Punctuate Systems, Inc.

Initiatives that take a holistic view of technologies, the people who have to use them, and the process "ecosystem" in which they live, fare better. While a clear problem statement and appreciation for how people, process, & technology combine for a successful outcome are needed, they are only part of the picture; a business process re-engineering methodology is a critical enabler to good, predictable results. There are many BPR methodologies but successful implementations:

Know what "Done" looks like. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously remarked about obscenity, "I know it when I see it." That might have been "OK" for a Supreme Court ruling but it’s a poor yardstick for a BPR initiative. Be clear. Use reliable data. Avoid subjectivity wherever, whenever possible.

Strive for perfection, but don’t let "perfect" be the mortal enemy of "good enough." Perfection is hard to come by, especially on the first pass of a BPR initiative. Don’t over-analyze. Don’t be afraid of incremental improvement.
 

Obtain just the right amount of "go/no-go" data. For organizations without BPR experience, knowing where to start isn’t easy. They may intuitively know that something is broken or have clear data indicating a problem. Knowing how much data is needed to justify a BPR initiative depends on the situation and organizational tolerance of the effort required to gather enough data.

Communicate. Communicate. Communicate. By definition, BPR means change. Change means—for many organizations—fear, uncertainty and doubt among stakeholders. Good practitioners know the importance of transparency and acknowledging the opportunities and threats that new business processes can bring.

Involve the troops. If your BPR effort is staffed with management, watch out. The people doing the work know the current state and what’s wrong with it. And they want it to be better, no matter what anyone else says. So make the right subject matter experts available to the BPR project; don’t stash your deadwood there. If the pain/opportunity point is clear enough to do a BPR initiative, the pain of making the right subject matter experts (SMEs) available for the initiative will pay huge dividends.