New approaches to business process redesign: A case study of collaborativegroup technology and service mapping

Whether it is called reengineering, quality function deployment, quality ci rcles, continuous improvement or total quality management, business process redesign (BPR) is occurring in many organizations. In the broadest sense, BPR includes nearly any kind of systematic effort by companies to realign t heir business processes so that they are more competitive. Successful busin ess process redesign can lead to dramatic improvements in productivity and quality. But BPR typically requires vast amounts of time and money to imple ment, since extensive employee input is necessary during the redesign proce ss. Group Decision Support Software (GDSS) provides a viable alternative to the traditional BPR approach. GDSS is defined as "computer-based informati on systems used to support intelligent, collaborative work." This technolog y allows multiple users to meet and discuss topics simultaneously via a com puter network, thus increasing employee commitment while decreasing time an d cost. This paper describes a business process redesign project that was conducted for a division within a large government agency fall of 1993. The BPR was done using a type of Group Decision Support Software called Group Systems V . A services marketing tool called service mapping was also used to identif y customer needs and interfaces. Data were collected throughout the project to measure employee attitudes about the redesign process and the GroupSyst ems technology. Time to complete tasks was also recorded. The results of th e study showed that the business process redesign was accomplished more eff ectively in a shorter period of time than with traditional BPR methods prev iously used. Participants also indicated that the service mapping tool prov ided a perspective that is missing from many BPR approaches: an understandi ng of the service from the customer's perspective.