Selected Projects for Business Process Reengineering

Selected Projects for Business Process Reengineering

· 2004. Syneron, Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada:

The project was aimed at computerising the company’s clinical trial process.

Deliverables: (a) the company has improved its overall processing of Clinical Trial Documents, (b) the company has a plan for acquiring a recommended standard, Internet-based application for Electronic Data Capture, and (c) as a temporary solution an Excel based application was developed and implemented.

Achievements: (a) paper works is reduced to minimum, (b) multiple data entry is almost eliminated, (c) data is consolidated and redundancy removed, (d) processes are streamlined, improved, and standardised, and (e) cost of data entry and data processing is dramatically reduced.

· 2003-2004 & 1995. Israel Ministry of the Environment, Business Registration Department:

Business process re-engineering and definition of computerised system for Business Registration subject matter. The project was first carried out and deployed in 1995-1996, and re-designed in 2003-2004.

Achievements: As a result of the first project the department had more efficient tools (systems and processes) for supervision and control. The Ministry’s three layers (national, regional and municipal) were integrated by their systems and automated registration and control processes. The 2004 re-engineering project resulted in yet better tools: (a) the department is more efficient and effective in its supervision and control activities, which includes all three levels of the department – national, regional and local/municipal, (b) the department’s clients, businesses as well as individuals, receive better services and faster response, and (c) planning of hazardous materials’ transportation through the country is improved, and a central emergency control has been attained, equipped with the latest information technology, and with interfaces to other emergency agencies’ systems.

· 1989-1998. The Israel Association for Educational Advancement:

During these years I was the organisation’s senior consultant for IT and process improvement. Among the many projects: analysing, developing and implementing a computerised system for supporting the process of application, assessment and placement of students in boarding schools. The system was embedded with scanners and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Achievements: This project resulted in real money saving, higher accuracy of data, and faster entry and processing of application forms received within a short time.

· 1987-1998. Israel Ministry of Defence, the Unit for Standardisation and Production Engineering.

Initiating, Analysis, Design, Testing and Implementing a multi-users system for calculating and executing the incentive payment system of the ministry’s employees. This from-inception-to-implementation project included a re-design of the organisational processes within the units of HR, Payroll and Standardisation. The project's scope: about 3,000 employees within more than 250 incentive teams; about US$5 million cost and a team of 7-12 staff members, over 5 years. The system was implemented gradually and incrementally, reducing the risk of complications and failures to the minimum.

Achievements: Among the project's benefits: (a) accurate incentive payment calculation, (b) integrated system with other Ministry’s systems (HR and Payroll), (c) payment is processed and done with the regular monthly wages, (d) saving the organisation more than US$2 million a year, (e) better serving the organisation's employees, and (f) providing HR and other functional managers with statistical data and managerial information.

· 1994. Municipality of Holon (Israel), Human Resources and Payroll Departments.

Analysing the departments’ organisational structures, processes, and information systems. The city’s population increased in the last decade from about 120,000 to 200,000 residents, while the municipality structure remained unchanged.

Deliverables: analysis of the organisational structure of human resources and payroll departments, the workers’ roles and their skills, the departments’ physical layout, and the information systems used for HR and Payroll. Analysis of merger of the two departments, its implications and impacts, in a form of business case.

Achievements: implementing a team-based process-centred organisational structure, and an integrated database of human resources and payroll, led to saving 2 positions out of 14, along with having improved processes, simplified procedures, consolidated high quality data, and way better tools for managerial control.

· 1996. Israel Air-Force, Aircraft Items Administration.

Defining work processes for routing incoming external mail within the organisation, under a planned, future local network. The existing process of manually routing the incoming mail through the organisation hierarchy, by attaching cover pages, led to lack of follow-up, excessive photocopying of the original mail and cover-pages, and prolonged response time.

Achievements: The project enabled to computerise the process and thus to eliminate the problems mentioned.

· 1995. Bio-Development Inc., A consulting company in the USA.

My role in the project was to prepare the process analysis, problems & requirements analysis and systems analysis documents of the project. The plant in which the project had been done is a chemical process plant.

Achievements: The new system and work processes had a calculated net saving of US$ 4.5 million over a five-year-period.

· 1990. Israel Postal Authority, the Door-to-door Delivery Department.

Defining work processes for a new initiative, of a business door-to-door delivery. In addition, determining the System Demands Definition for software and hardware, to support those work processes.

Achievements: The Postal Authority implemented the recommended processes and system’s components. Within a year of operation, the state-owned company managed to outperform the other actors in the crowded door-to-door business, in the big metropolitan areas in Israel.

· 1990. Israel Ministry of Employment and Welfare.

The ministry of employment and the ministry of welfare had been united to a one ministry by a law, and the project was to combine the two ministries’ computer centres into a one integrated computer centre.

Deliverables: The project had to consider the location of the united computer centre (Tel Aviv or Jerusalem), the new ministry organisational structure and its connections to the computer centre, the services the computer centre gave to its customers and users, and the cost of outsourcing and services had been bought. Also, business processes and procedures were examined at each of the old centres, and improved new ones were recommended.

Achievements: Implementing the recommendations led to a saving of more than US$10 million in a period of 5 years, in addition to the managerial and qualitative benefits.

· 1989. "Academon" the Hebrew University Student's Printing and Publishing House.

Defining computer-aided work processes for the stores and publishing house. Preparing the Definition and Specification documents for computerising the stores network and publishing house. Disseminating the RFP and evaluating the suppliers’ proposals. Assisting the testing and implementation of the system.

Achievements: The project resulted in improved work processes and better services to “Academon” customers (students and university staff), while drastically reducing the operational expenditure.