The aim of this study was to assess the impact that Business Process Excellence has on the innovation process to create new products and services in the software development environment. The best practices were identified in the current use of BPE in software development organisations. Subsequently, a proposal was put forward to enhance the use of BPE in the software development process to create innovative products and services. Once these products are implemented the organisation can use these products as a sustainable competitive advantage. The use of Business Process Excellence in software development creates an innovative environment for employees in order to develop innovative products that can create shareholder wealth, and increase market share. Companies want to create products that are unique to the market, and be able to offer their customers products that only they can offer in order to secure future business. Innovation is a key factor to enhance processes within the software development company. Enhancing the processes can generate new ideas that contribute to the sustainable competitive advantage of the company. The literature does not create a definite link between the use of Business Process Excellence and innovation, and the study aimed at evaluating the possibility to merge the concepts. Business Process Excellence optimises a currently implemented process, by exploring all ideas to increase the effectiveness of the system. It is a structured way to ensure that all possibilities are explored before a decision is made on how the process is structured to implement new products or services. The software development industry is a very competitive industry, and most companies do not share their competitive strategy, or make it available to the public, to ensure that they would be offering their customer something unique. These companies would only make their strategy known to the market once the new product or service is launched, and the trend is set for other companies to follow. It also creates the opportunity for companies to become the market leader within the industry, to ensure growth, and increase profits. Some key aspects were identified that companies could focus on to encourage an innovative environment. Most employees are willing to accept responsibility for the v innovative ideas, since this will benefit the company. Managers should take responsibility for their actions within the software development department, and reward employees that assist in reaching the goals set in company strategy. The software development process should always include a step for quality and reliability. This step is needed, since even the most innovative product needs to be stable and reliable, otherwise the product will not be used by customers if they are frustrated. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

The aim of this study was to assess the impact that Business Process Excellence has on the innovation process to create new products and services in the software development environment. The best practices were identified in the current use of BPE in software development organisations. Subsequently, a proposal was put forward to enhance the use of BPE in the software development process to create innovative products and services. Once these products are implemented the organisation can use these products as a sustainable competitive advantage. The use of Business Process Excellence in software development creates an innovative environment for employees in order to develop innovative products that can create shareholder wealth, and increase market share. Companies want to create products that are unique to the market, and be able to offer their customers products that only they can offer in order to secure future business. Innovation is a key factor to enhance processes within the software development company. Enhancing the processes can generate new ideas that contribute to the sustainable competitive advantage of the company. The literature does not create a definite link between the use of Business Process Excellence and innovation, and the study aimed at evaluating the possibility to merge the concepts. Business Process Excellence optimises a currently implemented process, by exploring all ideas to increase the effectiveness of the system. It is a structured way to ensure that all possibilities are explored before a decision is made on how the process is structured to implement new products or services. The software development industry is a very competitive industry, and most companies do not share their competitive strategy, or make it available to the public, to ensure that they would be offering their customer something unique. These companies would only make their strategy known to the market once the new product or service is launched, and the trend is set for other companies to follow. It also creates the opportunity for companies to become the market leader within the industry, to ensure growth, and increase profits. Some key aspects were identified that companies could focus on to encourage an innovative environment. Most employees are willing to accept responsibility for the v innovative ideas, since this will benefit the company. Managers should take responsibility for their actions within the software development department, and reward employees that assist in reaching the goals set in company strategy. The software development process should always include a step for quality and reliability. This step is needed, since even the most innovative product needs to be stable and reliable, otherwise the product will not be used by customers if they are frustrated. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

The aim of the master thesis is to emphasize the importance of process alignment in The Fourth Industrial Revolution. By mapping of current descriptive maturity models and their application within digitalization, the thesis offers a new process maturity model for the phenomenon referred to as Industry 4.0 (i4.0). The model is based on the theoretical form of previous models, as well as on implementation of newly introduced trends. The contribution of the thesis rests upon the specific solution. The suggested Process Improvement Scheme presents applicable way for improvement of digital process preparedness in project-oriented service organizations and determines main value factors which lead to higher quality of employee processes. In the same time, the master thesis suggest a new utilization of i4.0 principles focused predominantly on manufacturing processes, and therefore includes areas which will need to be addressed in the near future for smooth process transition into i4.0 era.

Processos de backoffice apresentam um grande impacto nos custos de uma empresa. Centros de Serviço Compartilhados têm sido implementados a fim de controlar e melhorar tais processos. O lean, por sua vez, tem em comum com os CSC o objetivo de trazer excelência a processos. Uma análise da literatura indica haver sinergia entre os métodos e que as ferramentas lean possam promover melhorias que a implantação exclusiva de um CSC não tenha atingido. O objetivo deste trabalho é implantar princípios e ferramentas lean visando a busca de excelência em processos de backoffice, que pertençam a um CSC maduro. Para analisar essa possibilidade foi realizado um estudo de caso em empresa do ramo metalúrgico que já dispõe de um CSC considerado maduro em pesquisas de benchmarking na área. Foram implementados: um estudo de estabilidade e capacidade, posteriormente a prática de gerenciamento diário para implementação de melhorias, ocorrendo coleta de dados qualitativa e quantitativa para avaliação dos seus impactos. Por fim, um questionário foi aplicado para detectar a percepção dos colaboradores a respeito das mudanças obtidas com as ferramentas. Os resultados indicaram que mesmo em um CSC já completamente implantado, havia instabilidade e incapacidade nos processos, detectadas através do estudo de capacidade e estabilidade que são usadas na metodologia Lean. Em relação à utilização de gerenciamento diário, agregado à gestão visual, observou-se ser a abordagem que possibilitaria melhores resultados Em uma pesquisa realizada com todos os níveis hierárquicos envolvidos, que comparava o cenário anterior às ferramentas, um mês após a implantação e a expectativa para o cenário em um ano, foi possível comprovar que 64% dos princípios Lean apresentados por Liker (2005) foram melhorados no primeiro mês e que existe uma expectativa de melhorar 95% dos princípios Lean e das funções da comunicação no próximo um ano com os estudos de capacidade/estabilidade e gerenciamento diário. Observou-se que, enquanto os estudos de capacidade e estabilidade detectam as falhas, o gerenciamento diário permite operacionalizar as mudanças, ao mesmo tempo em que reforça os princípios lean. Embora não possam ser generalizáveis os resultados obtidos, pode-se dizer que neste estudo foi possível atingir melhores níveis de desempenho dos processos de um CSC maduro utilizando ferramentas lean, confirmando a hipótese inicial. / Backoffice processes have a high impact on the costs of a company. Shared Service Centers (SSC) has been implemented in order to control and improve these processes. The lean methodology, in turn, has in common with the SSC the aim to bring excellence to processes. A literature review indicates that there is synergy between the methods and the lean tools can make improvements that exclusive implementation of a CSC has not reached. The aim of this study is to implement lean principles and tools aimed at the pursuit of excellence in backoffice processes, belonging to a mature SSC. To test the initial hypothesis it was conducted a case study in a metal industry that already has a mature SSC. It was implemented: stability and capacity analysis and the practice of daily management to implement improvements, occurring qualitative and quantitative data collection to assess its impact. Finally, a questionnaire was applied to detect the perception of employees about the changes obtained with the tools. The results indicated that even in a SSC already fully deployed, there is instability and failure in processes, detected by stability and capacity analysis that are used in lean methodology. Regarding the use of daily management, added to the visual management, was noted to be the approach would enable better results In a survey of all levels involved, which compared the previous scenario before the tools, one month after implantation and the expectation for the scenario in a year, it was possible to prove that 64% of the lean principles have been improved in the first month and it is expected to improve 95% of the lean principles and communication functions in one year with stability and capacity analysis and daily management. It was observed that, while the stability and capacity analysis detect faults, the daily management enables operational changes at the same time that increases lean principles perception. Although the results obtained may not be generalizable, it can be said that in this study it was possible to achieve better performance levels of processes of a mature CSC using lean tools, confirming the initial hypothesis.

Processos de backoffice apresentam um grande impacto nos custos de uma empresa. Centros de Serviço Compartilhados têm sido implementados a fim de controlar e melhorar tais processos. O lean, por sua vez, tem em comum com os CSC o objetivo de trazer excelência a processos. Uma análise da literatura indica haver sinergia entre os métodos e que as ferramentas lean possam promover melhorias que a implantação exclusiva de um CSC não tenha atingido. O objetivo deste trabalho é implantar princípios e ferramentas lean visando a busca de excelência em processos de backoffice, que pertençam a um CSC maduro. Para analisar essa possibilidade foi realizado um estudo de caso em empresa do ramo metalúrgico que já dispõe de um CSC considerado maduro em pesquisas de benchmarking na área. Foram implementados: um estudo de estabilidade e capacidade, posteriormente a prática de gerenciamento diário para implementação de melhorias, ocorrendo coleta de dados qualitativa e quantitativa para avaliação dos seus impactos. Por fim, um questionário foi aplicado para detectar a percepção dos colaboradores a respeito das mudanças obtidas com as ferramentas. Os resultados indicaram que mesmo em um CSC já completamente implantado, havia instabilidade e incapacidade nos processos, detectadas através do estudo de capacidade e estabilidade que são usadas na metodologia Lean. Em relação à utilização de gerenciamento diário, agregado à gestão visual, observou-se ser a abordagem que possibilitaria melhores resultados Em uma pesquisa realizada com todos os níveis hierárquicos envolvidos, que comparava o cenário anterior às ferramentas, um mês após a implantação e a expectativa para o cenário em um ano, foi possível comprovar que 64% dos princípios Lean apresentados por Liker (2005) foram melhorados no primeiro mês e que existe uma expectativa de melhorar 95% dos princípios Lean e das funções da comunicação no próximo um ano com os estudos de capacidade/estabilidade e gerenciamento diário. Observou-se que, enquanto os estudos de capacidade e estabilidade detectam as falhas, o gerenciamento diário permite operacionalizar as mudanças, ao mesmo tempo em que reforça os princípios lean. Embora não possam ser generalizáveis os resultados obtidos, pode-se dizer que neste estudo foi possível atingir melhores níveis de desempenho dos processos de um CSC maduro utilizando ferramentas lean, confirmando a hipótese inicial. / Backoffice processes have a high impact on the costs of a company. Shared Service Centers (SSC) has been implemented in order to control and improve these processes. The lean methodology, in turn, has in common with the SSC the aim to bring excellence to processes. A literature review indicates that there is synergy between the methods and the lean tools can make improvements that exclusive implementation of a CSC has not reached. The aim of this study is to implement lean principles and tools aimed at the pursuit of excellence in backoffice processes, belonging to a mature SSC. To test the initial hypothesis it was conducted a case study in a metal industry that already has a mature SSC. It was implemented: stability and capacity analysis and the practice of daily management to implement improvements, occurring qualitative and quantitative data collection to assess its impact. Finally, a questionnaire was applied to detect the perception of employees about the changes obtained with the tools. The results indicated that even in a SSC already fully deployed, there is instability and failure in processes, detected by stability and capacity analysis that are used in lean methodology. Regarding the use of daily management, added to the visual management, was noted to be the approach would enable better results In a survey of all levels involved, which compared the previous scenario before the tools, one month after implantation and the expectation for the scenario in a year, it was possible to prove that 64% of the lean principles have been improved in the first month and it is expected to improve 95% of the lean principles and communication functions in one year with stability and capacity analysis and daily management. It was observed that, while the stability and capacity analysis detect faults, the daily management enables operational changes at the same time that increases lean principles perception. Although the results obtained may not be generalizable, it can be said that in this study it was possible to achieve better performance levels of processes of a mature CSC using lean tools, confirming the initial hypothesis.

Processos de backoffice apresentam um grande impacto nos custos de uma empresa. Centros de Serviço Compartilhados têm sido implementados a fim de controlar e melhorar tais processos. O lean, por sua vez, tem em comum com os CSC o objetivo de trazer excelência a processos. Uma análise da literatura indica haver sinergia entre os métodos e que as ferramentas lean possam promover melhorias que a implantação exclusiva de um CSC não tenha atingido. O objetivo deste trabalho é implantar princípios e ferramentas lean visando a busca de excelência em processos de backoffice, que pertençam a um CSC maduro. Para analisar essa possibilidade foi realizado um estudo de caso em empresa do ramo metalúrgico que já dispõe de um CSC considerado maduro em pesquisas de benchmarking na área. Foram implementados: um estudo de estabilidade e capacidade, posteriormente a prática de gerenciamento diário para implementação de melhorias, ocorrendo coleta de dados qualitativa e quantitativa para avaliação dos seus impactos. Por fim, um questionário foi aplicado para detectar a percepção dos colaboradores a respeito das mudanças obtidas com as ferramentas. Os resultados indicaram que mesmo em um CSC já completamente implantado, havia instabilidade e incapacidade nos processos, detectadas através do estudo de capacidade e estabilidade que são usadas na metodologia Lean. Em relação à utilização de gerenciamento diário, agregado à gestão visual, observou-se ser a abordagem que possibilitaria melhores resultados Em uma pesquisa realizada com todos os níveis hierárquicos envolvidos, que comparava o cenário anterior às ferramentas, um mês após a implantação e a expectativa para o cenário em um ano, foi possível comprovar que 64% dos princípios Lean apresentados por Liker (2005) foram melhorados no primeiro mês e que existe uma expectativa de melhorar 95% dos princípios Lean e das funções da comunicação no próximo um ano com os estudos de capacidade/estabilidade e gerenciamento diário. Observou-se que, enquanto os estudos de capacidade e estabilidade detectam as falhas, o gerenciamento diário permite operacionalizar as mudanças, ao mesmo tempo em que reforça os princípios lean. Embora não possam ser generalizáveis os resultados obtidos, pode-se dizer que neste estudo foi possível atingir melhores níveis de desempenho dos processos de um CSC maduro utilizando ferramentas lean, confirmando a hipótese inicial. / Backoffice processes have a high impact on the costs of a company. Shared Service Centers (SSC) has been implemented in order to control and improve these processes. The lean methodology, in turn, has in common with the SSC the aim to bring excellence to processes. A literature review indicates that there is synergy between the methods and the lean tools can make improvements that exclusive implementation of a CSC has not reached. The aim of this study is to implement lean principles and tools aimed at the pursuit of excellence in backoffice processes, belonging to a mature SSC. To test the initial hypothesis it was conducted a case study in a metal industry that already has a mature SSC. It was implemented: stability and capacity analysis and the practice of daily management to implement improvements, occurring qualitative and quantitative data collection to assess its impact. Finally, a questionnaire was applied to detect the perception of employees about the changes obtained with the tools. The results indicated that even in a SSC already fully deployed, there is instability and failure in processes, detected by stability and capacity analysis that are used in lean methodology. Regarding the use of daily management, added to the visual management, was noted to be the approach would enable better results In a survey of all levels involved, which compared the previous scenario before the tools, one month after implantation and the expectation for the scenario in a year, it was possible to prove that 64% of the lean principles have been improved in the first month and it is expected to improve 95% of the lean principles and communication functions in one year with stability and capacity analysis and daily management. It was observed that, while the stability and capacity analysis detect faults, the daily management enables operational changes at the same time that increases lean principles perception. Although the results obtained may not be generalizable, it can be said that in this study it was possible to achieve better performance levels of processes of a mature CSC using lean tools, confirming the initial hypothesis.