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Business Process Management Journal,Vol.7No.1,2001,pp.24-32. #MCB University Press,1463-7154Optimum level of goal mapping in a reengineering
environment
Kiran Jude Fernandes,Vinesh Raja and Jiju Antony
University of Warwick,Coventry,UK
Keywords BPR,Goals,Optimization
Abstract Today's business world is facing a plethora of managerial and technological changes which are beyond the capacity of any firm to control or absorb.Customer satisfaction, development of new products,and introduction of new technologies are well-known driving forces, but their fast mutation an
d turmoil are making them unpredictable.Companies have to radically alter their strategic and process goals to keep up with this volatile market.In this turbulent environment,business process reengineering(BPR)has evolved as the most promising approach for designing organizations.It is extremely important for reengineers to understand the``driving'' forces in this environment.One of the most important and fundamental drivers is understanding the goals(goal mapping)of the organization.Typically the goals of organizations are derived from the``voice of the customer''.In this paper we address a procedure by which optimum level of goal mapping can be considered in the preliminary stages of BPR.A cost optimization model for goal mapping is proposed using an example from the Space Shuttle Testing Facility at the SSC-National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
1.Introduction
To attain long-term survival,companies need to compete successfully in the global market place.To achieve this competitiveness it has been established that companies should examine business process reengineering(BPR)as a means to change their business processes and radically improve their businesses.BPR has been recognized for a number of years as an efficient method for redesign of processes(Fernandes and Raja,2000a;Arend,1993; Classe,1993;Fried,1991).In the application of BPR to industries,the emphasis has traditionally been on obtaining a process that yields maximum b
enefits (Keeble,1995).Although BPR constitutes a well-known managerial approach for increasing firm competitiveness,researchers have pointed out that as many as50-70per cent of all BPR exercises fail to achieve the dramatic results they intend(Barber and Weston,1998).Some of the main difficulties are related to understanding the company's goals,personnel retraining,and understanding business processes.On the other hand,studies conducted by industries show the importance of goal consideration in a BPR exercise(Raja,1998).Hence,we can imply that one of the important elements of BPR is goal understanding (mapping).Through goal mapping,it is easier to determine where and how to
The principal authors are grateful to the EPSRC for financial funding under the auspices of the AMORE project,Grant no.M02675.The authors are also thankful to Vijak Sethaput from the Harvard University and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration,Stennis Space Centre for their invaluable comments and case study.
Optimum level of goal mapping 25reengineer a process.According to researchers (Paolucci et al .,1998),goal mapping can improve the customer focus of the process,assist in eliminating the non-val
ue added activities and reduce the process complexity.Goal mapping is a technique used to detail business goals by focusing on the important elements that influence processes and in turn the organization.Management can use goal maps to view the overall business strategy from the customer requirement view at a glance.The level of mapping varies from an overview ``macro-map''to a very detailed ``micro-map''.This paper describes a structured approach,which aims to show the underlying principles and the stages of the mapping process.In the subsequent sections we will present some characteristic examples of the goal mapping methodology.The aim is to show the underlying principles and the stages of the mapping process.The methodology presented will be considered as ``global''in the sense that they try to map the organization as a whole.
2.Goal mapping The vision of the company is derived from customer requirements.Companies have to alter their vision rapidly in today's global market.Processes within an organization are governed by this vision.This vision is known as the goal of the organization,for example the strategic goal of Boeing Space Division is ``to be the best rocket propulsion supplier in the world''.Traditionally goal models have been used to represent the goals of companies.The basic flaw with the traditional goal model was the fact that it did not account for customer it does not support reengineering.The AMORE (A Methodology using Object Orientation in Reengineering Enterprises)m
ethodology developed at the Warwick Manufacturing Group caters to this problem.AMORE defines goal as ``a target that can be used to better understand the needs of the customers''.Goals may be an open or closed goal.Open goals contain only content,or direction (e.g.improves quality,increase profit,be excellent,etc.),whereas closed goals in addition to content contain an indicator (e.g.defect rate of 10per cent).The AMORE research program has investigated the ideas and issues associated with component-based methods and technologies to develop a flexible infrastructure for business process change.This infrastructure allows companies to rapidly adjust their business processes to changes in the business environment,as well as incorporate legacy hardware and software.This has been conducted by means of a methodology that allows companies to achieve and manage this infrastructure,involving business process modeling and analysis using object-oriented methods.One of the most important criteria adopted by AMORE in understanding any business process is to analyze the process goal.Figure 1shows how goal mapping fits within the AMORE framework.As shown in Figure 1,AMORE methodology,is composed of two main items:Model and Translators.Models in AMORE are intermittent states that define the domain of the business process under consideration.For example
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Ideal Business Model (IBM)defines the business process in an ideal situation.Translators are guidelines used to translate the models from one form to the anslate the IBM to an OOIBM (Object Oriented Business Model).The structure we used for the translators is very similar to the canonical form of Patterns (Alexandrian form).Details of the framework are explained in the works of Fernandes and Raja (2000b).AMORE states that organizational direction is determined by a main goal,supported by a set of organizational goals.Once this main goal is determined,it is used in developing a goal structure throughout the hierarchy.The AMORE framework delivers a graphical goal model that can be used by both the internal and external customers to validate the model.For each item composing the Model,AMORE specifies ontology.Table I specifies the ontology used to represent ``goal''.Goal mapping is a tool that can be used to map the vision throughout the organization.It is usually a three-stepped process,viz:
(1)Identification of customer needs and their relationship to existing processes.The starting and finishing points of goals are identified at this step.
(2)Data gathering and
preparation.
Figure 1.AMORE framework
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(3)Transforming the data into visual representation in order to identify relationship of goals with each other.
The visual representation of the goal tends to isolate crucial information.Accordingly fewer levels of the map could result in greater abstraction.This means that,if more details were sought,then a higher level of mapping would be required.There exists a point at which no more useful information can be obtained from mapping the goal any further.Obviously performing more goal mapping to obtain more details would result in more expenses.However the availability of more goal details during the redesigning stage reduces the likelihood of implementing a poor process in place,and as a result of this,increasing defective work from that process.
3.Mapping levels Usually the first level of goal mapping (macro-level)is the overall core company vision.To obtain useful information,more details would be required.This implies that the subsequent levels of details provide much more useful information than the macro-level.Detailed information is needed to determine specific workings of a process.In discussing this issue we will use an example of the work order rework (WOR)process,defined by Rocketdyne System of Operating Procedures RS
OP at the Stennis Space Centre.The purpose of this WOR process is to define the method of adding/deleting rework notices to
a Table I.Ontology for goal and relationship pointers
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.Add rework operations to existing tracing files.
.Add/delete rework hours to existing tracking files.
.Create a rework order.
.Reschedule modified work orders.
Although this example is derived from a process that is much more complex,we preferred this simplified example that is coherent with goals of this article.The goal for WOR at an engine level(E4104)is to perform the process in less than four hours for combustion device
nozzle leaks,fuel preburner chamfer etc.).Discussion on the details of combustion device components is out of scope for this article.The general overview of the goal map,procedural support and process is shown in Figure2.
For reengineering this process it is important that the reengineer understands the relationship of the goal of the particular process to the overall company goal,in this case from an engine level goal to the overall organization vision.Research by Jaideep et al.(Motwani et al.,1998)has documented methodologies and issues pertaining to BPR.Thus to perform a successful BPR,goal mapping becomes a crucial parameter to be considered. In doing this the following questions pertinent to goal mapping and BPR are raised:
.How much detail of goal how many levels of goal mapping) is required?
.What is the minimum cost that can be spent on goal mapping to obtain the required
details?
Figure2.
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A general view of the WOR process

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