A Framework for Human Capital Management" 2nd Ed., 2009)

"A business management strategy focusing on quality control testing and optimizing processes through reducing process variance." (Evan Stubbs, "Big Data, Big Innovation", 2014)

[business process improvement (BPI):] "Analyzing and redesigning business processes to streamline them and gain efficiencies, reduce cycle times, and improve auditability and worker productivity." (Robert F Smallwood, "Information Governance: Concepts, Strategies, and Best Practices", 2014)

"A program of activities designed to improve the performance and maturity of the organization’s software processes and the results of such a program." (CMMI)

Process Management: Workflow (Definitions)

"Similar to a business process, a description of the activities or tasks that have to be done to fulfill a certain business need." (Nicolai M Josuttis, "SOA in Practice", 2007)

"A series of granular steps that are put together in proper sequence to execute some bit of logic." (Tony Fisher, "The Data Asset", 2009)

"A set of components and relations between them, used to define a complex process from simple building blocks. Relations may be in the form of data links which allow the output of one component to be used as the input of another, or control links which state some conditions on the execution of a component." (Mark Olive, "SHARE: A European Healthgrid Roadmap", 2009)

"The sequence of steps needed to carry out a business process." (Judith Hurwitz et al, "Service Oriented Architecture For Dummies" 2nd Ed., 2009)

"An ordered series of steps that accomplish some defined purpose according to a set of rules." (Bruce Bukovics, "Pro WF: Windows Workflow in .NET 4", 2010)

"Similar to a business process; a description of the activities or tasks that have to be done to fulfill a certain business need. Some people differentiate between workflows and business processes by stating that business processes describe more generally what has to be done, whereas workflows describe how activities or tasks should be carried out." (David Lyle & John G Schmidt, "Lean Integration", 2010)

"System process to manage the routing and approval of documents and transactions across multiple people and/or departments within an organization. Also, automating a business approval process that will notify the appropriate resources when activities/approvals need to be performed." (Janice M Roehl-Anderson, "IT Best Practices for Financial Managers", 2010)

"A predefined sequence of activities that complete a process." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management", 2011)

"Defines how people and tasks interact to create, update, manage, and deliver content. Workflow helps organizations perform tasks in an efficient and repeatable manner." (Charles Cooper & Ann Rockley, "Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy" 2nd Ed., 2012)

"This is a sequence of task-oriented steps needed to carry out a business process." (Marcia Kaufman et al, "Big Data For Dummies", 2013)

"The specification of actions, actors, sequencing of actions, and completion criteria that, taken together, accomplish a larger task." (O Sami Saydjari, "Engineering Trustworthy Systems: Get Cybersecurity Design Right the First Time", 2018)

Process Management: Plan-Do-Check-Act (Definitions)

"The team first plans ('plan')who needs to know what information, how often they need it, and their preferred information format. Next the team uses ('do') the communications plan. Very quickly and repeatedly, the team should seek feedback ('check') on the quality and completeness of the information being transmitted through the communications plan. Finally the team should act ('act') on the feedback by improving the communications plan." (Timothy J  Kloppenborg et al, "Project Leadership", 2003)

"A basic technique for improving processes, created by Walter Shewhart. Also known as the Shewhart cycle or the Deming cycle (for W. Edwards Deming, who introduced the technique in Japan)." (Danette McGilvray, "Executing Data Quality Projects", 2008)

"Continuous improvement cycle originally developed by Walter Shewhart in the 1930s." (Bill Holtsnider & Brian D Jaffe, "IT Manager's Handbook" 3rd Ed., 2012)

"All refer to the process of improving quality through a defined series of steps." (Laura Sebastian-Coleman, "Measuring Data Quality for Ongoing Improvement", 2012)

"Also Plan, Do, Study, Act the Shewhart Cycle or Deming Cycle. All refer to the process of improving quality through a defined series of steps." (Laura Sebastian-Coleman, "Measuring Data Quality for Ongoing Improvement ", 2012)

"An iterative process for continuous improvement." (Weiss, "Auditing IT Infrastructures for Compliance, 2nd Ed", 2015)

"Plan = design/revise process, Do = implement the plan, Check = measure the process, ACT = plan & implement changes" (ITIL)

Process Management: Defined Process (Definitions)

"A managed process that is tailored from the organization's set of standard processes according to the organization's tailoring guidelines; has a maintained process description; and contributes work products, measures, and other process improvement information to the organizational process assets." (Sandy Shrum et al, "CMMI®: Guidelines for Process Integration and Product Improvement", 2003)

[managed process:] "A performed process that is planned and executed in accordance with policy; employs skilled people having adequate resources to produce controlled outputs; involves relevant stakeholders; is monitored, controlled, and reviewed; and is evaluated for adherence to its process description." (Sandy Shrum et al, "CMMI®: Guidelines for Process Integration and Product Improvement", 2003)

[standard process:] "A standard process describes the fundamental process elements that are expected to be incorporated into any defined process. It also describes the relationships (e.g., ordering and interfaces) among these process elements." (Sandy Shrum et al, "CMMI®: Guidelines for Process Integration and Product Improvement", 2003)

"The process derived, documented, and adapted, if necessary (by means of 'tailoring'), from a standard process, and implemented in the project or elsewhere in the organization." (Lars Dittmann et al, "Automotive SPICE in Practice", 2008)

[standard process:] "A standardized process that is applied across a particular section of the development organization. A standard process consists of fundamental process elements, such as process activities with their dependencies and interfaces, input and output work products, support tools, and facilities. It also includes information on which roles are involved in the activities." (Lars Dittmann et al, "Automotive SPICE in Practice", 2008)

"A managed process that documents a set of tasks, contributes to the production of a work product or the delivery of a service, and provides appropriate measurements of performance." (Sally A Miller et al, "People CMM: A Framework for Human Capital Management" 2nd Ed., 2009)

"A detailed description of how to produce a product, which includes policies, artifacts, activities, roles, and responsibilities. Another name for the defined process (model) is the organization’s standard process (OSP)." (Richard D Stutzke, "Estimating Software-Intensive Systems: Projects, Products, and Processes", 2005)

[standard process:] "An operational definition of the basic process that guides the establishment of a common process in an organization" (ISO/IEC 15504-9)

Process Management: Business Process Outsourcing (Definitions)

"A form of outsourcing that involves transferring responsibilities for entire specific business functions or processes to a third party provider." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management", 2011)

"The process of hiring another company to handle business activities." (Linda Volonino & Efraim Turban, "Information Technology for Management 8th Ed", 2011)

"Contracting with a third party to perform specific business processes. One example could be using a customer service center taking inbound telephone calls from U.S. customers and handling customer requests and complaints from a service center located offshore, in locations such as India, where labor costs are lower." (Robert F Smallwood, "Information Governance: Concepts, Strategies, and Best Practices", 2014)

"A process of delegating the back-office processes or noncore business functions to a third party service provider." (John H Higgins & Bryan L Smith, "10 Steps to a Digital Practice in the Cloud" 2nd Ed., 2017)

Process Management: Process Map (Definitions)

"The Process Chart is a device for visualizing a process as a means of improving it. Every detail of a process is more or less affected by every other detail; therefore the entire process must be presented in such form that it can be visualized all at once before any changes are made in any of its subdivisions. In any subdivision of the process under examination, any changes made without due consideration of all the decisions and all the motions that precede and follow that subdivision will often be found unsuited to the ultimate plan of operation." (Frank B Gilbreth & Lillian M Gilbreth, "Process Charts", 1921) 

"A method used to examine the effectiveness of the approach currently used in completing a task." (Dale Furtwengler, "Ten Minute Guide to Performance Appraisals", 2000)

"A type of flowchart depicting the steps in a process, identifying its inputs outputs, and often assigning responsibility for each step and the key measures." (Clyde M Creveling, "Six Sigma for Technical Processes: An Overview for R Executives, Technical Leaders, and Engineering Managers", 2006)

"A type of flow chart depicting the steps in a process, its inputs/outputs, and often identification of responsibility for each step and the key measures." (Lynne Hambleton, "Treasure Chest of Six Sigma Growth Methods, Tools, and Best Practices", 2007)

"A kind of data flow diagram used in business process engineering to represent the tasks performed in an enterprise and the links between them." (David C Hay, "Data Model Patterns: A Metadata Map", 2010)

"A high-level flowchart diagram illustrating the various activities, tasks, decisions, and relationships of participant functions, departments, or groups associated with the execution of a process. It is used as a starting point to be critical of the efficiency and effectiveness of business process execution." (Carl F Lehmann, "Strategy and Business Process Management", 2012)

"A workflow diagram is a graphic depiction of the steps, sequence of steps, and flow control that constitute a process using standard symbols and conventions." (Meredith Zozus, "The Data Book: Collection and Management of Research Data", 2017)

Process Management: Statistical Process Control (Definitions)

"Statistically based analysis of a process and measurements of process performance, which will identify common and special causes of variation in the process performance, and maintain process performance within limits." (Sandy Shrum et al, "CMMI: Guidelines for Process Integration and Product Improvement", 2003)

[statistically managed process:] "A process that is managed by a statistically based technique in which processes are analyzed, special causes of process variation are identified, and performance is contained within well-defined limits." (Sandy Shrum et al, "CMMI: Guidelines for Process Integration and Product Improvement", 2003)

"Statistical analysis of process performance to identify common and special causes of variation and to quantify the amount of variation in the process. Used to define operational limits on performance parameters to monitor and maintain process performance within limits. See also common cause of process variation, special cause of process variation." (Richard D Stutzke, "Estimating Software-Intensive Systems: Projects, Products, and Processes", 2005)

"Statistical techniques used to monitor, control and improve process performance over time by studying variation and its source." (Atila Ertas, "Transdisciplinary Engineering Design Process", 2018)