BPR implementation process: an analysis of key success and failure factors

This paper provides a holistic view of the Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) implementation process. It reviews the literature relating to the hard and soft factors that cause success and failure for BPR implementation, classifies these factors into subgroups, and identifies key factors of success and failure. Finally, it explains how these factors influence the process of BPR implementation. Introduction Following the publication of the fundamental concepts of BPR by Hammer (1990) and Davenport and Short (1990), many organisations have reported dramatic benefits gained from the successful implementation of BPR. Companies like Ford Motor Co., CIGNA, and Wal-Mart are all recognised as having successfully implemented BPR. However, despite the significant growth of the BPR concept, not all organisations embarking on BPR projects achieve their intended result. Hammer and Champy (1993) estimate that as many as 70 percent do not achieve the dramatic results they seek. Having BPR repeatedly at the top of the list of management issues in annual surveys of critical information systems reflects executives' failure to either implement properly or acquire the benefits of BPR (Alter, 1994). This mixture of results makes the issue of BPR implementation very important. BPR has great potential for increasing productivity through reduced process time and cost, improved quality, and greater customer satisfaction, but it often requires a fundamental organisational change. As a result, the implementation process is complex, and needs to be checked against several success/failure factors to ensure successful implementation, as well as to avoid implementation pitfalls. The following analyses the BPR implementation process by reviewing the relevant literature on both soft and hard factors that cause success and failure of BPR efforts. The factors listed below are distilled from various articles and empirical research on BPR implementation. They were then categorised into a number of subgroups representing various dimensions of change related to BPR implementation. These dimensions are: (1) change management; (2) management competency and support; (3) organisational structure;