Definition of Business Process:

A series of logically related activities or tasks (such as planning, production, or sales) performed
together to produce a defined set of results.

Definition of Process Owner:
Person who has the ultimate responsibility for the performance of a process in realizing its objectives
measured by key process indicators, and has the authority and ability to make necessary changes.

Definition of Corporate Policy:

Usually, a documented set of broad guidelines, formulated after an analysis of all internal and
external factors that can affect a firm's objectives, operations, and plans. Formulated by the firm's
board of directors, corporate policy lays down the firm's response to known and knowable
situations and circumstances. It also determines the formulation and implementation of strategy,
and directs and restricts the plans, decisions, and actions of the firm's officers in achievement of
its objectives. Also called company policy.


Definition of Procedure:

A fixed, step-by-step sequence of activities or course of action (with definite start and end
points) that must be followed in the same order to correctly perform a task. Repetitive procedures
are called routines.


Definition of Method:

An established, habitual, logical, or prescribed practice or systematic process of achieving
certain ends with accuracy and efficiency, usually in an ordered sequence of fixed steps.

Definition of Process flow:

A method of visually documenting the stages involved in performing a certain business
procedure. A type of process flow popular among business managers might take the form of flow
charts that show inputs or information requests, followed by each of the steps required to create
deliverable outputs such as products or services from the inputs.


Definition of Process Mapping:
Structural analysis of a process flow (such as an order-to-delivery cycle), by distinguishing how
work is actually done from how it should be done, and what functions a system should perform
from how the system is built to perform those functions. In this technique, main activities,
information flows, interconnections, and measures are depicted as a collage on a large sheet of
(commonly brown) paper, with different colored 'Post-it' notes or slips of paper. This graphic
representation allows an observer to 'walk-through' the whole process and see it in its entirety.
Also called brown papering.
Definition of Process Improvement:

Systematic approach to closing of process or system performance gaps through streamlining and
cycle time reduction, and identification and elimination of causes of below specifications quality,
process variation, and non-value-adding activities.