Process Owner

Intro

A process owner manages process performance and resources and provides functional expertise. They are accountable for implementing process improvements.

Key points:

• Single point of accountability for outcomes.
• Ensures governance, measurement, and change.
• Common use cases across EA/BPM/Data/App/Tech include SLA ownership, change approvals, and cross-functional coordination.
• Pitfall: assigning ownership without authority or resources.

Examples:

• Owner of incident management process in IT.
• Order-to-cash process owner across Finance and Sales.
• Data quality process owner coordinating stewards.

In practice:

Define owner responsibilities, KPIs, and decision rights; support with governance and funding.

Related terms: Process; Governance; Key Performance Indicator

FAQs:

Q: Can a process have multiple owners?
A: Avoid it; define one accountable owner and supporting roles.

Q: What authority should owners have?
A: Enough to change processes, resources, and policies to meet targets.

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