What is a business process?

This video served as a brief introduction to business processes. More detailed information and resources are available on the presenter's website, theprocessconsultant.com.

A business is an organization, a group of people who coordinate their work to create value. Value creation typically requires the combined effort of many people, as few things of worth are created by a single individual alone.

Work is specialized by breaking down value creation into chunks or activities. These activities are performed by individuals based on their skill sets and are done in a given sequence, similar to an assembly line, passing work from one person to the next.

A business process has a clear start, an end, and a series of activities in between. Each activity either creates something new or changes something, which is referred to as adding value. This involves an input that goes into an activity and a different output that emerges.

Individuals with the appropriate skill sets are assigned responsibility for specific tasks, defining their role. Within the sequence of activities, there are often decision points, also known as branches or gateways, where different paths can be taken based on the outcome.

A business process is a sequence of activities designed to create something of value. This concept is crucial because the efficiency, accuracy, and speed of these processes directly impact an organization's output and overall success, driving factors like faster, better, and cheaper outcomes.