(2) A specific event in a chain of structured business activities. The event typically changes the state of data and/or a product and generates some type of output. Examples of business processes include receiving orders, invoicing, shipping products, updating employee information, or setting a marketing budget. Business processes occur at all levels of an organization’s activities and include events that the customer sees and events that are invisible to the customer.

The term also refers to the amalgam of all the separate steps toward the final business goal.