Process Improvement
• Process improvement generally refers to minor, specific
changes that are made in an existing business process.
• Incremental and continuous changes tune the performance
of a process.
• Process modelling here contributes to process monitoring.
• Following observation, problems or opportunities for
improvement are identified and changes made as
necessary.
Process Innovation/Redesign
• Process innovation or redesign generally refers to a major
effort that is undertaken to significantly improve existing
processes or to create new business processes.
• Radical changes are applied to the processes and
significant improvements in performance are expected.
• Process redesign considers every aspect of a process
and often results in changes in the sequence in which the
process is done.
• Some examples of popular approaches to process redesign
are Business Process Reengineering and the Supply Chain
Council’s SCOR methodology
Improvement Frameworks
• Business improvement frameworks can act as a stimulus
and reference point.
• Different frameworks are based on different assumptions
and improvement objectives.
– Flexible and adaptable to meet particular business
sector characteristics, needs, and aspirations (e.g.
Balanced Scorecard)
– Evaluate applicant’s performance against a set of
predetermined criteria (e.g. European Quality Award)
Improvement Frameworks
• Business improvement frameworks can act as a stimulus
and reference point.
• Different frameworks are based on different assumptions
and improvement objectives.
– Flexible and adaptable to meet particular business
sector characteristics, needs, and aspirations (e.g.
Balanced Scorecard)
– Evaluate applicant’s performance against a set of
predetermined criteria (e.g. European Quality Award)
Examples of Improvement Frameworks
• ISO 9000: guidelines to improve business efficiency and
customer satisfaction
• European Foundation Quality Model: check performance
and identify improvement opportunities
• The Balanced Scorecard: aligning processes-
organisational strategy and improve communication
• Lean method: “efficient process flow by eliminating non-value
adding activities”
• Six Sigma: removing the causes of defects
• The CMM and SPICE models
SPICE – Level 2
• Focuses on establishing good project management
practices and identifies 8 key processes
– Brief and scope of work management
– Project planning
– Project tracking and monitoring
– Subcontract management
– Project change management
– Health and safety management
– Risk management
– Project team co-ordination
Business Process Re-Engineering
• Re-engineering is a top-down approach led by
senior management and aimed at radical
performance improvement.
• Fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of
business processes (no small incremental
improvements). Hammer and Champy (2003)
• It is intended to align the process with the strategic
objectives and customers’ needs.
BPR/BPM Methodology
Harmon (2003, chp. 9) describes a comprehensive generic
methodology consisting of the following 5 phases
(BPR/BPM):
• Phase 1: Planning processes redesign effort
• Phase 2: Analysis of existing processes
• Phase 3: Design of new or improved processes
• Phase 4: Development of resources for improved
processes
• Phase 5: Managing the implementation of new processes
Flowcharting
• A flowchart is a graphic representation of the sequence of
steps/activities that make up a process.
• The use of flowcharts is really a reinforcement of the fact
that it easier to understand something presented
graphically rather than when it is described.
• There are many ways of drawing flowcharts. The important
point is simply that the users must share a common
understanding of the symbols.
• The most basic way is simply to use different symbols to
represent activities, and arrows to illustrate the connections
between activities. Some commonly used symbols are:
Flowcharting
• This chart could have been made more detailed
• However, it illustrates the principles for drawing a flowchart.
• It is difficult to see who performs which tasks and
concurrent activities.
• This is possible in more sophisticated modelling diagrams,
such as UML Activity diagrams
References and other papers
• Learning Package 3.2 and 3.4 on Blackboard – Learning Material
• Alizadehsalehia,S.,Hadavib A., Huangc J.C.(2020), From BIM to extended reality in
AEC industry, Automation in Construction, Volume 116, 2020, Elsevier
• Barth, K.B., Formoso, C.T. (2020) Requirements in performance measurement
systems of construction projects from the lean production perspective. Front. Eng.
Manag.
• Das, P., Perera, S., Senaratne, S. and Osei-Kyei, R. (2023), “A smart modern
construction enterprise maturity model for business scenarios leading to industry
4.0”, Smart and Sustainable Built Environment, doi: 10.1108/SASBE-09-2022-0205
• Dave, B. (2017), “Business process management – a construction case study”,
Construction Innovation, Vol. 17 No. 1, pp. 50-67. https://doi.org/10.1108/CI-10-
2015-0055
• KARAÃ, P. and AVLAR E (2018) – Technological innovation adoption model for
construction products, Journal of Architectural Research and Development, Volume
2, Issue 6
• Machado F, Duarte N, Amaral A. (2023) Project Management Maturity in
Renovation and Remodelling Construction Firms. Buildings. 2023; 13(2):557.
https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13020557
• Murguia, D., Soetanto, R., Szczygiel, M., Goodier, C.I. and Kavuri, A. (2024),
“Construction 4.0 implementation for performance improvement: an innovation
management perspective”, Construction Innovation, Vol. 24 No.
7 https://doi.org/10.1108/CI-08-2023-0184
• Omotayo and Kulatunga (2017), A continuous improvement framework using IDEF0
for post-contract cost control. Journal of construction project management