IT Enabled Process Improvement (Spring 2024)

Abstract

The students will learn theoretical foundations of IT-enabled process improvement and apply these to a real life practical context by working with an organisation.

Description

Continuously improving and innovating organisational processes is considered essential for organisational survival. Accordingly, many frameworks and theoretical perspectives exist for approaching such improvement initiatives. While business processes may be improved through redesign or through automation, this course focuses on the redesign of processes that involve human work.

After the course, the students should be able to: 

• Use the methods taught in the course to analyse and improve business processes that involve human work 
• Analyse business process improvement initiatives using theories taught in the course 
• Reflect on similarities and differences between different methods and theoretical perspectives on process improvement and on the effects that these differences may have when conducting process improvement in an organisational context
• Explain how different types of information technology can enable or inhibit process improvement 

In addition, the students have to demonstrate (as part of the project work) that they can: 

• Develop an appropriate research design for an improvement project in a specific organisational context reflecting upon different options and qualifying their decisions 
• Define a relevant and adequate problem definition for an improvement initiative in a specific organisational context involving relevant stakeholders 
• Facilitate/conduct an ample analysis of the current situation in a specific organisational context as a basis for suggesting actual improvements
• Develop and justify a plan/solution for an improvement initiative in a specific organisational context involving relevant stakeholders 
  
• Perform an executive presentation of the result of their project work 
  
• Reflect upon the project work; research design, process, result, learning etc. 
  

Formal prerequisites

Students should be able to:
- Formulate a research question
- Search for and cite literature
- Conduct a minor field study using interviews and observation
- Create business processes models using BPMN*

*You can acquire this skill by attending Business Process Modelling & Automation in the same semester

Intended learning outcomes

After the course, the student should be able to:

• Use the methods taught in the course to analyse and improve business processes that involve human work
• Analyse business process improvement initiatives using theories taught in the course
• Reflect on similarities and differences between different methods and theoretical perspectives on process improvement and on the effects that these differences may have when conducting process improvement in an organisational context
• Explain how different types of information technology can enable or inhibit process improvement
• Develop an appropriate research design for an improvement project in a specific organisational context reflecting upon different options and qualifying their decisions
• Define a relevant and adequate problem definition for an improvement initiative in a specific organisational context involving relevant stakeholders
• Facilitate/conduct an ample analysis of the current situation in a specific organisational context as a basis for suggesting actual improvements
• Develop and justify a plan/solution for an improvement initiative in a specific organisational context involving relevant stakeholders
• Perform an executive presentation of the result of their project work
• Reflect upon the project work; research design, process, result, learning etc.

Learning activities

In this course, the students will learn both methods and theoretical prespectives on process improvement. The methods include:

• Business Process Reengineering
• Design Thinking 
• Lean Management
• Business Process Simulation
• Service Design
• Six Sigma

Theoretical perspectives include theories of routines, organizational learning, change, and others.

Learning activities include lectures, reading practitioner and academic literature related to process improvement, in-class discussion, exercises, case study discussion, e-learning exercises, and, in particular, the work on a student project. The student project revolves around improving an organizational process in a specific real-life context. The projects are carried out in groups. Each group will identify and define a relevant improvement initiative in close collaboration with its case organization, analyze the current situation of the chosen process, and, based on the analysis, develop and justify a plan or a solution for improving the defined situation. 

Course literature

The course literature will be made available on LearnIT.

Student Activity Budget

Estimated distribution of learning activities for the typical student

• Preparation for lectures and exercises: 15%
• Lectures: 15%
• Exercises: 15%
• Project work, supervision included: 45%
• Exam with preparation: 10%

Ordinary exam

Exam type:
D: Submission of written work with following oral, External (7-point scale)
Exam variation:
D2G: Submission for groups with following oral exam supplemented by the submission. Shared responsibility for the report.

reexam

Exam type:
D: Submission of written work with following oral, External (7-point scale)
Exam variation:
D2G: Submission for groups with following oral exam supplemented by the submission. Shared responsibility for the report.

Time and date

Ordinary Exam - submission Tue, 21 May 2024, 08:00 - 14:00
Ordinary Exam Mon, 10 June 2024, 09:00 - 18:00
Ordinary Exam Tue, 11 June 2024, 09:00 - 18:00
Ordinary Exam Wed, 12 June 2024, 09:00 - 18:00
Ordinary Exam Thu, 13 June 2024, 09:00 - 18:00
Ordinary Exam Fri, 14 June 2024, 09:00 - 18:00
Ordinary Exam Mon, 17 June 2024, 09:00 - 18:00
Reexam - submission Wed, 24 July 2024, 08:00 - 14:00
Reexam Thu, 15 Aug 2024, 09:00 - 21:00
Reexam Fri, 16 Aug 2024, 09:00 - 13:00