We can look at the workflow as a simple transaction between two parties—the customer and the performer. It constitutes the basic unit in a network of workflows that we call a business process. All action that happens in business starts with either an offer by a performer or a request by a customer somewhere in this network. Taking the example of the development of new business, we could identify a business process with the following loops:

• Make new service offer to residential customers.
• Invent and design new service offers.
• Prepare report on status of new business development.
• Make presentation of business case to vice president for approval.
• Develop and implement new service offer.
• Test customer satisfaction regarding the new service offer.

This essay also describes three types of business processes—material, information and business.