MT400 Unit 7 Process Redesign Proposal Example

Remove, Move, Then Tools: An MT400 Unit 7 Redesign Proposal for a Window Installer's Contract-to-Cash Process

[Student Name]

Purdue University Global

MT400: Business Process Management

Unit 7 Process Redesign Proposal

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

The company, changes and projections are composite; the notation and sources cited are real.

The Order of Options

Hammer (1990) urged companies not to automate a process before asking whether its steps should exist at all. The proposal follows that order strictly. Each change states which move it uses: remove, move or, last, add a tool. A current-state BPMN diagram and a future-state diagram face each other, with changed elements outlined, so the board can see exactly what is different.

Change One: Book the Measure Before Leaving the Home

Finding: at handoff 1, a signed contract sits for a median 9 days before anyone books the technical measure. Move: the sales representative books the technical measure on a shared calendar before leaving the homeowner's home, within five business days. Projected effect: the wait falls to about 5 days, a gain of 4. Risk: sales representatives may resist taking time at the kitchen table; the pilot tracks how many bookings are made on the spot.

Change Two: Drop the Sales Manager's Signature on Standard Orders

Finding: the approval loop at handoffs 3 and 4 adds 3 days and catches almost nothing on standard orders. Remove: the signature is dropped for standard orders and kept only for orders over $25,000 or with unusual shapes, about one order in ten. Projected effect: a median gain of 3 days. Risk: errors the signature occasionally caught on standard orders; the remake rate will show whether any appear.

Change Three: Approve Financing Before Measuring

Finding: financed orders sometimes wait at release for the financing company's approval. Move: financing approval is requested at signature, so it is complete before the measure, and the order can release the day its measure is verified. Projected effect: a median gain of about 1 day, larger on financed jobs.

Change Four: Check the Kit Before Scheduling

Finding: about one install in eleven begins with pieces missing from the kit, because crews are scheduled on partial receipt. Move: scheduling waits for a kit check two days before installation, confirming every unit, trim piece and fastener is on hand. Projected effect: little change in the median, but fewer return visits and a higher first-visit rate. The measure sheet's notes field is added to the order system at the same time, so site conditions reach order entry.

Change Five: Sign the Completion Certificate at the Walkthrough

Finding: completion slips wait a median of 11 days before invoicing, and 15 percent lack a signature. Move: the homeowner signs the completion certificate at the final walkthrough on a tablet, and the crew lead photographs it that afternoon so accounting can invoice the same day. Projected effect: installed to paid falls from 11 days to about 3, a gain of 9 in the contract-to-cash median, though still partly paced by how fast homeowners pay.

Seventeen days come out of the median because five named waits get shorter, not because of one hopeful estimate.

Projected Effects on the Indicators

The gains add up: 4 days from change one, 3 from change two, 1 from change three and 9 from change five, 17 days in all, bringing the contract-to-cash median from 71 days to about 54. Contract to installed is projected to fall from 58 days to about 50. First-visit success is projected to rise from 78 to about 85 percent and the remake rate to fall from 6.8 to about 5.0 percent, mainly from change four and the notes field. Status calls are projected to fall from 1.9 to about 1.2 per job, and the rating to rise from 4.1 to about 4.3. Redesign heuristics rarely improve time, cost and quality all at once (Reijers & Liman Mansar, 2005), and the projection shows where this redesign trades: change four may add a day for some jobs while removing return visits.

Who Does What Differently

The redesign changes the work of five roles. Sales representatives book measures and start financing at the kitchen table. The sales manager reviews only large or unusual orders. Order entry receives the measure sheet's notes and releases orders the day measures are verified. Schedulers wait for the kit check before confirming an install date. Crew leads collect the signed certificate and photograph it before leaving the site. Each role receives a one-page change sheet and a short training session before the pilot starts.

The Pilot

A two-month pilot runs at the Lincoln showroom, with the Omaha showroom as a comparison that keeps the current process. The same six indicators are measured in both. If the remake rate in Lincoln rises above its baseline for two consecutive weeks, change two is paused. The pilot is judged on contract-to-cash median, first-visit success and installed to paid, and results will be reported in Unit 10.

What the Proposal Does Not Include

No software is proposed here. Whether a workflow system adds value once these changes are in place is the question for the Unit 8 business case, which will measure the system against the redesigned process rather than the current one (Dumas et al., 2018).

References

Dumas, M., La Rosa, M., Mendling, J., & Reijers, H. A. (2018). Fundamentals of business process management (2nd ed.). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-56509-4

Hammer, M. (1990). Reengineering work: Don't automate, obliterate. Harvard Business Review, 68(4), 104-112.

Reijers, H. A., & Liman Mansar, S. (2005). Best practices in business process redesign: An overview and qualitative evaluation of successful redesign heuristics. Omega, 33(4), 283-306. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.omega.2004.04.012