What are Business Processes?
Close But No Banana1 2
Ask any geotechnical engineer to describe his or her business processes, and they will tell you to grab a soil sample from the site, run it through the lab, write a report, etc.
Ask an attorney, and he or she will describe the initial interview with the client, filing the complaint or answer, executing discovery, drafting the motion for summary judgement, preparing for trial, etc.
There are very close but are on the wrong side of the coin. They are describing the processes for creation and delivery of their product ... their professional services.
Business Processes3
Business processes are the $ (financial) processes that accompany the substantive/technical processes of delivering the product or service.
Did $ come into our bank account from the delivery of the product/service, and did that $ exceed the $ associated with delivering the product/service?
These processes include engagement setup, time tracking, billing, revenue, receivables, payments, engagement costs, etc.
Some in the brains by the hour business like to call these the "bean counting" processes. We are all copacetic with that as long as the $ in exceeds the $ out, and you hit your KPM's for the quarter :-).
TUC
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