Strategic, Business & Support Processes: 3-Level Classification & L0-L4 Design Framework

Universal Principles of Process Design

The article establishes five foundational principles for constructing a process framework:

Reflect existing process classification and structure – The framework must accurately describe the enterprise's current business processes so every process classification and structure is clearly identifiable.

End-to-end representation – The framework should display the entire business flow from start to finish, ensuring every link is connected and manageable.

Align with organizational and T-structure – Processes must map to the company's organizational structure, linking each process to corresponding departments and role responsibilities.

Top-down decomposition without gaps – Strategic goals are progressively broken down into concrete operational processes, guaranteeing complete coverage at every level.

Visual, simple, and unambiguous – Graphical views should make processes and their relationships easy to understand.

Three-Level Process Classification

1. Strategic Processes

Definition : Processes that enable sustainable operation and set the direction for business processes.

Characteristic : Directional.

Frequency : Long-term cycles.

Enterprise-level example : Strategic planning process.

2. Business Processes

Definition : Processes that directly create value for customers, typically end-to-end.

Characteristic : Sequential and value-adding.

Frequency : Daily synchronous cycles.

Enterprise-level example : Customer relationship management process.

3. Support Processes

Definition : Processes that indirectly create customer value by safeguarding the operation of strategic and business processes; they can run independently.

Characteristic : Efficiency-oriented.

Frequency : Non-cyclical, independent loops, or asynchronous cycles.

Enterprise-level example : Human resources process.

Five-Layer Process Design (L0–L4)

Level 0: Process Overview

The top-level framework covering all Class-A business processes, categorized into strategic, business, and support processes. Serves as the unified entry point for browsing all processes.

Level 1: Process Collection

Full expansion of a specific process collection (e.g., SCM, Human Resources) along the value chain, including all three process types.

Level 2: Process Category

Describes different scenarios within a value-chain segment of a process collection, differentiated by customer segmentation, product distinctions, or other key characteristics; also includes support processes.

Level 3: Process

Defines the process for a specific business scenario, including sub-processes (functions), process interfaces, and KPIs. Also specifies sub-process definitions, inputs/outputs, role responsibilities, and KPIs.

Level 4 to n: Sub-Process & Activity

Further decomposition of sub-processes down to atomic activities that cannot be broken down further, as needed.

Reference: Circulated Process Design (network-shared material).