A process is a way of documenting a sequence of tasks carried out to achieve a business activity.
A flow diagram is used, with standard components linked together.
A process is made up of e.g.:
a start event (to show where the process starts)
an end event (for where the process finishes)
tasks (to show what needs to be done)
gateways (to show decision points)
connections (to show the order of flow between the other components)
At its simplest a process could be a linear flow with start and end events and a couple of tasks in between:
What is in a process?
Which activities are included in a process, depends on what you wish to map and at what level:
A high level overview of a main business process, e.g. Hire to Retire end to end process for employees
A detailed process with both user and system interactions, e.g. manufacturing a part on a particular machine
Not just for documenting: Running a Process
If documented in sufficient detail, the process can be published and run. This means the same process can be run consistently each time required, and a consistent set of data captured.
User tasks in the process will be presented to the relevant user at the correct point in the sequence, providing and requesting data, e.g.:
display instructions
display information or data
request user entries e.g. numbers, text, selections, files