Windows Kernel-Mode Process and Thread Manager

A process is a software program that is currently running in Windows. Every process has an ID, a number that identifies it. A thread is an object that identifies which part of the program is running. Each thread has an ID, a number that identifies it.

A process may have more than one thread. The purpose of a thread is to allocate processor time. On a machine with one processor, more than one thread can be allocated, but only one thread can run at a time. Each thread only runs a short time and then the execution is passed on to the next thread, giving the user the illusion that more than one thing is happening at once. On a machine with more than one processor, true multi-threading can take place. If an application has multiple threads, the threads can run simultaneously on different processors.

The Windows kernel-mode process and thread manager handles the execution of all threads in a process. Whether you have one processor or more, great care must be taken in driver programming to make sure that all threads of your process are designed so that no matter what order the threads are handled, your driver will operate properly.

If threads from different processes attempt to use the same resource at the same time, problems can occur. Windows provides several techniques to avoid this problem. The technique of making sure that threads from different processes do not touch the same resource is called synchronization. For more information about synchronization, see Synchronization Techniques.

Routines that provide a direct interface to the process and thread manager are usually prefixed with the letters «Ps«; for example, PsCreateSystemThread. For a list of kernel DDIs, see Windows kernel.

This set of guidelines applies to these callback routines:

• Keep routines short and simple.
• Do not make calls into a user mode service to validate the process, thread, or image.
• Do not make registry calls.
• Do not make blocking and/or Interprocess Communication (IPC) function calls.
• Do not synchronize with other threads because it can lead to reentrancy deadlocks.
• Use System Worker Threads to queue work especially work involving:
  • Slow API’s or API’s that call into other process.
  • Any blocking behavior which could interrupt threads in core services.
• If you use System Worker Threads do not wait on the work to complete. Doing so defeats the purpose of queuing the work to be completed asynchronously.
• Be considerate of best practices for kernel mode stack usage. For examples, see How do I keep my driver from running out of kernel-mode stack? and Key Driver Concepts and Tips.

Subsystem Processes

Starting in WindowsВ 10, the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) enables a user to run native Linux ELF64 binaries on Windows, alongside other Windows applications. For information about WSL architecture and the user-mode and kernel-mode components that are required to run the binaries, see the posts on the Windows Subsystem for Linux blog.

One of the components is a subsystem process that hosts the unmodified user-mode Linux binary, such as /bin/bash. Subsystem processes do not contain data structures associated with Win32 processes, such as Process Environment Block (PEB) and Thread Environment Block (TEB). For a subsystem process, system calls and user mode exceptions are dispatched to a paired driver.

Here are the changes to the Process and Thread Manager Routines in order to support subsystem processes:

• The WSL type is indicated by the SubsystemInformationTypeWSL value in the SUBSYSTEM_INFORMATION_TYPE enumeration. Drivers can call NtQueryInformationProcess and NtQueryInformationThread to determine the underlying subsystem. Those calls return SubsystemInformationTypeWSL for WSL.
• Other kernel mode drivers can get notified about subsystem process creation/deletion by registering their callback routine through the PsSetCreateProcessNotifyRoutineEx2 call. To get notifications about thread creation/deletion, drivers can call PsSetCreateThreadNotifyRoutineEx, and specify PsCreateThreadNotifySubsystems as the type of notification.
• The PS_CREATE_NOTIFY_INFO structure has been extended to include a IsSubsystemProcess member that indicates a subsystem other than Win32. Other members such as FileObject, ImageFileName, CommandLine indicate additional information about the subsystem process. For information about the behavior of those members, see SUBSYSTEM_INFORMATION_TYPE.

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Operating System Process Management

Operating System Tutorials

During the olden days, computer systems allowed only one program to be executed at one time. This is why that program had complete power of the system and had access to all or most of the system’s resources. In contrast, nowadays, current-day computer systems let multiple programs to be loaded into memory and execute them concurrently. This massive change and development required rigid control and more compartmentalization in various programs.

The more fused or complex the operating system is, the more it is expected to do on behalf of its users. Even though its main concern is the execution of user programs, it also requires taking care of various system tasks which are better left outside the kernel itself. So a system must consist of a set of processes: operating system processes, executing different system code and user processes which will be executing user code. In this chapter, you will learn about the processes that are being used and managed by the operating system.

What are the processes?

A process is mainly a program in execution where the execution of a process must progress in sequential order or based on some priority or algorithms. In other words, it is an entity that represents the fundamental working that has been assigned to a system.

When a program gets loaded into the memory, it is said to as a process. This processing can be categorized into four sections. These are:

Process Concept

There’s a question which arises while discussing operating systems that involves when to call all the activities of the CPU. Even on a single-user operating system like Microsoft Windows, a user may be capable of running more than a few programs at one time like MS Word processor, different web browser(s) and an e-mail messenger. Even when the user can execute only one program at a time, the operating system might require maintaining its internal programmed activities like memory management. In these respects, all such activities are similar, so we call all of them as ‘processes.’

Again another term — «job» and process are used roughly replacing each other. Much of the operating — system theory and terminology was developed during a time when the main action of operating systems was job processing; so the term job became famous gradually. It would be confusing to avoid the use of commonly accepted terms which include the word job like ‘job scheduling.’

Process state of Operating System

As a process executes, it changes state. The state of a process is defined in part by the current activity of that process. Each process may be in one of the following states:

• New: In this state, the process is being created.
• Running: In this state, instructions are being executed.
• Waiting: In this state, the process is waiting for the different event to occur like I/O completion or treatment of a signal.
• Ready: In this state, the process waits to assign a processor.
• Terminated: In this state, the process has finished executing.

Process Management

Process management helps companies increase efficiency, compliance, and work quality with automation.

What Is Process Management?

Process Management or Business Process Management (BPM) is the organizational discipline that provides tools and resources for analyzing, defining, optimizing, monitoring, and controlling business processes and for measuring and driving improved performance of interdependent business processes. You can also review the Gartner definition.

Interested in Automating Your Workflow?

We have a variety of resources to help you on your journey to an automated workflow.

Process Management Is Not Just Software

Process management is a combination of people, policies, and technology. While software like Integrify helps streamline and automate workflow and processes once they’ve been developed, software alone is not enough.

Also, while BPM is typically managed as a top-down, organization-wide discipline, many of the tenets of managing expansive organizational processes can be applied within individual departments or business areas as well.

The Role of the Business Analyst (BA)

The goal of any process management framework is to deliver improved results while ensuring the best use of existing resources. Process analysts are skilled in modeling future state business processes by conducting interviews, analyzing data, and using process modeling tools.

These models are then used when using workflow management tools to automate tasks (human or machine) that need to be performed during a process. Learn more about process and workflow analysis.

Change Management

Because process improvement often requires new behaviors and technologies, change management is a critical part of the framework and individual process management projects. A great process rolled our poorly is likely to fail.

Training, coaching, and ongoing involvement with the process design among stakeholders and those affected by the changes help ensure the new process is adopted upon implementation. Learn more about process management and the New Rules for Change Management.

Key Process Management Capabilities

Analysis

Business analysts review current workflows, interview participants, and discuss desired outcomes with management. The goal is to gain an understanding of how things are done and if the results are aligning with the business expectations. For instance, «What is the current method for handling customer merchandise returns and what has the impact been to revenue and profit?»

Definition

Process definition is a significant undertaking and involves scoping, prioritizing, and mapping business processes. Some efforts will simply begin defining the future, desired state while others, depending on the situation, will map current state processes first.

Monitoring

Key performance indicators need to be established (often in the process definition phase) so metrics can be tracked against them. This can be done through reports or dashboards and can focus on the macro or micro indicators (an entire process vs. process segments).

Optimization

With effective tracking in place, an organization can effectively steer operations toward optimization or process improvement with agility. This means identifying process bottlenecks, resource issues, etc. and finding ways to improve the process on a regular basis. Business Process Optimization (BPO) is the redesign of processes to foster efficiency and strengthen the alignment of individual processes with a comprehensive strategy and goals. A BPM initiative may include BPO efforts but it also provides a robust framework for driving the organization through the major changes that arise from regulatory policies, adoption of new technologies, restructuring, growth, or marketplace dynamics.

Get Your People and Processes on the Same Page

Watch our 2-Minute Demonstration video and see how Integrify can unite your people and processes in one easy-to-use, powerful platform.

Process Management FAQs

Who is typically in charge of process management in an organization?

It depends. If process management is an enterprise-wide effort there may be project management offices (PMOs) in charge. In other cases, the Subject Matter Expert (SME) who knows the most about the process may lead the effort along with a team, sometimes pulled from different parts of the business to act as stakeholders.

What is Process Discovery?

Process Discovery is a technique to understand and document everything about the organization’s current business processes. To read more about it, check our blog post on the topic.

Is Process Management the same as Process Improvement?

Process improvement is a part, sometimes a result, of good process management. In some cases, simply documenting roles and processes can help improve workflow. Read more about process improvement.

How do you write process documentation?

There are a number of tools and tips for writing good, actionable process documentation available in our blog post «How to Write Process Documentation.»

The Ultimate Guide to Business Process Management

What is business process management or BPM?

Each department from sales to human resources manages data, paperwork, and other inputs to fulfill their job responsibilities. Business process management (or BPM) systematizes and automates the repeatable tasks clogging your productivity pipeline. Business process management is a crystal clear window into all these disparate activities, bringing together all functions of your organization under a single, automated, process-driven umbrella.

Examples of repeatable processes:

• Sales and Marketing Teams: As organizations, we know that it’s 5-25X more expensive to gain a new customer than retain an existing one. But sluggish contract generation and stalled content approvals delay closing deals and launching new campaigns. Using BPM to align sales and marketing processes results in 36% higher customer retention. What could you do with more customers?
• Accounting Department: Even in the digital age, 90% of globally processed invoices are still paper-based. Processing paper invoices costs a company an average of $30 to process each. How would you spend this hundreds to thousands of dollars in savings?
• Human Resource Professionals: Every organization hopes to attract all-star talent. Sifting through hundreds of applications and dozens of interviews, your team finally finds that world-class hire. But, manual processes waste almost 300 HR hours per year—and 47% of jobs are ultimately refused because HR processes were too slow. What if you could sign and onboard top talent in record time?

Paperwork and repeated processes prevent your team from achieving your overall goals. What processes involve too many steps and are slowing down a core function of your business? Which ones are marred by too many paper-based procedures? Are there processes that you can remove entirely? Business process management helps your team understand all of the activities taking place within your organization so you can create more manageable, effective, and most importantly—profitable—workflows.

Stages of Business Process Management

One definition of “organization” is the following: a group of people conspicuously cooperating. Here’s how you can get started in understanding your organization’s barriers to cooperation, identify productivity roadblocks, and start modeling highly productive automated workflows.

Stage 1: Planning your BPM process

Start by meeting with your main stakeholders. No organizational transformation will be effective without a buy-in from your main stakeholders. From training your staff to espousing the benefits of your new workflows, you’ll need the assistance of key leaders to help manage the transition.

What processes are prime targets for automation?

Start with primary processes, or those that are central to production of your product or service offering. For software, are there too many bottlenecks in securing sign-offs to launch new iterations of service patches? Are deals delayed because your sales team has to manually transfer customer data from your CRM to a final agreement?

Next, look to your secondary processes. These are supporting processes that ensure your organization continues to function smoothly. Are there too many choke-points slowing the flow of employee time-off requests? Does your marketing team have a trove of approved social media materials that never went live?

Additionally, you’ll need to step outside the C-Suite to gain insight from the team members that juggle these processes first hand. They understand the ins-and-outs of each step along the way, and can provide useful elucidation on how things work on the frontlines.

Step 2: Design and diagram your BPM

List and analyze the actions and individuals responsible for keeping the process moving forward. Visually outline the sequence of events required to meet the desired goal. You can start with a narrative, or sketch out your process with a diagram or other illustrative chart. Consider the following factors:

• Required approvals: Who needs to approve a step in your process before it can pass to the next rung?
  Approval scenarios: What happens if that person approves the step? What happens if they reject it? Bear in mind the various outcomes and identify the potential consequences of each.
• External connections: Does your process need to link with outside databases like credit scores or citizenship checks? If your team is manually accessing external records to verify information, list it as a potential candidate for integration.
• Storage requirements: What digital paperwork or forms do you need the system to store for later access? For example, customer paperwork like a driver’s license, W2, or completed loan application.
• Regulatory timeframes: Does a regulatory body require you to submit a form within a certain timeframe? Who should receive notification if a process has fallen behind schedule?
  Try to be as precise as possible to avoid confusion. The more detailed your diagram, the more efficient your ultimate workflow.

Step 3: Process execution

Here’s where you implement your newly designed process. With a user-friendly platform like ProcessMaker, you can transfer your narrative or diagram from step 2 into a fully functioning automated process. ProcessMaker’s no-code, drag-and-drop tools make it easy for anyone—even those without significant IT experience—to design and execute the forms and apps needed to launch your new process workflow.

Step 4: Measure and monitor

Automated workflows are never set-it-and-forget-it. Once your process is live, you’ll need to continuously monitor its progress. Are there any bottlenecks? Did you miss any steps? Do some steps still require too much manual intervention? The right platform comes with a full dashboard of analytics, so you can easily monitor your process flow.

Step 5: Refine, refine, refine!

Every process requires a level of finetuning. Once you’ve reviewed its performance in step 4, start implementing the necessary changes. Keep in mind that process management is constantly evolving. Regulatory requirements change, technology advances, and customer needs rapidly shift. Refining your processes is almost as important as implementing them in the first place.

Business Process Management Software

For many companies, the idea of transitioning to a new technology feels like an overwhelming and daunting prospect. Luckily, when shifting your tedious manual procedures over to highly productive automated processes, there are many types of business process management software to support your initiatives.

An intuitive, low-code platform BPM expedites the process development process by empowering all business users to build rich, user-friendly process workflows. Without advanced technical experience, teams can use building blocks and other presets to create their own forms. Instead of adding to IT’s ever-growing to-do lists, the right business process management software deputizes anyone on your team as a citizen developer so they can help build digital solutions with ease.

How to evaluate business process management software

There are many factors to consider when choosing the right business process management software for your organization:

• Ease of use: Weigh the technical talent of your team. Do you have limited access to developers? A low-code platform featuring a drag-and-drop form designer is user-friendly for everyone on your team—regardless of their IT expertise.
• Mobile-friendliness: Customers interact with your business during crowded train commutes and while kicking back on the couch with their favorite binge-worthy TV series. They’re not willing to wait until they’re back at their desk to access your suite of self service tools. Your chosen business process management software must offer iOS and Android native apps—or you risk losing customers.
• Powerful reporting tools: As you now know, you’ll need to continually finetune and refine your automated business processes. Therefore, you want a platform that provides stats and metrics into how your process is performing so you know what changes need to be made. Ask in advance for a demo of the reporting dashboard, as many platforms lock necessary analytical tools behind additional paywalls.
• Cloud accessibility: You want the ability to view, manage, and edit your processes from anywhere. Especially as remote work becomes more popular, team members need full access to their systems from both desktop and mobile even when based across the world from HQ. Some platforms work exclusively on-premise, while others are rushing to implement cloud services. Your best bet is a cloud-first platform—a BPM that was built for cloud access from the get-go.
• Price: Many platforms offer an appealing upfront cost, but inevitably lock their most useful features behind additional paywalls or pricing tiers. Make sure you have a solid understanding of a platform’s pricing structure before joining.
• Customer service: Software tools offer a variety of customer service types, ranging from online chat to open-sourced forums where expert users answer tough questions. If you have limited IT experience within your organization, you’ll likely appreciate a platform that offers 24/7 online chat that can help troubleshoot processes anytime of day.

What are the differences between popular business process management software options?

Here are a few popular choices for business process management software (BPM). We’ll highlight how they stack up against one another:

Bizagi

Bizagi is a no-code process automation platform, pioneering the idea of merging “business” with “agility”—hence the name, Bizagi. Download our comparison whitepaper for ProcessMaker vs Bizargi

Pros	Cons
Multi-tier Product: Bizagi breaks down its platform into three parts for its users: Modeler, Studio, and Automation. The first two are available for download for free although only available on Microsoft Windows and they are limited to 20 users making them more for testing/trials.	Only Downloadable on Windows: Unfortunately, Bizagi modeler is not available in Mac OS or Linux. It is also only available as a desktop app on Microsoft Windows. They seem to be a little behind in converting to a full Web based, API first style product.
Publicly Available Templates and Integration Tools: Bizagi Xchange is available for anyone on the Internet who is looking to download connectors, templates, and more to use on the free Bizagi versions. However, these connectors and templates are not free.	Not Truly No-Code: On G2 Crowd, No-Code App Development is the unique category for Bizagi, yet several reviews state this is misleading in that complex process modeling certainly requires IT and coding knowledge. Low Code would be a more appropriate descriptor.
Unified design environment: Reviews across the board show praise for Bizagi’s easy-to-use process and form design interface. The modeler in the free versions is drag-and-drop, helping citizen developers to deploy workflows with ease.	Scarce English-Speaking Bizagi Experts: Live (human) support is harder to access on free versions and require upgrade if one wants to use Professional Services. Also, many reviews say English speaking Bizagi experts are in high demand and very low supply – something to consider for English speaking organizations.

ProcessMaker

ProcessMaker is a low-code intelligent business process management software (iBPMs) platform that helps break down operational silos and drastically improve efficiency. Its intuitive workflow automation platform has been empowering cross-departmental collaboration for programmers, citizen developers, and business users alike since 2008. Users celebrate ProcessMaker for its high level of training and support, making it one of the most accessible business process management software options available.

Pros	Cons
True API-1st Microservices based product: ProcessMaker has really rebuilt on top of a series of modern web technologies like Vue.js, bootstrap, and laravel. You can feel how responsive the application is. Great modern feel to it.	More Coding Knowledge Equals Better Feature Usage: An IT professional does have to write the original script tasks that serve as the building blocks for many processes, which can then be reused indefinitely by business users.
Available as a Mobile Application: Not at a desktop? ProcessMaker is a fully responsive web app which works on mobile as well. The latest version of ProcessMaker does not currently offer native apps but does allow other apps to connect to its well documented API (see their swagger documentation).	Single Cloud Support: ProcessMaker seems to lean toward AWS at present and its new solution is not marketed for On Premise. However, ProcessMaker is offering a unique hybrid solution with the ability to store sensitive data on premise with a connection to your cloud deployment.
True Low-Code Environment but with additional Developer tools: Markets true to its messaging. Design and deploy without coding knowledge needed. However, for developers that want to create custom scripts and packages to run in their environment, ProcessMaker has a full featured web IDE for designing scripts in almost any programming language. All components are easy to reuse across processes and environments whether they were built by citizen developers or IT.	Technical Installation on Premise. ProcessMaker is built for the cloud: For users that want to run the open source on premise they will find installation difficult and all the cool enterprise features are missing in the open source. The open source core, however, is well documented and ideal for inclusion in other enterprise products.

Business Process Management Examples

Business process management can help you easily make the sweeping organizational changes that truly impact how your business operates. If paper-based, manual processes are hindering business growth, here’s ways every department can best benefit from process automation:

• Reduce the time it takes to run everyday operations
• Make informed decisions at a far faster pace
• Eliminate bottlenecks that slow down productivity
• Mitigate regulatory risks
• Bolster your digital transformation by moving away from paper-based processes
• How your sales team can benefit from business process management

Problem: Modern sales teams juggle a variety of powerful platforms assisting their customer outreach. Typically, they bounce between a CRM system to collate customer data and guide their initiatives, and a contract agreement system to sign on new accounts. These systems rarely interact with one another, leaving sales staff with a variety of copy+paste administrative tasks that takes away from their availability to pitch even more new clients.

BPM Solution: Business process management can help you design an automated process for onboarding new accounts. Digital workflows can autonomously create and format contacts and automatically send them up the rung for supervisor approval. Deeply integrated e-signature tools eliminate the need to chase down wet signatures. A streamlined workflow can then collate all of the necessary forms into an online repository for safe keeping.

Business process management for customer support teams

Problem: Customer support used to involve a single phone-in line where a team member could quickly assign follow-up tasks from one centralized location. Now, customers submit service inquiries through dozens of mediums, like online chatbots and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Without a powerful plan in place, organizations can quickly lose control of service requests, resulting in extremely dissatisfied customers.

BPM Solution: The right processes can aggregate customer service inquiries from multiple avenues, and make sure they’re properly handled. You can set up automated triggers to route questions to the right personnel, assign tasks, and easily track the progress of support tickets.

How business progress management BPM bolsters regulatory compliance

Problem: Many industries deal with government and regulatory bodies on a daily basis. One of the most volatile are the finance and insurance industries, who need to remain constantly abreast of changing finance acts and security laws. Banregio wanted to implement a new app for customers to view and service their investments, but needed an agile solution that could easily change with fluctuating regulations.

BPM Solution: With ProcessMaker, Banregio created an online app to service customer investments. Without IT intervention, administrative personnel were able to create low-code forms that automatically moved data through regulatory checks. Additionally, managers had a full view into the process and could quickly monitor average customer response times.

Marketing departments can also use business progress management software

Problem: In the digital era, marketing teams are responsible for creating and managing campaigns across a near-endless list of platforms. From video to social media and PPC advertisements, marketers are responsible for a balancing act of content development and content approvals, each with its own unique path for approval.

BPM Solution: Automated approval workflows are an ideal BPM solution for marketing teams. Many campaigns require a hierarchy of reviews, and manually monitoring a campaign’s process through the system slows launch. Gone are the days of wading through email questions or chasing down department heads for wet signatures. Business process management software can automatically send a campaign for review, and instantly send it to the next executive once complete. Everyone has full visibility into the process so you’ll never lose valuable campaigns between the approval cracks.

Empower human resource executives with business process management software

Problem: Between applicants, interviewees, and those ultimately hired, human resource professionals manage a vast trove of paperwork. The shift to an at-home workforce charges HR with the significant responsibility of handling these documents remotely, multiplying their administrative headaches.

BPM Solution: With the right automated tools in place, HR professionals can more effectively manage the onboarding process. They can receive alerts on when to schedule Zoom or GoToMeeting appointments with new hires, and automated workflows can digitally pass along resources and internal permissions. If roles suddenly shift—no problem—HR can transfer or adjust role-based access at the click of a button.

The average company loses more than a day every week swamped by work redundancies and long, protracted procedures. When an organization is blind to its own processes, there’s no way to manage or monitor output. Using business process management and automated processes, your company can finally dig out from underneath time-consuming, revenue-draining process bottlenecks and reach a new level of productivity.