Business Process Management Journal

G.N. Evans; R. Mason‐Jones; D.R. Towill

doi: 10.1108/14637159910269683pmid: N/A

There are three possible outcomes following the undertaking of BPR projects. First, a BPR programme may fail either in the short or in the long term because it is improperly implemented or because there is no effective follow-up. Second, a BPR programme may be deemed satisfactory but does not appear to significantly improve bottom-line performance. Finally there is the BPR programme which is highly successful and significantly improves bottom line performance. This paper is concerned with the identification of opportunities in the last category and involves estimating the scope of the proposed BPR programme. The scope paradigm is based on the classification of BPR characteristics into three dimensions. These are width (the flow dimension), breadth (the activities dimension), and depth (the infrastructure dimension). We conclude that the achievement of significant business gains depends on designing programmes to exceed threshold values along all three dimensions. This defines a target scope zone for BPR working to enable real improvements to bottom-line performance.

Paolo Maccarrone

doi: 10.1108/14637159910269692pmid: N/A

This article focuses on the use of activity‐based management (ABM) theory for the control and the redesign of the centralized units of a large multinational company operating in the chemical sector. To this aim, ABM has been adapted to the peculiar characteristics of support services. In particular, greater emphasis has been put on the analysis of the nature of activity drivers, and on cross‐functional processes. The analysis was structured in two s.tif: the first ended with the identification of some hypotheses of intervention on single activities aimed at eliminating redundancies, duplications, and, more generally, at improving their efficiency. The subsequent analysis of cross‐functional links focused on the redesign of the most pervasive processes, which led to important reductions in general costs, estimated from 15 to 30 per cent, according to the specific process. The last part of the article illustrates the early results of the implementation phase, with particular emphasis on organizational and cultural issues.

T.C. Bond

doi: 10.1108/14637159910269700pmid: N/A

Although systems analysis for designing information systems shares much in common with business process mapping there are critical differences. Systems analysis methodology produces a logical model, which omits all extraneous detail (in a somewhat similar spirit to business process re-engineering). The approach is based on two views: entity-relationships for data modelling and data flow diagramming for representing functions (which is used in a similar context to process in BPR terminology). A third view using an event driven process network, which serves as a macro representation complementing the other two views, is advocated.

B. Prasad

doi: 10.1108/14637159910269728pmid: N/A

Describes a set of re‐engineering strategies that critically examine current business policies, practices and procedures (3Ps), rethink these 3Ps and then redesign some mission‐critical “products, processes, and services.” The term process improvement implies that the change or effort is directed towards an array of re‐engineering strategies. Process improvement efforts are categorized into four primary re‐engineering strategies: a set of continuous process improvement (CPI) tactics, a set of restructuring tactics, a set of organizational traits, and a set of renovation tactics. Discusses how these four re‐engineering strategies can be logically combined in a concurrent fashion to achieve significant process improvements. Introduces two new hybrid re‐engineering strategies for process improvements that have been found quite useful at Electronic Data Systems (EDS) Accounts.