SUCCESSFUL BPR IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY

Introduction.

1. Business Process Reengineering means not only change -- but dramatic change. What constitutes dramatic change is the overhaul of organizational structures, management systems, employee responsibilities and performance measurements, incentive systems, skills development, and the use of information technology.

2. Successful BPR Model can result in enormous reductions in cost or cycle time. It can also potentially create substantial improvements in quality, customer service, or other business objectives. The promise of BPR is that it can actually produce revolutionary improvements for business operations.

3. On the other hand, BPR projects can fail to meet the inherently high expectations of reengineering. Recent surveys estimate the percentage of BPR failures to be as high as 70%. Some organizations have put forth extensive BPR efforts only to achieve marginal, or even negligible, benefits. Others have succeeded only in destroying the morale and momentum built up over the lifetime of the organization. Many unsuccessful BPR attempts may have been due to the confusion surrounding BPR, and how it should be performed. Organizations were well aware that changes needed to be made, but did not know which areas to change or how to change them. As a result, process reengineering is a management concept that has been formed by trial and error or in other words practical experience. As more and more businesses reengineer their processes, knowledge of what caused the successes or failures is becoming apparent.

BPR Definition

4. 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.

Common Steps when Performing BPR

5. Project Phases Required For Successful BPR.

(a) Phase 1: Begin Organizational Change (b) Phase 2: Build the Reengineering Organization (c) Phase 3: Identify BPR Opportunities (d) Phase 4: Understand the Existing Process (e) Phase 5: Reengineer the Process (f) Phase 6: Blueprint the New Business System (g) Phase 7: Perform the Transformation

6. Phase 1: Begin Organizational Change .

(a) Assess the current state of the organization (b) Explain the need for change

(c) Illustrate the desired state (d) Create a communications campaign for change

7. Phase 2: Build the Reengineering Organization.

(a) Establish a BPR organizational structure (b) Establish the roles for performing BPR (c) Choose the personnel who will reengineer

8. Phase 3: Identify BPR Opportunities .

(a) Identify the core/high-level processes (b) Recognize potential change enablers (c) Gather performance metrics within industry (d) Gather performance metrics outside industry (e) Select processes that should be reengineered (f) Prioritize selected processes (g) Evaluate pre-existing business strategies (h) Consult with customers for their desires (i) Determine customer's actual needs (j) Formulate new process performance objectives (k) Establish key process characteristics (l) Identify potential barriers to implementation

9. Phase 4: Understand the Existing Process.

(a) Understand why the current steps are performed (b) Model the current process (c) Understand how technology is currently used (d) Understand how information is currently used (e) Understand the current organizational structure (f) Compare current process with the new objectives

10. Phase 5: Reengineer the Process.

(a) Ensure the diversity of the reengineering team. (b) Question current operating assumptions .(c) Brainstorm using change levers .(d) Brainstorm using BPR principles. (e) Evaluate the impact of new technologies .(f) Consider the perspectives of stakeholders. (g) Use customer value as the focal point .

(h) Apply following BPR Principles. (i) Several jobs are combined into one;

(ii) Workers make decisions; (iii) The steps in a process are performed in a natural order; (iv) Work is performed where it makes the most sense; (v) Checks and controls are reduced;

(vi) A case manager provides a single point of contact; (vii) Both centralized/decentralized operations are prevalent.

11. Phase 6: Blueprint the New System.

(a) Define the new flow of work. (b) Model the new process steps. (c) Model the new information requirements (d) Document the new organizational structure (e) Describe the new technology specifications (f) Record the new personnel management systems (g) Describe the new values and culture required

12. Phase 7: Perform the Transformation.

(a) Develop a migration strategy.(b) Create a migration action plan.(c) Develop metrics for measuring performance during implementation. (d) Involve the impacted staff .(e) Implement in an iterative fashion.(f) Establish the new organizational structures.(g) Assess current skills and capabilities of workforce.(h) Map new tasks and skill requirements to staff.(j) Re-allocate workforce.(k) Develop a training curriculum.(l) Educate staff about the new process, technology and its transition management.(m) Incorporate process improvement mechanisms