Business processes can be used to visualize business-relevant procedures of a company.
A task that arises through business activities is partitioned into business processes. This in turn results in a fragmentation into sub-processes, whereupon the overall task is broken down into subtasks or individual activities.

The connection between the activities can be achieved by

  • Information,
  • Data,
  • Objects
  • or documents,

which can be exchanged mutually.
The processes are structured hierarchically. If they are complex, i.e. if many activities follow each other and many case distinctions exist, then the processes are built up from subprocesses. The division into sub-processes is also advantageous if individual parts are to be reused again as sub-processes in other fields.
The execution of business processes and related activities is handled by human or machine resources. Human resources include external partners. Machine resources include computers, programs or services.

More information can be found under Definition Model.

More information about the business process “Goods receipt” can be found under Goods receipt – Identification.

Image source: Sven, license (CC BY-SA 3.0)

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