The Business Engineering Process in a complex production environment — a case study

Abstract

The Business Process Reengineering (BPR) approach is proposing a radical `'turn-around'' of an enterprise from functional orientation to a process oriented structure. Key elements of the concept are the process view, the blueprint approach and the IT-focus. The authors experience from a wide range of restructuring projects is that the BPR approach runs a high risk of failure and can lead to severe disturbances and agony when old structures are simply destroyed. Short term gains in efficiency through cost cutting measures do not deliver sustainable competitive advantage. The case study decribes how enterprise modeling supports their comprehensive approach to Business Process Engineering (BPE). The key feature of the BPE approach is an integration of different methods and tools into a comprehensive methodology which leads to a process organization. BPE supports the long term and continuous enterprise development. The project described in this paper is focusing on IT infrastructure planning. The case highlights the complexity of such a task. When used within a comprehensive framework taking into account processes, organizational issues and IT systems enterprise modeling can be a powerful tool for the support of change.