What is BPR?
Reengineering is the fundamental rethinking and redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical, contemporary measures of performance, such as cost, quality, service and speed.
Business process reengineering (often referred to by the acronym BPR) is the main way in which organizations become more efficient and modernize. Business process reengineering transforms an organization in ways that directly affect performance.
The impact of BPR on organizational performance
The two cornerstones of any organization are the people and the processes. If individuals are motivated and working hard, yet the business processes are cumbersome and non-essential activities remain, organizational performance will be poor. Business Process Reengineering is the key to transforming how people work. What appear to be minor changes in processes can have dramatic effects on cash flow, service delivery and customer satisfaction. Even the act of documenting business processes alone will typically improve organizational efficiency by 10%.
How to implement a BPR project
- The best way to map and improve the organization's procedures is to take a top down approach, and not undertake a project in isolation. That means:
- Starting with mission statements that define the purpose of the organization and describe what sets it apart from others in its sector or industry.
- Producing vision statements which define where the organization is going, to provide a clear picture of the desired future position.
- Build these into a clear business strategy thereby depriving the project objectives.
- Defining behaviours that will enable the organization to achieve its' aims.
- Producing key performance measures to track progress.
- Relating efficiency improvements to the culture of the organization
- Identifying initiatives that will improve performance.
Tools to support BPR
When a BPR project is undertaken across the organization, it can require managing a massive amount of information about the processes, data and systems. If you don't have an excellent tool to support BPR, the management of this information can become an impossible task. The use of a good BPR/documentation tool is vital in any BPR project.
The types of attributes you should look for in BPR software are:
- Graphical interface for fast documentation
- "Object oriented" technology, so that changes to data (eg: job titles) only need to be made in one place, and the change automatically appears throughout all the organization's procedures and documentation.
- Drag and drop facility so you can easily relate organizational and data objects to each step in the process
- Customizable Meta data fields, so that you can include information relating to your industry, business sector or organization in your documentation
- Analysis, such as swim-lanes to show visually how responsibilities in a process are transferred between different roles, or where data items or computer applications are used.
- Support for Value Stream mapping.
- CRUD or RACI reports, to provide evidence for process improvement.
- The ability to assess the processes against agreed international standards
- Simulation software to support 'what-if' analyses during the design phase of the project to develop LEAN processes
- The production of word documents or web site versions of the procedures at the touch of a single button, so that the information can be easily maintained and updated.
The software we use by choice is Protos, a very comprehensive Dutch system that has been translated into English. Protos meets all the above requirements, and many more, and is better than any system originated in English that we have seen.
Conclusion
To be successful, business process reengineering projects need to be top down, taking in the complete organization, and the full end to end processes. It needs to be supported by tools that make processes easy to track and analyze. If you would like help with your BPR project, please contact Peter Carter
Implementing Business Process Reengineering
What is Business Process Reengineering?
- An organizational change method used to redesign an organization to drive improved efficiency, effectiveness, and economy.
- Organizational change tools may include:
- Activity based costing analysis
- Base lining and benchmarking studies
- Business case analysis
- Functionality assessment
- Industrial engineering techniques
- Organization analysis
- Productivity assessment
- Workforce analysis
- Others, as needed (e.g., human capital tools)
What is a High Performing Organization?
- An organization that demonstrates and measures
- Improved operational performance (e.g., effectiveness and efficiency),
- Cost and manpower savings (e.g., economy), and
- Improved competency levels through evaluation and improvement of its business management and human capital practices.
- Applies to commercial activities (may also be applied to inherently governmental activities)
- May include existing contracted functions
- Requires a business case (including human capital assessment, if appropriate)
- Does not require public-private competition
What is a Process?
A specific ordering of work activities across time and space, with a beginning, an end, and clearly identified inputs and outputs: a structure for action.
What is a Business Process?
A group of logically related tasks that use the firm's resources to provide customer-oriented results in support of the organization's objectives
Why Reengineer?
- Customers
- Demanding
- Sophistication
- Changing Needs
- Competition
- Local
- Global
Why Reengineer?
- Change
- Technology
- Customer Preferences
Why Organizations Don’t Reengineer?
- Complacency
- Political Resistance
- New Developments
- Fear of Unknown and Failure
- Performance
- Cost
- Quality
- Service
- Speed
- Origins
Develop a Process Overview
- Clearly define the process
- Mission
- Scope
- Boundaries
Set business and customer measurements
- Understand customers’ expectations from the process (staff including process team)
- Understand the Current Process
- Clearly Identify Improvement Opportunities
- Quality
- Rework
- Document the Process
- Cost
- Time
- Value Data
- Understand the Current Process
- Carefully resolve any inconsistencies
- Existing -- New Process
- Ideal -- Realistic Process
Develop & Communicate Vision of Improved Process
- Communicate with all employees so that they are aware of the vision of the future
- Always provide information on the progress of the BPR initiative - good and bad.
- Demonstrate assurance that the BPR initiative is both necessary and properly managed
- Develop & Communicate Vision of Improved Process
- Promote individual development by indicating options that are available
- Indicate actions required and those responsible
- Tackle any actions that need resolution
- Direct communication to reinforce new patterns of desired behavior
- Identify Action Plan
- Develop an Improvement Plan
Appoint Process Owners
- Simplify the Process to Reduce Process Time
- Remove any Bureaucracy that may hinder implementation
- Identify Action Plan
- Remove no-value-added activities
Standardize Process and Automate Where Possible
- Up-grade Equipment
- Plan/schedule the changes
- Identify Action Plan
- Construct in-house metrics and targets
Introduce and firmly establish a feedback system
- Audit, Audit, Audit
- Execute Plan
- Qualify/certify the process
- Perform periodic qualification reviews
- Define and eliminate process problems
- Evaluate the change impact on the business and on customers
- Benchmark the process
- Provide advanced team training
- Information Technology & BPR
- Benefits From IT
- Assists the Implementation of Business Processes
- Enables Product & Service Innovations
- Improve Operational Efficiency
- Coordinate Vendors & Customers in the Process Chain
- Computer Aided BPR (CABPR)
- Focus
- Business Processes
- Process Redesign
- Process Implementation
BPR Challenges
- Common Problems
- Process Simplification is Common - True BPR is Not
- Desire to Change Not Strong Enough
- Start Point the Existing Process Not a Blank Slate
- Commitment to Existing Processes Too Strong
Common Problems with BPR
- Process under review too big or too small
- Reliance on existing process too strong
- The Costs of the Change Seem Too Large
- BPR Isolated Activity not Aligned to the Business Objectives
- Allocation of Resources
- Poor Timing and Planning
- Keeping the Team and Organization on Target
Summary
- Reengineering is a fundamental rethinking and redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements
- BPR has emerged from key management traditions such as scientific management and systems thinking
- Rules and symbols play an integral part of all BPR initiatives
- Don’t assume anything - remember BPR is fundamental rethinking of business processes
