What is a process map?
A process map is the overview of all of an organization's processes and how they connect, from core to management to supporting processes. It shows the big picture before you dive into individual workflows.
Read more →Glossary
Process terms, clearly explained.
The key terms around processes, answered briefly, each with a page to go deeper.
What is a swimlane?
A swimlane is a lane in a process diagram that assigns the steps a role, department or person is responsible for. It makes clear at a glance who does what and when, and where the workflow hands off from one party to the next.
Read more →What is process documentation?
Process documentation describes how a workflow runs step by step: what the steps are, who's responsible for them and what comes out. It makes implicit knowledge visible, and therefore shareable, checkable and improvable.
Read more →What is process control?
Process control is the ongoing monitoring, steering and sharpening of workflows so they reliably reach their goal. It closes the loop of measuring, judging and intervening, turning a once-defined process into one that keeps pace with reality.
Read more →What is process standardization?
Process standardization means setting a single, binding way to run a recurring workflow instead of reinventing it every time. The goal is a reliable result, regardless of who happens to be running the process.
Read more →What is process integration?
Process integration is the seamless connection of individual processes and systems across a company, so information flows across departmental boundaries without breaks. Instead of isolated islands, you get one continuous workflow, from inquiry to delivery.
Read more →What are process KPIs?
Process KPIs are measurable figures that show how well a business process performs on time, quality, cost and productivity. They turn gut feeling into solid numbers, and reveal where improvement actually pays off.
Read more →What is process maturity?
Process maturity describes how developed a business process is, from chaotic and ad hoc, through documented and controlled, to continuously improved. It sorts workflows into five levels and shows where the next sensible step lies.
Read more →What is process reliability?
Process reliability describes how dependably a workflow runs, even under pressure, through staff changes or disruptions. A reliable process delivers a dependable result instead of hinging on the daily form of individual people.
Read more →What is process innovation?
Process innovation is the deliberate renewal of internal workflows to work faster, cheaper or more reliably. Instead of just changing the product, it changes the way you get there, often with new technology like automation or AI.
Read more →What is a process owner?
A process owner holds overall responsibility for a business process, from definition through steering to improvement. They're the one person who can say how the workflow runs, where it breaks and who's allowed to change it.
Read more →What is a process audit?
A process audit systematically checks whether a business process runs as intended, from planning through execution to control. It surfaces weaknesses, sources of error and risks, and provides concrete starting points for improvement.
Read more →What is process automation?
Process automation means letting technology handle recurring workflows, with RPA, workflow systems, AI or interfaces. The goal: less manual work, fewer errors, more time for the work that really needs people.
Read more →What is permission management in process management?
Permission management controls who can view, edit or approve what within a process. It goes beyond plain IT access and governs operational rights along roles, so sensitive data stays protected and it stays traceable who did what, when.
Read more →What is Business Process Reengineering?
Business Process Reengineering is rethinking business processes radically from a blank page, not tweaking what already exists. The goal is big leaps in cost, quality, service and speed by rebuilding a process entirely from the customer's value backwards.
Read more →What is Kaizen?
Kaizen is Japanese for "change for the better", a mindset where many small, everyday improvements are carried by all employees. Instead of the big upheaval, what counts is the steady, step-by-step optimization of existing workflows.
Read more →What are quality management and compliance?
Quality management bundles every measure for making products, services and workflows lastingly better. Compliance means adhering to legal and normative requirements. Both hang on one thing: traceably documented processes that show it really runs this way.
Read more →What is an SOP?
An SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) describes, step by step, how a recurring task is done correctly. It ensures consistent quality, faster onboarding and traceability for audits, no matter who's running the task.
Read more →What is BPMN, and do you need it?
BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation) is a standardized graphical language for modelling processes as flowcharts. It's powerful for process experts, but too complex for most employees to use day to day.
Read more →What is process knowledge, and where does it live?
Process knowledge is everything an organisation knows about its own workflows: what the steps are, who owns them, which rules apply and why things run this way and not another. Only a small part of it sits in documents.
Read more →What is a knowledge graph, and what does it do for processes?
A knowledge graph doesn't store documents, it stores things and the relationships between them: process X is owned by role Y, uses system Z and falls under standard N. Instead of text to read, you get a network you can query.
Read more →What is a RACI matrix?
A RACI matrix assigns every task who carries it out (Responsible), who answers for it (Accountable), who is asked beforehand (Consulted) and who is told afterwards (Informed). That makes clear for every step who plays which role, and where responsibility is missing or assigned twice.
Read more →Still have a question? Take a look at ProcessCollector →