Business Systems Modeling Terminology Examined

The business systems modeling world is riddled with confusion about the terminology used to name the activities performed by a business.

Are these activities Processes, Functions, Mechanisms or Procedures?

The answer is “all of the above”. Does this mean that these terms are synonyms? No they are not. All of these activities are carried out by the business but they are not all the same thing.

The trouble is that too many people who see themselves as “experts” in business analysis and modeling, especially those in the world of business process modeling, “know” so much that they cannot be bothered with “trivia”, such as boring fundamental definitions.

For those of us who still have open minds and are willing to learn and grow, here are some useful definitions.

The core activities of every business, those that define WHAT a business OUGHT to be doing, are Business Functions.

When you need to know the order in which Business Functions need to be carried out in order to arrive at a specified outcome in a response to a specific trigger that you build a Business Process. Each step in a process will be a function. So, without functions there would be no processes! A good reason to start by modeling the functions!

Functions can can be carried out by various means using different systems, forms, etc. These different means are called Mechanisms. So Functions are the “What” and Mechanisms are the “How”.

As Mechanism is to Function, so Procedure is to Process, in that procedure describes the means by which Process are performed. A single Process can be carried out by various Procedures.

Another major error in business systems modeling terminology is referring to a Department within a business as a Function! A Function is a core business activity and NOT a department.

The “Finance Function” is NOT the Finance Department!! Rather, it is that set of ACTIVITIES needed to be carried out in order to enable a business to comply with its financial commitments.

All true experts know that real expertise comes from knowing and practicing the basics.

The Integrated Modeling Method solves the above-mentioned issues by defining the core elements simply and unambiguously and showing how power can be achieved through simplicity.

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