Chapter 6

Process Redesign
Reference:
Tan, A. (2007). Business Process Reengineering in Asia: A
Practical Approach, Pearson Education, Singapore.

September 2013
Learning Outcomes
 To understand the process redesign and its
requirements.
 To understand the techniques used for
redesigning a process.
 To apply the template given for redesigning a
process.
Introduction
 The objectives:
 to meet the customer needs and
 to achieve drastic improvements in process
efficiencies and reduce operating costs.
 This can be based on inputs from the
business process analysis.
Introduction
 Techniques for high-
HIGH LEVEL OBJECTIVES
level redesign
 Assumption surfacing
 Idea generation Assumption Idea
Selection &
Integration
Process
Validation
Surfacing Generation
 Selection and integration
Evaluate & Examine
 Process validation • Assumption Ideas
Select
•Challenges Options
Integrate & Modify
Improve

Figure 3.1: High-level process redesign methodology

Group Discussion:
Techniques- scenario (15 mins)
A scenario at a specialist private clinic:

In a typical SPC, a patient has to go to different counters for registration of

different services within a hospital. Even though the patient has a prior
appointment with the specialist, he may need to get an X-ray first. So, he has
to proceed to the X-ray room, register and wait for his turn. This would have
taken at least 30 minutes. After taking his X-ray, he will need to carry the result
and wait for his turn to see the doctor.

After taking his X-ray, he will need to carry the result and wait for his turn to see
the doctor. This will take another 30 minutes. Upon seeing the doctor, he will pay
for the consultation and make a new appointment when necessary.
He will then carry the doctor’s prescription and pass it to the pharmacy for a
description. He ends up spending half a day in the clinic as illustrated in Figure
3.2.
 Techniques- Scenario

1.Patient arrives 2.Initial 5.Patient carries 6.Main 7.Treatment

& register consultation the result consultation

3.Patient goes for 4.Pays for test

Diagnostic tests 8.Pay for consultation
9.Fixes next
& treatment
appointment

13.Patient leaves 12.Pays for 11.Collects 10.Brings prescription

SPC medication medication to pharmacy

Figure 3.2: Current Process Flow for a Specialist Private Clinic

Assumption Surfacing
 Involves the identification of stakeholders and the
surfacing of assumptions.
 Reengineering concerns with changing old ways of
doing and thinking things.
 Assumptions need to be surfaced and challenged.
 For example: who is the customer- are the
assumptions made about the customer reasonable?
 How many stakeholders involved?
Assumption Surfacing-
Template
What Template - important
 Simple template
based on the Getting cure is important to the patients
scenario given Collecting payment is important to us
in figure 3.2
Specialized equipment is required for test

Who Template – stakeholders(PIC)

A doctor is required to perform diagnosis/prescribe

treatment
A patient must be ill before visiting SPC

A patient must move from one test station to

another
Assumption Surfacing-
Template
Where Template - location
A patient can only be diagnosed at the
SPC
A patient must collect medication in person
A patient must move from one test station
to another
When Template - timeline
A patient must be diagnosed before he
can be treated
A patient must undergo initial consultation
before taking tests
A patient must pay for consultation before
leaving SPC
Why Template - reason
A patient must undergo tests in order to
determine his condition
A patient’s condition must be known in
order to give him treatment
Initial consultation is required to determine
what tests are appropriate
How Template - condition
A patient can only be diagnosed by going
through tests
A patient can only be tested by taking
sample or doing a scan, etc.
Assumption Surfacing
Assumptions Challenges
 The template can
be used as a guide What template

for this stage. Getting cure is Staying well is important

important to the to our patients
 Next step is to patients Getting cure quickly,
challenge the least cost, risk and
hassle is important to
assumptions made our patients
earlier. Collecting payment is Continue to exist & to be
important to us of service is important to
 For example; us
Specialized equipment Some tests can be
is required for test performed with
commonly available
equipment.
Increased the cost.
Idea Generation
 Each of challenges can generate many ideas.
 Challenges specify what to be achieved and
ideas specify how they are to be achieved.
 Brainstorming can be used as one of the
method.
 During brainstorming session, you should try
to open every possibility.
 Ideas should only be evaluated once the
brainstorming session is finished.
Idea Generation
 For example:
Assumptions
What template
Getting cure is important to
the patients
Collecting payment is
important to us
Specialized equipment is
required for test
Challenges
Staying well is important to
our patients.
Getting cure quickly, least
cost, risk and hassle is
important to our patients
Remuneration?
Continue to exist & to be of
service is important to us
Some tests can be
performed with commonly
available equipment
Ideas
Establish preventive care
program- new line of
business.
Better patient education &
counseling
What are alternative
sources of funding?
Continued the high
standard of affordable
health care
Diagnostic test-kits( self
administered tests)
Idea Generation
 The next step- to organize the list into a
meaningful groups of ideas, which later will
become an option.
 Allow the options to be implemented
independently.
 Some guides:
 What ideas are similar or seem to be based on the same
theme?
 In what way is each option different?
 What ideas do not seem fit anywhere?
 Are there any options that are related to each other?
Idea Generation
 The following options are developed for the
specialist private clinic.
Health Education Center

Preventive care program for high-risk groups

General education on health-care options, costs, etc.

Self-registered Kiosk

Patient registers himself/herself on arrival

Prints routing card with shortest/fastest route

 Group Discussion (30 mins)
Idea Generation/Brainstorming
1. From Chapter 1:
 Students are required to discuss and visualize the
existing Business Unit (BU) in UNITEN.
 Outline the stakeholders and possible business
processes for the BUs (must draw a Flow-Chart).
2. Brainstorm on ideas:
 Identify the gaps/flaws/problem for this BU
 how to ensure the success of the BPR for this BU
3. Develop 5W & 1H TEMPLATE (what, who, why,
where, when & how) with Challenges & Ideas
 refer to the examples
Idea Generation
 For example:
Assumptions
What template
Getting cure is important to
the patients
Collecting payment is
important to us
Specialized equipment is
required for test
Challenges
Staying well is important to
our patients.
Getting cure quickly, least
cost, risk and hassle is
important to our patients
Remuneration?
Continue to exist & to be of
service is important to us
Some tests can be
performed with commonly
available equipment
Ideas
Establish preventive care
program- new line of
business.
Better patient education &
counseling
What are alternative
sources of funding?
Continued the high
standard of affordable
health care
Diagnostic test-kits( self
administered tests)
Assumption Surfacing-
Template
Where Template Why Template

A patient can only be diagnosed at the
SPC
A patient must collect medication in person
A patient must move from one test station
to another
A patient must undergo tests in order to
determine his condition
A patient’s condition must be known in
order to give him treatment
Initial consultation is required to determine
what tests are appropriate

When Template How Template

A patient must be diagnosed before he A patient can only be diagnosed by going

can be treated
A patient must undergo initial consultation
before taking tests
A patient must pay for consultation before
leaving SPC
through tests
A patient can only be tested by taking
sample or doing a scan, etc.
Any Questions?
Selection & Integration
 Select one or more options based on their
impact to customers and organization.
 Not to eliminate / reject alternative but to set a
priority.
 Objective: to allow the team to obtain a
consensus on which options must be given
priority
 Before evaluation and selection process,
everyone must have a clear vision of the ideas
– objective, feasibility, implications, etc.
Selection & Integration
 Selection criteria must be established:
 Customer benefits
 Organization benefits
 Aversion factors
Selection & Integration
 Customer benefits
 Quality and effectiveness
 Speed
 Responsiveness
 Accessibility
 Comfort
 Satisfaction , etc
Selection & Integration
 Organization benefits
 Operational saving
 Increased productivity
and efficiency
 Increased capacity
 Strategic advantage
 Enhanced image and
reputation
Selection & Integration
 Aversion factors- relate to negative impact
 Cost of implementation
 Level of difficulty
 Risk
Selection & Integration
 After criteria have been set for each option, you can
add weight to each criterion from 0 to 1 based on
importance.
 The team have to score each of option against the
attribute for customer and organization benefits.
 Based on -3 to 3 (-3 - erosion of contribution, 0 - no
effect and 3 – significant contribution)
 For aversion factor scoring is based on -3 to 0 since
all the criteria refer to negative impact of
performance.
Selection & Integration

Customer benefits Organization benefits Aversion Factors

Options Quality/ Speed/ Operational Capacity Cost Difficulty

effectiveness responsiveness saving

Figure 3.3: Format to evaluate each opinion

Selection & Integration
 Criteria may vary based on the selected process
 The options defined are not for comparison.
 For rating, each participant must question the impact of
each option has against the rest.
 Then create a final table to record the total score of each
option.
 Using the final score, average the score and multiple by
each criterion’s weight (if any), and add the result for
each column to compute the weighted score for each
option
 Choose the options that have satisfy all benefit criteria
and achieve a win-win situation.
 Must not interfere with others negatively and easy to
integrate.
Selection & Integration
 Next step, integrate the selected options into a new
process
 May require additional ideas or enhancement
 IT could be used to improve overall design
 Example:
 Automation
 Information
 Sequence
 Tracking
 Analysis
 Integration and etc.
Summary
 At this stage, a template could be used to
simplify the process redesign
 Through the surfacing assumption,
challenges and ideas can be generated.
 Each option or ideas should be evaluated by
giving a score to the criteria involved.
 The options that have a highest score or
meet the needs should be considered for
redesign.
Any Questions?