Business Process Reengineering (BPR) - Harvard Business Review Assessment Answer

Q1. In the 1990s, the Harvard Business Review urged companies to start with a clean slate and use IT to radically change the way they did business. Identify a term for this process. (Marked out of 5)

Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is the process adopted by organisations through which they plan to bring improvements in their business process. The objective of the process is to not to automate but to obliterate. The process has the expertise to redesign initiatives for incorporating improvements in the ongoing business processes. In order to evaluate the process portfolio, it first defines the operations of the firm to its customers, employees and investors which contributes to its identity (Brown, 2012). Afterwards, it is determined if the process was necessary for the business and its performance, if yes, then the process is prioritised. Later on, background of the processes is checked to ensure of its providing necessary support to the processes. If it is yes, then the organisation will continue provide the same and if it is legally required then it becomes mandatory for the firm. However, implementation of BPR has also questioned the processes that have been established in the system since decades and theoretically need no changes. New developments and technologies will bring radical changes for these processes as well. Based on the implementation of radical redesign success have been experienced by the companies. Ford Motor Company and Mutual Benefit Life Insurance are two classic examples of the success of the Business Process Reengineering (BPR).

Q2. A document that describes policies to control how computer resources are used is an example of (Marked out of 5)

Acceptable-use and security policies pay attention on the usage of information system which organization has. The acceptable-use policy is also inspired by the organizational principles which employees are bound to accept and follow. The acceptable-use policies outline rules related to the use of IT resources regarding what resources employees are allowed to use and which activities are disallowed. Acceptable-use policies take care of the nature of work of each department and responsibilities they perform. In accordance with their role and responsibilities, level to which they are allowed to use computer resources is decided. Personal use of company resources is also mentioned in the acceptable-use policy (Brown, 2012). Their activities will also come under surveillance so that there should not be any breach such as unauthorized copying, copyright infringement, or exporting encryption software. These guidelines also reinforce legal requirements and protect organisations from disruption of information system. It is important that policies should use clear language describing organisations security and confidentiality requirements. For instance, organization keeps its laptops and personal computers secured with password which is only shared with the employees. The policy also guides employees to not to use information of shareholders, customers and colleagues without seeking their permission. This policy protects the organisations from legal and privacy infringement.

Q3. Identify the term for the systematic approach to help an organization optimize its underlying processes to achieve more efficient results.(Marked out of 5)

New processes are implemented in the system so that they can bring improvement in the running processes as well. However, existing process, which have proved reliable and successful for the organisation are hard to replace. On the other hand, companies those who have bright changes in their practices have seen tremendous change and improvement. System Analysis and Design (SAampD) is the systematic approach which helps the organisation to optimize its underlying progress for better results. SAampD are based on the problem solving system approach. There are several fundamental principles associated with the favourable SAampD techniques (Krane, Olsson
Rolstadas, 2012). First is to choose an appropriate scope, so that the information system influences the complexity and triggers potential success of IS project and second principle is to be logical before physical this helps in determining the action for the information system before specifying a system to operate.

Q4. Identify the main function of Sales force:

Select one:
a.Accounting
b.CRM
c.Email
d.Financial Reporting

Q5. Describe one benefit of common information system control mechanisms for the organization. (Marked out of 5)

Control mechanisms for the organisation are of three types of methodology standards, validation rules and calculations, and system testing. These control mechanisms are implemented for the security, backup, recovery and auditing roles. System testing is the most common and effective control mechanism. In order to increase the efficiency of the program each program is required to be tested individually and also in combination with other programs too. Managers develop test data and match them with the results they already to have to verify the accuracy of the program (Wallace, 2013b). They run programs using various methods including typical data, atypical data, correct, erroneous data and actual results and compare them with the produced data. Testing process takes place when the systems are modified. Advanced software is one such tool of system testing that has been improved for organisations control processes. However other technologies have introduced new control risks. Network transmission has now earned trust of many organisations due to improved and well-distributed computer applications. This has also called for additional technical and managerial controls.

Q6. Describe two business process characteristics (Marked out of 5)

Business processes are developed to optimize sustain best practices and yield the greatest value for the organisation. Common characteristics which are applied to all the processes are measurability, specific results, stakeholders and response to a trigger. Measurability and specific results are the basic requirements to ensure the best practice of business processes (Kendrick, 2013). Measurability ensures that all processes are performing on the basis of performance activities in order to fetch expected output. It is crucial to get performance based measurement so as to measure the output as per the specific benchmarks set for the same. Different actions for different processes require different measurement techniques. Performance based measurement include cost, quality, customer satisfaction and other related variables for the performance (Aguinis, 2013). Teams involved in carrying out the performance focus on the productivity and time spent on a particular process. Another characteristic is to extract specific result from the process. As already discussed, performance measurements emphasize on specific result for each process. If the specific result is not obtained then the process needs to be changed or redesigned so that expected worth or value should be obtained.

Q7. Describe the capability maturity model. (Marked out of 5)

Capability Maturity Model is used to improve the quality of the processes implemented by Information System organisations. With the help of CMM they can deliver and manage IT applications effectively. The guidelines of Capability Maturity Model are adopted by organisations IS leaders. The model has five levels comprising of Level 1 Initial, Level 2 Repeatable, Level 3 Defined, Level 4 Managed, Level 5 Optimising. The level 1 has few defined processes which require efforts and diligence to make the process successful. Level 2-Repeatable is about program management processes which are established to track cost, schedule, and functionality and are kept same to ensure the quality. This process is software configuration management, quality assurance, project tracking and oversight, and requirement management. Level 3 is an engineering process and organisational support wherein software processes are documented. These processes are integrated into standard processes for the development of the software. Level 4 emphasises on product and process quality through which detailed measures for product quality are gathered. This includes software quality management and quantitative management process. Level 5 is a continuous improvement process wherein feedbacks of the ongoing process are collected to enable improvement. This level is essential to prevent defects.

Q8. Describe one reason to manage OIT through ITIL. (Marked out of 10)

OIT has array of services to offer to its customers, employees and stakeholders. Its services comprises of business operations team, communications and infrastructure services and technical support. This requires systems users to be accurate and complete in order to avoid incorrect inputs and output from being collected. ITIL sets standards which are important for information system to and users. It has international guidelines documented for the best performance management to address problems, system changes, service levels, capacity and financials (Gallacher amp Morris, 2012). Like other organisations, OIT is also benchmarking its implementation management practices in accordance with the guidelines provided by ITIL. ITIL documents best practices for the above mentioned standards. Its well-designed user interface prevents mistake in data entry. It has clear labels to identify each field where data has to be entered, edited or validated. This standard has enabled OIT to manage their data error free even if the possible error is identified, immediately error messages will show the mistake so that user can correct it. Overriding data entry rules have also been allowed wherever necessary. The data can also be traced during the auditing of databases. This process requires various calculations to validate processing. If there is any discrepancy in the data, it suggests data entry errors such as transposition of digits. However, this approach may not be foolproof but if they are supported with automated edits will help in overcoming errors and assuring valid inputs. In addition to this, check digit is also helpful in critical identifying numbers. It is the responsibility of the managers to define the legitimate values for data. Control calculations are important to be captured in the data dictionary. They are also required to check the policy to specify the overrides. Validation rules are also important for the organisations such as OIT which supports business growth and expansion to reduce erroneous data. ITIL is a tool which serves most of the requirements OIT needs to run its operations smoothly. Data check and validation is one of these reasons that ITIL is appropriate to manage OIT operations.

Q9. Identify the term for the chain of activities required to achieve an outcome, such as order fulfillment or materials acquisition. (Marked out of 5)

The value chain analyses helps organisation to ensure that value is added in every process of producing, and delivering products and services to the customer. It provides necessary support to each activity so that it can run more efficiently for the benefit of the organisation and satisfaction of customers. Value addition is attained with a high level of differentiation (Brown, 2012). For instance, an organisation wants to earn differentiation by providing on-time delivery of its products and services to its customers. This objective requires operations, outbound logistics and other service activities to be highly co-ordinated to get quick results, essential for fastening of delivery system. Value chain analyses also emphasise on great interface between inter-departmental activities. Objective of different department should align with each other so that process will run smooth. Slow transition and transfer of incomplete information can also be avoided through value chain analyses which reduce the risk and increase positive outcome. Value chain is actually a system of value creation which begins from supplier through the firm and passes on to the end customer. Satisfaction of customer determines the value chain analyses to be appropriately done or not.

Q10. Identify a main driver for an enterprise architecture roadmap. (Marked out of 5)

Organisations vision, principles and policies are the driving factors for the enterprise architecture roadmap. Visions and mission of an organisation help in determining the principles so that they can be translated into policies and procedures to realize business processes. Utilization of Information Systems allocation and management of resources is done on the basis of organizations vision and principles. Enterprise architecture roadmap helps in developing strategies to protect these assets and optimize their utilization. Risk-averse organisations have these strategies in place so that expected outcomes should always be achieved (Wallace, 2013a). They also ensure that compliance of regulations has also been maintained at the workplace. In organisations old practices are removed and replaced with the new practices in order to gain competitive advantage. Enterprise architecture addresses current and target state and changes its components in order to meet new and existing requirements. Without a strategic plan, these architectural designs will not lead to profitable outcomes and implementation of the strategies will also be haphazard. The ICT environment of an organisation requires well-designed and planned strategies for enterprise architecture so as to meet its current requirements and determine future success goals and resources needed for them to be achieved.

Q11. Identify what set of international guidelines has been developed to document best practices for management of incidents, problems, system changes, technology configuration, software releases, service/help desk operations, service levels, service and support availability, capacity, continuity (recovery), and financials.
(Marked out of 5)

ITIL documents best practices for the management of incidents, problems, system changes, technology configuration, software releases, service/help desk operations, service levels, service and support availability, capacity, continuity (recovery), and financials. ITIL is known for its best-practice approach in delivering IT services worldwide. Its main emphasis is to optimize business processes, functions and capabilities so as to better support IT services requirements of a business (Brown, 2012). Organisations need to obtain competitive edge to stay ahead in the market hence they observe best practices which they can use to deliver best of their service. IT provides these organisations best-practices approaches, such as meeting customers requirement, remaining cost-effective and maintaining budget of the project which they can use as benchmark and deliver best quality service (Gallacher amp Morris, 2012). The practical approach that it has developed for service management is one of the reasons for its success. The document entails performance measures, along with appropriate procedures, targets, efforts, and changes required so that it serves users as a complete guide. ITIL knows what works best in real organisations. Its framework provides guidelines to streamline all the efforts towards common goal. By delivering IT services, organisations get support and value added to their business.

Q12. Describe when sensitivity analysis is used in place of ROI (Marked out of 5)

Sensitive analysis is used in organisations for business analysis, identifying best investment, environmental factors, process redesigning and business improvements. The method identifies the variation in input values however, ROI analyses cost and opportunities to assume saving in each activity. If higher risks are overlooked in ROI hence it may cause huge loss to the organization, thus, sensitive analysis is required so that each activity is observed and analysed. Sensitive analysis covers all the factors having their impact on the organisation hence their risk assessment needs to be done in sensitive analysis. Sensitive analysis is a tool used for financial modeling and other fields as well where an output is dependent on multiple inputs. With a slight deviation in input there will be a change in the obtained output leading to wrong assumptions of the processes. Sensitive analysis pays attention on each activity having its impact on the output so that appropriate outcomes could be fetched. On the other hand, ROI is just an assumption which cannot give exact information about the analysis. Thus, sensitive analysis is taking place of ROI to calculate accurate information rather than assumptions.

Q13. How can business process improvement (BPI) help to improve business processes
(Marked out of 5)

Business process improvement is the way through which managers and leaders of an organization or the project identifies ways area of improvement. They analyse different methodologies so that they can bring improvement in the identified area of improvement. Business process improvement focuses on increasing accuracy, efficiency of the process and maximizing its impact. Lacking in any of these objectives then redesigning of these processes takes place. Delegating responsibilities to a capable person assures process improvement within the time. Business process improvement encourages smoother processes, efficient workflow and business growth. Without identifying business requirements and employee skills, BPI is not possible and improvement will not take place effectively. Effective BPI is considered to reduce the time taken to complete the process, eliminate waste and improve the quality of the product or end result. BPI is also adopted by leaders to ensure compliance as per the rules and regulations. These regulations are also effective in increasing customer satisfaction by meeting their expectations and organizational objectives more appropriately. Organizational leaders first identify business requirements and available resources required for potential improvement adding value to the existing processes. Thereafter, redesigning or reorganizing of processes takes place.

Q14. Identify the term for when decision makers make IT project selection decisions based upon the perceived value of the investment. (Marked out of 5)

To take decisions while selecting the IT project, project managers identify the value advantage of the project. Return on Investment (ROI) is crucial for project managers or decision makers to take decision which are based on the perceived values of the investment. Decisions were taken to assess the cost/benefit ratio and return on investment so that new changes and development will brings benefits and profit to the organisation (Wallace 2013b). For example, while replacing individual servers with virtualized servers, calculation for the cost and savings of the project can be done easily however, it becomes challenging to estimate the ROI when the revenue of the project keeps on increasing. There are instances when managers have miscalculated the cost of customization, and prepackaged software. Decisions are also taken to assess the success of the project which is determined with the profitable revenue. ROI is the simplest way which measures the overall impact of the system. This method is one of the ways to measure overall worth of the system on the project.
Q15. Identify two emerging trends in information communications technology. (Marked out of 5)
Information Communication Technology encompasses immense range of software and hardware. The emerging trends in the ICT have enabled organisations to developed suitable enterprise architecture for their business requirements. These trends are designed so that they get fit to together, evolve as per the requirements and apply to the objectives of the organizations. ICT architectures have evolved over the years in order to meet business objectives and to implement technological innovations as per the requirements of the organisation. Emerging trends in information communications technology include virtualization, the integration of voice and data, and cloud computing. Taking example from cloud computing, Software as a Service (SaaS) is one of the fast producing commercial software. It is an information system owned and managed by the vendor (Wallace, 2013a). To access the service organisations are required to take a monthly subscription for the service. It is very crucial to understand the key objectives, mission and purpose of the business so that appropriate ICT can be developed to support it. Another example of emerging trends from Voice and Data communications is private branch exchange (PBX). This hardware manages all the office phone lines, voice mail. Call transfers, forwarding, and conferencing.

Q16. Identify the term for quantifiable metrics most important to the individuals role and the organizations success.

Select one:
a.XML
b.KPI
c.xBRLd.ACT

Q17. Describe system components. (Marked out of 5)

A system is formed with interrelated components working together in order to achieve a common objective. System components are dependent on each other in such a way that if component fails to work then the system might fail in achieving its objective. There are several components in a system including Boundary, Environment, Inputs, Outputs, Interfaces and Storage. These interrelated components can be broken down into substructures and modules and each component has a role to perform. The breaking down of the system into subsystem is known as decomposition. System components will be clearly understood with the help of an example. For instance, Sales Summary System has a subsystem to Verify Customer Orders (Wallace, 2013c). Verify Customer orders has further subsystems which makes the process effective and produces valid customer orders which ultimately produce sales summaries. While checking the customer order, and product list only valid customer order will contribute in making sales summaries and rejected orders will be excluded.

Fig. 1 Sales Summary System Source Reading Material
Hierarchical decomposition of the system makes the process easy by breaking down into understandable process thus reducing its complexity. Each level or process has appropriate level of detail to perform their job which drops the level of confusion by allowing them to perform independently. It also allows the system to pay attention to the target audience.

Q18. Identify who generally leads the strategic planning effort for an organization. (Marked out of 5)

A18. Management Excellence Council (MEC) provides leadership, implementation and insight of the DOI management. The responsibilities include approval of the budget, policy approval and approval for initiatives. Along with MEC, Management Initiatives Team (MIT) also keeps the check on the implementation of the PMA items and DOI management developed as improvement initiatives. The department conducts annual meetings to decide and prioritise investments and to give recommendations to the MEC. DOI has developed customer centric objectives which encourages E-Gov executives to explore opportunities relationships and services in order to make new customers and retain existing customer base. Internal has the responsibility to eliminate the information barriers in compliance with Section 508 (E-Government Strategy, 2013). In addition to this, the DOI department also trying to heighten the focus on quality services to customers to increase the level of their satisfaction, in order to retain them. By streamlining the business practices, service delivery will also be improved which will also contribute in the quality of service delivery. The department has also developed customer centric objectives to make processes more effective and result oriented.

References

Aguinis, H. (2013). Implementing a Performance Management Systems. Performance Management (3rd ed., pp. 168-194). Upper Saddle River, NJ Prentice Hall.
Brown, C.V., DeHayes, D.W., Hoffer, J.A. et. al. (2012). Basic Systems Concepts and Tools. Managing Information Technology (7th ed., pp. 329-360). Upper Saddle River, NJ Prentice Hall.
Gallacher, L. amp Morris, H. (2012). Service Management as a Practice, Chapter 13, pp. 283 310. ITIL Foundation Exam Study Guide. John Wiley amp Sons, Inc.Kendrick, t. (2013). Process Improvement, pp. 125 126. The Project Management Tool Kit 100 Tips and Techniquest for Getting the Job Done Right. Amacon.Krane, H.P., Olsson, N.O., Rolstadas (2012). How Project Manager Project Owner Interaction Can Work Within and Influence Project Risk Management. Agile Project Management Essentials from the Project Management Journal. John Wiley amp Sons, Ltd.E-Government Strategy. (2013). U.S. Department of the Interior E-Government Strategy Governance Framework
Wallace, P. (2013a). Information and Communications Technologies The Enterprise Architecture. Information Systems in Organizations People, Technology, and Processes (pp. 68-97). Upper Saddle River, NJ Prentice Hall.
Wallace, P. (2013b). Information Systems and People. Information Systems in Organizations People, Technology, and Processes (pp. 2-25). Upper Saddle River, NJ Prentice Hall.
Wallace, P. (2013c). Information Systems for the Enterprise. Information Systems in Organizations People, Technology, and Processes (pp. 140-169). Upper Saddle River, NJ Prentice Hall.

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