Key Points

• BPR is a radical means of changing a process for the better, usually going for a drastic overhaul or redesign rather than incremental improvements.
• Technology plays a key role in BPR, allowing teams to better coordinate their efforts thanks to the likes of predictive analytics and shared databases.
• Cross-functional teams flourish in BPR, bringing differing experiences and perspectives to the table when looking at how to best implement a process.

What is Business Process Reengineering? There are quite a few ways to approach the design of a process. We can pursue continual improvement, hoping that little by little it is hammered into the right sort of shape. This has its benefits, as it doesn’t severely upset the current workflow, and teams stay on the same page throughout. Continuous improvement doesn’t always work, however.

Sometimes, a process just doesn’t work in the intended manner. It can be a flawed implementation, a lack of quality or speed, or any number of factors influencing things. So, when you need to make a sudden, drastic change, that’s where BPR comes in. Today, we’re breaking down what this approach is, how it works, and why you might want to consider it for your processes.

Defining BPR

So, what exactly is Business Process Reengineering? At its core, it is an approach that challenges how you’re doing business. Like any improvement cycle, it looks at reducing waste, redundancies, and pain points. However, it isn’t like most improvement cycles by seeking incremental change. BPR seeks to completely remove and revamp a process from the ground up. You aren’t looking to simply improve; you’re looking to create the best possible process while learning from the mistakes of the previous implementation.

Some rather large questions lie at the heart of BPR, which are as follows:

• What are you currently doing?
• What are you doing that isn’t needed?
• What are you not doing that should be done?
• How do you achieve the desired outcome?

These are tough, probing questions. But they get to the heart of the matter and prepare teams to make the jump into a BPR effort.

The Main Principles of BPR

Business Process Reengineering is a fairly complex task, no matter the size of the organization. In the past, we’ve discussed how massive the change can be for any organization looking to make use of it. Before starting the steps to implement BPR at your organization, it’s best to learn some of the guiding principles behind the approach.

The methodology isn’t for casual use, as you’re fundamentally changing the way everyone works. Instead, it is more about working toward a better tomorrow, as the newly designed process will ideally work in a far better state than previous implementations. You’ll want to keep the principles in mind before you start building a business case to present to your superiors, however.

Rethinking the Fundamentals

Returning to the first of the questions, what is your process doing? Plenty of businesses will build up and champion processes over time. Instead, you need to look at guiding this process. Something is going wrong, or else you wouldn’t be looking at a drastic approach like BPR.

BPR itself isn’t asking you to stick to the old guidelines and procedures; instead, you need to cast those aside. Something isn’t working, and rethinking the fundamentals of how a process works is one of the biggest things to keep in mind when approaching the methodology.

Getting Outside the Box

Business Process Reengineering isn’t about little tweaks, incremental fixes, or even deeper analysis of the root cause of a problem. You’re ripping out the framework and guts of a process and casting them aside to make a significant overhaul and redesign. This might include things like completely reshuffling departments, changing the definition of job roles, and taking on entirely new ways of working.

It’s easy to build up a lifetime of cruft at any organization, and getting outside of the traditional institutional thinking is going to be the most difficult part of any BPR project. Returning to a previous point, the old ways of doing things aren’t working, or simply lack the means to improve. Getting outside of the institutional box your organization has created and looking at the best way of accomplishing your goal is worth the massive undertaking.

Dramatic Breakthroughs

The name of the game for any BPR project is breakthroughs. You’re not after the little gains, but rather the big gamechangers. This is one area where BPR distinguishes itself from the other methodologies. You aren’t looking to marginally improve something, but drastically change it for the better.

Process-Oriented

BPR is largely driven by processes. It’s in the name, Business Process Reengineering, but it does make you rethink how you approach things. How is the revised process going to deliver value to a customer? Instead of focusing on fragmented, potentially siloed tasks, you’re looking to make something cohesive, with quality at the center of any effort.

Leveraging Technology

Technology is a big driving force behind the success of any Business Process Reengineering project. Leveraging the IT infrastructure at your business to better serve radical change is a common way of getting traction for any of these projects. IT allowing for robust communication, automation, predictive analytics, and even shared databases can reduce the tedium and improve the power of your decision-making.

Customer Focus

While processes are at the forefront of BPR, the ultimate goal is the customer. While Business Process Reengineering is concerned with radical change at the heart of any project, you’re looking to create value. Products should meet or exceed customer expectations in an efficient, satisfactory manner. While previous processes might have accomplished this goal, you’re looking to minimize the pain points and more ably deliver a worthwhile product to the customer.

Cross-Functional Approach

Organizations can get siloed fairly quickly, leading to distinct subcultures within the fabric of an organization. Cross-functional teams take the center stage of any BPR effort, driving innovation, optimizing processes, and ultimately allowing for differing opinions and experiences to drive the development of any new processes.

Cross-functional teams are a valuable tool at any organization’s disposal, and it stands to reason that you’d want to leverage them to maximize your ability to continually deliver quality goods to your customers.

Other Useful Tools and Concepts

Looking for something else to go with your morning scroll? You might want to take a closer look at how the Theory of Constraints can drive innovation in product development. TOC focuses on the pain points of any process, and can quickly streamline and ultimately lead to innovative products being developed by your organization.

Additionally, you might want to look at what KPI can help monitor the status of your Total Quality Management efforts. There is no shortage of solid metrics in TQM, but paying attention to the right KPI will have you making great strides toward your long-term goals.

Conclusion

Business Process Reengineering is a radical means of changing a process for the better. However, it is key to understand the principles that drive a successful BPR project. You can’t hope to drastically overhaul a project without having a clear vision of what you’re intending to do.