Over the last few years there has been increasing interest in process-based approaches in higher education administration, including "business process modelling" for development of information systems, "process redesign" to remove duplication and bottlenecks, and "process management" to improve operational performance. The process perspective is concerned with the entirety of activities that are needed to produce an output or deliver a service to a customer, regardless of the organisational units or functions that are involved. This paper describes the Participatory Process Review approach developed collaboratively within the Southern Universities Management Services (SUMS) consortium, and how it has been applied at the University of Luton. Three main conclusions are presented: (1) Participative process review has so far proved to be an effective way of achieving organizational change; (2) Participative process review involves a process of sense-making, understanding, and "moments of truth", especially in terms of appreciating the "customer" perspective, that can lead to proposals that can be surprisingly radical and can address difficult issues; and (3) At the same time as it creates support for change, participative process review creates expectations of change. These expectations need to be acknowledged, and properly managed, particularly in terms of setting realistic timescales for any large-scale changes involving significant investment, recognising the need for the process review to be followed through rapidly by detailed modelling and planning, and then carried through into ongoing management and evaluation of change. (Contains 2 figures.)