Method
Purpose
The process house is the backbone of process management: it shows which processes your organisation has, how they fit together and where ownership, risks, controls, KPIs, work instructions and improvements attach. The app deliberately stops at the process: tasks, screen steps and detailed flows belong in the work instruction, an SOP, a training or a detailed BPMN model.
Kinds of items
An item's kind decides what it is and which fields it has, not its depth in the tree. An item that organises the tree is a value stream (at the top) or a process group; an item with work data is a process, and the ways of carrying it out that really differ sit below it as process variants.
Value stream and process group
Helps find, understand and scope. Carries no BPM work data: name, description and optional value-stream context (start, end, primary value).
- Naming
- Free name
- Examples
- Lead-to-customer, Procure-to-pay, Set up master data
Process
The manageable work layer: a package of work with exactly one Responsible and one Accountable role, with input and output, systems, KPIs, risks, controls, APQC and a work instruction. It holds the what and why; the how is in the work instruction.
- Naming
- Verb and work object, in the order your admin sets
- Examples
- Create supplier, Draft sourcing event, Compare quote
Process
Bundles process variants that belong together. It arises when a process gets process variants; the process variants then carry the work-layer data.
- Naming
- Verb and work object
- Examples
- Make quote, Create item
Process variant
A separate way of carrying out a process, used only when the execution really differs: by customer, country, channel, legislation, system setup or a different work instruction. A process variant stays system-independent.
- Naming
- Verb and work object, with the variant name in brackets
- Examples
- Make quote (web shop), Create item (packaging), Issue tender (RFQ)
Numbering
A code is a series of dot-separated segments from 01 to 99, one per level, with no fixed number of levels: 02, 02.03, 02.03.01. A new item gets the first free number under its parent item; the app assigns it. That keeps the tree compact and sortable.
When a process gets process variants, the process variants carry the work-layer data. Only create a process variant when the execution really differs.
Status
Every process, with or without process variants, and every process variant has one of five statuses. The usual order is Draft, In review, Approved, Published; Retired is for what is no longer actively managed. The status is informational: an admin may choose any status.
Governance and retirement
A process house is not a static list but a managed model. The process owner is responsible for the content; the process-house admin looks after structure, standards and quality. Reviews are in the review calendar, changes in the audit trail.
Retiring is explicit, never a silent deletion. A process or process variant is retired when:
- the work object is no longer relevant;
- the way of working has been fully replaced;
- the work has been automated and is no longer managed on its own;
- the process must remain for audit or compliance but is no longer managed operationally.
Quality rules
- Only include an item if it helps navigation or carries real BPM data.
- Process names are short, active and business-oriented, never system names.
- Value streams and process groups keep name, description and scope; RASCI, KPIs, risks, controls, APQC and work instructions belong on processes.
- A process has exactly one Responsible and one Accountable role.
- A process bundles process variants that belong together.
- Do not record tasks separately; they belong in the work instruction, an SOP, a training or a detailed BPMN model.
- Variant data describes what and why; the work instruction describes how.
- Work instructions are maintainable and auditable, with a review date.
Benchmarking (APQC)
The APQC Process Classification Framework is a reference: your own process structure stays leading, APQC is added as a reference, not a replacement. Link mainly processes; higher levels show the coverage below them.
Lean in your process house
Lean looks at work as a chain that delivers value to a customer. Your process house already has the fields for it: there is nothing extra to keep.
SIPOC reads a process from supplier to customer:
- Supplier
- who delivers the input: the previous step in a route, or a role in the RASCI.
- Input
- what the process needs to start: the Input field.
- Process
- what happens: the name and the description of the process.
- Output
- what the process delivers: the Output field.
- Customer
- who receives the output: the next step in a route, or a role in the RASCI.
The Governance review cycle is Deming's PDCA circle: plan (schedule a review in the Review calendar), do (work the way the process house describes), check (the review, with the quality signals) and act (update and publish again). That keeps the process house close to practice.