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   Activity-  based 

process definition 

methods 

  Analysis tools used to 

identify the relationship 

between tasks within a 

business  process.   

  Process 

  Part of a system that 

has a clearly defined 

purpose or objective and 

clearly defined inputs and 

outputs.   

  Process  mapping 

  Identification  of  location 

and responsibilities for 

processes within an 

organisation.   

 Process  activity 

 Marketing 

 Engineering 

 Finance 

 Senior  management 

 1 Cost estimation 

  

 M 

  

  

 2 Assess financial risk 

  

 m 

 M 

  

 3 Publicity presentation 

 M 

 m 

  

  

 4  Review 

 M 

 M 

 M 

 m 

 5  Authorisation 

  

  

 M 

 M 

  M  = major role in function, m = minor role in function  

 Table 11.1 

 Process map for activities with process ‘prepare proposal’

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Chapter 11  Analysis and design

Task analysis and task decomposition

Before a process such as ‘prepare proposal’ can be designed and implemented, a more 

detailed breakdown is required. This is usually referred to as ‘

task analysis

’.

Noyes and Baber (1999) point out that a difficulty with this type of process or task decompo-

sition is that there are no set rules for what to call the different levels of decomposition or how 

far to decompose the process. The number of levels and the terminology used for the different 

levels will vary according to the application you are using and the consultant you may be work-

ing with. Georgakoupoulos et al. (1995) talk about ‘task nesting’ of tasks broken down into  sub- 

 tasks as part of the  activity-  based method for describing workflows. They give the example of 

a workflow process for procurement where the task ‘procure materials’ is broken down further 

into the  sub-  tasks of ‘verify status’, ‘get bids’ and ‘place order’. Curtis et al. (1992) provide a use-

ful framework, referring to process units or elements at each process level as follows:

Level 1 business processes are decomposed into:

Level 2 activities which are further divided to:

Level 3 tasks and finally:

Level 4 

 sub-  tasks.

An example of a  four-  level task decomposition is presented in Figure 11.2. Attempts to 

standardise the meanings of these terms have been produced by the Workflow Management 

Task analysis

Identification of different 

tasks, their sequence 

and how they are broken 

down.

Figure 11.2

An example task decomposition for an estate agency

Source: Adapted from Chaffey (1998).