8.2 Heuristic Process Redesign

• Stages of heuristic process redesign:
  1. Initiate
     • GOAL: Create understanding of current situation (as-is model)
       • Usage of BPMN to create a model
     • GOAL: Set performance goals for the redesign project
       • Get a clear picture with the Devil`s quadrangle.
  2. Design
     • GOAL: Identify and execute potential improvement actions using redesign heuristics.
       • For each heuristic it needs to be determined if it is applicable.
       • For some heuristics it makes sense to go together, for some it does not.
     • GOAL: Generate a set of scenarios which each describe which heuristics are applied in a scenario, and how this is done.
  3. Evaluate
     • GOAL: Evaluate the different redesign scenarios created in the previous step.
       • Use a combination of qualitative and quantitative techniques.
     • GOAL: Decide to:
       1. Implement the scenario OR
       2. Adjust the performance goals OR
       3. Step back to the design stage OR
       4. Drop the redesign project altogether.

Customer Heuristics

This are effects on the characteristics.

• Control relocation (“Move controls towards the customer”.)
  • Let the customer do more.
  • Less work for the employees.
  • DISADVANTAGE: Higher probability of fraud, less yield.
• Contact reduction (“Reduce the number of contacts with customers and third parties”)
  • Reducing time spend on waiting for contact.
  • DISADVANTAGE: Increased possible error injection.
  • DISADVANTAGE: Possible loss of essential information.
• Integration (“Consider the integration with a business process of the customer or a supplier”)
  • More efficent execution.
  • DISADVANTAGE: Growth of mutual dependence, decrease of flexibility.

Business Process Operation Heuristics

This are effects on the characteristics.

• Case types (“Determine whether activities are related to the same type of case and, if necessary, distinguish new business processes”)
• Activity elimination (“Eliminate unnecessary activities from a business process”)
• Case-based work (“Consider removing batch-processing and periodic activities from a business process”)
• Triage (“Consider the division of a general activity into two or more alternative activities”)
• Activity composition (“Combine small activities into composite activities and divide large activities into workable smaller activities”)

Business Process Behavior Heuristics

This are effects on the characteristics.

• Re-sequencing (“Move activities to more appropriate places”)
• Parallelism (“Consider whether activities may be executed in parallel”)
• Knock-out (“Order knock-outs in an increasing order of effort and in a decreasing order of termination probability”)
• Exception (“Design business processes for typical cases and isolate exceptional cases from the normal flow”)

Organization Heuristics

This are effects on the characteristics.

• Case assignment (“Let workers perform as many steps as possible for single cases”)
• Flexible assignment (“Assign work in such a way that maximal flexibility is preserved for the near future”)
• Centralization (“Treat geographically dispersed resources as if they are centralized”)
• Split responsibilities (“Avoid shared responsibilities for tasks by people from different functional units”)
• Customer teams (“Consider to compose work teams of people from different departments that will take care of the complete handling of specific sorts of cases”)
• Numerical involvement ( “Minimize the number of departments, groups and persons involved in a business process”)
• Case manager (“Appoint one person to be responsible for the handling of each type of case, the case manager”)
• Extra resources (“If capacity is insufficient, consider increasing the available number of resources”)
• Specialist-generalist (“Consider to deepen or broaden the skills of resources”)
• Empower (“Give workers most of the decision-making authority instead of relying on middle management”)

Information Heuristics

This are effects on the characteristics.

• Control addition (“Check the completeness and correctness of incoming materials and check the output before it is sent to customers”)
• Buffering (“Instead of requesting information from an external source, buffer it and subscribe to updates”)

Technology Heuristics

This are effects on the characteristics.

• Activity automation (“Consider automating activities”)
• Integral technology (“Try to elevate physical constraints in a business process by applying new technology”)