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MIT Process Handbook

The goal of the MIT Process Handbook Project, in which we have participated almost since its start, is to develop rich online libraries for sharing and managing many kinds of knowledge about business. For example, these libraries can help find interesting case examples, generate innovative ideas about new business possibilities, and develop new computer programs. Starting in 1991, we have developed one such library. We call it the Process Handbook – an extensive online knowledge base including entries for over 5000 business activities and a set of software tools for managing this knowledge.

The Process Handbook can help people to (1) redesign existing (business) processes, (2) invent new process, especially those that take advantage of information technology, novel coordination structures, or exception handling approaches, (3) organize and share knowledge about organizational practices, and (4) automatically, or semiautomatically, be used generate software to support or analyze business processes.

In the past year the project’s activities have been mainly focused on consolidating the effort by (1) publishing an edited volume about the subject and (2) starting up an open-source inspired version of the Process Handbook and its content, which uses novel licensing mechanisms to allow open-source-style distribution and re-use of the patented and copyrighted process handbook material.

More information about theprocess handbook can be found here.