Workflow Optimization through Task Redesign in Business Information Processes

The academic and professional literature addressing business process reengineering points at inter-task information flow delays (handoffs) as a major source of processing errors and excessive delays in job completion times. Many of the success stories cited in the literature call for employee-empowerment and task consolidation. It means that many benefits are accrued by consolidating tasks, rather than processing the existing task structure at a faster rate. However, there has not been any systematic methodology available to determine the optimal re-bundling of information intensive tasks. Our paper presents a new powerful methodology designed to optimally consolidate tasks in order to reduce the overall cycle time. This methodology takes into account the following parameters: precedence of information flows, loss of specialization, alignment of decision rights, reduction in handoffs and technology support costs. Several application examples presented here highlight the viability of o...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1998
• Where: HICSS
• Authors: Rajiv M. Dewan, Abraham Seidmann, Zhiping D. Walter
• Keywords: Biometrics, HICSS 1998, Information Flow Delays, Information Intensive Tasks, Process Reengineering Points