Framework for Business Process-Design Projects

Discussion Questions and Exercises

1 Telsol, a telecommunications company, faces new competition in the local telephone service industry due to deregulation. The company operated as a monopoly for many years, but now it has to compete for customers in the local market. Cable TV com¬panies have started to offer telephone services using their existing coaxial cable and are quickly gaining market share. Telsol can no longer afford to irritate customers, because these customers are now able to obtain telephone services from other compa¬nies. Executives at Telsol believe that the quality of service must increase drastically to avoid losing many of Telsol's customers. Customers have identified two critical service areas: (1) response to repair calls and (2) response to requests for new lines. Currently, repair calls take an average of 4 days (from the time the call is received until the repair job is completed) to satisfy. Requests for new lines are currently tak¬ing an average of 7 days to fulfill. This is the average elapsed time from when the request is made until the new line is operational.

Telsol would like to redesign its processes and dramatically improve its efficiency (especially in the aforementioned service areas). Write a vision statement and a case for action that Telsol could use to launch a redesign project.

2 Customer relationship management (CRM) has emerged as one of the hottest appli-cations in business software. It has been defined as a "horizontal business strategy that focuses on customer-facing portions of business processes." CRM software is designed to integrate a company's sales, marketing, and customer support functions in order to serve the customer better while at the same time making the information available throughout the organization. Search the web for an application of CRM software that enabled a company to achieve higher levels of customer service and improve profitability while redesigning key business processes.

3 What are some of the important considerations when selecting a process for a design project? How might the scope of the process influence the relative importance of the criteria used? Are all processes with poor performance top candidates for redesign? How does this relate to the discussions regarding differences between incremental continuous improvement and process design in Chapters 1 and 2?

4 In most improvement programs, top-management commitment is emphasized as a key success factor. Why do you think this is? Is the role of top management different in a situation with a revolutionary implementation strategy than it would be under an evolutionary change tactic? How?

5 What is the difference between process design or redesign and automation?

6 Explain in your own words the difference between inductive and deductive thinking.

7 Give an example of the application of the following disruptive technologies in a setting familiar to you:
a. Shared databases
b. Wireless communications
c. Handheld computing

8 What are the main issues in understanding a process? Are there any differences between a design project and a redesign project? How does the concept of "analysis paralysis" fit in?

9 Discuss how benchmarking can be a useful tool in business process-design projects.

10 Discuss the difference between stated and real (or hidden) customer needs. Why
is this distinction important in the context of business process design? Give an
example.

11 Identify similarities and differences among the 10 conceptual design principles dis-cussed in Section 3.6.2. How would you summarize the underlying ideas or themes? Do the principles make sense? Why or why not?

12 Describe a potential application of case management in the following organizations:
a. Dell Computers
b. A telecommunications company
c. A community hospital

13 Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using quantitative process modeling and simulation for testing new designs. How would you relate process modeling and simulation to pilot tests on the real system?

Textbook - BUSINESS PROCESS MODELING, SIMULATION AND DESIGN - SECOND EDITION by Manuel Laguna and Johan Marklund