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Reengineering Design Series for BPR Teams

Designing Effective Business Solutions

A framework for business solution design

This tutorial is taken from Prosci's Reengineering Design Toolkit which includes the complete set of templates, guidelines and checklists for business process design teams.

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Establishing a framework for business solution design

This tutorial provides a high-level overview of the design process in preparation for business process design. These "start-up" steps are essential to a successful project.

Creating breakthrough solutions for your business

Effective visions and business process designs result when:

• the project has clearly defined objectives and scope

• the right people come together to form the team  

• the project team goes through a learning process together

• the team applies proven techniques for creative design

The overall process is show in the Figure 1 below. This tutorial series focuses on the steps following the project planning phase.

Figure 1

Getting ready

The project objectives and scope are set during project planning. These are documented in the project plan and presented to key leaders involved in the business solution. Be sure to identify what is included in the scope of the project, and what is not included in the scope of the project. Figures and graphics are an easy way to convey scope. Objectives need to be clear, communicated and agreed upon. Many projects fail to define the conditions of success - they set objectives (increase revenue) but fail to define what success looks like (increase revenue by 10% in 6 months). For more details on objective and scope, read the project planning tutorial series module 2.

Team Readiness

Team readiness is a key success factor for your team. Effective teams begin with a solid foundation in the following areas:

• change management
• business process reengineering
• benchmarking
• customer and employee data gathering
• process modeling
• business case development

The project leader or executive sponsor should plan for training in these areas for the team. This training exercise also serves as a good team-building exercise for the group prior to beginning the project.

The Learning Process

The learning process is often the source of true breakthroughs for project teams and helps separate the team from the current realities and problems of day-to-day work. Many teams want to jump right in and design the new process based on the current knowledge of team members. This practice rarely produces breakthrough performance, and misses the entire point of business process reengineering - seeking new and innovative ways to produce dramatic improvements in business results. Learning sources should include:

• Customers

• Employees

• Competitors

• Non-competitors

• Technology

Learning involves both internal data gathering from customers and employees, and external data gathering about technology and the practices of other companies. Benchmarking is the process of learning these best practices and lessons-learned from other organizations. The result of benchmarking is not "the answer" for your company, but new ideas and perspectives that will help you develop the best solution.

Solution Design

Solution design is the creative process. The key steps are:

• learning review

• idea generation

• concept selection

• design modeling

• business case development

The steps for the design session referred to in Figure 1 are shown in Figure 2 below.

Figure 2

Summary of activities that must be completed before solution design begins

• The team selection and team readiness activities have been completed (including team building).

• The team has gathered data on best practices and performance levels of competitors and non-competitors through benchmarking.

• The team has gathered data from customers.

• The team has gathered data from employees.

• The team has researched new technologies that may enable new processes and capabilities.

• The team has shared information and learning between team members.

• The design session has been planned and all arrangements have been confirmed.

• The process for conducting the design session has been selected and skilled facilitators are available to help the team through the process.

For additional details on activities, exercises and templates for business process design, see the books and resources links below.

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