What is reengineering? Understanding what and how this process is an integral part of companies and institutions, whatever their nature, it is then possible to arrive at a definition.
Hammer and Champy define reengineering processes as “the fundamental reconception and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in performance measures such as cost, quality, service and speed” (Source: Institute of Industrial Engineers, “Beyond Reengineering”, CECS, Mexico, 1995, p.4)
Therefore it is a fundamental reconception and a holistic view of an organization. Questions like: why do we do? And why we do as we do, lead to the internalization in the fundamentals of work processes.
The radical process reengineering is to some extent, as it seeks to get to the root of things, not just about improving processes, but mainly, for reinventing, in order to create competitive advantages daring, based on the technological advances.
Methodology Process Re-Engineering Schematic
As an ideal end, you can establish a methodology of “white paper”, which reinvents the whole structure and functioning of the process or organization. They maintain the aims and core business strategies, but it takes a total freedom of ideas. This methodology can be restricted to a greater or lesser advantage as existing processes, thus becoming part of the process redesign.
In either case, process reengineering creates direct and radical changes in circumstances that require the organization to successfully adopted:
- Sensitization to change.
- Strategic Planning.
- Scripting.
- Total Quality Management.
- Organizational Restructuring.
- Continuous Improvement.
- Shared values.
- Individual perspective.
- Behavior in the workplace.
- Final results.
Stages
The stages of reengineering can be:
- Identification of strategic and operational processes existing or needed, and creating a map (a model) of these processes.
- Ranking map for redesigning processes and identification of key processes, those that will be addressed first or interest.
- Development of the vision of the new improved processes.
- Reengineering (creation and redesign) process conducted by external consultants, internal experts, or a mixture of both.
- Preparation and testing of new processes (process drivers).
- Subsequent processes of continuous improvement.