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Processes and procedures

Process is linked with procedure to signify the organized activities of the operational side of the enterprise, where processes are relatively deterministic and repeatable. This is an area where business has focused massive attention, on the assumption that ICT can be used most effectively, to enforce procedures, to support repetition, and to take over from people various behaviors that can be completely codified. This is also an area where the architectural view has spawned a number of tools to help the practitioner.

Elements:

  • activities
  • roles
  • role-players
  • outcomes
  • inputs
  • resources
  • flows
  • triggering events
Purpose:
 
The purpose of process modeling is wide-ranging.  This is a perspective that helps focus efficiency and cost containment, as well as designing behavior of the business and the IT support for this behavior.
  • Descriptive - This is a very robust descriptive approach, to  the point that business process often is the only approach considered.
  • Prescriptive - Some process patterns are prescriptive, or seen as best practice.  In more and more cases, processes are being standardized, and those standardizations form a strong basis for prescriptions
  • Predictive - Good process analysis can definitely predict impacts of process changes, or changes in the situation.  This is especially true when simulation tools to examine the detailed dynamics of processes.