=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2097/paper6
|storemode=property
|title=The Role of Process Representations in Business Process Redesign Projects
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2097/paper6.pdf
|volume=Vol-2097
|authors=Isaac da Silva Torres
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/emisa/Torres18
}}
==The Role of Process Representations in Business Process Redesign Projects==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2097/paper6.pdf
The Role of Process Representations in Business Process
Redesign Projects
Isaac da Silva Torres 1
Abstract: Markets and the desires of customers change. Thus, also organizations and their
business processes need to change at certain points in time. To achieve this, organizations engage
in different activities related to Business Process Redesign (BPR). BPR involves, among others,
analysing business processes and identifying suitable possibilities to improve them. One of the key
steps preceding any business process redesign project is to appropriately capture and represent the
respective processes of an organization. Over the past years, particularly process models have been
advocated as the most suitable artefact for doing so. However, to the present day, there is no
empirical evidence that process models are indeed a superior representation format in the context
of BPR. While theory confirms that creative problem-solving tasks are highly dependent on the
type and format of information provided to the problem-solvers, the general superiority of process
models in this context has not been demonstrated. Therefore, in this thesis I will study the role of
process representations in the context of BPR. To this end, I will adopt a qualitative research
approach and conduct multiple case studies in organizations that have conducted BPR projects in
the past. My overall goal is to shed light on the role and importance of process representation
formats in BPR projects.
Keywords: BPR, Process Representations, redesign project.
Introduction
There are many ways how to capture and represent knowledge about organizational
procedures. Examples include flow charts [An05], textual documents [We17], state
transition diagrams [MJ17], process models [Ko09], and checklists. Research has shown
that organizations employ several of these representation formats. What they all have in
common is that they often serve as a starting point for analysis and re-design initiatives
[He09].
Many authors have investigated the advantages and disadvantages of these formats for
different purposes [Ni98]. Some argue that graphical process representations and
particularly process models are best suited for analysing and redesigning processes
[Mo09]. This is also emphasized in [AJ05], where the authors argue business process
models are useful for visualizing and analysing the flows and complex relationships
among operations.
While process models are widely believed to be the superior choice for representing
processes, there is no evidence that process models are really the best starting point in
the context of redesign projects. Against this background, my main research question is:
1
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands, i.dasilvatorres@vu.nl
37 Isaac da Silva Torres
What is the role of process representation in BPR and how does the choice for a
particular process representation affect process redesign efforts?
By answering this question, I aim to shed light on the importance of process models in
the context of redesign and whether other representations formats are a suitable
alternative. What is more, I will contribute to academic literature as well as industrial
practice.
Context and Importance
In this section, I clarify the context and importance of my research. I first explain the
goals of business process redesign (BPR). Then, I will review related work and highlight
the research gap.
Business Process Redesign
Business Process Redesign is an important step within the Business Process lifecycle and
the technical challenge of creating a new process design after its analysis [Ni98]. BPR
was initially introduced as Business Process Reengineering as a radical approach for
organizational change [HC93]. BPR has received different names throughout the years
including “business process improvement” [Be09], “business process re-engineering”
[DS90], “core process redesign” [Ja14], “business restructuring” [Pe17], “continuous
improvement process” [Ze11]. Business Process Redesign represents an incremental and
intended transformation of a business process [LR07]. The goal of BPR is to decrease
the time required to handle a particular problem, lowering the execution-cost of the
process, adding value to the quality of the service delivered, and increasing the
flexibility of the business process to deal with changes that might occur over time.
Related Work on Business Process Redesign
Research on BPR has resulted in many contributions that discuss options to improve the
quality, efficiency, and economic viability of business processes [Da94]. There is a lot of
work on how BPR shall be executed. These so-called methods or frameworks typically
define particular steps how to transform a given business process into an improved
version [Ze11]. Many of the existing methods and frameworks differ with respect to
their emphasis [Re17]. They can be distinguished based on their impact and nature. In
this context impact refers to the efforts and the pace, and nature to how BPR is done in a
more abstract way [LR07]. When categorizing impact, there are two types: Gradual and
Radical. Gradual methods support the identification of problems or bottlenecks in a
process and then help to resolve these in a cumulative way [Du13]. As such, these
methods do not challenge the foundations of the existing process, but seeks to improve
the overall process gradually, e.g. benchmarking, Six Sigma, Lean, etc. Radical
approaches aim to transform drastically the way how it is done, change on a grand scale.
The Role of Process Representations in Business Process Redesign Projects 38
This type of methods contradict the fundamental assumptions and principles behind an
existing process and try to radically overcome them [Du13], e.g. Business Process
Reengineering, NESTT, Product-Based Design, etc.
Focusing on the nature of BPR methods, we can distinguish between analytical and
creative methods. Analytical methods are generally based on mathematical or
quantitative techniques. They are supported by tools and techniques, in particular to
analyze process problems or to generate process improvement alternatives [Ko09].
Creative methods bring forth human creativity and awareness. Basically, it is created
from group dynamics and its insights. People creativeness and subjectivisms take place
to come up with new ideas on how to organize a business process, workshops and focal
groups represent a great way for its implementation [RL05]. It is important to note that
the choices along the methods can vary. A method, for example, could be gradual and
creative, e.g. 7FE [Du13].
There are also a few tools available to structure the redesign phase. That is why many of
the tools used in redesign are also process modeling tools. They support the use of a
notation to capture a business process in a diagram or somehow represent it. There is a
variety of tools to access business process models evaluation, generally focusing in
simulation techniques [AJ05].
Despite all the contributions made through years in BPR there are still pending issues
that still need better understanding, even with a widely targeted topic such as BPR. In
this research our foremost concern will be process representations in BPR.
Proposed Research
Goal and Objectives
It is known that the preference for a representation format might not always correspond
to performance in using it [Co94]. Research points out that the problem-solving phase
(process analysis and process improvements implementation), in a BPR project, became
easier when an appropriate representation was included in the redesigned process
[Mo09]. These representations capture, in some graphical and/or textual notation, the
activities, logs, states, business rules and possibly other information that is relevant to a
business process [Re09], creating the opportunity for analysts to choose among them
which format better represents their business processes [Wo10]. The importance of
choosing the right representation approach is an important piece of the redesign process
[KM01]. This research will look into this importance while addressing its real relevance
and role throughout a BPR project. The main objective of this thesis is to determinate
whether Process Representations play a role in BPR or not and how.
39 Isaac da Silva Torres
Methodology
I already conducted a literature review to better understand the topics of BPR and
process representations. To this end, I used Google Scholar and ResearchGate, which
can be considered as the most comprehensive search engines for academic literature at
this point. The search terms were “business process redesign”, “business process
redesign projects”, “process representation formats” and “types of process
representations”.
As a next step, I intend to conduct an Expert Panel with practitioners from different
companies with experience in BPR projects. The goal is to obtain an overview of the role
that process representations play in BPR projects in practice. Based on these insights, I
will design and conduct an experiment to empirically test relevant hypotheses related to
the role of process representations in BPR projects.
References
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Simulation. Proceedings of the 2005 Winter Simulation Conference, pp. 2068–2077,
2005.
[Be09] Bevilacqua, M. et. al.: Safety management system in a clinical medicine department: A
case study. IFAC Proceedings Volumes,13 (1), pp. 292-297, 2009.
[Co94] Coll, R.A. et. al.: Graphs and tables: a four-factor experiment. Communications of the
ACM 37, pp.76-86, 1994.
[Da94] David G., Wastell et al.: A methodology for business process redesign: experiences
and issues, The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Volume 3, Issue 1, Pages
23-40, 1994.
[DS90] Davenport, T.J., Short, J.E.: The new industrial engineering: information technology
and business process redesign. Sloan Manag. Rev. 4, pp. 11–27, 1990.
[Du13] Dumas, M. et. al.: Fundamentals of Business Process Management. Springer, pp. 297-
339, 2013.
[HC93] Hammer, M., Champy, J.: Reengineering the Corporation. A Manifesto for Business
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The Role of Process Representations in Business Process Redesign Projects 40
[KM01] Kock, N., Murphy, F.: Redesigning Acquisition Processes: A New Methodology
Based on the Flow of Knowledge and Information, Defense Acquisition University
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[Ko09] Kock, N. et.al.: Communication flow orientation in business process modeling and its
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