Reengineering Infsy 540 Dr. R. Ocker
Reengineering n "Reengineering is the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical, contemporary measures of performance, such as cost, quality, service, and speed."
What is a business process?
Business process n Set of related tasks performed to achieve a defined work product
Business process redesign n Goal is to rethink and streamline business processes n aim is major gains in cost, quality, time- to-market, etc. n also called business process reengineering or business reengineering or just reengineering
Reengineering n essence of reengineering - discontinuous thinking - break away from outdated rules and assumptions that underlie operations n reengineering requires looking at fundamental processes of business from a cross-functional perspective
What does the phrase mean... n ”it’s time to stop paving the cow paths"
Outdated business processes n stop embedding outdated processes in computerized systems n companies tend to use technology to mechanize old ways of doing business n business processes came of age in different competitive environment before advent of computer
Outdated business processes n much work organized as sequence of separate tasks n use complex mechanisms to track its progress n stems from Industrial Revolution when needed specialization of labor and economies of scale
Outdated business processes n conventional process structures are fragmented and lack integration necessary to maintain quality and service n people tend to substitute the narrow goals of their department for larger goals of process as a whole
IT to the rescue n use IT to radically redesign business processes in order to achieve dramatic improvements in performance n examples: Ford and MBL (mutual benefit life ins.)
Principles of Reengineering n 1.organize around outcomes, not tasks n have one person perform all the steps in a process n design persons job around an objective or outcome instead of a single task n 2.have those who use the output of the process perform the process
Principles of Reengineering n 3.subsume information-processing work into real work that produces the information n compress linear processes
Principles of Reengineering n 4.treat geographically dispersed resources as though they were centralized n decentralizing a resource - gives better service to those that use it n centralizing - get economies of scale n don't have to make these tradeoffs anymore - use telecommunications to get benefits of scale while maintaining benefits of flexibility and service
Principles of Reengineering n 5.put the decision point where the work is performed, and build control into the process –hierarchical management structure built on the assumption that people who actually do the work cannot/will not monitor and control it and that they lack knowledge and scope to make decisions about it –new principle - people who do work should make decisions and that process itself can have built-in controls
Principles of Reengineering n 6.capture information once at the source
Risky business n what are risks associated with reengineering?
Change n reengineering necessitates huge organizational change n no-one likes change n so need executive leadership and vision n very stressful to implement a reengineering plan
Uncertain Results n reengineering cannot be planned meticulously and accomplished in small and cautious steps - it's an all or nothing proposition with an uncertain result
Organizational Resistance n Reengineering teams find that making progress in early organizing and creative analysis stages is easy and exciting. n Later work of development and implementation is much more difficult -- organizational resistance
Many failures n one big reason for failure is due to not making IS a real partner in reengineering
What is role of IT in reengineering? n IT is an essential enabler in reengineering - supports redesigned business processes and facilitates cross-functional work flow n IS org. - has large-scale project management skills