Guidance note on Business
Process Re-engineering (BPR)
“Business Process Re-engineering attempts to understand, map and measure the
current process, and make performance improvements accordingly. This method is
effective to obtain gradual and incremental performance improvement. “
NOTE:
1.
This tool/guidance has been developed by the Global Change
Management Support Team under the guidance of the Inter-Agency Task
Team for Change Management. It has not been tested at the country level
and there are no examples of its application from any country office at this
time.
team to implement BPR with the help of UNCT guidance.
1 | 2.
P a gExpert
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Table of Contents
1
Introduction ............................................................................................................................3
2
What is a process? ................................................................................................................4
3
What is process reengineering? ............................................................................................5
4
Process Excellence Principles ...............................................................................................6
5
How to do it – Steps in Business Process Re-engineering ...................................................7
5.1
Step 1: Identify core processes ........................................................................................8
5.2
Step 2: Develop As-Is ......................................................................................................9
5.3
Step 3: Analyse As-Is .................................................................................................... 10
5.4
Step 5: Test and communicate ..................................................................................... 13
6
Critical Success and Failure factors in BPR ....................................................................... 14
6.1
Success factors for BPR: .............................................................................................. 14
6.2
Fail factors for BPR ....................................................................................................... 14
7
Process Mapping tools........................................................................................................ 15
8
Process Mapping software ................................................................................................. 17
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1
Introduction
When discussing how to improve the way we work within any organization, business process re-engineering is
a commonly used tool. Why? The reason is that optimization of business processes to eliminate duplicating or
redundant steps can contribute significantly to improving organizational efficiency.
Specifically, this guidance note helps you:
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Understand what business process re-engineering (BPR) is all about
Be aware of the 7 themes in BPR
Familiarize yourself with the tools available
Facilitate BPR sessions to improve business processes
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2
What is a process?
If you have ever waited in line at the grocery store, you can appreciate the need for process improvement.
In this case, the "process" is called the check-out process, and the purpose of the process is to pay for and
bag your groceries. The process begins with you stepping into line, and ends with you receiving your
receipt and leaving the store. You are the customer (you have the money and you have come to buy food),
and the store is the supplier.
The process steps are the activities that you and the store personnel do to complete the transaction. In this
simple example, we have described a business process. Imagine other business processes: requesting a
new telephone service from your telephone company, developing new products, administering the social
security process, building a new home, etc.
Davenport & Short (1990) define business process as "a set of logically related tasks performed to achieve
a defined business outcome". A process is "a structured, measured set of activities designed to produce a
specified output for a particular customer or market. It implies a strong emphasis on how work is done
within an organization" (Davenport 1993). In their view, processes have two important characteristics: (i)
They have customers (internal or external), (ii) They cross organizational boundaries, i.e. they occur across
or between organizational subunits.
Processes are generally identified in terms of beginning and end points, interfaces, and organization units
involved, particularly the customer unit. High impact processes should have process owners. Examples of
processes common among UN offices include: developing a programme strategy, procurement process for
programme supplies and office supplies, processing of payments, etc.
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3
What is process reengineering?
Improving business processes is paramount for organizations and businesses to stay competitive in the
marketplace (be it developmental or otherwise) and provide better products and services.
Business Process Improvement (BPI) efforts attempt to understand, map and measure the current
process, and make performance improvements accordingly. This method is effective to obtain gradual and
incremental improvement.
Nowadays, organizations across the board want breakthrough performance changes and not just
incremental changes. One approach for rapid change and dramatic improvement that has emerged is
Business Process Reengineering (BPR).
Michael Hammer & James Champy define reengineering as “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.“1
What BPR isn’t…
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Overlaying new software on top of the same business processes
Evolutionary
Incremental improvements
Downsizing
Merely reorganizing and restructuring
Single dimension solution
Continuing to maintain status quo
What BPR is…
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Starting from scratch and fundamentally changing the way we do business
Innovative
Leveraging best practices and enablers
Multi-dimensional, integrated solution
Cross-functional, inter-departmental change
A migration to from activity management process
1 Reengineering the corporation, Michael Hammer, James champy, 2005
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4
Process Excellence Principles
A superior process maximizes client/user value, eliminates waste, and is simple yet flexible with clear
links to other processes. In an enabling environment, processes deliver superior client service by being
actively owned and managed, measured and outcome focused, in a way which leverages available
technology.
Process Excellence Principles (PEP) provide a framework for developing and implementing innovative
processes.
Adapted from Accenture PEP principles
Process Outputs Create Value - Processes produce outputs—products and services—that create value
for clients. The reengineering phase should redefine and validate the value of the organization’s products
and services. Therefore ask yourself the following questions when you need to decide which processes to
re-engineer and which design criteria to keep in mind:
1.
2.
What products do your clients need? Design the process from the outside in.
How can the organization improve the processes that deliver these products? Think beyond
optimizing only internal processes.
Target High Value Processes - Target core processes that are necessary for organizational
effectiveness, provide value to clients, and establish a competitive advantage. Those processes must
work well, and by doing it well, the UN will be able to gain a higher degree of organizational effectiveness.
Excellent Processes Need Excellent Owners - A process owner has end-to-end responsibility and
authority for achieving the outcome(s) of the process. Processes don’t perform well on their own, they
need someone accountable for their performance through continuous updating and improvement.
You Get What You Measure - Process measures and targets are the key indicators of an organization’s
performance.
Innovate, Don’t Duplicate - Process innovation is about generating, evaluating, and implementing
creative solutions that enable Process Excellence.
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5
How to do it – Steps in Business Process Re-engineering
Process Re-engineering is best managed using a process framework with clear steps by which your team will
be guided in executing the re-engineering project. The following five steps are the standard:
Much like any other project, the re-engineering project will have to be managed and the selection of the people
who will actually do the reengineering is key to the success of the endeavor. In Reengineering the Corporation,
Michael Hammer & James Champy proposed the following to be involved in the BPR effort:
BPR Sponsor: Senior executive who authorizes and champions Business Process Reengineering efforts in the
organization or its respective department, unit, etc.
Process Owner: A manager with authority and responsibility for a specific process
Reengineering Team: A group of individuals dedicated to reengineering a specific process
Project Board: Decision-making bodies of senior executives who guide, manage, and oversee the BPR project
through to implementation
Facilitator: An independent resource to guide and enable the work of each BPR Team. In particular for BPR it
is important that the facilitator challenges and supports his/her colleagues. It is oftentimes difficult to think about
other ways of doing our work. However, as mentioned before, process re-engineering is not about maintaining
status quo and as such it is particularly important that the facilitator challenges us to think innovatively,
leverage best practices etc in order to determine the best possible way of designing the process.
Since this toolkit assumes that business process re-engineering is used as an integral part of the change
process, some of the above-mentioned roles will already be assumed by stakeholders of the change process.
For example the Project Board typically is the Senior Management Team in your office. However, it is still
important to ensure that these roles are identified as part of the change efforts and as such it is interesting to
list the expectations for each of these roles.
Role of the BPR Sponsor
 Acts as the champion of reengineering for the organization
 Articulates the vision of BPR efforts
 Motivates and inspires other executives and stakeholders
 Builds consensus around decisions
 Allocates organizational resources to ensure BPR success
Role of the Process Owner
 Responsible for providing leadership to the BPR team, guiding BPR efforts, ensuring BPR business results
are achieved, and driving innovation
 Acts as an advocate for the process
 Committed to the BPR effort for the long-term
 Creates and maintains strategic relationships with the Project Board and key stakeholder groups to ensure
project success
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Role of the BPR Team
 Manages the BPR project so it is on time and on budget
 Identifies and collects data needed to perform the As-Is analysis
 Interacts with stakeholders through forums such as interviews, focus groups, and briefings
 Researches best practices, industry benchmarks, other CO experiences and technology to enable process
redesign
 Documents As-Is process model
 Documents To-Be process model
 Builds consensus around team decisions
 Plans and creates capacity building plan (training, transition support, new performance standards and
plans, etc.)
 Delivers on BPR project goals
Role of the Project Board
 Provides overall transformational leadership
 Defines the decision-making process for BPR projects
 Makes resource and policy decisions regarding BPR efforts
 Has the authority to change policy
 Ensures funding, project continuity, and focus
 Maintains effective relationships with stakeholders
 Interfaces with the BPR Teams
Role of the Facilitator
 Plans and facilitates BPR meetings and team deliberations
 Enables the team to work with valid information
 Challenges and supports team to be innovative
 Enables the team to make free and informed choices
 Facilitates the team in making a commitment to its decisions
 Guides the team in respecting adopted group norms
Practical facilitation tips – Who to involve? Please make sure to involve the key stakeholders as well as the
business process Sponsor and Owner in the reengineering discussions. This may sound obvious – but keep in
mind that business processes often affect many units and sometimes also external stakeholders. For example
if you are reviewing the procurement process the planning that facilitates bulk procurement (and volume cost
and time savings) is important – and therefore it may be essential to educate everyone, also on the programme
side, to submit their procurement plans early in the year. As such – in this example – the programme staff need
to be part of this discussion.
5.1 Step 1: Identify core processes
Core processes are those that are key to organizational effectiveness, provide value to clients and establish a
competitive advantage. The client must care that the process works well and by doing it well, the provider will
be able to better position itself.
Within the framework of this toolkit several key business processes have already been mapped. However,
when you need to decide how to prioritize your re-engineering efforts, it is beneficial to keep the following
criteria in mind:
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
Time and cost reduction opportunities e.g. target high volume processes
Integration factors e.g. office wide implications, supporting knowledge management
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Client satisfaction e.g. review partner survey to spot opportunities
Internal satisfaction e.g. review Global Staff Survey to spot opportunities
You should identify the core business processes and clearly define the start and end point of each process.
The offices of different agencies, programmes or funds may have various core processes that may require both
mapping and re-engineering in the context of UN Coherence, as activities are developed and carried out jointly.
Examples of core processes impacted could be:
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Programming process
Programme finance process
Authorization processes
Communication process
Business operations processes, including different procurement processes, human resources
processes, ICT or finance processes
…
Practical facilitation tips – Where to start? Choose 3-5 processes of high volume and financial/time impact
on the work and focus on these initially. If you are planning to do a more comprehensive business process
review you may want to draft a process model to help you in planning the work and prioritizing which business
processes to focus on first (see section 7).
5.2 Step 2: Develop As-Is
Once the core business processes have been identified, the team will have to map the current way of working
into a process map. This is called the “as-is” process. The purpose of as-is process map is to gain an
understanding of the quality and efficiency of current operations and the existing performance. The benefits of
this assessment are to:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Develop a common understanding of the current processes
Describe the inputs, sequence (work flow) of steps, hand-offs/transfers, approvals, people, technology,
and business rules involved in producing outputs
Identify opportunities for improvement
Potentially create a “baseline” of measures (e.g., process time, costs, resources, etc.) that describe
current process performance
Identify the gap between client business needs and current performance
Identify parts of the current process that are non-value added from the client perspective
The BPR team should include staff from across the office that can help determine the current practice and
break up the process in steps. It is suggested to first of all list the different steps involved in the process
including the person or team that is responsible for that step e.g.:
Step
Responsible
Elaborate specifications
Project personnel
Review specification vs work plan
Programme assistant
…
…
Once that list has been completed (and it is verified that all steps are indeed mentioned), the team should map
the process using for example the swimlane diagrammes (see below). Some tips are provided to help facilitate
these discussions below. The as-is process map is the key deliverable for the as-is development step.
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Practical facilitation tip – Mapping the way things are today: A simple yet very effective tool that can be
used to facilitate the discussions is to map the business processes using post-it notes. The facilitator can stick
several large white papers (for example flipchart paper) on the wall. On these pieces of paper, one can then
draw a number of swim lanes. For each swim lane facilitate a discussion about who is involved and denote on
the left the ownership of each swim lane, e.g. with “Resident Coordinator”, “UNCT”, “Government”, etc. The
team should write the different process steps on the post-its (one process step per post-it). The team can then
map the as-is process using the post-its in the swim lanes (see section 7 for an explanation) and subsequently
discuss the improvement opportunities. Place the post-its from left to right so as to reflect the sequence of the
steps. However, do not write arrows or other links directly on the white paper since - when you change the
order of the post-its - these markings will be confusing.
A good aspect of the post-it notes is that one can easily move the process steps from one swim lane to another
or alternatively eliminate a step by taking the post-it off the paper. Lastly, the post-it map is easily translated
into MS Visio (see section 8) since the same logic and tools are used. An example of such a process map
using post-its is provided below.
When you facilitate the mapping of the “as-is” situation you may want to ask two different two groups (ideally
each with representation of different units involved) to map the current flow as they understand it – or facilitate
this in plenary.
5.3 Step 3: Analyse As-Is
With the current process mapped, the team can focus on determining the baseline and possible improvement
opportunities. One can determine the baseline of the as-is process through:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Process time analysis – determining how much time each step in the process will take and including
time in between steps due to e.g. system requirements.
Approvals and handoffs – assess the number and purpose of the approvals and hand-offs
Value-added analysis – assessing the process from the client’s perspective i.e. what are the value
added activities for which the client is willing to pay and which directly affect the completion of the
product or service provided.
Benchmarking – comparing current performance with “peers” e.g. other agency offices, other UN
agencies or those organizations considered “best-in-class”. Benchmarking should not be limited to UN
and / or development partners but may include private sector organizations.
The last step in the analysis phase is to validate the as-is process model with Process Experts and other
stakeholder groups.
Practical facilitation tip – How to analyze “as-is”? As a facilitator of the discussion – if possible - try to
compare the “to-be” process with that of similar processes in other contexts – or refer to statistics on typical
process time.
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Step 4: Design To-Be
When conducting Business Process Re-engineering it is important to stay focused on the goal, i.e. improving the
processes, making them more efficient and effective. The result (or the product) of the process needs to be in the
spotlight: What is it that we want to achieve or obtain in order to satisfy the client of the process? Keeping the 7
themes of process innovation (7Rs) in the back of your mind during the exercise will help you and your team stay on
track and might trigger out of the box thinking. You may even want to go through the detailed questions one by one to
ensure that all themes have been taken into account. The 7Rs are:
5.3.1 Rethink
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What is the root cause of the problem?
Why do it this way? What are the assumptions?
Is there a completely different way to accomplish this objective?
Should the process be fixed or eliminated?
Is there a better, faster, cheaper way to complete the most expensive, slowest, poorest quality
steps?
5.3.2 Reconfigure
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How can the activity be eliminated?
Can we consolidate common activities?
Can we reduce reconciliation efforts by putting quality at the source?
Can we eliminate handoffs and non-value adding work?
How can sharing information with suppliers and clients improve the process?
5.3.3 Reassign
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How can existing activities be moved to a different unit?
How can the activity be outsourced?
How can cross-training integrate and compress tasks?
5.3.4 Re-sequence
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How can predicting increase efficiency?
How can postponement increase flexibility?
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How can we minimize the number of interconnections and dependencies?
5.3.5 Relocate
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Can the activity be moved closer to the client or the supplier?
Can an activity be moved to related activities?
How can we reduce travel time and distance?
How can geographically virtual organizations be created?
5.3.6 Retool
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How can technology transform the process?
How can the activity be automated?
Can assets be leveraged to create a competitive advantage?
How can skill-level changes improve the process?
5.3.7 Reduce
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How can we reduce (or increase) the activity frequency?
How can critical resources be used more effectively?
Would less information or controls simplify and improve the process?
Would more information enable greater effectiveness?
Practical facilitation tip – How to identify improvements? First of all it is particularly important that the
facilitator takes on a role of challenging and supporting – i.e. supporting the brainstorming of ideas but also
challenging the status quo and new the ideas in a constructive way to test if further improvements can be
identified. Oftentimes, the tendency in business process discussions is to maintain status quo since “this is the
way we have always done it” or since “HQ will never accept if we do it differently”. These are two examples of
the killer phrases often heard during business process brainstorming which are counterproductive. It is critical
that the facilitator helps the group to think “outside the box” in order to come up with the innovative ideas that
are essential for successful BPR. Using the framework of the 7 themes for Business Process Re-engineering
(see step 4 above) the facilitator can ask challenging questions to prompt this innovative thinking. The group
also has to accept the facilitator in his/her role as challenging the status quo and this should not be
misinterpreted as negatively critiquing his/her colleagues and the way they do the work.
If two groups mapped the “as-is” make one group present their flow – and have the other comment. If you – as
facilitator – spot redundant steps or have ideas on process improvements try to challenge the groups by asking
“what is the value added by this step?” or “what would be lost if we took out this step?” As it is agreed to
remove steps or otherwise reengineer the process (whilst keeping in mind the necessary segregation of duties
in line with internal control frameworks) remove the sticky notes. The physical removal of sticky notes can be a
powerful message. Ensure that the necessary decision-makers are present – as well as those affected – so
that it can be agreed “there and then” that certain steps can be removed or re-organized. Once the process
review and reengineering has been done map it electronically – for example by using MS Visio (see section 8)
– as illustrated below:
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5.4 Step 5: Test and communicate
With the newly designed process comes the most important element of re-engineering i.e. the challenge of
implementing the proposed changes. Communicating changes and determining the impact of the changes to
the way we work (i.e. managing change) is an integral part of this toolkit. Therefore, one should ensure that for
example the process changes are carried forward into the job design and into the overall change
implementation (i.e. Step 6: Implementation)
Having said this, there are some elements of testing and communication that are directly related to this chapter
on Improving Processes and as such they are highlighted here. Testing and communication of process
changes with stakeholders will help to:
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Validate process requirements
Ensure linkages to business objectives
Solicit further improvement opportunities
Manage expectations
Practical facilitation tip – Making it happen: Print out the new business processes and hang them in a place
where a lot of staff pass by, e.g. a “change wall” to familiarize staff with the effort and the implications. Make
sure to review the job descriptions if significant changes in “who is doing what” have taken place. Agree on
when to review the implementation progress and discuss any issues that needed ironing out. Also, to the extent
possible agree how long key elements of the process should take as a maximum and “contract” internally to
commit to it, e.g. “no more than 3 weeks shall pass from receiving the request to procure goods to delivery of
goods – for goods covered by our LTA # such and such”.
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6
Critical Success and Failure factors in BPR
Based on comparative experiences with Business Process Re-engineering in a significant number of private- and
public sector enterprises, Accenture has developed the following sets of critical success and fail factors:
6.1 Success factors for BPR:
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Clear Vision. Develop a clear vision of the goals and objectives of the organization and of its success.
Senior Management Commitment. Gain strong commitment from senior management from initial planning
through implementation, including identifying an executive sponsor.
Project Planning. Conduct sufficient project planning and preparation with defined scope, roles, and tools for
each phase.
Change Management. Utilize an effective and structured change management process, including developing a
strong communication plan.
Staff Support. Build staff support and buy-in for the proposed solution.
Team Commitment. Gain team member commitment to the project and build a team with the right mix of skills.
Understand Business Issues. Develop a clear understanding of business issues (client needs, performance,
standardization) and the BPR Solution.
“Quickly” Review As-Is. Document and review high-level “as is” business process with a caution against
spending too much time on “exceptions to the rule” and specific cases.
Always Have a Goal. Show progress and demonstrate results by having short, medium and long-term targets.
Follow-up, follow-up, follow-up …. To make sure that things get done!
6.2 Fail factors for BPR
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Lack of Alignment. BPR effort is not tied to organization goals, objectives and/or client expectations.
Lack of Commitment. Teams cannot ensure success if they lose senior management support or if team
members do BPR “on the side” while they are performing day-to-day tasks.
Lack of Communication. Not everyone is informed early and the staff concerned by the changes are not
engaged throughout the process. Not everyone is on the same page.
Improper/Insufficient Planning. Changing scope or focus will damage integrity and commitment.
Lack of Understanding of Business Challenges. Business case is not clear or is weak, and thus the changes
will not address the real needs of the business.
Ignore the End Users. If the solution designed does not take the needs of the end user into account, change
will not be successful. End users will resist and cannot or will not implement the new process.
Ignore the Clients *. If the processes are not designed to produce the value the client is seeking for, the results
will not be satisfactory and clients may go elsewhere.
Team Member Selection. Without dedicated, strategic thinkers that can champion change, the improvement
process will not succeed.
Lack Enabling Technology. If decisions are made on the basis of the existing technologies (e.g. the bank
cannot provide electronic interface), one will not be able to design the optimal process (e.g. one could change
bank in this example).
Easily Overcome by Challenges. If the team gets bogged down by a specific step in the process and does not
keep the bigger picture in mind, the team will loose motivation and may get stuck in a particular phase.
* It is key to keep partners and clients informed on the progress since changes in the business processes might also
require changes on their side, e.g. in the way in which they interact with your office. For example, involving national
counterparts from NEX projects will enable the office to review of the way the requests are transmitted to the office
and streamline the procurement process.
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7
Process Mapping tools
If you consider making a comprehensive effort to improve your business processes you many want to first get
an overview of the BPs that you are dealing with. Making a process map can be helpful in this regard.
The purpose of a process model is to provide an activity-oriented description of the work performed. It
describes the interaction of people, information, technology, and business rules through a visual framework.
First of all, when mapping processes, the level of detail that we want to develop needs to be defined:
A0 is the context diagram and represents the highest-level of a business map. The context diagram is then
"drilled down" into more detailed views of the organization or department/unit. It is important to agree on the
level to which the model will be created (e.g., Level 2, Level 3).
An example of this model could be as follows:
A0 – Project Management
A4 – Running a project
A41 – Procure goods
A411 – Develop specifications
A412 – Bidding process
A413 – Evaluation
A414 – Create contract
Therefore, one will have to drill down into the different core business processes in order to determine the level
of detail needed.
To define the activities on each of the different levels in the context diagram, one can use various types of
process modeling tools; the most used are the IDEF0 and the ROBI models:

Integrated Definition (IDEF) Methodology
IDEF0 is a method used in Business Process Modeling, designed to model the decisions, actions and
activities of an organization or system. Diagrams are based on simple boxes with arrow graphics and
text labels.

ROBI Model
Defining activities through Resources, Outputs, Business rules and Inputs. The ROBI model also
introduces the aspect of time needed for each activity (minimum, most likely, maximum).
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Irrespective of the actual model used to define the activities, one can proceed by mapping these in a process
flow to visualize the dependencies and timeline between the activities. There are two important tools that can
be used for this process mapping:

Swim lane methodology
Swim lane diagrams are drawn so the activities performed by each business function, department, or
location are in different horizontal rectangles, or lanes giving rise to the swim lane name. Each activity
will be mapped into swim lanes and as such be assigned to a person or team as part of their
responsibility.

RAVIC responsibility charting
RAVIC is a commonly used technique for responsibility charting in order to identify where one role
ends and another begins. For the activities brought forward in the business processes, one has to
decide who is Responsible, who is Accountable, who can Veto or block, who needs to be Informed
afterwards and who needs to be Consulted beforehand. The RAVIC methodology is particularly helpful
when there are many stakeholder involved in a process, either directly or indirectly through
consultations and communications.
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8
Process Mapping software
The business process flows are created with the Microsoft Visio software, which you will need to install in order
to be able to manipulate the files. You can download a trial version of the software (30 days) by clicking on the
following link (please note that you need a good internet connection to download this).
The Visio software will allow you to tailor the "template business processes" so that they reflect the business
processes of your CO. If you feel like learning more about the software, a fairly good training package can be
found through the following link (you will have free access to these training tools).
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