Using business-process simulation within a business-process reengineering approach

This paper presents a case study of the use of business-process simulation within the context of a business-process-reengineering approach to change. The process-based change methodology provides context to the simulation technique in that it connects the aims of a business-process simulation (BPS) study to the strategic aims of the organisation and incorporates a consideration of human factors in order to achieve successful implementation of redesigned processes. Conversely, the ability of BPS to incorporate system variability, scenario analysis and a visual display to communicate process performance makes it a useful technique to provide a realistic assessment of the need for, and results of, change. Introduction Business process simulation (BPS) is a tool that has it roots in the analysis of manufacturing systems, but is now being utilised to assist in the management of change in a variety of manufacturing and service settings. This paper explores the reasons for its increase in popularity and evaluates how it can be used to analyse change from a process perspective. The paper investigates, through a case study, both what the simulation method can bring to the analysis of business processes and how a business process approach to change can assist in making BPS a mainstream analysis tool. BPS Simulation in general covers a large area of interest and for clari®cation in this paper a short explanation is given of common terms used to describe this technique. Simulation can refer to a range of model types from spreadsheet models, system dynamic simulations and discrete-event simulation modelling. A adiscrete-event simulation modelo is one in which the state of the model changes at only a discrete set of time points (Schriber and Brunner, 1996). Most discrete-event simulation modelling software is now implemented using a graphical user interface, using icons that are placed on the computer screen to produce a model. These are often referred to as visual interactive modelling (VIM) systems (Robinson, 1994a). Because of the use of simulation in the context of business-process reengineering (BPR) and of other process-based The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister http://www.emeraldinsight.com/1463-7154.htm