Business Process Re-engineering Methodologies

The selection of the right methodology that meets the needs of the project and is supported by the right project team is important. A BPR methodology sets the framework for the understanding of a BPR effort. BPR methodology offers support to re-engineering related activities such as the definition of project boundaries, selection of the right people to empower the BPR team, definition of a project manager, the selection, definition and analysis of the business processes, etc.

The challenge in structuring a BPR project is to select the approach that is best suited to the situation at hand, taking into account re-engineer objectivities, capabilities and competi­tive requirements. The selection of the right type of model and computer-assisted tools that will support the modeling analysis and re-design of the processes are crucial factors for the success of a BPR project. A number of BPR methodologies exist.4 They are:

  1. The Hammer and Champy methodology
  2. Davenport and Short’s methodology
  3. Process analysis and design methodology (PADM)
  4. Jacobson’s object-oriented methodology

1. The Hammer and Champy Methodology

Michael Hammer and James Champy consider poor management and unclear objectives as the main impediments to the success of BPR efforts. However, they failed to give adequate consideration to the human factor. Later they acknowledged employee resistance as a major obstacle to a successful BPR undertaking. Hammer and Champy suggested a methodology for BPR that was refined by Champy’s consultant company. The six phases of the methodol­ogy are as follows:

  • Introduction to BPR
  • Identification of business processes
  • Selection of business processes
  • Undertaking of selected business processes
  • Redesign of the selected business processes
  • Implementation of redesigned business processes

2. Davenport’s and Short’s Methodology

Thomas H. Davenport and J. Short positioned information technology at the heart of BPR and emphasized that information technology (IT) plays the most important role in innovating business processes. They proposed that IT should be considered in terms of how it supports new or redesigned business processes and process improvements should be considered in terms of the capabilities that IT can provide. They felt that BPR should be integrated with approaches like continuous process improvement (CPI). Davenport sees culture as a constraint when there is a poor fit between process innovation and culture. This methodology emphasizes traditional management functions such as planning, directing, monitoring, decision making and communication. This methodology involves six phases:

  • Developing business vision and process objectives
  • Identifying processes to be redesigned
  • Understanding and measuring existing processes
  • Identifying IT levers
  • Designing and building prototype of the process
  • Implementation

3. Process Analysis and Design Methodology (PADM)

This methodology was introduced by the Informatics Process Group (IPG) at Manchester University as a framework of tools and techniques, which could be used in a BPR effort in specific circumstances. PADM is an effort to manage the relationship between the support technology and the re-engineer. This is because the method recognizes a recursive rela­tionship between technology and processes. PADM gives emphasis to the identification of opportunities for process improvement by exploiting IT support. It aims at being a flexible, broad and adaptable methodological framework in order to be used across a wide spectrum of projects ranging from incremental process improvement activities to broad scale innova­tion projects involving top-down re-engineered change. The method identifies five phases, which are not performed in strict sequential order. They form a complex activity in which the individual stages interact reciprocally. They are:

  • Process definitions
  • Baseline process capture and representations
  • Process evaluations
  • Target process designs
  • Implementation

4. Jacobson’s Methodology/Object-oriented Methodology

I.Jacobson, M. Ericsson and A. Jacobson developed a methodology for BPR, which was termed object-oriented because it provided an excellent way to clarify the inner workings of a company—its processes, products, services and resources—and how those things depended on each other. The methodology defines an object as an occurrence containing information and behaviour that is meaningful to the company and has to be described in its environment. The object’s behaviour and information can be used by other objects too. Work tasks in a re-engineer can also be modeled as objects. The examples of such objects are invoices, customers, etc.

According to this methodology, re-engineering work must be performed within the frame­work for business development. It consists mainly of two steps—reverse engineering the existing re-engineer where an abstract model of the business and process under study are con­structed, and forward engineering the new company where the new process is designed. The major phases of the Jacobson approach to BPR are:

Business development: The main steps are as follows:

  • Envisioning
  • Reversing the existing business
  • Engineering the new business
  • Installing the new business
  • Re-engineering directives

Engineering new business: The main steps are as follows:

  • Build a real model
  • Develop an information system
  • Verify the new business
  • Objective specification

The last phase is the implementation of the proposed changes during which the new or rede­signed business processes are introduced into the re-engineer. Existing processes need to run until the installation of new ones is complete without disturbing the environment in which they both operate.

The above mentioned popular BPR methodologies are a representative set that share common phases and features. The common features are the learning phase, creating a busi­ness vision, modeling and analysing current processes, modeling and analysing processes to be and transition to a continuous process improvement effort.

Source: Poornima M. Charantimath (2017), Total Quality Management, Pearson; 3rd edition.

One thought on “Business Process Re-engineering Methodologies

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *