The procedural approach refers to performing an action, adhering to a rule, or carrying out a task exactly as it has been written, whereas a process is related to understanding certain needs, verifying that these needs are met in the best possible way, and periodically checking that these needs have remained constant over time and have not evolved, for example.
Looking at things more specifically, we can find substantial differences between procedures and processes:
- procedures are driven by the concept of carrying out a task, while processes must achieve a specific result, an objective;
- procedures are implemented, i.e., applied in a certain context, while processes – once designed – become operational;
- the various steps of a procedure are often carried out by different people in different areas of an organization and often have different objectives, whereas the steps of a process can also be carried out by different people but with a common goal (the business areas are not important here);
- procedures can be discontinuous, while processes follow a well-defined flow from start to finish;
- procedures focus on compliance with rules, while processes aim to satisfy the customer (whether internal or external does not matter);
- procedures define the sequence of steps necessary to carry out a task, while processes generate a certain result through the use of specific resources;
- procedures are used as a reference by individuals to perform activities, while workers use processes to achieve a specific goal;
- procedures exist and are somewhat static, while processes are driven by people and are constantly evolving;
- procedures allow workers to carry out a task exactly as described, while processes ensure that things happen, regardless of the procedures themselves;
- procedures specify the actions to be taken, while processes function through the actions of individuals and decisions made during their execution;
- procedures identify the tasks to be done, while with processes, individuals decide which procedures to follow.
The definition provided by ISO 9000:2015 of a procedure is a specific method for performing an activity or process. A procedure is, therefore, a document that simply contains instructions to assist a person in performing a certain task, and as such, this document does not need to contain the description of the process it refers to, the resources it uses, or the cause-and-effect relationships that the reference process might produce, nor does it need to describe how potential risks are identified and mitigated.
All of this will instead produce a level of detail that we will find in the description of a process, never in that of a procedure. To make this difference even clearer, we can liken the procedure to the manual that explains how to use a certain machine, while the process description might consist of the machine's specifications, drawings, electrical diagrams, maintenance instructions, setup instructions, possible repair procedures, etc. And we come to the system, which we can define as a sort of mental construction conveniently used to observe, describe, and explain reality (as well as to analyze certain phenomena from different perspectives).
This concept is not new to us because, after all, even when we draw the flowchart of a process, we are creating a simplified model of a more complex reality, assuming that the activities indicated always follow the same sequence without deviation or interruption (remember the famous saying: “The map is not the territory”? Well, the flowchart is just a map and never represents the actual reality of that process). In the same way, the representation of a system is an idealized version of reality that helps us understand how certain results are produced and what interrelationships are necessary to achieve them. We use models, including systems, to represent reality, but these representations are reliable only for what we can directly observe, and what we can observe is, of course, influenced by our experiences, knowledge, and what we have been able to verify over time. Until the processes of a system are put into operation in reality to produce the desired outputs, we cannot know if everything will work as expected or if some interaction will cause something unexpected to occur.
In summary, we can say that – when we look at something with well-defined boundaries and see a person or a group of people working – we are witnessing the performance of an activity. When we instead see a series of activities taking place that produce certain results, we are observing a process. Finally, when – observing the same things – we realize that a change in one element can alter the behavior of other elements related to it, we are focusing on viewing the system as a whole.