Supported By

In the context of a business process, "supported by process" refers to a distinct business process that provides essential resources, services, information, or management functions that enable another primary or core business process to execute effectively, efficiently, and compliantly, without necessarily being a direct sequential predecessor.

Essentially, a supporting process acts as a foundational or auxiliary mechanism that ensures the smooth and successful operation of another process, often in an ongoing or on-demand basis, rather than being a direct step in its linear flow.

Here's a breakdown of "supported by process":

1. Enabling and Facilitating Role:

   • The primary function of a supporting process is to provide the necessary conditions, resources, or information for a core process to perform its activities. It's about maintaining the operational environment for the primary process.

   • Contrast with Predecessor: A predecessor process directly hands off an output that starts or advances the next process. A supporting process provides ongoing capability, infrastructure, or a service that the main process draws upon as needed.

2. Types of Support Provided:

   • Resource Provisioning: Ensuring that the necessary people, equipment, or software are available and functional.

   • Information/Data Provision: Providing access to databases, knowledge bases, or reporting that informs the primary process, but isn't necessarily a direct input flow for every single transaction.

   • Maintenance and Management: Keeping systems, facilities, or resources in working order.

   • Compliance and Oversight: Ensuring that the primary process adheres to rules and standards.

   • Shared Services: Often, supporting processes manifest as centralized services utilized by multiple core processes.

3. Benefits of Defining "Supported By" Relationships:

   • Operational Resilience: Ensures that core processes have the necessary underlying infrastructure and services to run smoothly and without interruption.

   • Efficiency and Focus: Allows core processes to concentrate on their primary value delivery by offloading essential but non-core activities to supporting processes.

   • Resource Optimization: Identifies opportunities for centralized services and efficient allocation of common resources across the organization.

   • Risk Management: Highlights critical dependencies where the failure of a supporting process could disrupt core operations.

   • Continuous Improvement: Allows for independent optimization of supporting processes to enhance their contribution to the core processes they enable.

To summarize, a "supported by process" relationship illuminates the ecosystem of workflows within an organization, showing how auxiliary processes are crucial for creating the stable, efficient, and compliant environment in which primary business processes can deliver their intended value.