BPR through SSM: an incremental approach

Business process reengineering (BPR) starts with a `vision´ of what a business could, should, or might be. Soft systems methodology (SSM) offers a way of developing such a vision. The paper is concerned with the subsequent implementation stage, in which the vision is realised through changes to the business. It is proposed that change be defined in incremental steps, described by an `evolutionary system plan´. The steps are determined through cost benefit and risk analysis, and documented as a series of related SSM system models. The implications of this approach are examined