BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING (BPR)

1. WHAT IS BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING?

Reengineering is the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of

business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical,
contemporary measures of performance such as cost, quality, service, and
speed.

There are seven principles that one must have in mind in order to implement a
Business Process Reengineering (BPR) program. These principles are:

Principle 1. Organize around outcomes, not tasks.

Several specialized tasks previously performed by different people should be

combined into a single job. This could be performed by an individual "case worker" or
by a "case team." The new job created should involve all the steps in a process that
creates a well-defined outcome.

Principle 2. Have those who use the output of the process perform the
process.

In other words, work should be carried out where it makes the most sense to do
it. This results in people closest to the process actually performing the work, which
shifts work across traditional intra- and inter-organizational boundaries.

Principle 3. Merge information-processing work into the real work that

produces the information.

This means that people who collect information should also be responsible for
processing it. It minimizes the need for another group to reconcile and process that
information, and greatly reduces errors by cutting the number of external contact
points for a process.

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 Principle 4. Treat geographically dispersed resources as though they
were centralized.

Information technology now makes the concept of hybrid

centralized/decentralized operations a reality. It facilitates the parallel processing of
work by separate organizational units that perform the same job, while improving the
company's overall control.

Principle 5. Link parallel activities instead of integrating their results.

The concept of only integrating the outcomes of parallel activities that must
eventually come together is the primary cause for rework, high costs, and delays in
the final outcome of the overall process.

Principle 6. Put the decision point where the work is performed, and
build control into the process.

Decision-making should be made part of the work performed. This is possible

today with a more educated and knowledgeable workforce plus decision-aiding
technology. Controls are now made part of the process.

Principle 7. Capture information once—at the source.

Information should be collected and captured in the company's on-line

information system only once—at the source where it was created.

2. WHERE BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING APPLIES

BPR could be implemented to all firms (manufacturing firms, retailers,

services, etc) and public organizations. These firms and organizations should satisfy
the following criteria:

Strong management commitment to new ways of working and innovation

Well formed IT infrastructure

BPR could be applied to companies that confront problems such as the following:

High operational costs

Low quality offered to customers

High level of “bottleneck” processes at pick seasons

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 3. HOW BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING IS APPLIED

There are six basic steps (Figure 3) to follow when implementing a BPR
program. These steps are described below.

1. STATE A CASE FOR ACTION

2. IDENTIFY THE PROCESS FOR REENGINEERING

3. EVALUATE ENABLERS OF REENGINEERING

4. UNDERSTAND THE CURRENT PROCESS

5. CREATE A NEW PROCESS DESIGN

6. IMPLEMENT THE REENGINEERING PROCESS

Figure 3: Steps of a BPR program

3.1. Step 1: State a case for action

The objectives for reengineering must be in the form of a qualitative and

quantitative vision statement. These Objectives- BRP -Cost reduction -Quality -Time-to-
objectives can include goals for cost market -customer satisf. Objectives- BRP -Cost
reduction -Quality -Time-to-market -customer satisf.
reduction, time-to-market, quality and Objectives- BRP -Cost reduction -Quality -Time-to-
market -customer satisf.
customer satisfaction levels, and
financial indicators. The objectives can
be used to measure progress and to
constantly spur ongoing action.

The company's leader is

responsible for communicating these
important messages, first to senior B R P O B JECTIV ES
- Cost reduction
management and then to the rest of the - Q uality
- Tim e to m arket
firm. This represents the first step in - Custom ersatisfaction
communication, an activity that must be
continued consistently over the duration of the reengineering project.

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 3.2. Step 2: Identify the process for reengineering

Every facility management operation consists of a number of individual processes

or collection of tasks that create value for customers, both internal and external.
Processes that interact with external customers include space modification
(remodeling), non-reimbursable maintenance and reimbursable maintenance.

Additional processes exist for internal customers, such as paying personnel.

Typically, there are five to ten separate
processes operating within an
organization. Develop a listing of the
processes that are operating in your
organization. Once you've identified the
processes, you will need to rank them.
Reengineering is time-consuming and
demands considerable effort and
commitment. No organization will have
the resources available to complete a
simultaneous reengineering of all processes, so you will have to pick one to start
with.

3.3. Step 3: Evaluate Enablers of Reengineering

Information technology and human/organizational issues act as enablers of the

reengineering process. Technology evaluation has now become a core competency
required of all companies. Companies should develop the ability to evaluate current
and emerging information technology, and identify creative applications to redesign
their existing processes.

3.4. Step 4: Understand the Current Process

The current process must be diagnosed as a

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existing processes must be determined. Process bcnfbhgfh

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evaluation techniques from quality management

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such as flow charts, fishbone diagrams, and

quality function deployment can be used.

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 3.5. Step 5: Create a New Process Design

Process redesign requires beginning with a

clean sheet of paper. The creative nature of
innovation makes it nonalgorithmic and
nonroutine. Reengineers should suspend
current rules, procedures, and values so as to
create new process designs. They also need
to utilize the principles of reengineering that
have been discerned. However, with an
increasing number of successful cases of
reengineering being publicized, benchmarking
can also be used as a basis for idea creation.
Employees should be involved in the creation of new process design. An ideal
process should be defined with them.

3.6. Step 6: Implement the Reengineered Process

Leadership is critical, not just to the implementation process, but to the entire
reengineering effort. The extent of change necessitates the direct and continued
engagement on the part of the senior executive and the senior management steering
committee. The reengineered process design forms the basis for a pilot project that is
followed by phased introduction. Post-implementation assessment is usually made in
relation to the objectives defined at the beginning of the reengineering project.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Zigiaris, Sotiris, Report produced for the EC funded project INNOREGIO –

Business Process Reengineering BPR, BPR HELLAS SA, 2000

INTERNET SITES

http://hsb.baylor.edu/ramsower/acis/papers/orman.htm

http://jacobs.bus.indiana.edu/p304/ch18ppt/tsld001.htm

http://www.columbia.edu/~sc32/aspa96fnl.html

http://www.ermcs.com/bpr/tsld002.htm

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http://www.facilitiesnet.com/NS/NS3bm5a.html

http://www.hci.com.au/hcisite/articles/businesspro.htm

http://www.prosci.com/change.htm

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