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Utilizing Business Process Management (BPM) for Performance Improvement: A Case Study of an Express
Company in Taiwan

4.2.2 PDCA Cycle
The Planning Stage
The purpose of the planning stage is to define business context and to design business
processes. As shown in 4.2.1, the project team members first document the AS-IS process,

collect internal and external regulations, and connect the process to corporate strategy.
“Linking the process to corporate strategy is critical to communicate the value to all
stakeholders involved in a project,” the senior corporate advisor states.

Moreover, team members are able to identify the disadvantages of the AS-IS process
and develop an improved business process flow by combining the information collected.
“Several factors that led to process deficiency were discovered. The report was in paper
form and carried by the courier. This caused a long process time due to transportation
and waiting. The paper report was also prone to damage, which led to repeating of work

tasks. Additionally, there were no internal policies or regulations that required signatures
on the compensation report. And it didn’t have to be a serial process,” the business process
analyst revealed.

To solve these identified problems, the project team combines the compensation
report and offer letter into one document and decides to digitalize the process by using
Microsoft SharePoint 2013. The senior corporate advisor states that “we expected a 50%
improvement in process time at the beginning. That is 4.75 working days. We also expected
zero ‘damaged’ reports in the TO-BE process.”

Other than undertaking the actions to understand the then-current business process,
the project team also holds several informal meetings with HR colleagues. “Our job is to
bring changes to other functions. It is common that people resist changes at the beginning.

This is why it is so important to create a social connection with them. It can more or less
reduce their resistance during the project,” the senior corporate advisor states.

The Do Stage
The purpose of the do stage is to commit the designed process to operations. The

project team takes several initiatives to support successful implementation. First, there is a
change in the HR organization structure. “Recruiters previously reported to the resourcing
manager. Now, they report to the HR business partner so that the performance of recruiters

is linked to the HR business partner. This change directly increased the engagement of HR

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