Exploiting BP & ISR in the Sri Lankan contect: an action research project

Abstract

The action research project described in this report is an example of the exploitation of business process and information systems reengineering (BP&ISR) in Sri Lanka, and covers the reengineering of two processes at OrgPML, a typical public limited company in Sri Lanka. The project was sponsored and authorised by OrgPML’s managing director and the BP&ISR team was made up from four OrgPML employees and one BP&ISR facilitator (myself). The following paragraphs describe how the reengineering work was done, starting from project initiation to process implementation. A structured framework (Weerakkody 1996b) was used as a guideline for the BP&ISR work. The report outlines how a combination of radical and incremental approaches were attempted for BP&ISR and the level of success and failure of each of these approaches. It also describes the computerisation of a manual system and outlines the pros and cons of comparing this to process improvement and IS reengineering. Finally the report concludes by evaluating the prospects for BP&ISR within OrgPML and in general Sri Lankan context.