---
title: Process Architecture
type: concept
tags: [bpm, identification, architecture, portfolio]
sources: ["[[sources/2018-dumas-fundamentals-of-bpm]]"]
created: 2026-04-13
updated: 2026-04-13
---

# Process Architecture

An organised overview of the processes in an organisation and the relationships between them ([[sources/2018-dumas-fundamentals-of-bpm]], ch. 2).

## Structure (typical three levels)
1. **Process categories** — core / support / management (or equivalent high-level partition).
2. **Process groups** — related processes within a category.
3. **Individual processes** — the actual units of work addressed in subsequent lifecycle phases.

Larger enterprises may have four or more levels.

## Artefacts
- **Process landscape model** — visual map of processes and relations (§2.2.4).
- **Process portfolio** — processes plotted by strategic importance × health → prioritises selection (§2.3.3).
- **Reference models** — reusable process architectures (e.g., SAP's process map, APQC PCF).

## Selection criteria (§2.3)
- Strategic importance
- Health / performance
- Feasibility of improvement
- (Often combined into a matrix for portfolio view)

## Performance measures
Process performance is typically decomposed into **time, cost, quality, flexibility** — the same four dimensions that reappear as trade-offs in the [[concepts/devils-quadrangle]].

## Related
[[concepts/bpm-lifecycle]] · [[concepts/business-process]] · [[concepts/bpm-maturity]]