People, Technology, and Information

...technologies facilitate process activities 

You can also think of business processes as the series of events that bring together people, technology, and information in ways that create valuable outputs.  To do this, take a moment to glance around your offices.  Notices that:

• The people  around you are carrying out process activities based on the inputs they receive -- such as customer requests.  Their skills and knowledge constitute additional inputs.

• These people are often working with technology --for example, software applications and the Internet.  These technologies facilitate process activities  -- such as order entry, e-mailing a customer or retrieving customer data.

• Information is also all a around you--stored in data bases, provided by customers, or held in people's minds.  As such, information can be a process  input (such as the number of parts in the warehouse)  or an output (for instance, a consultant's report).

ACTION POINT:  Recognize the people, technology and information used in all of your business processes.