Workflow reengineering: a methodology for business process reengineering with workflow management technology

Abstract

All organizations, both private and public, must improve their business practices to survive in today's volatile and highly competitive marketplace. This thesis overviews business process reengineering principles, and examines four methodologies for its accomplishment. Based on existing approaches, the thesis develops a new reengineering procedure, called the Workflow Reengineering Methodology. This methodology uses workflow automation as an enabler for efficiently and effectively conducting reengineering. The proposed methodology consists of five phases and 32 component steps with associated data collection forms. The thesis also includes a case study of the application of a portion of the methodology using workflow data gathered from the Port Hueneme Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center. The methodology and its data collection forms significantly streamlined the capture of process data, and facilitated the generation and analysis of workflow design alternatives. The proposed Workflow Reengineering Methodology promises to be a methodology that can be used with supporting workflow automation to improve an organization's business processes. (AN)