Workflow And Reengineering International Association

	Excellence in Practice Volume I Innovation and Excellence in Workflow and Imaging By Layna Fischer Quality laminated hardcover, 236 pages. Illustrations, charts, references, appendices, bibliography, index. 7"x 10". ISBN 0-9640233-5-0 Retail price: US $50:00.

The answer lies in the book Excellence in Practice, Innovation and Excellence in Imaging and Workflow, by Layna Fischer, Chair of the Workflow And Reengineering International Association (WARIA), featuring the winners and finalists of the recent annual Giga Excellence Awards. To be recognized as winners, companies must address three critical areas: excellence in innovation, excellence in implementation and excellence in strategic impact to the organization.

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The competitive playing field for workflow and imaging continues to change as visionary companies push the envelope for innovation and excellence. Companies excelling in document imaging and workflow share common characteristics that other organizations are well advised to learn. Companies competing head-to-head against such visionaries must shift their IT and business strategies to keep pace. Ways to move the competitive goalposts when implementing imaging and workflow technology include focusing on enterprise-wide solutions while also reaching the extended enterprise, and empowering users to develop, modify, and enhance flexible, workflow-enabled processes.

One hallmark of a truly excellent implementation is a high level of user involvement, not only in the design phase, but also in all phases of the project. Companies that excel in imaging and workflow understand intuitively that "users know best." Excellence in Practice details, for example, in the case of Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield, how user teams and project team leaders worked together to change the very nature of the customer service representative’s job. By engaging users in defining how work gets done, companies can develop multifunction processes that enhance job structures, improve employee morale, and reduce employee turnover.

Bank of America's Asia Division is another case in point. This business process reengineering project focused not only on technology, but also addressed change management issues that could have otherwise derailed the project. Implementing a system across eight countries, Bank of America Asia Division concentrated on building a multi-disciplinary team, involving users extensively throughout the project, and using prototypes and pilots extensively to test ideas for the multinational implementation. This book demonstrates that companies worldwide must take similar steps to ensure the overall success of reengineering projects, particularly when multiple sites and multiple national cultures are involved.

The case studies of each of the 16 winning corporations featured in Excellence in Practice go into considerable detail regarding the issues of implementation. Readers can find out more about:

• Their system application, what the system is used for, who are the users and what the job entails
• What were their key motivations and their system configuration (number, and type of software, servers, scanners, printers, storage devices, etc., including the identities of the vendors and integrators involved)
• The number of users currently on the system and number of users planned.
• How the company has been impacted by their new system; cost savings, ROI and increased productivity improvements, competitive advantage gained, and how they managed to move the goal posts for their industry.
• Their implementation process and methodology, the project team, and the change management and business process reengineering issues they addressed.
• How these companies managed both their overall technological and business innovations.

To add depth and meaning to the case studies, four leading industry analysts and experts were invited to contribute chapters from their respective perspectives:

• Study: State of the Workflow Industry. 
  Priscilla Emery, Sr. Vice President, Association for Information and Image Management International AIIM
• The Roles of Value-Added Resellers (VARs) and Systems Integrators. 
  Ric Rhodes, President, Document Imaging VAR Association (DIVA)
• Pitfalls in the Strategic Deployment of Process Improvement and Management.
  Geary A. Rummler and Gordon Sellers, the Rummler-Brache Group
• Endnote Chapter: The Seven Traits of the Smart Company. 
  Excerpted from Smart Companies-Smart Tools, by Thomas M. Koulopoulos 1997. Van Nostrand Reinhold New York
• Preview First Chapter by Connie Moore, Giga Information Group

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