JOURNAL OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES IN ACCOUNTING American Accoun.docx

JOURNAL OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES IN
ACCOUNTING American Accounting Association
Vol. 12 DOI: 10.2308/jeta-51253
2015
pp. 169–188
Using Process Mapping to Reveal Process
Redesign Opportunities during ERP Planning
Marianne Bradford
North Carolina State University
Gregory J. Gerard
Florida State University
ABSTRACT: The objectives of the Elizor Case are to give
students experience with
business process analysis by requiring them to first document an
‘‘as is’’ raw materials
purchasing process during the planning for an enterprise
resource planning (ERP)
system implementation and then to have students determine
issues inherent in the
process that will necessitate process redesign. Students will
learn the difference
between two types of process redesign—business process

reengineering (BPR) and
business process improvement (BPI)—synthesize this
knowledge in order to identify
process issues inherent in the case, and suggest process
redesigns that an ERP system
will need to provide so that the purchasing process is more
efficient, effective, and
controlled. The case has broad appeal for faculty teaching ERP
systems and/or business
process management.
Keywords: enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems;
business process improve-
ment; business process reengineering; process mapping;
purchasing
process; expenditure cycle; case study.
INTRODUCTION
E
lizor Co. (‘‘Elizor’’) is a mid-sized manufacturer of modern
office furniture, specializing in
chairs, desks, sofas, and cubicle spaces. The company was
founded in 1970 and employs
375 people, primarily at its Durham, NC manufacturing facility.
It also has six showrooms
located in North Carolina and South Carolina and more than
250,000 square feet of warehousing

and storage space. Elizor has also established a customer-facing
web presence for business-to-
business (B2B) sales and is considering e-commerce solutions
for its suppliers. Their mission is to
‘‘produce such amazing office furniture you’ll never want to
leave work.’’
Elizor recently has experienced a great deal of growth and is in
the process of expanding its
production and storage capacity and adding a new line of
ergonomic office furniture. Because of
this, management is interested in obtaining an understanding of
its current business processes and
existing functionality because they want to implement an
enterprise resource planning (ERP)
system in the near future. They believe an ERP system will help
them solve their current problems,
Published Online: August 2015
Corresponding author: Gregory J. Gerard
Email: [email protected]
169
ensure their business processes are as effective and efficient as
possible (e.g., non-value-added steps

are minimized), and maintain better internal controls over
operations. Current business issues Elizor
faces are:
� long cycle times for key business processes, including raw
materials purchasing;
� desire for growth, in particular the launch of a new product
line;
� need for advanced functionality and technologies; and
� too many outdated business systems supporting business
processes.
Over time, Elizor’s processes have developed organically, with
very little attention to
optimization. Additionally, since the early 1990s, Elizor has
used various information systems to
support its core business processes, such as the raw materials
purchase-to-pay process. Two systems
support this process: CODE, a financial accounting system that
maintains the general ledger (GL),
accounts payable/cash disbursements, accounts receivable/cash
receipts, and produces the financial
statements; and EPT, a procurement system that handles vendor
management, inventory
management, purchase requisitions, and purchase orders.
Elizor’s top management has formed an ERP project team,
which will play a critical role in the

success of the ERP project. This team includes process owners,
end-users, managers, and IT staff,
who span functional boundaries, locations, and organizational
levels of the company. One of the
first tasks in planning for an ERP system implementation is to
document the ‘‘as is’’ processes to
help determine requirements for a new ERP system and identify
current process ‘‘pain points’’ that
the ERP system should rectify or that could be rectified prior to
implementation.
The ERP project leadership team is made up of Elizor’s most
valuable and knowledgeable
employees—the ‘‘best and brightest,’’ including Joe Wall from
purchasing and Martha Long from
accounting. Both of these individuals have ERP implementation
experience at previous employers
and are considered by management to be employees who will
likely embrace organizational and
procedural change, influence others in a positive way, and work
well with others. These individuals
were also chosen because management believes they have a
clear understanding of the relationship
between the operational requirements of the business, corporate
strategy, and customer satisfaction.
Joe and Martha will begin documenting current ‘‘as is’’
processes, engaging key business
process owners to brainstorm ways to improve key business

processes, and incorporating these
ideas into new ‘‘to be’’ processes that will be supported by the
new ERP system. Thus, Joe and
Martha will be responsible for planning, organizing, leading,
and managing the business process
documentation stage of the project.
An ERP system implementation can bring radical, dramatic
changes to processes, known as
business process reengineering (BPR), which involve major
overhauls of processes to achieve
breakthrough performance. Companies must reengineer to match
the best practices programmed in
the ERP software—the software dictates the way processes will
be conducted. Other changes to the
processes may be more incremental, depending on how closely
current processes line up with the
new ERP system. This type of change is known as business
process improvement (BPI), which is a
relatively minor change compared to BPR but still very
effective. Elizor will likely experience
massive changes to their business processes when implementing
the ERP system (BPR), but will
also tweak processes prior to the implementation (BPI). BPI is
also something that is done

throughout the operation and maintenance stage of an ERP
system to further fine-tune business
processes.
Joe and Martha also have experience with process mapping, but
realize that it is important to
determine process mapping standards so that there is
consistency in how the process maps are
drawn (see Appendix A for their process mapping standards and
conventions). One of the first
processes that Joe and Martha chose to map out is the raw
materials purchasing process. This
process has been fraught with inefficiencies for years, including
a long cycle time, which has
170 Bradford and Gerard
Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting
Volume 12, 2015
negatively affected customer satisfaction. The longer it takes to
get raw materials to the plant, the
longer it takes for customers to ultimately receive their orders.
In addition, Elizor’s mission of
producing ‘‘amazing office furniture’’ places utmost importance
on purchasing high-quality raw
materials. In the past, Elizor has received inferior materials

from its suppliers.
Below is the narrative that Joe and Martha compiled after a
lengthy group interview session in
which manufacturing, purchasing, accounts payable, receiving,
and warehouse employees were
interviewed together in order to arrive at a consensus on the
process steps. Joe and Martha chose the
group interview method because it can be more accurate than
other methods given that all
stakeholders of the process steps have to simultaneously agree
on how the process currently works.
Additionally, the high degree of participation that this method
requires generally increases the
ownership that the group feels regarding the redesigned process
map and, more importantly, the
business process.
Elizor’s Raw Materials Purchasing Process
The manufacturing supervisor in Durham enters purchase
requisitions into the EPT system, which
triggers emails to the purchasing clerks. The purchasing clerks
read the emails and decide whether the
request is for a known or unknown part. If what is needed is a
known part, and there is a preferred

supplier for the material in the EPT system already, then a
purchasing clerk emails a purchase order
(PO) to the supplier for the item(s) requested. If what is needed
is not a known part, then a purchasing
clerk sets up a new part in the EPT system and performs
traditional new vendor sourcing activities to
determine an appropriate supplier for the material. Once these
steps are complete, a purchasing clerk
emails a PO to the chosen supplier. If no supplier exists for a
known part, then a purchasing clerk must
still perform sourcing activities and send the PO to the newly
identified supplier.
When the raw materials arrive, they are inspected for quality by
the receiving department. If the
quality is deemed substandard, then the goods are immediately
sent back to the supplier. The raw
materials passing quality inspection are then sent to the
warehouse employees who count them for
accuracy and prepare a receiving report. Warehouse employees
then decide where a good place to
store the materials in the warehouse might be and send the
receiving report to the manufacturing
supervisor as proof the raw materials have been received. The
manufacturing supervisor will then
sign the receiving report as confirmation the material has been

received.
Purchasing clerks receive supplier invoices in a variety of ways,
but the process after receipt is
always the same. First, they check each invoice for accuracy
against the PO and make sure the
appropriate pre-negotiated discounts and payment terms are
included (e.g., 2/10 n 30). If there are
any issues, they consult the supplier and make the corrections.
The clerks then send the corrected
invoice and PO to the accounts payable clerks in the accounting
department. If there are no issues,
then the supplier’s invoice is sent directly to the accounts
payable clerks.
Next, accounts payable clerks will assign GL account numbers
(to show the increase in inventory
[debit] and the accounts payable [credit]) and the cost center
number (e.g., what job the material
should be charged to) for management accounting purposes.
Accounts payable clerks will then enter
the information into CODE and a voucher number will be
automatically generated. Supporting
documentation is printed and filed in the accounts payable file
folders until payment is due.
REQUIRED

Requirement 1: ‘‘As Is’’ Process Map
Using standard process mapping symbols and referring to the
example process map presented
in Appendix A, draw a process map for Elizor’s raw materials
purchasing process. Your instructor
may require that you use a flowcharting package, such as
Microsoft Visio, or may allow you to
Using Process Mapping to Reveal Process Redesign
Opportunities during ERP Planning 171
Volume 12, 2015
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draw the map by hand. Include phase symbol(s) to separate
distinct phases in this process and label.

For simplicity, the supplier swim lane may be omitted.
Requirement 2: Business Process Reengineering (BPR) and
Business Process Improvement
(BPI)
Using the BPR and BPI information in Appendix B (in
particular Tables 1 and 2) and the
template below, list eight BPI process issues or BPR principles
that need to be applied to the raw
materials purchasing process. For each of these issues, describe
a redesign that could be made to the
raw materials purchasing process to improve efficiency,
effectiveness, and/or internal control (two
illustrative examples have been provided in the template to help
you begin). Turn in the below
template as the deliverable for this requirement.
BPR Principle or BPI Process Issue Elizor’s Process-Specific
Issue
Example: BPI process issue: Paper
records; non-value-added steps
The receiving report does not need to be sent to the
manufacturing supervisor. He/she should be able to see
inventory availability in a system without a paper report.

Example: BPI process issue: Manual
steps; BPR principle: capture data
once at its source
The cost center data should be entered once in the creation of
the purchase requisition and automatically carried through to
accounts payable without data rekeying.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
REFERENCES
Abubakker, H. 2010. Practical guide to creating better looking
process maps. February 26 blog post.
Available at: http://www.isixsigma.com/tools-
templates/process-mapping/practical-guide-creating-

better-looking-process-maps/
Adesola, S., and T. Baines. 2005. Developing and evaluating a
methodology for business process
improvement. Business Process Management Journal 11 (1): 37–
46.
Andrews, C. 2007. Drawing a map of the business. Internal
Auditor 64 (1): 55–58.
Bradford, M. 2015. Modern ERP: Select, Implement and Use
Today’s Advanced Business Systems. 3rd
edition. Raleigh, NC: Lulu Press.
Carpenter, T. D. 2007. Audit team brainstorming, fraud risk
identification, and fraud risk assessment:
Implications of SAS No. 99. The Accounting Review 82 (5):
1119–1140.
Damelio, R. 1996. The Basics of Process Mapping. New York,
NY: Productivity Press.
Dennis, A., T. Carte, and G. Kelly. 2003. Breaking the rules:
Success and failure in groupware-supported
business process reengineering. Decision Support Systems 36:
31–47.
Hammer, M. 1990. Reengineering work: Don’t automate,
obliterate. Harvard Business Review 68 (4): 104–
112.
Hammer, M., and J. Champy. 1993. Reengineering the
Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution.
New York, NY: Harper Business.
Harmon, P. 2007. Business Process Change: A Guide for

Business Managers and BPM and Six Sigma
Professionals. 2nd edition. Burlington, MA: Morgan Kaufmann.
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http://www.isixsigma.com/tools-templates/process-
mapping/practical-guide-creating-better-looking-process-maps/
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Schniederjans, M., and G. Kim. 2003. Implementing enterprise
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Analyzing Process Mapping. Available at: http://
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mapping/
Tønnessen, T. 2014. Business process reengineering. In
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BPR in the Norwegian Industry,
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Tradewinds Group, Inc. 2004. Business Process Reengineering
and Improvement. Available at: http://www.
tradewindsgroupinc.com/Tradewinds_Business_Process_Improv
ement_White_Paper.pdf
APPENDIX A
Process Mapping
Introduction to Process Mapping
A business process is a collection of activities that together add
value to input and transform it
to output (Harmon 2007; Paradiso and Cruickshank 2007).
Business processes span multiple
departments and in many cases traverse the boundaries of the
organization, sharing information
with business partners, such as suppliers and customers.
Process maps are a system diagramming method that visually
illustrates the essential details of
a business process (in a way that written procedures cannot) by
replacing many pages of words with

boxes and arrows.
1
They provide a visual rendering of a business process from
beginning to end,
including the inputs and outputs of each activity, the sequence
of activities, and the person or
persons performing each activity, allowing stakeholders to
‘‘see’’ the process from start to finish
(Damelio 1996). This visualization provides a powerful way to
explore what activities work well,
1
This paper uses cross-functional process mapping symbols and
terminology. We acknowledge that certain instructors
may prefer other diagramming methods such as business process
modeling notation, which is conceptually similar to
process mapping. Instructors could feel free to substitute their
preferred method for the diagramming method we use in
this case.
Volume 12, 2015
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2004.05.024
http://www.processmaps.com/mapping.html
http://www.processmaps.com/mapping.html
dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0272-6963(96)00100-3
dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0272-6963(96)00100-3

dx.doi.org/10.1108/14637150810915973
dx.doi.org/10.1108/01443570310467339
dx.doi.org/10.1108/01443570310467339
mapping/bolo-be-lookout-list-analyzing-process-mapping/
http://www.tradewindsgroupinc.com/Tradewinds_Business_Proc
ess_Improvement_White_Paper.pdf
http://www.tradewindsgroupinc.com/Tradewinds_Business_Proc
ess_Improvement_White_Paper.pdf
which do not, and where there may be non-value-added steps,
costs, or control issues (Tradewinds
Group, Inc. 2004). Specifically, process maps indicate:
� What is happening?
� Where is it happening?
� When is it happening?
� Who is doing it?
� How are inputs and outputs handled and distributed? (Process
Mapping Associates Inc.
2007).
Process Mapping Symbols
Figure 1 describes typical process mapping symbols (Bradford
2015; Damelio 1996).
The Role of Process Mapping in ERP System Implementations

Mapping out current ‘‘as is’’ business processes can help an
ERP project team develop
functional requirements for an ERP system (Andrews 2007).
The ‘‘as is’’ process maps will also be
compared to the ‘‘to be’’ ERP vendor-supplied process maps to
see where change will occur as the
organization reengineers to best practices in the ERP software.
For example, during the ERP
FIGURE 1
Process Mapping Symbols
Volume 12, 2015
package selection stage, it would be critical to know that an
organization ships line items on a
customer order from different plants. The ERP system must
support this functionality, which might
not be evident until processes are fully mapped out. Sometimes,
this exercise will generate
responses such as ‘‘Do we still do that?’’ ‘‘You mean, you guys
don’t review that report after all?’’
or ‘‘Why are we doing it this way?’’ As the team reviews the
‘‘as is’’ maps, it will begin to question
‘‘why?’’ and will find many opportunities for change (Smith

2010).
Guidelines for Drawing Process Maps
The following guidelines should be followed when drawing
process maps:
� Have a clear purpose for mapping a process.
� Label the scope of the process at the top of the process map.
� Determine the roles that participate in the process. These
become the ‘‘swim lanes’’ across
the page.
� Identify the trigger, which denotes the start of the process.
For horizontal maps, the trigger,
designated with an oval, should be placed in the top swim lane
left justified.
� The page shows the passage of time, so activities should
generally move left to right and top
to bottom.
� Label activities with active verbs such as ‘‘input,’’
‘‘correct,’’ ‘‘move,’’ and ‘‘order.’’
� Enter data, information, or physical goods flowing between
activities directly on the process
flow lines.
� Label decisions in the form of questions. Label process flow
lines that branch out of
decisions with the outcomes (e.g., yes/no).
� When activities are performed by multiple roles, the activity
should span multiple swim
lanes. (Abubakker 2010; Jacka and Keller 2011).

As an example, Figure 2 shows a narrative and a process map of
the current state ‘‘as is’’ bi-
weekly payroll process for Fit Gear, a manufacturer of ‘‘fit’’
apparel. This ‘‘as is’’ process map
reflects the way Fit Gear currently conducts this process. By
reviewing the process map, process
designers can pinpoint redesigns that will make the process
more efficient and effective.
APPENDIX B
Business Process Reengineering (BPR) and Business Process
Improvement (BPI)
Business Process Reengineering
Many companies today use ERP and other technologies to
reengineer their processes. This type
of reengineering is known as technology-enabled business
process reengineering (BPR)—the ERP
system or other technology serves as the ‘‘road map’’ or
‘‘engine of process automation’’ for the
reengineering initiative (O’Leary 2000; Tradewinds Group, Inc.
2004). When BPR occurs, it causes
a fundamental, dramatic redesign in business processes.
Companies embarking upon an ERP
implementation generally are not changing their core
competencies—the capabilities critical to a

business in achieving competitive advantage—but instead are
optimizing their business processes
in order to make them more efficient and customer-centric
(Hammer 1990). These companies are
striving for business processes that are streamlined,
standardized, and of superior quality in order to
better serve customers, increase employee morale, and improve
the company’s ability to anticipate,
manage, and respond to changes in the marketplace (Hammer
and Champy 1993).
ERP systems and the reengineering that ensues facilitate the
transformation of businesses from
being functional-oriented to process-oriented. If a company
succeeds with an ERP system
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FIGURE 2
Example Narrative and Process Map
(Fit Gear Bi-Weekly Payroll Process for Plant Employees)
Panel A: Narrative Describing the Bi-Weekly Payroll Process
for Plant Employees at Fit

Gear
Panel B: Fit Gear Process Map Page 1 of 2
(continued on next page)
Volume 12, 2015
implementation, then there is a shift to a new way of thinking.
Rather than focusing narrowly on
activities within functional areas (such as accounting and
purchasing), users are focused on cross-
functional processes (e.g., the entire purchase to pay process)
(Tønnessen 2014). ERP systems and
BPR move the company from a silo mentality to a process-
centric mentality, in the hopes of reducing
costs, improving customer satisfaction, and ultimately creating
shareholder value (O’Leary 2000).
Undertaking an ERP implementation and the resulting BPR is
generally a complex and difficult
task, and in the past has been met with a high failure rate. Thus,
organizations should not implement
ERP without a careful examination of all activities and phases
of a current ‘‘as is’’ process (Dennis,

Carte, and Kelly 2003; Schniederjans and Kim 2003). These
should include the process activities,
people’s jobs and reward system, the management system, and
tools and technologies (Tønnessen
2014). Last, it is necessary to investigate the underlying
corporate culture that holds the beliefs and
values that influence everyone’s behavior and expectations
when embarking upon a BPR project
(Mertins and Jochem 2005). Hammer’s (1990) BPR principles
are presented in Table 1.
2
FIGURE 2 (continued)
Panel C: Fit Gear Process Map Page 2 of 2
Bradford (2015) used with permission of author.
2
Hammer’s (1990) BPR principles refer to clean-slate
techniques, which does not predispose what the end solution
(technology or system) for redesigning and automating
processes will be. However, these principles are relevant to
how an ERP system can benefit companies. The principles still
allow for current-day technologies such as mobile
computing and cloud computing.

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Another method companies use to redesign processes to prepare
for ERP (or after ERP
implementation to tweak new processes to make them even more
effective and efficient) is known
as business process improvement (BPI), which is the gradual
improvement to business processes
over time. Whereas BPR is radical and revolutionary, BPI is
incremental and evolutionary. While
BPR is necessary for a successful ERP implementation, BPI is
simply not enough. The scope and
intensity are much smaller for BPI than BPR, but the goals are
very similar: strive for business
processes that are streamlined, standardized, and of superior
quality in order to better serve
customers, increase employee morale, and improve the
company’s ability to anticipate, manage,
and respond to changes in the marketplace (Page 2010). A
general rule is that if an existing process
is somewhat close to expectations, then maybe it can be
improved. If not, then maybe the current

process is fundamentally broken and radical change is necessary
(Rohleder and Silver 1997).
Figure 3 presents a model for BPI. First, goals and objectives of
the process improvement plan
must be identified and the appropriate organizational support
must be obtained. A process
improvement team should also be assembled. The next step is to
compile a process inventory,
identifying key processes, including their sub-processes and
activities. A process inventory is a list
of business processes that a department or area owns. Processes
can be identified by reviewing the
work done by a department, analyzing job descriptions, or
talking to colleagues to ascertain their
roles and responsibilities (Adesola and Baines 2005).
From this process inventory, a list of processes in need of
change can be determined and
prioritized. Those processes that have a big impact on the
business and will net the largest return if
improved should be ranked first. The feasibility of making the
change should also be considered.
Benchmarking with competitors can often help determine
processes in need of improvement. As a
result of these steps, the first process will be selected for

improvement (Samia, Siha, and Saad 2008;
Rohleder and Silver 1997).
Next, information must be obtained about the process from
process owners and experts. It is
usually necessary to include knowledgeable sources from
various departments for a complete view
TABLE 1
Business Process Reengineering Principles
(Hammer 1990)
1. Have those who use the output of the process perform the
process (reduce or eliminate handoffs).
2. Empower workers (give employees information and they can
make decisions).
3. Treat geographically dispersed resources as though they were
centralized (centralize data through a
common database).
4. Link parallel activities instead of integrating their results (do
not wait until the end of a process to
merge the results).
5. Organize around processes, not tasks or functional area (use
ERP systems, technology, and best
practices).

6. Self-service; move cost and accountability for work to the
beneficiary of a process (responsibility for
information accuracy also transfers with self-service).
7. Put the decision point where the work is performed and build
controls into the process (use
automated controls in the process and transfer the responsibility
for checking from management to
the worker).
8. Capture information once at its source (data should be
entered one time where it originates and then
dispersed to those who need it).
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of a process. The BPI team should also document the ‘‘as is’’
process so that everyone involved
understands how the process currently works. The process
documentation should be verified with
stakeholders to make sure it correctly reflects the existing
process (Page 2010; Rohleder and Silver
1997).

The next step is to analyze the process to pinpoint any
problems. The BPI team should also
attempt to take measurements of the process, such as costs and
cycle times. It will be useful to elicit
feedback from users to make sure all problem areas are noted.
Additionally, the potential benefits
from improving the process should be carefully considered
Once the current process has been analyzed and measured, it is
time to improve the process.
The team should use brainstorming techniques (Carpenter 2007)
while challenging everything. New
prototypes of process flows, policies and procedures, and
reporting requirements should be
developed. The team should also consider where errors and
other risks can occur in the new
process, and design internal controls, such as segregation of
duties (Page 2010).
The team should also use technologies and tools to automate
steps where appropriate and
create new metrics to show if the process works as planned.
When implementing changes, the team
should effectively communicate with all key stakeholders about
why the new process is needed,

what it is, how things will be different and better, and what will
happen when the new process is in
operation. Performing a ‘‘walkthrough’’ of the new process is
one way to build a detailed
understanding of the process and see how it will work (Porter
2013).
Last, the company should embrace the new mindset and drive
continuous improvement. Rather
than thinking of process improvement as a project that has a
beginning, middle, and an end, it
should be envisioned as an ongoing activity that is tied to all
technology and business activities
critical to enterprise operations. At regular time intervals, the
team should gather data on the
performance of the new process to measure its success (Porter
2013; Rohleder and Silver 1997).
Note that BPR might be necessary at two points in Figure 3.
When defining and understanding
the process, it may surface that the process is persistently and
profoundly broken. At this point,
BPR might be necessary. Additionally, if BPI techniques are
applied and the process continues to
be of key concern, then BPR is generally the next step

FIGURE 3
Business Process Improvement Model
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Table 2 lists common issues found in business processes that
can result in non-value-added
costs and long cycle times. As an illustration, Table 3 contains
an explanation of the business
process issues evident in the Fit Gear example introduced in
Appendix A.
TABLE 2
Process Issues
(Smith 2010)
Authority ambiguity When two or more people are providing
approval, this may be unnecessary as it
reeks of bureaucracy and increases cycle time of the process.
Bottlenecks When a number of information flows lead to a
single activity, the process may
be hindered by insufficient resources dedicated to the roles and
events

downstream. Bottlenecks can limit the performance or capacity
of the entire
system, delaying or completely stopping the process.
Cycle time The time consumed during the entire process flow
should be at the heart of
performance measurement, providing focus on the length of
time it takes from
start to finish.
Data duplication Occurs when multiple groups involved in the
process begin maintaining their
own separate information systems. Consequently, the same data
are then kept
in multiple places.
Handoffs Involve the transfer of responsibility from one role to
another, providing the
opportunity for mistakes, miscommunication, and delay.
Intermediaries Words such as ‘‘pass it by me’’ include an
intermediary step. Consider if this
step is value-added.
Manual steps Technology and systems could be implemented to
take the place of manual steps,
which are labor-intensive and add to cycle time and errors.

Old ways Technology and systems are available but not used
because employees have not
been trained (or have been trained and do not want to use them).
Employees
revert to ‘‘old ways of doing things.’’
Quality control Quality control is when someone else checks
work, not when someone checks
his/her own work. Is the quality control really needed? Can the
work be
mistake-proofed to make it impossible for the defect to pass on?
Prevention is
better than detection.
Paper records Question whether the current process is adding,
maintaining, or eliminating paper
records. Storing data in electronic form is optimal as the data
then become
easier to share.
Rework This refers to people spending time fixing errors or
remediating problems. The
source of the errors should be investigated and modification to
the process
made to eliminate the potential for errors.
Role ambiguity Denotes lack of clarity about the expectations,

norms, and behaviors associated
with a particular job. Ambiguity can lead to inefficiencies in
processes.
Segregation of
duties violations
Employee should not be in the position to perpetrate and to
conceal fraud. In
general, duties to be segregated among employees are: (1)
custody of assets;
(2) authorization or approval of related transactions affecting
those assets; (3)
recording or reporting of related transactions.
Volume 12, 2015
TABLE 3
Redesign Opportunities in the Fit Gear Bi-Weekly Payroll
Process
BPR Principle
Not Followed/BPI Issue Explanation
1. Capture data once at its

source; Data duplication;
Non-value-added work
Data are collected on timecards, entered into Excel, and then
entered again into TEMS. Data should be collected just once
and
entered into the system. A time and attendance module that
integrates with TEMS so time card machine is not used.
2. Self-service; Those that use
the output of the process
perform the process
Instead of the payroll clerk entering master data updates, we
should
consider using self-service for this function by allowing
employees access into the system to update their master data.
3. Segregation of duties;
Authority ambiguity;
Intermediaries
Payroll clerk should not be entering employee master data
updates.

HR manager or someone in HR should be doing this. Also, HR
manager should not be approving payroll.
4. Handoffs For such a simple process, there are too many
handoffs. A question
might be why the receptionist is involved in this process.
5. Bottlenecks The receptionist is a bottleneck with the ability
to hold up or
completely stop the payroll process.
6. Rework; Quality control There appears to be a lot of time
spent on fixing errors and
remediating problems.
7. Paper records Use direct deposit instead of paper checks; this
will also help with
internal control. Use electronic time cards not paper time cards.
8. Manual steps Payroll is one process that is outsourced in
many companies. Fit
Gear should perform a cost/benefit on whether they should
outsource this function. Payroll is not their core competence.
Volume 12, 2015

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