Process vs Procedure: The Difference, With Examples (and Policy vs Procedure)
By the SystemaFlow team · Updated November 2026 · Share this
A client's supplier questionnaire asks for your "documented processes and procedures". You've got a shared folder with a few of each, called different things by different people, and you'd like to know which is which before you answer.
A process is what happens to get a result, usually across several people: paying suppliers, onboarding a client. A procedure is the set way to carry out a process, or one part of it, written as steps: how to approve a supplier invoice. The process says what happens and who's involved. The procedure says exactly how.
Below: the definitions, a comparison table, one worked example, how policy fits in, a quick sorting exercise, where SOPs and work instructions sit and which to write first.
Process and procedure: the definitions
The clearest definitions come from quality management. ISO 9000, the international vocabulary for quality management systems, defines a procedure as a "specified way to carry out an activity or a process" (as reprinted in NIST's glossary). It defines a process as a set of activities that work together and use inputs to deliver an intended result.
In plain words:
- Process: the work that happens, in order, to get one result. It usually crosses people or teams, and it has inputs (what it needs) and an output (what it produces).
- Procedure: the agreed way of doing that work, or one part of it. It's normally written as numbered steps, with who does each one.
ISO's notes add that a procedure can be documented or not. In a small business it usually helps to write the important ones down, which is when people start calling them a written procedure or an SOP.
Process vs procedure: the differences
| Process | Procedure | |
|---|---|---|
| Answers | What happens, and who's involved? | Exactly how do we do it? |
| Scope | The whole route to a result, often across several people | One process, or one activity inside it |
| Level of detail | High level: stages, inputs, outputs, handovers | Detailed: numbered steps, who, checks |
| Usually shown as | A flowchart, a map or a short list of stages | A written document, checklist or SOP |
| Changes when | The way the business works changes | A tool, form or step changes |
| Owned by | The person accountable for the result | The person who keeps the steps right |
| Example | Paying suppliers | Approving a supplier invoice |
One process can have several procedures. A procedure always belongs to a process, even if nobody has named it.
An example: paying suppliers
Here's how the two look side by side, for a typical small service business. It's made up, to show the shape.
The process: pay suppliers. An invoice arrives, is checked against what was ordered, approved by the budget holder, added to the weekly payment run, paid and filed. Inputs: the invoice and the order. Output: the supplier is paid on time and the record is complete. Involves the office manager, the budget holder and the finance lead.
One procedure inside it: approve a supplier invoice.
| Step | Action | Who | Check |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Match the invoice to the order or quote | Office manager | Supplier, amount and reference agree |
| 2 | Send it to the budget holder with the order attached | Office manager | Sent the day it arrives |
| 3 | Approve, query or reject it | Budget holder | Decision within two working days |
| 4 | Add approved invoices to the payment run list | Office manager | On the list by Wednesday noon |
| 5 | Log queries and rejections, and tell the supplier | Office manager | Supplier told within a day |
The process gives you the map. The procedure gives you something a new office manager can follow on their first Wednesday. Other procedures in the same process might cover setting up a new supplier and running the payment run itself.
Policy vs procedure
The other pair people mix up is policy and procedure. The difference is simpler.
A policy is the rule and the reason for it. A procedure is how you carry the rule out. The policy says what's allowed; the procedure says what to do, step by step.
| Policy | Procedure | |
|---|---|---|
| Answers | What do we allow, and why? | How do we do it? |
| Written as | Short statements of rules and limits | Numbered steps with who and when |
| Changes | Rarely, and with sign-off | Whenever the steps or tools change |
| Approved by | The owner or directors | The person who owns the work |
| Example: expenses | "Expenses over a set amount need a manager's approval before they're paid" | How to submit a claim, who approves it, when it's paid |
| Example: remote work | "Staff can work from home up to two days a week, agreed with their manager" | How to request a home-working day and record it |
Keep the two in separate documents. Rules change less often than steps, and need different people to sign them off. When they're mixed together, every small change to a form means re-approving the rule, and often neither gets updated. The procedure should point to the policy it follows, and the policy can name the procedure that puts it into practice.
For a set of policies a small team actually needs, with a one-page format to copy, see small business policy templates.
Policy, process or procedure?
Eight typical examples. Pick the best fit for each, then compare with our answer.
Policy, process or procedure?
Decide what each one is, then see our answer and why.
Client files are never shared through personal email accounts
A rule about what's allowed. It doesn't say how to do anything.
Onboarding a new client: contract signed, kick-off booked, access set up, first month reviewed
The stages of getting a result, across several people. Each stage could have its own procedure.
How to set up a new client's folders and access, in six numbered steps
The exact steps for one part of the onboarding process.
Refunds are given for unused items returned within 30 days
It sets the rule and its limit. The refund procedure carries it out.
Hiring: from approving a new role to the new starter's first day
A route to a result through several people and stages.
Running the weekly payment run: export the list, check totals, approve in the bank, file the report
Specified steps for one recurring activity inside the process of paying suppliers.
Every purchase over a set amount needs a second approver
A rule. The purchase approval procedure puts it into practice.
Dealing with a client complaint: logged, owned, answered, resolved and reviewed
The stages and people involved. How to log and answer one is the procedure.
0 of 8 answered.
Where SOPs and work instructions fit
Quality management often shows the documents as layers, each more detailed than the one above:
- Policy: the rule. Refunds within 30 days.
- Process: the route. Request in, checked, approved, refunded, logged.
- Procedure or SOP: the steps for doing it. Six numbered steps, each with who and a check.
- Work instruction: a close-up of one step. Where to click to refund a card in your payment system.
- Record: the proof it happened. The refund log.
An SOP, or standard operating procedure, is a procedure that's been written down and agreed as the standard way. In a small business the two words usually mean the same document. There's more on what goes in one in what is an SOP, and step-by-step help in how to write an SOP that actually gets used.
A small business rarely needs every layer written down. Most of the value is in a short description of each key process and a procedure for the jobs that repeat. And a written procedure still needs an owner and a place in the routine to be followed, which is the difference between a process and a system, covered in process vs system.
Which should you write first?
- List your key processes in one place. One line each: what it is, its result and who owns it. Start with the work clients pay for and the work that keeps money moving. This is your process register.
- Write procedures for the parts that hurt. The jobs that repeat, touch money or clients, or stop when one person is away. One page each is usually enough.
- Write policies only where you need a rule. Where people keep asking "are we allowed to…?", or a client or the law needs one.
If a client questionnaire asks for "processes and procedures", the list from step 1 and a handful of procedures from step 2 is an honest answer. SystemaFlow™ systems are done-for-you templates in Word and PDF for exactly this, not software, so they sit alongside whatever tools you already use.
Want the full version?
To keep processes and their procedures in one list with owners, the Process Register and Multi-Team SOP Framework are in the Systems Execution Toolkit pack, part of the Systems for Scale Core Vault. For writing procedures, there's the Standard Operating Procedure in the Business Foundations Core Vault, and for policies, the Policy Register and Policy Drafting Sheet in the Communication, Governance and Visibility Core Vault.
See what's in the Systems for Scale Vault →Or get all 352 systems, and every one we add later, with Masterworks: $999, paid once.
Was this helpful?
Frequently asked questions
- What is the difference between a process and a procedure?
- A process is the set of activities that turns inputs into a result, often across several people, such as paying suppliers. A procedure is the specified way to carry out a process or one activity in it, usually written as steps, such as how to approve a supplier invoice.
- Which comes first, the process or the procedure?
- The process. Agree how the work flows and who's involved first, then write procedures for the parts that need exact steps.
- What is the difference between a policy and a procedure?
- A policy is the rule and the reason for it: what's allowed and what isn't. A procedure is how to carry the rule out, step by step. For example, the policy says expenses over a set amount need approval; the procedure says how to submit, approve and pay them.
- Is an SOP a process or a procedure?
- An SOP, or standard operating procedure, is a procedure: the written, agreed steps for doing one recurring job. It usually describes how to carry out one process, or part of one.
- Can one process have several procedures?
- Yes. Paying suppliers is one process, and it might have separate procedures for setting up a new supplier, approving an invoice and running the weekly payment run.
- Do small businesses need written processes and procedures?
- For the jobs that matter, yes, but keep them short. A one-line description of each key process and a one-page procedure for the jobs that repeat, touch money or depend on one person covers most of what a small team needs.
Where to go from here
What is an SOP? →Tools and templatesTwo managers.Two answers.No written rule.Small business policy templates →SystemsProcess≠SystemProcess vs system: what's the difference? →SystemsThree people,three routes,one requestWhat is a workflow? →