Developing E-Business Systems & Architectures: A Manager's Guide
This book provides managers with a road map to help them develop a strategic plan for their own transition to e-businesses.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Developing E-Business Systems & Architectures: A Manager's Guide
Business Process Reengineering
To assure we are all talking the same language, we'll begin with a very high-level overview of the basic terms commonly used, and a generic methodology that defines the phases in a common BPR project.
Basic BPR Terms
Figure 3.2 provides an overview of a hypothetical auto dealer. The shaded columns provide an idea of how the dealership is organized. There are five departments, each with a manager who reports to the owner.
Figure 3.2: A company organizational chart with business processes overlaid.
Business processes are sets of activities or tasks that deliver value. External processes are processes that are originated by customers of the dealership and end when the customer is satisfied. Internal processes take place within the firm and are originated by a department or by one of the external processes.
External processes are divided between core processes, which generate most of the money for the firm and employ the real expertise of the firm, and secondary processes, which add some money but aren't critical to the survival of the firm.
Suppliers from outside the firm provide people, capital, materials, and services, which are consumed by the various company processes.
Business processes tend toward horizontal integration. A single process integrates everything that is required to move from the original customer request to the fulfillment of the customer request. When possible, companies often try to achieve vertical integration as well. In that case, they seek to link to suppliers to extend the control the company can...
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