♜Strategic Management: Value Chain (Definitions)

"Sequence of processes that describe the movement of products or services through a pipeline from original creation to final sales." (Ralph Kimball & Margy Ross, "The Data Warehouse Toolkit 2nd Ed ", 2002)

"Framework for examining the strengths and weaknesses of an organization and for using the results of this analysis to improve performance." (Alan W Steiss, "Strategic Management for Public and Nonprofit Organizations", 2003)

"An end-to-end set of activities in support of customer needs, usually beginning with a customer request and ending with customer receipt of benefits." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management", 2011)

"Sequence of business processes in which value is added to a product or service. Encompasses customers and suppliers as well as, in some cases, the customers' customers and the suppliers' suppliers." (Leslie G Eldenburg & Susan K Wolcott, "Cost Management" 2nd Ed., 2011)

"A linked set of value-creating activities that begins with basic raw materials coming from suppliers and ends with distributors getting the final goods into the hands of the ultimate consumer." (Thomas L Wheelen & J David Hunger., "Strategic management and business policy: toward global sustainability 13th Ed.", 2012)

"Composed of all the stakeholders (designers, suppliers, manufacturers, customers, and others) who add value to or receive value from specific products or services." (Joan C Dessinger, "Fundamentals of Performance Improvement" 3rd Ed., 2012)

"The set of both primary and support activities or processes that an organization sets up to perform in order to achieve its mission and goals." (Andrew Pham et al, "From Business Strategy to Information Technology Roadmap", 2016)

"A value chain is a set of activities that an enterprise operating in a specific industry performs to deliver a valuable product or service for the market." (by Brian Johnson & Leon-Paul de Rouw, "Collaborative Business Design", 2017)

"The linked set of activities/functions within a firm that interact to enable the final value-creating offering (product/service) of the firm. At the industry level, it can also mean the total set of value-adding links from the first supplier to the final user of a product/service." (Duncan Angwin & Stephen Cummings, "The Strategy Pathfinder 3rd Ed.", 2017)

"A sequence of vertically related activities undertaken by a single firm or by a number of vertically related firms in order to produce a product or service." (Robert M Grant, "Contemporary Strategy Analysis" 10th Ed., 2018)

"A value chain is a set of linked activities that transform inputs into outputs that in turn add to at least one of the ecological, societal or economic bottom lines and help create competitive advantages." (Rick Edgeman, "Lean and Six Sigma Innovation and Design", Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology" 4th Ed., 2018)

"sequence of processes that creates a product/service that is of value to a customer" (ITIL)

♜Strategic Management: Decision-Making (Definitions)

[decision-making:] "The process of making choices in a project team environment. Several types of decision-making are useful in projects: consensus, leader-imposed, delegated, voting, and scoring models." (Timothy J  Kloppenborg et al, "Project Leadership", 2003)

[semistructured decisions:] "Decisions in which only some of the phases are structured; require a combination of standard solution procedures and individual judgment." (Linda Volonino & Efraim Turban, "Information Technology for Management 8th Ed", 2011)

[strategic decision:] "refers to a decision that exhibits the following characteristics: it is made in a situation of uncertainty, of incomplete information, in a complex environment, variable/mutating environment (as opposed to 'all things being otherwise equal'); it is not recurrent, therefore the decision maker is relatively deprived; it may have far-reaching (favorable or adverse) consequences that could jeopardize the survivability of the enterprise; it is systemic (many elements with many relationships among them); the decision maker does not have experience-proven models (we cannot resort to 'turnkey' mechanisms). " (Humbert Lesca & Nicolas Lesca, "Weak Signals for Strategic Intelligence: Anticipation Tool for Managers", 2011)

[strategic decisions:] "Decisions for sustained enterprise success and business growth." (Linda Volonino & Efraim Turban, "Information Technology for Management 8th Ed", 2011)

[tactical decisions:] "Decisions ensuring that existing operations and processes are in alignment with business objectives and strategies." (Linda Volonino & Efraim Turban, "Information Technology for Management 8th Ed", 2011)

[decision-making processes:] "Management processes that define objectives, study alternatives, analyze available data, and reflect on intuitive beliefs. They interpret findings and compare alternates to form a conclusion or make a choice upon which the organization may act." (Carl F Lehmann, "Strategy and Business Process Management", 2012)

[microdecision:] "A small decision made many times by many workers at the front line of the organization. They usually have a significant impact on organizational performance due to their sheer volume." (Evan Stubbs, "Delivering Business Analytics: Practical Guidelines for Best Practice", 2013)

[decision-making:] "How decisions are made, based on what types of resources, information, and specific processes are available." (Jim Davis & Aiman Zeid, "Business Transformation: A Roadmap for Maximizing Organizational Insights", 2014)

[decision-making] "the process of making choices or reaching conclusions, especially on important political or business matters." (Ken Sylvester, "Negotiating in the Leadership Zone", 2015)

[tactical decisions:] "broader decision questions than operational ­decisions, semistructured in nature, some but not all information ­necessary to make the decision is available, primarily internally focused and made by middle-level managers." (Daniel J. Power & Ciara Heavin, "Data-Based Decision Making and Digital Transformation", 2018)

[operating or function-specific decisions:] "day-to-day, routine ­decisions with a concise decision question and a clear, well-defined, and structured algorithm to make a choice among alternatives." (Daniel J. Power & Ciara Heavin, "Data-Based Decision Making and Digital Transformation", 2018)

[strategic decisions:] "complex, nonroutine, unstructured decisions involving many different and connected parts. Some variables may not be well understood, often information required to make the decision may be unavailable, incomplete, and in some situations information may be known to be flawed or inaccurate. These decisions usually involve a high degree of uncertainty about outcomes. If implemented, strategic ­decisions often result in major changes in an organization." (Daniel J. Power & Ciara Heavin, "Data-Based Decision Making and Digital Transformation", 2018)

♜Strategic Management: Business Value (Definitions)

"A concept that is unique to each organization and includes tangible and intangible elements. Through the effective use of project, program, and portfolio management disciplines, organizations will possess the ability to employ reliable, established processes to meet enterprise objectives and obtain greater business value from their investments. |" (Project Management Institute, "Software Extension to the PMBOK® Guide 5th Ed", 2013)

"The net quantifiable benefit derived from a business endeavor. The benefit may be tangible, intangible, or both." (Project Management Institute, "A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide )", 2017)

"Entire value of the business; total sum of tangible (assets, fixtures, equity, utility) and intangible elements (goodwill, recognition, public benefit, trademarks): short, medium, or long term." (H James Harrington & William S Ruggles, "Project Management for Performance Improvement Teams", 2018)

♜Strategic Management: Business Continuity Plan [BCP] (Definitions)

"A plan for ensuring that businesses will be able to recover from the effects of a destructive incident and continue to operate at an acceptable level." (C Warren Axelrod, "Responsibilities and Liabilities with Respect to Catastrophes", 2009)

"An emergency contingency plan that spells out how to recover and restore functions that have been partially or completely interrupted." (Annetta Cortez & Bob Yehling, "The Complete Idiot's Guide® To Risk Management", 2010)

"The advance planning and preparations which are necessary to identify the impact of potential losses, formulate and implement viable recovery strategies, develop recovery plan(s) which ensure continuity of organizational services in the event of an emergency or disaster, and administer a comprehensive training, testing, and maintenance program." (Mark S Merkow & Lakshmikanth Raghavan, "Secure and Resilient Software Development", 2010)

"Plan that outlines the process by which businesses should recover from a major disaster. Also known as a disaster recovery plan." (Linda Volonino & Efraim Turban, "Information Technology for Management" 8th Ed., 2011)

"A methodology used to create a plan for how an organization will resume partially or completely interrupted critical function(s) within a predetermined time after a disaster or disruption. BCP differentiates from disaster recovery in that DR is primarily associated with resources and facilities, while BCP is associated primarily with processes." (Bill Holtsnider & Brian D Jaffe, "IT Manager's Handbook" 3rd Ed., 2012)

"Overall planning lifecycle dedicated to analysis, design, implementation, testing, and maintenance of various elements designed to keep the organization operating even after a significant outage. Business continuity planning is a continuous process." (Darril Gibson, "Effective Help Desk Specialist Skills", 2014)

"This refers to the documented procedures and information that enable the organization and or business unit/third party agent to respond to a disruption, recover, and resume critical business functions." (Sally-Anne Pitt, "Internal Audit Quality", 2014)

"A business continuity action plan is a document or set of documents that contains the critical information a business needs to stay running in spite of adverse events. A business continuity plan is also called an emergency plan." (Adam Gordon, "Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CISSP" CBK 4th Ed., 2015)

"Plans that document the steps to restore business operation after an interruption. BCPs, along with DRPs, enable you to recover from disruptions ranging from small to large." (Weiss, "Auditing IT Infrastructures for Compliance" 2nd Ed., 2015)

"Documented procedures that guide organizations to respond, recover, resume, and restore to a predefined level of operation following disruption." (William Stallings, "Effective Cybersecurity: A Guide to Using Best Practices and Standards", 2018)

"Business continuity plans are made up of documented procedures. Organizations use these procedures to respond to disruptive incidents, to guide recovery efforts, to resume prioritized activities, and to restore operations to acceptable predefined levels. Business continuity plans usually identify the services, activities, and resources needed to ensure that prioritized business activities and functions could continue whenever disruptions occur." (ISO 22301:2012, 2012).

"Plan defining the steps required to restore business processes following a disruption" (ITIL)

"The documentation of a predetermined set of instructions or procedures that describe how an organization’s mission/business processes will be sustained during and after a significant disruption." (CNSSI 4009-2015) 

♜Strategic Management: Assurance (Definitions)

"All the systematic actions necessary to have the confidence that the target (process, program, project, outcome, benefit, capability, product output, deliverable) is appropriate. Assurance must be independent from what is being assured." (Paul C Dinsmore et al, "Enterprise Project Governance", 2012)

"An objective examination of evidence for the purpose of providing an independent assessment on governance, risk management, and control processes for the organization. Examples may include performance, compliance, system security, and due diligence engagements." (Sally-Anne Pitt, "Internal Audit Quality", 2014)

"A level of confidence that appropriate and effective IT controls are in place." (Weiss, "Auditing IT Infrastructures for Compliance" 2nd Ed., 2015)

"A measurement of confidence in the level of protection that a specific security control delivers and the degree to which it enforces the security policy." (Shon Harris & Fernando Maymi, "CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide" 8th Ed., 2018)

"Confidence that a system exhibits a stated set of properties." (O Sami Saydjari, "Engineering Trustworthy Systems: Get Cybersecurity Design Right the First Time", 2018)

"Grounds for confidence that the other four security goals (integrity, availability, confidentiality, and accountability) have been adequately met by a specific implementation. 'Adequately met' includes (1) functionality that performs correctly, (2) sufficient protection against unintentional errors (by users or software), and (3) sufficient resistance to intentional penetration or by-pass." (NIST SP 800-12 Rev. 1)

"Measure of confidence that the security features, practices, procedures, and architecture of an information system accurately mediates and enforces the security policy." (NIST SP 800-39)

"The grounds for confidence that the set of intended security controls in an information system are effective in their application." (NIST SP 800-27 Rev A)

♜Strategic Management: Assessment (Definitions)

"Evaluation of an an organization’s process performance capability against a model (e.g., Automotive SPICE PAM). The goal is the rating and improvement of processes (process capability)." (Lars Dittmann et al, "Automotive SPICE in Practice", 2008)

"(1) The comparison of the actual environment and data to requirements and expectations. (2) The first high-level step in the Information and Data Quality Improvement Cycle." (Danette McGilvray, "Executing Data Quality Projects", 2008)

"An appraisal that an organization does internally for the purposes of process improvement. The word assessment is also used in the People CMM in an everyday English sense (e.g., performance assessment)." (Sally A Miller et al, "People CMM: A Framework for Human Capital Management" 2nd Ed., 2009)

"A judgment about the implications of an influencer on either one or more means (such as particular courses of action) or one or more ends, such as particular desired results." (David C Hay, "Data Model Patterns: A Metadata Map", 2010)

"Activity of determination of quantitative or qualitative value of a product, service, activity, process in regard to given quality or acceptance criteria." (IQBBA, "Standard glossary of terms used in Software Engineering", 2011)

"Assessment is the process of evaluating or estimating the nature, ability, or quality of a thing. As a synonym for measurement, assessment implies the need to compare one thing to another in order to understand it. Assessment implies drawing a conclusion - evaluating - the object of the assessment (NOAD) whereas measurement does not always imply so." (Laura Sebastian-Coleman, "Measuring Data Quality for Ongoing Improvement ", 2012)

"Evaluation of an organization's successful execution of processes and standards. For OPM3, various tools to assess organizational project management maturity exist in the marketplace with variations of granularity." (Project Management Institute, "Organizational Project Management Maturity Model (OPM3)" 3rd Ed., 2013)

"The outcome of an evaluation of a process or event. Example: a scored exam constitutes an assessment of learning." (Gregory Lampshire, "The Data and Analytics Playbook", 2016)

"A systematic evaluation process of collecting and analyzing data to determine the current, historical or projected compliance of an organization to a standard." (ASQ).

"inspection and analysis to check whether a standard or set of guidelines are being followed, that records are accurate, or that efficiency and effectiveness targets are being met" (ITIL)

♜Strategic Management: Business Analysis [BA] (Definitions)

 "(1) The study of business processes, practices and business systems requirements. (2) The application of information to better understand business opportunities and challenges." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management", 2011)

"A set of tools and methods used for execrating business insight making from the available data or system structure. It provide meaningful information with dynamic and sophisticate methods of problem solving such as optimization." (Shokoufeh Mirzaei, Defining a Business-Driven Optimization Problem, 2014)

"Business analytics is the combination of skills, technologies, applications, and processes used by organizations to gain insight into their business-based data and statistics to drive business planning." (K Hariharanath, "BIG Data: An Enabler in Developing Business Models in Cloud Computing Environments", 2019)

"Business analysis is the practice of understanding business needs and enabling change, including the recommendation of solutions." (Esta Lessing, "CCBA® and CBAP® Certifications Study Guide", 2020)

"It is the process of working with factual information in organizations, using suitable tools and techniques to identify the nuggets of wisdom (insights) from them that can have direct impact on influencing good decision making." (Tanushri Banerjee & Arindam Banerjee, "Designing a Business Analytics Culture in Organizations in India", 2021)

"Business analysis is a practice that involves understanding the current capabilities and needs of the business users, identifying gaps in the current processes, and enabling desired future capabilities to derive efficiencies, competitive advantage, and business benefits." (Srini Munagavalasa, "The Salesforce Business Analyst Handbook", 2022)

"Business analysis is the means through which operational problems and issues are systematically identified and investigated, different approaches are evaluated, and optimal solutions are determined." (Qlik) [source]

"Business Analysis is the practice of enabling change in an enterprise by defining needs and recommending solutions that deliver value to stakeholders." (IIBA)

"The set of tasks, knowledge, tools and techniques required to identify business needs and determine solutions to business problems" (Business Analysis BOK)