Some typical phases of a business transformation project

Abstract

Business Process Reengineering (BPR) or Business Transformation is very difficult to manage successfully. There is a high failure rate of BPR projects and thus the risk associated with this type of work is high. Although there are a number of methodologies available must of these are actually not of much value as BPR is more of an art than a science. BPR essentially relies on a high degree of creativity whereby an organisation is transformed from being internally or efficiency centred to being outward or client centred. Eleven phases of a generalised approach to BPR is described. It is emphasised that these phases do not represent a definitive methodology for the successful application of BPR but rather more general guidelines which need to be used with considerable care.