--- sourceDocument: Australia Enterprise Architecture sourceDocumentLink: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/application-portfolio-management Release : - australia ft:locale : - en-US ft:publication_title : - Australia Enterprise Architecture ft:clusterId : - appportman bundleId : - appportman workflow : - Technology --- # Exploring business processes # Exploring business processes {#ariaid-title1} Release version: Australia Updated March 12, 2026 ![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 2 minutes to read Summarize ![AI sparkle icon](https://servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ai-sparkle-icon) Summarized using AI This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete. ## Summary of Exploring Business Processes Business processes in ServiceNow's Enterprise Architecture Workspace model how your organization performs work to achieve specific business outcomes. They enable you to build a hierarchical structure of processes, associate these processes with supporting business applications, and align workflows with organizational needs. This structured approach helps you visualize and manage how work is executed and supported across the enterprise. Show full answer Show less ## Key Features * **Process Hierarchy:** Create multi-level business process hierarchies (L0, L1, L2, and deeper) using CI relationships to define parent-child connections between processes. * **Level Definitions:** * **L0:** High-level processes encompassing all related activities (e.g., IT Service Management). * **L1:** Specific tasks within L0 processes (e.g., Incident Management). * **L2 and deeper:** More granular subprocesses within L1 (e.g., Incident Logging, Incident Resolution). * **Associations with Enterprise Artifacts:** Link business processes to business applications, architectural artifacts, process maps, value streams, and business units to provide comprehensive context and traceability. * **Multiple Business Units Association:** Unlike prior versions, a business process can now be associated with multiple business units through the Related Business Units list, enhancing flexibility in ownership assignment. * **Distinction from Business Process Activities:** Business processes represent the overall workflow and hierarchy, while business process activities are discrete units of work performed by actors. ## Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers * Understand and document how your organization's work is structured and supported at different levels of detail. * Visualize workflows and their dependencies on applications and architectural components, improving alignment between business and IT. * Support governance and continuous improvement by associating processes with value streams and business units. * Maintain flexibility in process ownership by associating multiple business units with a single process. * Enable better traceability and impact analysis by linking design decisions and execution workflows. Business processes model how your organization performs work to achieve a business outcome. Use business processes in Enterprise Architecture Workspace to build a process hierarchy and to associate processes with supporting business applications. You can create business processes or modify an existing one to align it with your business requirements. Based on your requirements, model a business process hierarchy by creating parent‑child relationships between business process records using CI relationships. A business process or capability hierarchy is an ordered grouping of business processes in a hierarchical fashion. Business process hierarchies can include multiple levels (L0, L1, L2, and deeper). Use CI relationships to create parent‑child relationships between business process records and build the hierarchy over time. ## L0 and L1 business processes {#eaw-business-processes__example_ohz_3cb_ybc} L0 signifies the high-level process encompassing all activities associated with that process. For example, in the IT service management business process, the L0 business process encompasses all activities related to managing IT services within the organization. L1 signifies the specific tasks within the L0 business process. For example, within the IT service management business process, incident management is an L1 business process which specifically deals with logging, categorizing, and resolving incidents. L2 (and deeper) levels represent more specific sub‑processes within an L1 process. For example, within Incident Management, you can model L2 processes such as Incident Logging and Incident Resolution. ## Business processes in Enterprise Architecture Workspace {#eaw-business-processes__eaw-business-processes-section} Use business processes to connect operational workflows to other enterprise architecture artifacts: * Associate business processes with business applications to show which applications support the workflow. * Associate architectural artifacts with business processes to link design decisions to execution. * Add business processes to process maps or diagrams to visualize relationships. * Link business processes to value streams to show how internal workflows support end‑to‑end value delivery. * Associate business processes with the business units that own them. Use business processes to model internal workflows and relate them to supporting applications. Use business capabilities to describe what the organization does. Use value streams to describe end‑to‑end value delivery across functions. A business process is not the same as a business process activity. A business process models the overall workflow and its L0-L2 hierarchy. A business process activity is a separate, standalone entity that represents a discrete unit of work performed by a business actor. For more information, see [Exploring business process activities](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/mHgPX6lPYD5Z8vHzQB_Z7Q "Business process activities represent discrete units of work within workflows. Knowing how they differ from business processes helps you model organizational tasks accurately."). Note: Before Australia Patch 5, a business process could be associated with only one business unit, using a Business Unit field on the form. This field has been removed from the default form view and replaced with the Related business units related list, which lets you associate a business process with multiple business units. The Business Unit field still exists on the table --- administrators can add it back to the form from Form Layout if needed. Associations that existed before the upgrade are not automatically migrated; you must explicitly add the business unit to the Related business units related list. **Related tasks** * [View all business processes](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/zpNj8r_8AAxaNpuy_hnGeQ "You can view the list of all available business processes in the Enterprise Architecture Workspace.") * [Add or edit a business process](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/xpkmW6kaaXDw8M4oFXV7jw "A Business process is a collection of related, structured activities performed to achieve a specific business outcome. Use business processes to model how your organization operates and to associate the business applications that support those activities.") * [Manage architectural artifacts of a business process](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/L~mbpLLo7aiyu8qiSYl1pw "You can create new, add, or remove the artifacts that are associated with a business process.") * [Associate a business process with a value stream stage](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/_DAdv1ZaxGhLAPx08JmWLQ "You can add an existing business process to a value stream stage to map your enterprise architecture workflows to the stages of your value streams. You can also remove associated business processes if they are no longer relevant for the value stream stage.") * [Add a business unit to a business process](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/lxuSFMF20J~Nqhu8Yb~G9g "Add an existing business unit to a business process in Enterprise Architecture Workspace, or create a business unit directly from the business process record.") * [Remove a business unit from a business process](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/ufsVcGPPGfe7brJ~JKBiaw "Remove business units associated with a business process in Enterprise Architecture Workspace.")