CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1    Background of the Study

Business process re-engineering (BPR) is the analysis and design of workflow and process within an organization. According to Davenport (1990) a business process is a set of logically related task performed to achieve a defined business outcome. Re-engineering is the basis for many recent developments in management. The cross functional team, for example, has become popular because of the desire to re-engineer separate functional task into complete cross-functional processes. Many recent management information systems developments aim to integrate a wide number of business functions. Enterprise resource planning, supply chain management, knowledge management, groupware and collaborative system, human resource management systems and customer relationship management.

Business process re-engineering (BPR) began as a private sector technique to help organizations fundamentally rethink how their work in order to dramatically improve customer service, cut operation cost, and become world-class competitors. A key stimulus for re-engineering has been the constituting development and development of sophisticated information system and networks. Leading organizations are becoming bolder in using this technology to support innovative business processes, rather than refining current ways of doing work (Marshal, 2007).