Business Process Change is maturing. Gone are the days of unbridled “Greenfield” re-engineering. Future benefits in process change will have to be carefully “mined” through planning and the use of sophisticated methods and techniques. While much has been learned to prevent re-engineering failures, firms are still looking for proven approaches and measures. Based on a study of 25 leading business process change methods, it was determined that successful projects aim at improvements along multiple “strategic” dimensions and focus on mega business processes that span across the enterprise, often linking inter-organizationally. This type of strategy-driven business process change, introduced in this article through the Business Process Re-generation (BPR) method, begins with “generation” and “cultivation” of innovative strategies. It has more to do with systematizing a business process view into strategic planning, than it does with “engineering.” By significantly improving a firm's operating capabilities, Business Process Re-generation allows the implementation of new strategies and, even more importantly, leads to envisioning of entirely new strategic options.
Based on a study of 25 leading process changemethods, this article provides a synthesized and strategically-oriented method to assist strategic plannersin understanding the relationships between phases,activities and tasks of a Process Re-generation project.As indicated in Step 6 of the study’s research steps(Appendix A), the researchers have attempted toascertain additional validity of the composite phaseactivity-task sequence of the Re-generation method
through field verification at three actual BPR casesites. The three firms: AT&T GBCS, Comdisco Inc.and Bowater Inc., each had completed a comprehensiveBPR project. In-depth field interviewswere conducted in these companies. Results of theseinterviews indicated that the sequence of phases,activities and tasks at the three sites were closelyaligned with those of the composite Process Re-generationMethod as outlined in this article. In fact,the mapping between the method and AT&T’s BPRproject had an almost 100% fit.C omdisco Inc. and
Bowater Inc. were particularly interesting as bothfirms had undertaken an initial unsuccessful BPR projectswith a pre-conceived solution centred aroundinformation technology (IT) applications. Theyinitially conducted the Technical Re-design and Re-Generation phases first, but soon realized that the“solution” did not serve their business needs. Toavoid failure, in both cases, the project teams revertedback to the Strategy Linkage and Change Planningphases, as outlined in the Re-generation method, todevelop a business vision and justification first. The
fact that the project teams reverted back to thesequence of phases as laid out by the Process RegenerationMethod’s phase-activity-task sequencedemonstrates additional validity of the framework.While the Re-generation method includes commontraits among the 25 surveyed methods, it was alsofound that some BPR methodologies have less fully
developed activities and techniques for preparing anorganization for the change and for “institutionalizing”the change over the long run. For example,our findings indicate that several methodssurveyed do not link BPR projects to continuousimprovement programs and methodologies do notclearly include activities for determining humancommunication patterns, or the development of ahuman resource architecture. Thus, while no processchange method can guarantee success, the proposedRe-generation method is generally more complete and
potentially more effective, than many of the methodscurrently being practiced.While the Re-generation methodology should bemore effective than many of the surveyed approaches,
this does not mean that each and every task includedAppendix A. The Research Method
Step1Step 2Step 3Step 4Step 5Step 6Research StepLiterature review on state-of-the-art in BPR
planning and implementation methodologies.Collect service and product information fromBPR consultants and vendors.Conduct semi-structured on-site andtelephone interviews of selected BPRconsultants and vendors.Establish research data bases of BPR methods.Analyze compiled methodologies and derivea composite BPR FrameworkExamine validity of the BPR Framework inthree case sites.in the method should always be attempted. In practice,phases, activities, tasks and techniques may beadded, adjusted, or deleted to meet specifiprojectrequirements. For example, a high risk player, lookingfor large returns, may bypass detailed examination of
the current process and focus immediately on newand innovative process designs.
Clearly, we are now well underway on our journeyto understand business process change. A learningcurve effect indicates that the longer a company dealswith these issues, the more efficient it becomes inlatter projects.” Competitive pressures, coupled withadvances in technologies, will continue to demandan overhaul of business processes. However, the days
of unbridled “Greenfield” re-engineering have drawnto an end. Future benefits in process change will haveto be gained through careful strategic re-generationplanning and through the use of more sophisticated
