Abarbeitung

Abarbeitung is a German noun form of the verb abarbeiten, meaning to work off, to process, or to complete tasks. It designates the act of going through a number of items, requirements, or steps in a sequential or organized manner until nothing remains. The term is widely used in business, administration, and information technology to describe backlog clearance and task execution.

Compared with related terms such as Bearbeitung (processing or editing) and Durcharbeitung (thorough processing), Abarbeitung emphasizes completion and clearing of outstanding items. It often implies a disciplined, stepwise progression through a predefined list, backlog, or queue, rather than a single, isolated action.

Typical applications include the Abarbeitung von Aufträgen, Kundenanfragen, Dokumentenbeständen, or Backlogs in IT workflows. In manufacturing and logistics, the term is used for order fulfillment processes; in project management, it denotes systematically working through remaining tasks to reach project closure.

In administrative and legal contexts, Abarbeitung can be part of a concept such as Abarbeitungspflicht, the obligation to process or complete tasks within an organization or workflow. The term can also appear in performance discussions to describe the efficiency and thoroughness with which tasks are addressed.

Originating from the separable prefix ab- and arbeiten, Abarbeitung literally means “working off” or “clearing” and is one of several German terms describing different aspects of handling work items.