Re-engineering knock-out processes

The core of many workflow processes in banks, insurance companies, governme ntal departments, and administrations of multinationals is formed by a set of tasks that are used to classify cases into two groups: accepted and reje cted. Each of these tasks has two possible outcomes: OK or NOK (i.e., Not O K). If for a specific case all tasks result in OK, the case is accepted, ot herwise it is rejected. In this paper, we concentrate on the order in which these tasks need to be executed to yield an 'optimal' process with respect to the utilization of resources and flow time. Both sequential and paralle l routing are considered. The effect of combining tasks is also investigate d. A step-wise approach consisting of 11 concrete re-engineering rules is g iven. The approach is supported by a simulation toolbox ExSpect/KO. (C) 200 1 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.