Glossary

Process owner

The single role accountable for a process's objective, design, performance, approval, changes and improvement.

The single role accountable for a process's objective, design, performance, approval, changes and improvement. Every approved process has exactly one, with a current approval date.

That it be a single role is the part most often breached. A process with two owners has none: each assumes the other is accountable for performance, and change decisions either stall or get taken separately.

Related terms

Govern versus manage

The distinction between evaluating needs, directing through prioritization and monitoring compliance (governing), and planning, building, running and monitoring the activities aligned to that…

Governance by design

The principle that when a methodological rule can be implemented as a native platform control, the control is preferred over the procedure.

Process enablers and enterprise capabilities

The distinction between what makes a process mature (design, performers, owner, infrastructure and metrics) and what makes an enterprise mature (leadership, culture, expertise and governance).

Process objective

The specification of the outcome a process must produce, not a declarative sentence on a form.

Role governance

The assignment of permissions and accountabilities by institutional function rather than by individual, so the solution does not depend on specific people.