This section provides definitions of words, terms, phases and acronyms, frequently used or referenced in the business process change community. As the business process change market evolves, these terms evolve and change, as well. Formal business process languages like BPML have semantic definitions that are enforced by the language standard. Other groups, such as the Workflow Management Coalition (WfMC), publish formal glossaries. Still other groups define terms in ways specific to their particular community. Most of these communities use or define these terms in slightly different ways. Old terms take on new and varied meanings, new terms emerge, and it is often confusing to business managers trying to communicate across the various business process change communities. This glossary recognizes these differences, seeks to provide generic definitions and suggests a common language. In cases where we know that communities use these terms in ways significantly different from those we provide, we note the fact. We hope our members and visitors find this glossary helpful and we pledge to work hard to keep it current.

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F

Feedback

Refers to passing information from one person to another person that performed some task earlier, or from one process or system or another process or system that has already occurred. When sales reports customer complaints about manufacturing defects to the manufacturing department, it is providing feedback to manufacturing. When a sales manager accompanies a new salesperson on a call and then critiques the new salesperson's performance after the call, he or she is providing feedback. A lack of adequate or timely feedback is a major cause of process problems.

Fishbone Diagram

See Cause-Effect Diagram.

Fit

See Process Fit

Function-Process Matrix

A diagram that lists functions or departments on the horizontal axis and value chains or business processes on the horizontal axis and shows which functions are involved in which processes.

Functional Measures

Measures assigned to departments or functional groups that focus on goals related to departmental efficiency rather than process efficiency. A sales department might measure cost of sales or the number of calls a salesperson made in a given period of time. (Compare to Process Measures.)