Reinvention/Reengineering
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Leading Change | |
Reinvention/Reengineering |
What is Reengineering?
In the extreme, reengineering assumes the current process is irrelevant - it doesn't work, it's broke, forget it. Start over. Such a clean slate perspective enables the designers of business processes to disassociate themselves from today's process, and focus on a new process. In a manner of speaking, it is like projecting yourself into the future and asking yourself: what should the process look like? What do my customers want it to look like? What do other employees want it to look like? How do best-in-class companies do it? What might we be able to do with new technology?
The Focus
The National Performance Review (NPR) was created by presidential directive in March 1993 as a major management reform initiative under the direction of the Vice President. Renamed the National Partnership for Reinventing Government in 1997, the NPR supports the effort to attain a more efficient, effective, and productive government -- one that works better and costs less. The Secretary of the Army's Reinvention Policy letter, published in April 1999, encourages leveraging the environment for change which the NPR creates.
The Army Challenge
The Army has been challenged to shift from rules to results, to insist on customer satisfaction, to decentralize authority, and to focus on core missions while concurrently continuing to transform its force structure to meet the demands of the 21st century. Though not an easy task, the results thus far have been promising.
A key part of the NPR initiative has been the creation of agency "reinvention labs." In April 1993, the Vice President sent a letter to the heads of major federal departments and agencies asking them "...to pick a few places where we can immediately unshackle our workers so they can re-engineer their work processes to fully accomplish their missions -- places where we can fully delegate authority and responsibility, replace regulations with incentives, and measure our success by customer satisfaction." In response to the Vice President's request, dozens of federal agencies have established reinvention labs and the Army has begun to "reinvent" the Departmental headquarters and those commands whose missions are to man, train, equip, maintain, and sustain our fighting units. The Army currently has 48 Reinvention labs, out of a DoD total of approximately 140. These reinvention labs have been very successful in championing innovation, encouraging prudent risk-taking, removing bureaucratic barriers, and linking authority, responsibility, and accountability.
Reinvention Centers
In addition to the labs, the Army has seven Reinvention Centers; U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, U.S. Army Forces Command, U.S. Army Materiel Command, U.S. Army Medical Command, U.S. Army Special Operations Command, U.S. Army South, and Headquarters, Department of the Army. The commanders of these organizations are delegated broad powers to establish their own labs, to waive regulations in support of reinvention initiatives, and to coordinate directly with the DoD regarding legislative changes to support reinvention.
Waivers to DA and DoD Regulations
The waiver process is an important tool in the Army's efforts to reinvent itself. In 1994, the Secretary of Defense implemented this process to allow reinvention labs to waive DoD regulations that impede good business practices. In August of that same year, the Army published similar guidance pertaining to DA regulations. Currently, the Army organizations have enacted 336 waivers, 328 of those were generated by reinvention labs and centers and remaining 8 from the balance of the Army. Revised waiver policies and procedures were published on 16 April 1999.
Reengineering Legislative Working Group
To assist MACOMs their efforts, the Army established the Reengineering Legislative Working Group (RLWG). The purpose of the RLWG is to conduct a comprehensive review of all proposed legislative changes submitted in support of Army reinvention and reengineering initiatives. The RLWG validates the inherent value of each legislative change proposal and determines the best course of action for gaining Congressional approval.
Success Stories
The Army remains in the forefront of the Federal Government in its implementation of National Partnership for Reinventing Government initiatives. Many Army agencies continue to do extraordinary things to make their operations work better and cost less. The Hammer Award is presented by the Vice President to federal agencies and activities nation-wide recognized as "Heroes of Reinvention" for their extraordinary accomplishment and success in smashing bureaucracy and cutting red tape. Army organizations have earned 136 of the approximately 1250 Hammer Awards presented to federal agencies since its inception in 1994. Approximately 32 percent of these awards presented to the DoD have gone to Army organizations.
The Journey into the 21st Century
As the Army continues its journey toward the future, it must find new and innovative ways to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its people and organizations. The Army's ability to generate, test, and implement new ways to improve efficiency and effectiveness will be a key factor in how it acquires, focuses, and conserves resources for America's 21st century Army.
Process for Obtaining Designation as a Reinvention Center/Laboratory
Sources for Training and Development of Performance Measures
Please send comments to: leadingchange@hqda.army.mil
Last revision: 18 Aug 2008