A word that is being increasingly encountered in the context of software discussions within organisations. A business process essentially is a series of interconnected activities that have a specific start and a specific end. For example, a company may have a purchase process which starts with a requisition for materials from a user; this requisition may result in triggering a request for quotes from vendors.

Based on the vendor responses and after negotiation, a vendor is selected and the purchase order issued. Based on the purchase order, the vemtor supplies the materials. He then submits a bill to the accounting department. The accounting department verifies his claims against the actual deliveries made to the company stores and releases the payment.

This entire cycle, which started with the user's requisition and ended with the material being delivered and the payment being made to the vendor, is a simplified example of a business process cycle. In actual fact, business processes are much more complex, and require a detailed understanding of each user's perspective in the link Organisations seeking to improve their efficiency use business process modelling tools to analyse how changes in the business processes will impact the organisation.