Process redesign, often called Business Process Re-engineering or BPR, takes a ‘clean sheet’ approach to the process, which is usually either broken, or so slow that it is no longer competitive in delivering the company’s value to its customer.

Inputs and outputs are defined, and checked to make sure they align with customers’ present, and future, requirements

New technology, methods, data flows, etc. are considered in relation to the process

A new process is designed from scratch using the above

The change is planned and implemented to achieve the minimum of disruption

Where a fundamental rethink of the entire process is not required, process improvement can take different forms:

Gaining control

Analysis and improvement

Continuous improvement

If the process is unpredictable and unstable, the first step will be to ‘gain control’ through an understanding of the activities, and their relationship to one another and the customer requirements. A team of ‘experts’ and senior managers will tackle this type of project, handing over to a local Process Team once control has been established.

The most common approach to process improvement is to take an under-performing process, which is key to achieving the business objectives, and set about a systematic analysis to determine the most important areas for overhauling. These are then tackled on a project-by-project basis. The analysis and improvement is tackled by a temporary Process Improvement Team drawn mainly from people within the process.

‘Continuous improvement’ is the ongoing, self-sustaining management of the process after it has been overhauled and streamlined. This is part of an overall culture change that needs to be clearly thought through and well-directed from the top of the organisation.

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