Head: PROCESS AND PROJECT SYSTEM

Process and Project System

Process and Project System

Introduction

There is growing evidence that the development of more effective and efficient programs to meet human service requires significant changes in the structure and delivery of services. We have to focus on three things

(1) To gather and disseminate tools that can be used by states and localities to plan and implement redesign initiatives.

(2) To begin a process of awareness building that actively engages a limited number of active change agents.

(3) To develop recommendations as to how foundations can play a more effective role to assist state and local government in implementing Business Process Innovation.

Business Process Redesign is the analysis and design of workflows and processes within and between organizations. Setting the stage for the business process improvement or innovation is the critical analysis and radical redesign of existing business processes to achieve breakthrough improvements in performance measures. Business process redesign or process innovation, refers to discrete initiatives that are intended to achieve radically redesigned and improved work processes in a bounded time frame.

Improvement Innovation

Level of Change Incremental

Information technology is one of the best ways to innovate new processes of business. It is basically application of technology toward the automation of business transactions and workflow. Hammer considers Information Technology is the key which he considers as "radical change."

Discontinuous thinking -- or recognizing and breaking away from the outdated rules and fundamental assumptions underlying operations... These rules of work design are based on assumptions about technology, people, and organizational goals that no longer hold. Business Process innovation typically includes attempts to transform the organizational subsystems of management (style, values, and measures), people (jobs, skills, and culture), information technology and organizational structures, including team and coordination mechanisms. Changes to these organizational subsystems are viewed through the analytic lens of the business processes (intra-functional, cross-functional, and inter-organizational).

The ultimate goal of process transformation is improved products and/or services measured in terms of cost, quality, customer satisfaction or shareholder value. This organizational change perspective recognizes that Business Process Reengineering is not a monolithic concept but rather a continuum of approaches to process change. And, while there is some commonality in how firms approach reengineering, Business Process Reengineering projects differ in the magnitude of planned change. Varying project characteristics call for differing methodological choices and the emphasis of different techniques. To assist Business Process Reengineering project planners, the primary objective of this article is to empirically derive a Business Process Reengineering planning framework outlining the stages and activity of a Business Process Reengineering project archetype.

This framework provides a point of comparison upon which contingent projects approaches can be planned. The authors' then map commonly used BPR techniques and tools to this framework. Next, unique project characteristics that influence alternative configurations of this Business Process Reengineering project framework are identified as well as are the most appropriate techniques for the job. Finally, implications for practice, education and research are drawn.

Understanding a Business Process

A business process is composed of a number of primitive functional activities ...