What do we mean by Business Process

The business eco system involves various entities, both internal and external that the business works with for delivery of a product or service.  Suppliers, Trade bodies, Government agencies, Customers, Competitors, Shareholders, Banks, Employees, other group companies etc. are some of the entities.

Business process is a representation of interactions/activities between such entities and business process mapping is a visual representation of such activities. It often can be visualized with a flowchart as a sequence of activities with interleaving decision points or with a Process Matrix as a sequence of activities with relevance rules based on data in the process. A business process can be broken down into several sub-processes, which have their own attributes, but also contribute to achieving the goal of the super-process.

Types of Business Processes:

These business processes can be classified into three primary types based on their role in business:

Management Processes:

The processes that govern the operation of a system like "corporate governance" and "strategic management".

Operational Processes: 

Processes that constitute the core business and create the primary value stream. Typical operational processes are purchasing, manufacturing, advertising and marketing, and sales.

Supporting Processes: 

The processes which support the core processes like accounting, recruitment, call canter, technical support.