Reengineering Business Processes

During the Redesign Phase those processes that offer the greatest improvement opportu­nity and most significantly impact critical success factors undergo detailed data collec­tion and modeling efforts. Reengineered processes are then prototyped and simulated to ensure the optimum design has been achieved. This is accomplished via the following five steps:

1. Mobilize—The detailed project plans developed in the Discover Phase are evaluated and enhanced. The project team is supplemented based on the resource requirements necessary to accomplish the plan. Team members are assigned specific project responsibilities, interview sched­ules are developed and the Redesign Phase is initiated.

2. Analyze—Analysis is performed on those specific pro­cesses that have been targeted for redesign. It is not critical that this analysis be overly detailed, the purpose is to gain a high-level understanding of the process by which to assess its ability to satisfy customer expectations. Critical process weaknesses are identified during this step as well as an understanding of the current organization structure.

3. Innovate—How does one go about the activity of innovat­ing? There is no right way to innovate a process. The key is to be open minded, attempt to think beyond the box, and keep customer requirements at the core of all your process redesign efforts. Redesigning processes is not an easy task, the benefits would not be worth the effort if it were. The key is to be persistent, and iterate (brainstorm) the new process path many times. Do not try to build a process that will support enablers such as computer systems. Think in terms of process not solution, the solution will become clear once the redesigned process is flushed out. It is also important to note that you need not be a super intellect to redesign processes, you only require dedication to the end objective.

4. Engineer—Once the project team has developed innovative approaches for improving processes it is now time to bring these concepts to life. Engineering involves developing the foundation that will support the redesigned process. Enabling technology, policies and procedures and organi­zation structure must be designed to ensure the new process performs as planned. This is the step where the detailed process activities are mapped out, new performance mea­sures are designed, technology is brought to bear, and organization structures are designed to empower the employees who are the process owners.

5. Commit—Develop a prototype process and perform a process walk-through to validate the key assumptions made during redesign activities. Develop level of magnitude cost/benefit analysis to further verify the appropriateness of the new design. Obtain executive management consen­sus that the process will meet or exceed the expectations of customers and obtain commitment to implement the process design.

During the Realize Phase the hard work of actually bringing the new design to life is undertaken. Depending on the size of the organization and the breadth of the process that has been reengineered, this phase of the project may require more than one implementation team. Necessary project skills, team size, and implementation schedule will all impact this decision and each reengineering effort will be different. This is accomplished via the following five steps:

1. Mobilize—The initial step is to develop a project team and build a detailed project schedule. As with the other phases of the reengineering effort, the project team must consist of both the appropriate skill sets as well as members who can motivate and assist in ensuring project success. After the detailed plan has been constructed, the project team then reassesses the investment payback from the effort.

This both obtains team commitment to project objectives and reconfirms financial assessments of future benefits.

2. Communicate—Prior to actually initiating implementation activities, the project scope, Objectives, and bfOHd impli­cations are Communicated throughout the organization.

This is done to both defer anxiety about future change as well as to build excitement regarding the effort.

3. Act—The hard work of actually constructing the infrastruc­ture to support the new design and then the testing and validating of each process step is performed. It is important to note that conceptual designs are to be used as a blueprint for process construction, but if needed, these designs should be altered to ensure a working process is the end output. It is recommended that manual processes be imple­mented prior to building/purchasing/installing applications software to ensure all factors have been adequately consid­ered.

4. Measure—The process outputs are measured against the performance measures and targets developed during the Redesign phase. In instances where the targets were too aggressive, modifications must be made, if these modifi­cations impact financial performance estimates, this must be communicated to executive management.

5. Sustain—Even after the working process has been fully installed, the improvement cycle is not completed. Efforts must be undertaken to continuously improve the process to ensure that it delivers the best possible outcome at all times. This can only be accomplished by constantly measuring performance, establishing new targets, and enhancing the process to perform to these new target levels.

A word about project timing, reengineering projects should be
aggressively timed for two reasons; 1)—they are generally expensive undertakings that require the resources of key members of the organization and assistance from outside the organization. 2)—motivation and momentum are probably the most important tools a reengineering team can have. If a project gets bogged down, schedules begin to slip, and members lose interest—the outcome is predetermined, the process will only be marginally improved.

To be Continued

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