# Using a Process Approach to Pandemic Planning: A Case Study
## 1 Introduction  
It is difficult to define the term \"pandemic\". Many different diseases have been identified as pandemics and have taken very different paths [1]. [PERSON], [PERSON], and [PERSON] identified key features that can be identified for most pandemics in their publication [1]. Wide geographic spread, disease movement, high attack rates and explosiveness, low population immunity, novelty, infectiousness, contagiousness, and severity are among them. [PERSON] [2], on the other hand, defined the pandemic as a global epidemic. No matter how it is defined, pandemics have plagued our world almost since its beginnings, whether it was typhus, plague, cholera, flu, or the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. A pandemic is extremely dangerous because of its unpredictability, and it creates a crisis for everyone, not just those who are infected. As a result, pandemic planning is a critical regulation that represents one of the highest levels of crisis management. [PERSON], [PERSON], [PERSON], [PERSON], and [PERSON] [3] stated that planning is critical to mitigating the sudden and potentially catastrophic impact of an infectious disease pandemic on society. National pandemic policy documents cover a wide range of control options, frequently with broad recommendations for action. They also highlighted the gap between current analytical methods for decision making and their incorporation into these key plans. We mention the following publications devoted to the optimization, analysis, or decision support of processes or plans; dynamic simulation [4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9]; strategic management [10; 11; 12; 13; 14; 15; 16]; economic analyses; or information technology [17; 18; 19; 20].  
Automation, system integration, or an overarching process approach are all aimed at lowering costs while improving service quality, which is critical, not only for pandemic planning. As the name implies, the process approach focuses on the process and its activities. The process's outcomes should be definable and predictable. Another essential feature is that the process follows a logical and linear sequence or is functionally dependent on the procedures and resources that occur within the process. Some authors attempt to provide a solution for process model analysis. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [21] and [PERSON] [22], for example, discussed the advantages and disadvantages of various modeling approaches used inbusiness process transformation. [PERSON] [23] compared three case study process modeling processes. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [24] employed graph reduction techniques to analyze process models. Other authors, such as [PERSON], [PERSON], [PERSON] et all [25] or [PERSON], [PERSON] and [PERSON] [26], employed specialized tools, frameworks, and methodologies for process analysis and modeling.  
The secondary goal was to conduct a literature review focusing on a process approach in pandemic planning publications. The primary goal of this article was to analyze the available pandemic documents and prepare an exploratory case study for the Czech Republic's pandemic plan using a process approach, specifically the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN).  
The remainder of the paper is structured as follows. The Czech healthcare system and crisis preparedness plan documents are briefly introduced as part of the basic information. The basic methods for this article are described in the Methods section. Then, a systematic review, a case study, document analysis, and BPMN follow. The main section contains the findings of a systematic review as well as model diagrams from an exploratory case study of the Czech pandemic plan in BPMN. The Discussion section discusses the paper's limitations as well as the gaps and inconsistencies in the current situation. The final section, Conclusion, summarizes the individual results and brings the paper to a close.