W13 - Redesign

Source / Reference:

1) Week10-12 Lecture slides-Lecture 12: Redesign principles


2) Business Process Re-engineering: A Case study at Turku University of Applied Sciences
http://www.iseing.org/emcis/EMCIS2007/emcis07cd/EMCIS07-PDFs/631.pdf
Subject: Lecture 10-12- Redesign Principles and Case study of BPR
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Response:  


The business process introduced in the case study involves a human resource management process concerned with teaching in the university. The process involves organization of teaching resources for lecturers and professors to use in the classroom. Furthermore, the case study is more of a qualitative approach as mentioned in the paper.


Major problems described which are looked into are as follows: cycle time too slow, difficult to follow, lots of errors when adjusting, insufficient data management tools. Stakeholders of this business process reengineering strategy include teachers, the director of education, degree programme manager, and the payroll department.


Their To-Be system will be enabled through the use of Microsoft Access. Initially, the process began with the restructuring and redefining phase, which is one of the aspects of redesign principles - Lose Wait,Orchestrate, Mass Customize, Synchronize.


Lose Wait - By automating the process, managers were able to reduce the cycle time through the use of Tonni600 as an information system. There were also able to apply the Synchronize aspect by combining both technological part and manual part of the process, since the process itself was not fully automated.


The case study also shows examples of changing of information around the process through Digitizing and Propagating. For example, they were able to store relevant information through the web and java applets. Since the HRM system is now online, information was easily propagated through the relevant stakeholders.


As a whole the new process improved and was generally a better system than the old one. Especially in terms of efficiency and data availability, the university was able to take advantage of the upcoming IT advances to promote and improve their current HRM system.

W12 - Process Redesign (3) and Implementation

Source / Reference:


1) Week 12 Lecture slides-Lecture 12: Process Redesign (3) and Implementation


2) Business Process Re-Engineering (Case study of CISCO)
 http://www.articlesbase.com/strategic-planning-articles/business-process-re-engineering-case-study-of-cisco-4332955.html




Subject: Lecture 12- Process Redesign and Implementation
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Response: 


To reiterate there are 10 major tactics to Resdesign principles and implementation:
        1st Group (Restructure and Reconfiguring)
1. Lose Wait
2. Orchestrate
3. Mass-Customize
4. Synchronize
        2nd Group (Informating the process)
5. Digitize and Propagate
6. Vitrify
7. Sensitize
       3rd Group (Minding the process)
8. Analyse and Synthesize
9. Collect, connect, create
10. Personalize


This blog will focus more on the 2nd group - Informating the Process. These three aspects is basically changing the old process (e.g. paper based accounting) and turning into digital information (e.g. how SAP provides accouting solutions). These three aspects depict how information technology can be applied to turn the AS-IS as into a TO-BE process.


Digitize and Propagate refers to the digitization of data (ex: paper to database) and the "pushing out" of that data to the relevant users. Issues such as information flow, data collection, and data propagation relates to this principle.


The Vitrify principle refers to transparency of the process. The goal of this principle is to let users "see more". Examples that relate to this principle are on-demand tracking, reporting, and analysis. For example, the case of Logistics companies, they can vitrify their process by making the delivery process available to customers online perhaps through RFID (Radio frequency identification) and GPS (Global Positioning system).


The Sensitize principle refers to the implementation of sensors and loops to receive feedback so that the process will continuously operate. This principles also refers to the implementation of these sensors so that the process will easily adapt to change and different input's, more like change management in that perspective.


In the case of Cisco, they implemented Business Process Reegineering and based on conclusions, it was relatively successful. The writer mentions "Information technology assisted CISCO in achieving the required back up and several cost reduction even though a bulk of the cost reduction was done by the re-engineered process". This brings the significance of these 3 principles even more. By Digitizing and propagating their business process through the use of IT, Cisco was able to somewhat reduce their costs. Opportunities such as automated invoicing and online payment options were available after the application of BPR. These are one of the perks of BPR since it helps open new doors for the company.

Week 10 - Redesign Principles and tactics

Source / Reference:

1) El Sawy's Redesign Principles and Tactics

http://higheredbcs.wiley.com/legacy/college/turban/0471229679/add_text/ch09/el_sawy.pdf

2) Week 10 Lecture slides- Redesign Principles (1)

Subject: 

Lecture 10 - Redesign Principles and Tactics

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Response: 

The three generic ways for redesigning as described in the lecture can also be represented in the image below.

The reengineering principles are divided into 3 main principles around processes :

1. Restructuring and reconfiguring

2. Changing Information flows

3. Changing Knowledge management

Looking into the restructuring and reconfiguring part, there are 4 enumerated parts :

1. Lose Wait

2. Orchestrate

3. Mass Customize

4. Synchronize

Just looking into the restructuring and reconfiguring of process, the first principle is to Lose Wait. This is to reduce the waiting time inside a process. For example, the few methods for obtaining lose wait as mentioned in the lecture are concurrency, closed-loop, Not gating main process, Continuous flow, and Upstream relives Downstream. These are relatively somewhat jargon to those without any redesign processes background. 


 A couple of simple examples to illustrate these four points would better help the understanding of the principles. Given a small restaurant, an application of concurrency - lose wait- would be applicable to the cooking process. Rather than one person completing one dish from start to finish, the process would include having multiple people work on different stages of  a dish then complete it concurrently. Orchestrate in this scenario would be the finding the optimal cooked ingredients (to provide zero inventory), to reduce the whole process making it efficient through the use of commissary. Mass Customize can be applied in this scenario through Dynamic Customization. That is catering to the customers needs and what they want directly, made to order perhaps. Synchronization is one of the more straight forward tactics, it can be implemented directly from production to delivery.

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Comment on Eleanor's blog week 10:

http://eleanorlyy-1230.blogspot.com/2012/03/week-10-redesign-principles-and-tactics.html

The example for applying the business process reengineering principles within health care in Canada was very concrete and informative. Not many examples exists that encompasses all 10 traits/ tactics of the total 3 main redesign principles. Furthermore, I think Eleanor did a good job of explaining how the processes worked. Some limitations include the synergy or the outlook of the redesign of the health care as a whole. Yes, I think the one-by-one explanation and application of the processes somewhat worked but I could not picture it as a whole redesign, thus it lacks in the completeness aspect.

Week 6 - BPR

Source / Reference:

[1] Harvey, S. & Millett, B. (1999). OD, TQM AND BPR: A COMPARATIVE APPROACh. Retrieved March 6, 2012 from http://www.usq.edu.au/extrafiles/business/journals/HRMJournal/AJMOBarticles/OD-TQM-BPR.pdf


[2] Malhotra, Yogesh. "Business Process Redesign: An Overview," IEEE Engineering Management Review, vol. 26, no. 3, Fall 1998.  http://www.brint.com/papers/bpr.htm 

[3] BPR to BPM, Retrieved March 6, 2012 from http://www.alagse.com/pm/p14.php
http://www.alagse.com/pm/p14.php



Subject:

A Comparison between BPR, Total Quality Management (TQM), and its tools. When is it appropriate to use what strategy?


Response:


The image below (taken from the lecture notes), generally describes both BPR and TQM.

To summarize the table above, it seems that BPR and TQM are almost opposites. Although, they both serve the same purpose which is to further future business development and to improve the current business process. Similarities include that they both considered cross-functional, which spans over the whole business, eventually. 


 The biggest and most important difference is the first point, which is the size of the change. BPR would be described as radical while TQM is incremental (revolution and evolution). BPR suggests  a whole redesign of the business process that could affect all the tasks, people, and strategies involved as a whole. TQM is more of a step-by-step approach, that is improving process cycle times which in turn improves speed of production. As a result, quality of the product/service is improved as well.


One might think, when should a business use TQM or BPR? What specific situations require these two different approaches to change? One example for the BPR side is that of the introduction of Automated Teller Machines (ATM's). A more radical approach is more suited for the implementation of ATM's. This is why also BPR is suggested to be more IT based. This is because technology can be the driver of the company itself rather than being just a support. The ATM's completely change the way how customers traditionally interact with the bank. As a result, the business process changes from bricks only, to a brick and click organization. The radical change imposed upon the application of ATM's requires an overhaul of the system - processing deposits, withdrawals, checks, etc.


TQM would not work for the application of ATM's. The aspects just don't match as mentioned above. In addition, the continuous improvement that TQM aims to provide doesn't apply to ATMs that much since there is no "more" significant improvements that can be made. Perhaps TQM is more suited to traditional situations, that is improving manufacturing processes, but not only limited to such. 


In conclusion, the business environment and situation should be taken into account when using TQM and BPR strategies. One must evaluate and analyze the processes before applying change in addition to considering risks. They can also be used side-by-side, a whole redesign of the business process then enhancing the current changes by applying total quality management techniques.

W-5,6 - Business Process Reengineering (BPR)

Source / Reference:

[1] Harmon. (2002). BPT Case Study: The Xerox Non-Production Procurement BPR Project. Retrieved February 26, 2012 from http://www.bptrends.com/publicationfiles/BPT%20Case%20Study-Xerox%20Procurement%2011-02.pdf 

[2] Davenport, T. H. (2003). Reengineering Revisited - Computerworld. Retrieved February 26, 2012 from http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/82290/Reengineering_Revisited 

[3] Malhotra, Yogesh. "Business Process Redesign: An Overview," IEEE Engineering Management Review, vol. 26, no. 3, Fall 1998.  http://www.brint.com/papers/bpr.htm 

Subject:


Is Business Process Engineering still useful today?


Response:


In my opinion BPR is still viable today. In addition, it might be even more effective today compared to decades ago when BPR first started. Many previous cases mention success stories involving BPR when they completely changed the managing systems when Information Systems/ Information Technology was first introduced. Perhaps BPR was birthed during the times when IT was initially implemented in businesses and enterprises. 


What is BPR? In lame man's terms, it is when a business rethinks and redesigns processes to create improvements. These improvements can either affect cost, quality, service, speed, and many other factors. The underlying goal is that companies use BPR to create competitive advantage. That is to give themselves the upper hand against competitors. There are also many other reasons including, but not limited to, increasing profits and somewhat society's pressure to integrate IT in this technology-laden environment.


Success cases? In the reference, links to success stories of Ford, Xerox, and Texas Instruments (TI) after implementing BPR. Notice that these cases involve relatively large companies. This shows that BPR is only applied to large and maybe to medium sized companies since radical changes usually involve significantly sizeable corporation. This is one of the limitations of BPR implementation.


In contrast to the success cases, there are more BPR cases that fail. This is because everyone started to follow the hype of BPR. They wanted to take that risk of engineering without knowing the consequences. As a result, after following very superficial, theoretical, and very general guidelines of initial BPR the companies suffered loses from possibly four reasons.


1. Lack of sustained management commitment and leadership
2. Unrealistic scope and expectations
3. Resistance to change
4. Ineffective management systems


The reasons for failure are not limited to the top 4 points as stated above. As you can notice, 1-3 all involve people/human resources. This is the perhaps the  largest reason for failure. Companies looked too much into IT/IS and forgot how people should be affected and interact with these technologies. 


There are, however, different technologies and management strategies that evolved from BPR such as Business process management, Total quality management, and the tools that come with these theories. BPR has indeed involved and might have more success and implications to today's economic environment. In conclusion, I would have to agree that BPR has some significance until today.

1

W4 - Strategic Alignment Model

Source / Reference:
1)  Henderson, J. C., & Venkatraman, N. (1993). Strategic alignment: Leveraging information technology for transforming organizations. IBM Systems Journal, 32(1), 4-16. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/26252741?accountid=16210
2)  G. Neubert, C. Dominguez & B. Ageron, (2011) Inter-organisational alignment to enhance information technology (IT) driven services innovation in a supply chain: the case of radio frequency identification (RFID). International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing 24:11, pages 1058-1073.

Subject: 
In Lect 4 - Which alignment strategy in SAM model is the best? and why?

Response:

In my opinion, there is no best alignment strategy that can be portrayed as a Strategic Alignment Model. This is because there many factors in an organization. Even the authors of the paper were asked the same question,  and their response was the identical. Business models and information technology are both growing and changing each day. As a result, there is no universal model to simplify the business/IT/IS integration environment.

I think a better question would be how to apply, utilize, and implement the strategic alignment model to further the business goals of a company using information systems, strategy, and infrastructure. The second reference links to a research about application of the strategic alignment model in small and medium-sized enterprises in Singapore. They were able to carry out surveys to collect information of the different businesses and categorize them for future development.

The link to image below is taken from Reference #2 - "Table 6. Summary of evaluation of strategic alignment for medium‐sized designer and builder enterprises"

http://www.tandfonline.com/action/showPopup?citid=citart1&id=T0006&doi=10.1080/01446190600827041

The concept of the strategic alignment model is quite abstract. With the help of concrete examples and applications – reference number 2- my understanding of this SAM has been more vivid.