Procedure vs. Process - What's different between Procedure and Process?

[Sima]

Procedure & Process

Hello Every body

we are in the way to change our document according to the ISO9000-2000 requierments, and in this way we have a problem we don't know wha's different between Procedure and Process, for example we have a purchace procedure in our company and it include all work flows for purchasing and it contain som work instruction for example : evaluation for subcontractor,purchase goods reject,purchase cancelation,service order,software procurment,evaluation of traning institute and certification body,evaluation of calibration institute,and storage procedure and its instructions,
and also we define all work flow for internal and external purchasaing and all other differnts purchasing like, software,book,equipment,.....
and how can we change this procedure to processe and what is different between purchace procedure as we have and a purchase process ....

thank you in advance
sima

 

[Marc]

The long view is a process is something someone or a group of people do. A procedure describes the process.

Let's take starting an automobile. There is a process one goes through and we can stand back and say "See, that is the process." But if you want to teach someone to do it without showing them (or maybe you show them but you want something to have in case they forget one opf the steps), you write a procedure. The procedure should contain the 'appropriate' steps necessary for the person to start the car when you're not there.

Process --> A way of doing something.
Procedure --> A description of a way of doing something.

If you are a referring to a 'process document', such a document typically includes inspection and test parameters and possibly other 'details' and may or may not be a procedure per se.

I think there are some threads here on this topic you might also want to Search the Forums.

 

[CoKoOPERATOR]

Re: Procedure & Process

Hello Every body

we are in the way to change our document according to the ISO9000-2000 requierments, and in this way we have a problem we don't know wha's different between Procedure and Process, for example we have a purchace procedure in our company and it include all work flows for purchasing and it contain som work instruction for example : evaluation for subcontractor,purchase goods reject,purchase cancelation,service order,software procurment,evaluation of traning institute and certification body,evaluation of calibration institute,and storage procedure and its instructions,
and also we define all work flow for internal and external purchasaing and all other differnts purchasing like, software,book,equipment,.....
and how can we change this procedure to processe and what is different between purchace procedure as we have and a purchase process ....

thank you in advance
sima

Hi Sima,
Marc is right about the process and procedure difference.
For example, the process to make happy customers.
The procedure that must be followed is a simple smile .
By doing that ,the customer is happy.