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Enterprise Resource Planning

notes they were centralized; (e) Link parallel activities instead of integrating their results; (f) Put the
decision point where the work is performed, and build control into the process; and (g) Capture
information once and at the source.
Davenport & Short (1990) argue that BPR requires taking a broader view of both IT and business
activity, and of the relationships between them. IT should be viewed as more than an automating
or mechanizing force: to fundamentally reshape the way business is done.
Business activities should be viewed as more than a collection of individual or even functional
tasks: in a process view for maximizing effectiveness. IT and BPR have recursive relationship. IT
capabilities should support business processes, and business processes should be in terms of the
capabilities IT can provide. Davenport & Short (1990) refer to this broadened, recursive view of IT
and BPR as the new industrial engineering.

Business processes represent a new approach to coordination across the firm; IT’s promise –
and its ultimate impact – is to be the most powerful tool for reducing the costs of coordination
(Davenport & Short 1990). Davenport & Short (1990) outline the following capabilities that
reflect the roles that IT can play in BPR: Transactional, Geographical, Automatical, Analytical,
Informational, Sequential, Knowledge Management, Tracking, and Disintermediation.

Teng et al. (1994) argue that the way related functions participate in a process – i.e., the functional
coupling of a process – can be differentiated along two dimensions: degree of mediation and degree
of collaboration. They define the Degree of Mediation of the process as the extent of sequential flow
of input and output among participating functions. They define the Degree of Collaboration of
the process is the extent of information exchange and mutual adjustment among functions when
participating in the same process. In their framework, information technology is instrumental
in Reducing the Degree of Mediation and Enhancing the Degree of Collaboration. Also,
innovative uses of IT would inevitably lead many firms to develop new, coordination-intensive
structures, enabling them to coordinate their activities in ways that were not possible before. Such
coordination-intensive structures may raise the organization’s capabilities and responsiveness,
leading to potential strategic advantages.

What is the role of the is function in Bpr?

Although, BPR has its roots in IT management, it is primarily a Business Initiative that has broad
consequences in terms of satisfying the needs of customers and the firm’s other constituents
(Davenport & Stoddard 1994). The IS group may need to play a behind-the-scenes advocacy role,
convincing senior management of the power offered by IT and process redesign. It would also
need to incorporate the skills of process measurement, analysis, and redesign. The CIGNA IS
group had to develop a new set of basic values that reflected a change in focus from technology
to a focus on business processes and results (Caron et al. 1994). The specific business divisions led
the BPR initiatives; IS groups served as partners in enabling the radical changes.
Is there a BPR Methodology?

Bpr: all or nothing?: insights from cigna
At CIGNA BPR meant “breakthrough innovation focused on customer needs” (Caron et al.
1994). BPR was essentially driven by the senior management’s strategic planning process that
had concluded that the mix of business in its portfolio needed to change. It was viewed as a
vehicle to realign strategy, operations, and systems to deliver significantly increased financial
results. Caron et al. (1994) argue that the real life story of BPR at CIGNA represents a contrast to
the general prescriptions of “radical” “all-or-nothing” organizational transformation. At CIGNA,
BPR started out as an experimental pilot. The knowledge from the success of this initiative was
disseminated for implementing other BPR projects. The BPR initiative was sustained “from the
bottom up, with learning transferred “across.”” At CIGNA, the prerequisite for BPR success

26 LoveLy professionaL university