Professional Documents
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In a world increasingly driven by the three consulting firms who have had success
assisting their clients with BPR are also
Cs:Customer, Competition and Change,
included. These methods, procedures, and
companies are on the lookout for new
tasks are identified to help organizations
solutions for their business problems.
decide how they should perform BPR to meet
Recently, some of the more successful
the unique needs of their industry, people, and
business corporations in the world seem to
culture.
have hit upon an incredible solution:
"Reengineering is new, and it has to be
Business Process Reengineering (BPR).
done." -- Peter F. Drucker
What is “Reengineering is the fundamental
rethinking and radical redesign of business
reengineering? processes to achieve dramatic
In 1990 and again in 1993, some definitive improvements in critical, contemporary
works were put forth by Dr. Michael Hammer, measures of performance such as cost,
James Champy, and Thomas Davenport. quality, service and speed.” The key words
Hammer, named by Business Week as one of in the preceding definition are the italicized
the four preeminent management gurus of the ones.
1990s, together with Champy, chairman of Fundamental Rethinking
CSC Index, Inc.
Is answering
"Business Reengineering is the
• Why do we do what we do?
fundamental rethinking and radical
• Why do we do it the way we
redesign of business processes to achieve
do?
dramatic improvements in critical,
Is challenging the status quo and on goals & end results rather than the
assumptions of the current business actions and means.
process
start with no assumptions; no givens BPR advocates that enterprises go back to
Ignore what is now and concentrate on the basics and reexamine their very roots. It
process able to respond the reality? What within bureaucratic system (command
addressed in Adam's principles, but could structure, rule based motion etc).
the whole process and its result. performance (cost, quality, service, speed)
responsiveness, flexibility and customer process, with its new world of work
• Define the level of detail needed. • Observe the current process. A good
way to start process mapping a process
• Establish the boundaries of the
is to walk through the current process,
service process to be improved.
observing it in actual operation.
Boundaries are the starting and ending • Record the process steps observed.
points for a process chart. For example, Record the steps as they actually
process boundaries for a workshop occur in the process as it is. Write the
maintaining a vehicle might be when the steps on index cards or post-it notes. A
vehicle enters the workshop and when it different colour can be used to
passes final inspection before leaving. The represent each individual or group
boundaries determine the number of involved if that will help to understand
activities to be studied and the number of and depict the flow more accurately.
people involved in the process, functionally • Arrange the sequence of steps.
and cross-functionally. Arrange the cards or post-it notes
exactly as the steps were observed.
Successful process mapping? Using cards lets the steps be
It is vital that the chart depicts the way the rearranged without erasing and
process really works, not the way the person redrawing and prevents ideas from
compiling the chart thinks it should work. being discarded simply because it’s too
The process needs to be charted as it is. much work to redraw the diagram.
Later it can be charted as it is supposed to
• Draw the Flowchart. Depict the sequence, and how they relate to one
process exactly as it was observed, another throughout the process.
recorded, and arrange the sequence of • Opportunity Flowchart: An
steps. Technology has made the Opportunity Process Chart is a variation
drawing of process charts much easier. of the basic linear type but differentiates
Computer software is now available process activities that add value from
for PCs that make the procedure far those that add cost only.
easier and enables correction to be Value-added steps (VA): These
made with little or no loss of time. are essential for producing the
required product or service. In
What are the types of Process Charts?
other words, the output cannot be
produced without them.
Besides the three levels of detail used to
categorize process charts, there are three Cost-added-only steps (CAO):
and Opportunity. The level of detail can be producing the required product or
depicted as macro, mini, or micro for each service they may be added to a
• Blueprint the New Business System Aspects of the business that need to be
whether or not the organization, in its change, and works together to tear down old
current state, is able to meet the needs of the business systems and build new ones.
wishes to change the way it operates, it must • Choose the personnel who will
plans and strategies are important, but they support reengineering efforts. Although this
are only tools to guide the actions of people. phase consists of only a few tasks, it has a
Because BPR can potentially require tremendous impact on the success of a BPR
significant changes throughout an endeavor. Who are the people that will be
communications campaign to educate all those will their responsibilities be? Who will they
who will be impacted by this change. report to? These are the questions that must be
Communication to all levels of personnel must answered as the reengineering staff is gathered
remain active from start to finish to keep together to communicate, motivate, persuade,
everyone involved and working towards a educate, destroy, create, rebuild, and
existing process, but also helps with planning • Ensure the diversity of the
the migration from the old to the new process reengineering team
• Brainstorm using BPR principles how technology can be applied in new and
innovative ways. In other words, the
• Evaluate the impact of new
technologist will help to visualize how the
technologies
process can be performed outside the
• Consider the perspectives of
boundaries of the current implementation.
stakeholders
Including both outsiders and technologists on
• Use customer value as the focal
the team will help spark "out-of-box" thinking
point
(thinking creatively above and beyond the
During this phase, the actual "reengineering"
current restrictions - the walls of the box).
begins. We’ve moved from strategy and
Having developed a good understanding of
analysis phases into the redesign phase. The
how the existing processes work in the
Reengineering Team that was formed to take
previous phase, it is now necessary to question
part in the reengineering sessions should
the operating assumptions underlying the
consist of designers and implementers,
processes. Is there some (outdated) historical
including people well versed in technology.
reason why a process has been performed a
These team members should come from both
certain way? Are there customer requirements
inside and outside the existing process.
that dictate the steps in a process? Many times
The "inside" perspective may reveal
the operating assumptions can be thrown out
information about the existing process that
and new ones developed. However, it is
was not uncovered above. Having people who
important to evaluate the impact the
will be the future process owners, or those
assumptions have outside the process in
responsible for the new process, is a critical
question.
component of the Team. Including the future
The Reengineering Team is now tasked with
owners will help to ensure that the
brainstorming to create new process ideas.
reengineered process succeeds once it is
According to Hammer, brainstorming sessions
implemented.
are most successful when BPR principles are
Equally important is the "outside" perspective
considered.
of someone who will look at the process with
BPR Principles:
a "fresh eye" and raise questions about
operating assumptions that may not be
• Organize around outcomes not tasks (case Local service and decision-making to
management). Several jobs are combined respond to local conditions better. Provide
into one. Case management involves the Central coordination and processing to
use of a single manager or a small group achieve economies of
of people perform a series of tasks such as scale/scope/expertise.
the fulfillment of an order from beginning • The steps in a process are performed in a
to end. Try to have one person or group natural order; Link parallel activities
perform the whole life cycle associated instead of integrating their results.
with the provision of a service or the Perform activities in parallel. Sequential
completion of the response to an event activities occur in most projects.
Responsibilities are divided, tasks
• Work is performed where it makes the
assigned, subprojects are completed and
most sense. Work may cross
then an attempt is made to integrate the
organizational or institutional boundaries
results into the finished task/project.
boundaries. Work can be performed either
“Throwing the results over the wall” to the
by suppliers or by customers (co-
next group do not work! Coordinate using
producers). Having work done by
on-line databases, standard data formats,
outsiders may also involve risk. The
electronic mail, computer and video
company itself might be by-passed!
conferencing, Lotus Notes, etc.
• Workers make decisions; Empowerment.
• Capture information once and at the
Make decisions where the work is
source: Obvious goal. The technology to
performed. Remove the distinction
support this includes, on-line data entry,
between those that do and those that
bar-coding, OCR, imaging, EDI, databases
monitor and direct. Managers become
• Processes have multiple versions: Mass
facilitators and strategists. Flatter
production - all work is performed using
hierarchical structures with increases in
the same steps. Offices - there is a great
decision efficiency and responsiveness.
variety in the complexity of incoming jobs
Need: Tutoring systems, on-line databases,
Simple cases/jobs languish waiting for the
expert systems, Decision Support Systems
more complex cases Introduce several
(DSS
variants of the process to handle different
• Hybrid centralized/decentralized
classes of incoming work.
operations are prevalent. Use both
centralization & decentralization. Provide:
• Checks and controls are reduced; Control (between departments or functions),
the Release of Work into the Office: Two process (upstream & downstream
aspects of this principle are found useful processes and activities), and to process
in manufacturing: performers so that they know how well
• The Small Lot Concept: Small batch they are doing. Provide appropriate
• Document the new organizational different kind of chart is needed. This chart
will show the new process flow along with the
structure
process team members, the process owners,
• Describe the new technology
the case managers, the process facilitators.
specifications
The chart should also indicate parts of the
• Record the new personnel
organization which interact with the process
management systems (the human
personnel.
resource requirements)
In addition, detailed technology specifications
• Describe the new values and culture
required to support the new process should be
required
defined. Although minor changes, or fine
Blueprints are detailed plans required to build
tuning adjustments to the technical
something in accordance with the designer’s
configuration will probably occur during the
intentions. In BPR, blueprints must be created
implementation phase, an initial physical
to identify all the necessary details of the
description of the technologies used and their
newly reengineered business system and
physical specifications should be
ensure it will be built as intended. This phase
recommended in this phase, to set the stage for
of the project takes the reengineered process
rapid application development.
developed in the previous phase, and provides
Included in the blueprints should be the new
the details necessary to actually implement it.
management systems and values or belief
Blueprinting involves modeling the new
systems of this redesigned area of the
process flow and the information required to
business. New management strategies, along
support it. Just as we modeled the "as is"
with new performance measurements,
process and information requirements in
compensation systems, and rewards programs
Phase 2, we need to create "to be" models to
should be outlined. The reengineered process
illustrate how the workflow will be different.
may require a change in the values or belief
The information models, or data models, will
systems of the organization. The redesign may
indicate where the new process will use
require an entirely different culture, or
information that is shared across functional
atmosphere, than what is prevalent in the
areas of the business.
organization today. It is critical to have these
areas, and their responsibilities, defined as we Now we are ready to transform the
go into the implementation phase. organization. We have communicated,
strategize, analyzed, reengineered, and
4. Implementation( Perform the blueprinted our ideas for the new process. This
is where all of the previous efforts are
Transformation)
combined into an actual business system --
Activities:
something we can see and feel and use to
• Develop a migration strategy
enable our organization to meet the market
• Create a migration action plan
demands of today and tomorrow.
• Develop metrics for measuring The first step in transforming the organization
performance during implementation is to develop a plan for migrating to the new
• Involve the impacted staff process. We need a path to get from where the
• Implement in an iterative fashion organization is today, to where the
• Establish the new organizational organization wants to be. Migration strategies
structures include: a full cutover to the new process, a
• Assess current skills and capabilities phased approach, a pilot project, or creating an
• Map new tasks and skill to consider is the integration of the new
process with other processes. If only one
requirements to staff
process is reengineered, then it must interact
• Re-allocate workforce
with the other existing processes. If multiple
• Develop a training curriculum
processes are slated for reengineering, then the
• Educate staff about the new process
new process must not only integrate with
• Educate the staff about new existing processes, but also with the newly
technology used reengineered processes that will come on line
• Educate management on facilitation in the near future; therefore, the
skills implementation of the new process must be
• Decide how new technologies will flexible enough to be easily modified later on.
be introduced Successful transformation depends on
• Transition to the new technologies consciously managing behavioral as well as