1.Continuous Improvement through BPR in Software Development and Usage A CASE ST UDY N.

Vivekananthamoorthy Department of Information Technology KCG College of Te chnology [email_address] Emerging Trends in Engineering and Technology 2.Introduction Business Process Reengineering means not only change -- but dramatic change . Wh at constitutes dramatic change is the overhaul of organizational structures, man agement systems, employee responsibilities and the use of information technology . It was introduced by Dr.Michael Hammer in 1990s This paper presents the re-engineering work done at BHEL(Trichy) using BPR strat egy in the software development and maintenance process as a CASE STUDY. It invo lves migration from COBOL to ORACLE based Client Server system Successful BPR can result in enormous reductions in cost or cycle time. It can a lso potentially create substantial improvements in quality, customer service, or other business objectives 3.What is BPR? "Business 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." -- Dr. Michael Hammer 4.FORD EXAMPLE Reengineering a new management buzzword. The basic message is Many work flows, job designs, control mechanisms, and organizational structures are either superfluous or obsolete and should be completely redesigned. " We should reengineer our [organizations]; use the power of modern informa tion processing technology to radically redesign our ... processes in order achi eve dramatic improvements in their performance.... We cannot achieve breakthroug hs in performance merely by cutting fat or automating existing processes. Rather we must challenge the old assumptions and shed old rules. --- Michael Hammer Hammer illustrates reengineering with the revolution that took place in Ford s sys tem of accounts payable. In the early 1980 s, Ford s auditors carefully studied acco unts payable activities and concluded that, by consolidating, by rationalizing p rocesses, and by installing new computer systems, staff could be cut twenty perc ent -- from 500 employees to 400. 5.Common Steps in BPR Project Phases Required For Successful BPR: Phase 1: Begin Organizational Change Phase 2: Build the Reengineering Organization Phase 3: Identify BPR Opportunities Phase 4: Understand the Existing Process Phase 5: Reengineer the Process Phase 6: Blueprint the New Business System Phase 7: Perform the Transformation 6.Phase I Begin Organizational Change Assess the current state of the organization - Explain the need for change(Consolidate the problems which can be converted in to opportunities-Creates potential for trying new technologies) - Illustrate the desired state - Create a communications campaign for change 7.Phase -2 Build the Re-engineering Organization Activities Establish a BPR organizational structure Establish the roles for performing BPR Choose the personnel who will reengineer 8.Phase3 Identify BPR Opportunities Activities - Identify the core/high-level processes - Recognize potential change enablers - Gather performance metrics within industry

- Gather performance metrics outside industry - Select processes that should be reengineered - Prioritize selected processes - Evaluate pre-existing business strategies - Consult with customers for their desires --- Quality,Delivery - Determine customer's actual needs ---- Sequential Delivery - Formulate new process performance objectives - Establish key process characteristics 9.Phase4 Understand the existing process Activities Understand why the current steps are performed - Model the current process - Understand how technology is currently used COBOL Unix based system - Understand how information is currently used batch system non interactive text based terminals(NO GUI) - Understand the current organizational structure(slow to react to customer need s) - Compare current process with the new objectives cycle time reduction fast in r eacting to customer needs compettetive in market 10.Phase5 Re-engineer the process Activities - Ensure the diversity of the reengineering team Top management,User Group,Devel opers Group) - Question current operating assumptions - Brainstorm using change levers Selecting the correct technology within Budget - Brainstorm using BPR principles - Evaluate the impact of new technologies Competetive Advantage,Cycle time reduc tion,Work life enrichment - Consider the perspectives of stakeholders Faith in the information system - Use customer value as the focal point Quality and Delivery 11.BPR Principles Several jobs are combined into one; Workers make decisions; The steps in a process are performed in a natural order; Processes have multiple versions; Work is performed where it makes the most sense(Capture data where it originates Eg BOM from Design Dept); Checks and controls are reduced; Reconciliation is minimized; A case manager provides a single point of contact; Hybrid centralized/decentralized operations are prevalent. -- Dr. Michael Hammer 12.Phase 7 Perform the Transformation Activities - Develop a migration strategy A project plan - Create a migration action plan PERT network with important milestones - Develop metrics for measuring performance during implementation - Involve the impacted staff Consult Users who are going to use the system - Implement in an iterative fashion - Building proto types - Establish the new organizational structures - Assess current skills and capabilities of workforce - Map new tasks and skill requirements to staff - Re-allocate workforce - Develop a training curriculum 13.Phase 6 Blueprint the new Business System Activities - Define the new flow of work - Model the new process steps - Model the new information requirements - Document the new organizational structure

- Describe the new technology specifications - Record the new personnel management systems - Describe the new values and culture required 14.CASE STUDY Ancilliary Development Computer System BHEL(Trichy ) Hardware set up First decentralized computer system (PDP11) established in 1986 Unix based Multiprocessor system introduced in 1990 HCL Magnum Problems faced Existence of information islands with fragmented systems Cobol based systems was huge and difficult to maintain User has access to lot of data but he is not getting the information he wants. Integration exists only in paper. Usage of variety of software packages in a module Accountability down the line is poor. Currency of data is poor. Difficult to get adhoc reports and to answer queries 15.CASE STUDY Ancilliary Development Computer System BHEL(Trichy ) Hardware set up Client server Technology with RDBMS introduced in 1997 with HP 9000 unix server The Solution Try Business process reengineering Exploit new software capabilities Upgrade the computer system to Client Server Technology with RDBMS Oracle Improve data integration Empower working staff 16.CASE STUDY Ancilliary Development Computer System BHEL(Trichy ) BPR Objectives Cost Reduction ( Mainly operating cost can be drastically cut by reducing cycle time of processes and by eliminating unwanted steps) Time and space shrinkage (Cutting processing time from weeks to days and elimina ting unwanted intermediate outputs) Quality enhancement(By eliminating errors,exercizing various controls which beco mes amenable due to BPR) Work Life enrichment(By eliminating monotonous steps in jobs by introducing crea tivity and by introducing new things to learn) Profit improvement 17.CASE STUDY Ancilliary Development Computer System BHEL(Trichy ) Steps in BPR Develop Business Vision and Process objectives Identify processes to be reengineered Understand and measure existing process 18.CASE STUDY Ancilliary Development Computer System BHEL(Trichy ) Strategy Study the existing system(Around 500 COBOL programs and Job Modules with no syst ematic documentation) Evolve the sytem design from first principles(Then only we can expect dramatic r esults). Development of Data Model(ER Diagram) after Business Data Analysis(Mapping from Flat file System to Relational Data Model). Identification of entities,attributes and relationships and Integrity Constraint s. Batch to online conversion(COBOL to ORACLE) Eliminate many steps in the existing system which are unnecessary(Merging tables dealing with same entity etc) 19.CASE STUDY Ancilliary Development Computer System BHEL(Trichy ) Development of Interactive forms Study For data capture at source and populating and changing the database conten t(Using front end tool Developer 2000 Many cobol programs map into a single formThe program logic is converted as triggers and PL/SQL Procedures) Incorporation of Business Rules

Eg Income tax and recovery calculation in Bills(Database triggers and PL/SQL pro cedures) 20.CASE STUDY Ancilliary Development Computer System BHEL(Trichy ) Development of Interactive forms TRIG Name DCDATE TRIG TRIG Name KEY-NEXT-ITEM TRIG declare TRIG myrcd varchar2(2); TRIG mm varchar2(2); TRIG yy varchar2(2); TRIG dd varchar2(2); TRIG yymmdd varchar2(6); TRIG begin TRIG yymmdd := to_char(:blk2.dcdate,'yymmdd'); TRIG mm := substr(yymmdd,3,2); TRIG yy := substr(yymmdd,1,2); TRIG dd := substr(yymmdd,5,2); TRIG if mm in ( '01','02','03') then TRIG myrcd :=to_char( to_number(substr(yy,2,1))-1)||substr(yy,2,1); TRIG else TRIG begin TRIG if yy = '99' then TRIG myrcd := '90'; TRIG end if; TRIG end; TRIG myrcd := substr(yy,2,1)||to_char(to_number(substr(yy,2,1))+1); TRIG end if; TRIG :blk2.dcyrcd := myrcd; TRIG NEXT_ITEM; TRIG end; 21.CASE STUDY Ancilliary Development Computer System BHEL(Trichy ) CASE STUDY An cilliary Development Computer System BHEL(Trichy ) Trial Assembly 22.CASE STUDY Ancilliary Development Computer System BHEL(Trichy ) 23.CASE STUDY Ancilliary Development Computer System BHEL(Trichy) 24.CASE STUDY Ancilliary Development Computer System BHEL(Trichy ) 25.CASE STUDY Ancilliary Development Computer System BHEL(Trichy ) Development of Interactive forms 26.CASE STUDY Ancilliary Development Computer System BHEL(Trichy ) Development of Interactive forms 27.CASE STUDY Ancilliary Development Computer System BHEL(Trichy ) SYSTEM SIMPLIFICATION AND RE-ENGINEERING THROUGH ORACLE IMPLEMENTATION RE-ENGINEERING Many computer process and intermediate steps eliminated while migrating from COB OL to ORACLE Redundant data storage avoided Business Rules rewritten RE-ENGINEERING EXAMPLES Faster Generation of other area indents due to automatic area code identificatio n at DU absorption Rate Schedule eligibility check while loading a supplier On line DC posting, Bill Processing and DCN processing keeps always AD data curr ent. Acceptance of the bill based on multiple rates Extra Rate acceptance based on original Vs extra rate schedule matrix Bill error is corrected if the same is due to DC error by simultaneous attack on error Terminal date shown in different reports are taken from single source SYSTEM SIMPLIFICATION Monitoring of critical DUs simplified due to exception reports in different sort

ing order DCN incorporation system simplified due to online implementation of IOM system Integrated hold up with non match tonnage statement has helped to identify criti cal items by clearing which maximum matching can be obtained. Many user friendly enquiries have been developed which provides integrated infor mation. 28.CASE STUDY Ancilliary Development Computer System BHEL(Trichy ) 29.CASE STUDY Ancilliary Development Computer System BHEL(Trichy ) 30.CASE STUDY Ancilliary Development Computer System BHEL(Trichy ) 31.CASE STUDY Ancilliary Development Computer System BHEL(Trichy ) Conclusion The computer system successfully migrated from COBOL to ORACLE using BPR strateg y. Information islands bridged(Eg DBLINK facilty and distributed database approach) Online System introduced due to which the information has become current and the same is easily accessible by all users. People are empowered and life style changed with job enrichment. (Other examples of BPR are computerized Railway reservation and Banking operatio ns say easy passbook entry any time) We can cope up with the shock due to technology change. 32.CASE STUDY Ancilliary Development Computer System BHEL(Trichy ) References Andrews, Dorine C. and Susan K. Stalick, Business Reengineering: the Survival Guide , Yourdon Press , 1994. Davenport, Thomas H., Process Innovation , Boston, MA: Harvard Business School P ress , 1993. Hall, Gene and Jim Rosenthal and Judy Wade, How to Make Reengineering Really Wor k , H arvard Business Review, November-December 1993. Hammer, Michael, Reengineering Work: Don t Automate, Obliterate, Harvard Business Review, July-August 1990. Hammer, Michael and James Champy, Reengineering the Corporation , NY: Harper Bus iness, 1993. Harvard Business School Report, Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radic al Change , June 1993