Business Process Reengineering Tools [Analysis Tool for TO BE Model Development]

Beyond process work flow definitions, business rules and cost data lies a wealth of information that can be extremely useful in the "diagnosis" and "treatment" of an ailing system. Adept practitioners will exploit all kinds of data including cycle times, types of inputs and outputs, volume and frequency of documentation and reporting, organizational structures, skill levels and turnover, process trends and evolution, frequency of status reports, distances between processes, planning cycle times, facility utilization and uses of automation. These process "artifacts" and their relationships can reveal inefficiencies that are well camouflaged in an IDEF-0 activity flow. The primary technical objective of this proposal is to develop an analysis tool that uses process artifacts and process performance data to identify or target problematic processes; diagnose the origin of inefficiencies in problematic processes; and pose recommendations and alternatives for improvement of these processes. The resulting analysis tool will be a methodology that is adaptable to a software implementation.