CPM Operational Process Reengineering 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which BPR principle suggests that work should be performed where it makes the most sense, regardless of traditional organizational boundaries?
- Centralization principle
- Process compression
- Work performed at its best location (Correct answer)
- Sequential task ordering
Correct answer: Work performed at its best location
Hammer & Champy's BPR principles include performing work where it logically fits, even if that crosses traditional departmental lines.
Question 2: In process reengineering, what does 'triage' of incoming work accomplish?
- It eliminates all customer contact
- It routes cases to different process paths based on complexity (Correct answer)
- It delays processing to batch work
- It automates quality inspection
Correct answer: It routes cases to different process paths based on complexity
Triage separates simple from complex cases so each follows an appropriately designed process path, improving throughput.
Question 3: What is 'process fragmentation,' and why is it a target in BPR?
- Breaking large processes into parallel streams to speed delivery
- Dividing work across too many handoffs, creating delays and errors (Correct answer)
- Outsourcing parts of a process to vendors
- Automating repetitive sub-tasks
Correct answer: Dividing work across too many handoffs, creating delays and errors
Process fragmentation refers to excessive handoffs and specialization that slow work and introduce errors, making it a key inefficiency BPR aims to eliminate.
Question 4: Which approach is most effective when reengineering processes in a highly regulated industry?
- Ignore compliance constraints during design to maximize innovation
- Incorporate regulatory requirements as fixed constraints in the redesign (Correct answer)
- Outsource compliance functions entirely
- Delay reengineering until regulations change
Correct answer: Incorporate regulatory requirements as fixed constraints in the redesign
Regulatory requirements must be embedded as non-negotiable constraints during redesign to ensure the reengineered process remains compliant.
Question 5: A company reduces its order fulfillment steps from 14 to 6 after BPR. This is an example of:
- Process elaboration
- Process simplification (Correct answer)
- Process outsourcing
- Process automation only
Correct answer: Process simplification
Reducing the number of steps by eliminating non-value-added activities is a core outcome of process simplification in BPR.
Question 6: Which technology was most transformative in enabling early BPR efforts in the 1990s?
- Artificial intelligence
- Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems (Correct answer)
- Cloud computing
- Robotic process automation
Correct answer: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems
ERP systems in the 1990s enabled cross-functional data sharing and integration that made radical process redesign possible.
Question 7: When reengineering a customer service process, which outcome best demonstrates radical improvement?
- Hiring 10% more agents
- Resolving 80% of issues on the first contact instead of after multiple transfers (Correct answer)
- Adding a new phone menu option
- Reducing the hold music duration
Correct answer: Resolving 80% of issues on the first contact instead of after multiple transfers
Dramatically increasing first-contact resolution represents a fundamental redesign of how issues are handled, not merely incremental tweaks.
CPM Operational Process Reengineering 3
Which BPR principle suggests that work should be performed where it makes the most sense, regardless of traditional organizational boundaries?