Business Process Reengineering - Assignment Example

PROJECT MANAGEMENT The project that was chosen by the company was business process reengineering in other words called BPR. This project will be thelargest project undertaken by the company. This project will involve the people at headquarters, as well as, remote sites of the company. The Information Technology department will lead this project. BUSINESS PROCESS Lets define what is process Process can be defined as a way of doing things but in an organized manner involving steps and procedures along the way. What is business process Business process can be defined as a group of inter-related activities that uses the organization's resources to provide with customer based results and that achieves the goals or the objectives of the organization as well. (Wordnet, 2008) BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING (BPR) Business Process Reengineering can be defined as a fundamental rethinking and redesign of business processes like marketing department, processing department, finance department and human resource department etc. so that the company can achieve improvements in cost, quality, speed and service of an organization (Wordnet, 2008). Business Process Reengineering is mostly called reengineering and does not mean just the automation or downsizing or even outsourcing. The organization has to keep one thing mind is that even tough the payback of reengineering is considered to be high, the risk of failure along with disruption level of the organization's environment increases. When BPR project is implemented within the organization the management has to remember one thing that it is not an easy task when implementing extreme changes within the business processes of the organization so that the efficiency and the effectiveness would increase. For example there are some organizations, which have gained impressive profits after conducting business process engineering but then again there are some organizations which have failed to achieve their objectives and targets or the improvement these companies sought to improve their business processes. With the help of BPR some employees or specialists from different departments come together to work as a team on product development process. WHY REENGINEERING / SELECTING BPR The organization needs to reengineer so that it can again focus on three things i.e. customers, competition and change. As we know that customers have changing needs and the company has to keep up with that is why reengineering is need. When it comes to competition the company has local as well as global competition. And to have a competitive advantage over its competitor the company has to conduct reengineering. And last but not least change, change would include technology and customer needs. With the help of business process reengineering with in an organization it changes the business processes, can focus on its end-users or customers or clients of the company's product. BPR helps with improving with cost, quality, speed and service of the company. It also introduces new and innovated products and services for the company's customers. And it also improves the efficiency and the effectiveness of the company's business processes. This process is flexible and rich in functionality and it is also process oriented. PEOPLE AFFECTED DUE TO BPR IN AN ORGANIZATION People who will mostly be affected by the business process reengineering would be the employees of the company. Because of BPR implementation with in the company it can damage the trust and the relationship b/w the employee and the employer. The employee would be thinking that due to BPR the employer would downsize and the employees would lose their jobs. Then another conflict can arise between the client of the BPR and the developers, i.e. whatever the client expects compared to what the correct action is. The companies who are planning to implement or do BPR should always make sure that it is sensitive ethically and socially responsible. People who would also be affected by the BPR process other than the employees of the organization would be: - Suppliers Distributors Vendors Customers Stakeholders Creditors COMMUNICATING THE OBJECTIVES OF BPR As we know that the work of BPR is to dramatic improvements in the business processes. But the goals and the objectives of BPR must be clearly defined and communicated with the employees of the company so that they do not feel that due to reengineering they will lose their jobs. Communicating the objectives of BPR to the employees of the company is the work of the management of the company, mostly the middle and the top-level management. What the management needs to do is re-educate the work groups and teams within the organization and provide them with a demonstration about BPR. And the management should let the workers know that BPR is not downsizing or letting people go. The management can communicate the objectives of BPR to its employees with the help of collaborative (groupware tools). These tools basically help people with in the organization to work together and share information with each other. Collaborative tools will include emails, chat, bulletin board, discussion groups, application sharing and videos etc. When using the collaborative tools the communicating the objectives of BPR become easier. When conducting the BPR stages collaborative tools help a lot. For example: - Plan: in the planning stage the collaborative tools will help to avoid 3 mistakes which were being done by the top management and they are: 1) not being involved in the procedure 2) not changing in all the levels of the management 3) communication is less. Analyse: in this stage the collaborative tools like chat or emailing or text can be used to get in contact with the stakeholders and tell them about the change that is being implemented within the organization. And with the help of these tools the management can be in contact with the employees all the time and they can know what changes are being implemented. Design & Improve: in this phase the collaborative tools can provide the teams to develop vision and how they can be achieved. Here the use of whiteboards, emails, bulletin board etc. will be very useful. These tools will help to remain in contact with all the people who are connected with the organization about the changes that are being implemented within the company and which kind of model is being implemented. Implement: in the phase of implementation the collaborative tools that would be helpful would be emailing or over a web site to provide with the reports of the BPR project. It can also provide web based presentations which will the employees about their new jobs and responsibilities. And it will also help avoiding problems that have arisen from non-communication. Evaluate: this is the final step in the BPR process. Collaborative tools that would be helpful in this stage would be web-based facilities. It would help with developing measurements and generating reports about the changes that have been done and it would evaluate the feedback about the process that whether it had been successful or not to the people who are connected to the organizations. With the help of Information Technology (i.e. telecommunications) the company can communicate its goal to the customers, partners, shareholder and creditors etc. And when the company implements business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) the communicating becomes easy and efficient. IMPLEMENTING BPR When implementing a BPR strategy the company has to keep in mind 5 major steps. (O'Brien, 2004) Select The Process & Appoint Process Team: Select the process basically includes, 1) review business strategy and what are the needs of the customer; 2) understand the customer needs; 3) don't assume anything; 4) select the correct way for change; 5) and remember to ask questions, conduct meeting and focus group. Appoint the process team would include 1); identify the process owners; 2) establish executive improvement team; 3) provide training to executive team. 1. Understand The Current Process: Understand the current process would include, 1) how the team is going to develop a process overview; 2) the team should clearly define the process which includes: mission, scope and boundaries; 3) the team has to set business and customer requirements; 4) the team has to clearly identify opportunities; 5) they should document the process. 2. Develop & Communicate Vision of Improved Process: 1) the team should communicate with the employees of the company so that they become aware of the company's future vision; 2) the team should always provide information on the progress of BPR; good or bad; 3) should assure the employees that BPR is necessary and it is properly managed; 4) tackle action that need solutions; 5) identify the actions that are needed and people responsible; 6) should have direct communication. 3. Identify Action plan: 1) develop an improvement plan and appoint process owners; 2) make the process simple and remove any kind of problem that may cause the process to slow down; 3) up-grade the equipment; 4) introduce a feedback system and conduct audit; 5) automate where possible and standardize the process; 6) remove no-value added tasks and activities; 7) construct targets as well. 4. Execute Plan: 1) qualify the process and conduct periodic reviews; 2) define and solve the problems that have arisen due to BPR; 3) evaluate the impact of change on business processes and on its employees and their customers; 4) benchmark the process and provide advance training to the employees of the company. BPR CHALLENGES Challenges or common problems that are being faced by BPR would be as follows (O'Brien, 2004): 1. The desire to change is not strong enough in the company 2. The company is using quick fix approach 3. Process under review is too big or too small 4. The cost of change seems too high 5. Poor timing and poor planning 6. Reliance on the existing process is very strong 7. The allocation of the company's resources is poor 8. Unrealistic scope and expectations. CONCLUSION Business Process Reengineering can be defined as a fundamental rethinking and redesign of business processes like marketing department, processing department, finance department and human resource department etc. so that the company can achieve improvements in cost, quality, speed and service of an organization. Business Process Reengineering is mostly called reengineering. Business Process Reengineering is not automation or downsizing or even outsourcing. With the help of BPR some employees or specialists from different departments come together to work as a team on product development process. Works Cited 1. O'Brien, James A. (2004). Management Information Systems: Managing Information Technology in the Business Enterprise. New York: McGraw-Hill 2. Wordnet (2008). Definition of Business Process and Process. Retrieved from www.wordnet.princeton.edu on May 9, 2008 3. CCSR: Business Process Reengineering. Retrieved from www.ccsr.cse.dmu.ac.uk on May 11, 2008 4. Drake, Miriam A. (2003). Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science www.books.google.com Read More