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Business Process Reengineering

Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is

the means by which an organization

achieves radical change in performance as

measured by cost, cycle time, service, and

quality, by the application of a variety of

tools that focus on a set of customer-

oriented core business processes.

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Types of Reengineering

Type 1 - Process Improvement;

cost-reduction focus

Type 2 - To achieve parity, or “best-in-

class;” competitive focus

Type 3 - Searching core business for

breakpoints; rewriting the rules

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BPR Process (1 of 2)

Frame the project

Create the vision, values and goals

Redesign the business operation

Conduct proof of concept

Andrews & Stalick, Business Reengineering: The

Survivor’s Guide

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BPR Process (2 of 2)

Plan the implementation

Obtain implementation approval

Implement the redesign

Transition to a continuous improvement

state

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The Dimensions of Business Process Reengineering - Andrews &

Stalick (1 of 3)

Physical/Technical Layer

• Process structure

• Technical structure

• Organization structure

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The Dimensions of Business Process Reengineering (2 of 3)

Infrastructure Layer

• Reward structure

• Measurement systems

• Management methods

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The Dimensions of Business Process Reengineering (3 of 3)

Value Layer

• Organizational culture

• Political power

• Individual belief systems

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The Top Ten Ways to Fail at Reengineering (1 of 2)

1. Don’t reengineer but say that you are.

2. Don’t focus on processes.

3. Spend a lot of time analyzing the current

situation.

4. Proceed without strong executive leadership.

5. Be timid in redesign. Hammer & Champy, The Reengineering Revolution, 1995

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The Top Ten Ways to Fail at Reengineering (2 of 2)

6. Go directly from conceptual design to

implementation.

7. Reengineer slowly.

8. Place some aspects of the business off-

limits.

9. Adopt a conventional implementation style.

10. Ignore the concerns of your people.

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Benchmarking

Benchmarking is the search for the

“best practices” that will lead to

superior performance of an

organization.

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Benchmarking is NOT

A cure for all organizational ills

A means to justify blatant personnel cuts

A one-shot program

A process cookbook with no creativity

A process to conduct industrial espionage

A one-way information flow

An improvement tool requiring little cost or effort

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Benchmarking Approaches

Performance benchmarking

• To identify candidates for conducting

benchmarking studies

Process benchmarking

• To identify the “best practices”

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Types of Benchmarking ( 1 of 3)

Internal

• Comparing yourself against a similar

process, product, or service within your

own organization

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Types of Benchmarking (2 of 3)

Competitive

• Comparing yourself against the toughest

external competitor or against world-

class companies in your industry

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Types of Benchmarking (3 of 3)

Generic/Functional

• Comparing yourself against a world-

class company that is not even in your

industry, but that uses a process similar

to yours

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Benchmarking Process ( 1 of 6)

1. Getting Organized

• Obtain management buy-in

• Communicate and educate benchmarking

concepts

• Plan the overall benchmarking process

• Address fear and concerns

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Benchmarking Process (2 of 6)

2. Preparing to Benchmark

• Identify process to benchmark

• Establish benchmark team

• Understand existing process

• Determine process metrics

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Benchmarking Process (3 of 6)

3. Conduct Research

• Who performs similar processes

• Who performs the best

• What information is needed

4. Select the organization to Benchmark

• Establish a relationship

• Reach an agreement on the exchange

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Benchmarking Process (4 of 6)

5. Collect Data and Information

• Identify sources of data/information

•Site visits

•Interviews

•Third parties

•Documents

• Plan and collect data/information

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Benchmarking Process (5 of 6)

6. Analyze and Adapt the Process

• Compare the data/information

• Determine process gaps

• Establish improvement goals

• Design the improved process

• Estimate the improvement

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Benchmarking Process (6 of 6)

7. Implement the New Process

• Train the affected staff

• Implement the process on a trial basis

• Monitor the results

• Adjust and adapt

• Adopt the process

• Celebrate