BPR and Enterprise Systems

Some of the factors that a process engineer should take into consideration when designing a BPR project includes the following; first of all the project engineer should consider developing a decision making framework, which should be relevant at the very initial stages of the project in relation to the project requirements and objectives as well as goals. The framework is the most important tool, which will be used through the whole life of the project.

This factor is unique to the BPR projects as it is not taken into consideration in establishing the ERP projects (Portougal and Sundaram p13-150). The second factor is the recruitment of recognized individuals, who should be recognized persons from the various departments that they represent. These leaders will be required to participate in the various aspects of the project, especially the selection and implementation phases of the project.

This is important as it will encourage free flow of information in carrying out the projects. The third factor is that, the engineer should take into consideration to the project management as well as planning measures, to ensure that innovation advances are encouraged in carrying out the project as well as avoid unnecessary project expenses (Harmon, Rosen and Guttman, p52-67).

The fourth factor the engineer should consider should be the use of consultants as, well as the decisions of the peers where a given proportion of the project is assigned to the outsiders to encourage the application of new knowledge skills which will improve the project. Finally, among other considerations the project engineer should consider developing a kind of special office environment which will be deciced to the project team.

So as to improve on the performance of the project, the engineer should consider the training programs which will enable the project team members to improve on their performance skills. Some of the factors that are considered to be unique in relation to the BPR projects, when considered with the other projects are that the process is carried out as a continuous process, whereby evaluations are carried out on a regular basis to improve on the areas with display some forms of difficulties (Portougal and Sundaram p13-150).

Some of the problems encountered while undertaking the BPR projects include the organizations failing to offer the necessary support in carrying out the projects; many of the projects fail to take off well in cases where the organizational resources are not dedicated in carrying out the projects. In such situations, the management of the project does not carry out strategic planning activities, which will seek to establish the market focus for their project.

In relation to that, the project may have been initiated by the wrong people or in the wrong department in the organization, which does not initiate the management of the organization to dedicate its resources as they feel they may lose in the process (Harmon, Rosen and Guttman, p52-67). The other difficulty experienced in carrying such kind of projects is that the work groups, which are involved in carrying out the project activities lack inspiration, as well as innovation tactics in carrying out the projects, and this are the most important requirements for the success of the projects.

This can be caused by the management of the organization as well as that of the project injecting too much pressure on the project members, and also the participants would lack the needed knowledge and skills to carry out the project activities. On the other hand, there are problems in cases where underestimations are made in relation to carrying out the project activities. In any BPR project, there is usually social career as well as the procedural dimension which need to be carried out to ensure that the project is successful.

The problem in this area arises as to the management of the human aspects, which involve change that is usually comprehensive to manage as compared to other environmental changes (Portougal and Sundaram p13-150). To address the issue of support from the organization when carrying out the BPR projects, there is need for the management of the organization to come up with ways in which they allocate the resources of the company towards the projects by developing budgets before the projects are implemented.

So as to ensure the project members will carry out their project activities well, the training programs should be used to initiate competency in the project members. To improve their morale to work, they should be compensated according by initiating a number of remuneration packages that will be of benefit to the project members. Considering that the management of change is an issue in carrying out the BPR projects, it is important for the management of the organization to initiate flexible management structures, which would initiate a culture of change within an organization before the projects are undertaken.

In doing so, the project members will find it more ease to adapt to changes in the project activities, as they will have been used to a culture of change (Langer, p268-230). Given that most of the projects fail as a result of inefficiencies in the management functions, the is need for the management of the organization and that of the project to carry out strategic management activities before and as they carry out the project activities. This is to ensure that the uncertainties in the future of the project are dealt with in a more efficient way.

The advantages of carrying strategic planning activities is that they enable an organization to handle its strengths and weaknesses as well as the emerging business opportunities at the market place and in that way could be able to come up with effective strategies. This will enable the project management team and the organization to utilize their potential in achieving project success with the limited resources (Harmon, Rosen and Guttman, p52-67). In carrying out BPR projects they are usually a number of tools that can be used in carrying out the requirements of the project.

One of these tools includes the use of the IT architecture. In using this instrument a number of packages have been developed which could enable the user to carry out the different aspects of the project, which include process analysis to redesigning as well as project modelling. The tool enables the organization to determine the difference between the level of work required to be carried out in a given project, and the ways in which the difference can be narrowed so as to achieve the objectives of the project.

Despite the tool being useful to the organization, it seems to a complex technique in carrying out the project activities and sometimes could act as a hindrance to the various project activities, which could affect the general results off the projects. The challenge which comes from the use of this tool is that it demands that the decisions of the project needs to be made early enough, so as to make the necessary adjustments as the project progresses and within a limited time period (Langer, p268-230).

So as to deal with this major challenge in the use of the IT architecture, there is need to simplify the technique so as to enable the project members to implement its use with ease. In addition to that, early planning measures need to adopt. Some of the common goals that are aimed at in carrying out the BPR and enterprise systems involve; analyzing as well as suggesting ways in which the organization can be able to improve on it most critical business activities, which form part of the organizational structure.

This is all intended at increasing the general performance of the organization, so as to create value for the various stakeholders of the organization (Langer, p268-230). The second most important goal relates to the successfully coordinating the various resources of the organization such as its hardware, software and many others so as to make them be in line to the organizational culture thus achieve an optimally functioning organization system.

Some of the similarities between the BPR and the enterprise system are that, they both are focused towards initiating change in the organization, which will eventually improve on the performance level of the organization. The main difference between the two approaches is that the process orientation in the two is totally different. In BPR, the manner in which change is initiated is through innovations and also encompassing of knowledge which has been used in the past, whereas for the enterprise approach such measures are not taken into consideration (Langer, p268-230).

BPR is considered to be more suitable especially if it is done in appropriate manner in carrying out organizational change, which is one of the ingredients needed to create value for the customers. On the other hand, the BPR projects can involve the customers in initiating the creation of value thus end up engaging the organizational members in activities that will seek ;to establish a competitive advantage for the organization (Harmon, Rosen and Guttman, p52-67).

The enterprise system is more suitable in situations where trade offs need to be made between the various project techniques that need to bring about change in the organization under various situations (Harmon, Rosen and Guttman, p52-67). References Portougal, V, Sundaram, D. Business processes: operational solutions for SAP implementation. Idea Group Inc (IGI), 2005. Harmon, P, Rosen, M and Guttman, M. Developing E-business systems & architectures: a manager’s guide. Morgan Kaufmann, 2001. Langer, A. Analysis and Design of Information Systems. Springer, 2007.