Defining business process

Recently I read a book from " Business process management - A rigorous approach " from Martyn A. Ould. Any body interested in knowing about how to define real life business process , must read this book. The book explains an approach to business process definition which is in line with the way the work is done in real life . One of the most important things books highlights is the three aspects of same business process -

Strategic

Management

Operational

Let us take the example of work order life cycle management process . As per Martin, Work order life cycle management process should be implemented by three separate business processes - Work order management process, Work order operation process and work order strategic process . Work order management process manages the flow of work order - it validates work order , define priorities , schedule and then direct the work order to operational process . Work order operation process is responsible for actual execution of a single instance of the work order . Work order operational and management processes interact with with each other and exchange information related to schedule, priorities and work in progress. They may negotiate schedule, reporting frequency and cost, just like it is done in real life scenarios.

Strategic process takes a long term view of the work order and monitors whether work order are being executed as per QCS(Quality, cost and schedules) and other KPI's.Strategic process exchange information , both, with management and operation process. Strategic process may subscribe relevant information from management and operational processes. Management and operational process can publish relevant information to strategic process.

If we observe carefully, this is the way work is done in real life, too. Business processes defined in this way are more likely to be successful because they are more likely to be in line with the way work is done in real life. In this approach, their is a clear separation of concerns due to which such process architecture will be easy to maintain .