Process specification

A Process Specification is a description of the procedure to be followed by an actor within an elementary level business activity, as represented on a process model such as a dataflow diagram or IDEF0 model. A common alias is minispec short for miniature specification. Process Specifications are commonly included as an integral component of a requirements document in systems development. The process specification defines what must be done in order to transform inputs into outputs. It is a detailed set of instructions outlining a business procedure that each elementary level business activity is expected to carry out.

There are a variety of approaches that can be used to produce a process specification: decision tables, structured English (favored technique of most systems analysts), pre/post conditions, flowcharts, Nassi-Shneiderman diagrams, use case flow descriptions, and others. No matter what approach is used, it must communicate to system development designers, implementers and support professionals, as well as be verifiable by the stakeholders/end users.