Business process management

A structured, measured set of activities designed to produce a specified output for a particular customer or market. It implies a strong emphasis on how work is done within an organisation, in contrast to a product focus´s emphasis on what.

Davenport , T.H. Process Innovation: Reengineer Work through Information Technology. Harvard Business School Press. 1993.

Supporting business processes using methods, techniques, and software to design, enact, control, and analyze operational processes involving humans, organizations, applications, documents and other sources of information.

Wil M.P. van der Aalst, Arthur H.M. ter Hofstede, and Mathias Weske. Business Process Management, International Conference, BPM 2003

A set of one or more linked procedures or activities which collectively realise a business objective or policy goal, normally within the context of an organisational structure defining functional roles and relationships.

Definition der WfMC (Workflow Management Coalition)