Control point
A control point is a defined place in a workflow where information, authorization, transfer, reconciliation, or completion is checked and evidenced.
Updated
A control point is a defined place in a process where an organization checks that a required condition is true before work continues or confirms that a transfer or outcome occurred as intended. The check should have a named owner, clear criteria, an exception route, and observable evidence.
Revenue-cycle examples include reconciling submitted claims to acknowledgments, confirming a payment batch balances to its deposit, or verifying that an exception was accepted by the receiving owner.
In practice
A control point is strongest when it can reveal missing or incorrect work, not merely record that someone clicked a status. Its evidence may be an approved-system audit trail, reconciliation result, exception record, signed approval, or versioned configuration decision.
Commonly confused with
- Process step: A process step performs work. A control point tests a condition, transfer, authorization, or outcome and routes exceptions.
- Metric: A metric summarizes performance. A control point operates inside the workflow and leaves evidence about specific work.