UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS: 2016/2017
EXAMINATION FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF BUSINESS IN
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
BBIT 309 BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING
FULL TIME/PART TIME & DISTANCE LEARNING
DATE: DECEMBER, 2016 TIME: 2 HOURS
INSTRUCTIONS: Answer Question One & ANY OTHER TWO questions.
QUESTION ONE – COMPULSORY (30 MARKS)
a) Distinguish between joint ventures and equity strategic alliance. [4 Marks]
b) Describe the three basic types of benchmarking. [6 Marks]
c) Briefly explain the role of corporate culture in selecting a partner. [6 Marks]
d) Discuss the difference between employing IT to automate work and using them to
reengineer business processes. [4 Marks]
e) Reengineering offers a formal method for identifying and achieving radical performance
gains. Research suggests that business transformations occurs in 3 interdependent phases
each offering its own challenges and benefits. Discuss [10 Marks]
QUESTION TWO (20 MARKS)
a) BPR is often used by companies on the brink of disaster to cut costs and return to
profitability. The danger is that during this process the company may slash its capacity for
future growth. Discuss [4Marks]
b) Describe the three basic principles that provide the foundation for service organizations
seeking to reengineer. [6Marks]
c) Although information technology plays a central role in reengineering, “the IS organization
in many companies is unable to deliver.” Discuss [6Marks]
d) Outline four factors that would lead to failure of BPR effort in an organization.
[4Marks]
QUESTION THREE (20 MARKS)
a) A manager’s view on the system differs from that of a designer, a programmer’s view
may be completely different from both. Each of the participant’s views is, however,
relevant to develop the system successfully. Distinguish between the following
perspectives:
i. Business perspective [2 Marks]
ii. Logical perspective [2 Marks]
iii. Technical perspective [2 Marks]
iv. Infrastructure perspective [2 Marks]
b) A consolidated methodology was developed to provide a structured approach and to
facilitate understanding of BPR. List and describe the five processes in the methodology.
[10 Marks]
c) Distinguish between BPR and Process improvement. [2 Marks]
QUESTION FOUR (20 MARKS)
a) Discuss the principles of BPR. [7 Marks]
b) Explain the impact of organization structure on the BPR effort. [4 Marks]
c) According to many in the BPR field, reengineering should focus on processes and not be
limited to thinking about the organizations, after all organizations are only as effective as
their processes. Discuss using an example. [9 Marks]
QUESTION FIVE (20 MARKS)
a) Briefly explain the steps that would be undertaken to reengineer for revenue. [6 Marks]
b) Outline the relationship between Business Process Reengineering and Information
Technology. [4 Marks]
c) With the aid of an example, explain the benefits an organization may gain from business
process reengineering. [10 Marks]
