Defining the New Process, Benefits, and Requirements

INTRODUCTION
The process has been selected. A process plan and an implementation strategy
are in place, providing direction. Now you can get down to the details. Following
are the steps:
• Step 1: Define the new business process in line with the process plan and
strategy.
• Step 2: Determine requirements for the new process.
• Step 3: Identify generally costs and benefits of the new process.
• Step 4: Present the results to management for review and approval.
• Step 5: Define the technology approach based on requirements.
• Step 6: Determine whether to buy or to build a system.
• Step 7: Decide who will do the work. Outsourcing is considered here and is
the subject of Chapter 4.
Why go through all this work? Why not just start gathering requirements and
then move to Step 6? Because if you start with requirements, you will likely be
drawn to the problems in the current system and will concentrate on replacing it.
You will most likely ignore the problems in the process, the shadow systems,
and workarounds for exceptions. It is very possible that any new system built or
bought will not fit the process plan or strategy without taking the previous steps
because of the lack of knowledge.
Put these together and you can see that, if any benefits existed at all, they
would be greatly reduced. In some companies, a new system obtained without
going through the steps has made things worse.

The goals of the work here as follows:
• Define a new business process that is complete and that can be effectively
supported by systems and technology.
• Determine an implementation approach for the new system that will yield
benefits and be capable of being installed within budget and schedule with
minimal risk.
What are some of the risks? The technology selected may not be established.
The effort to interface the new system to current technologies and systems may
be greatly underestimated. You might miss some shadow systems leaving the
organization to struggle with these later.
The scope of the work can be viewed in four parts:
• Process —all aspects of the business process as well as interfaces
• Organization —all departments that provide support to the process
• Technology—both current systems and technology indirectly and directly
employed in the process
• Dependent processes —with every major process, there are typically lesser
supporting processes and activities
Leaving something out here can exact a high price later. If you do not involve a
specific department, you risk interface problems and hostility later. Omitting a
part of a process or technology may increase the interface effort. It is tempting to
exclude some processes to keep the scope of the project limited. You are then
going to pay the price later when you are forced to retrofit interfaces between
two processes.