Panel discussion on the role of modeling and simulation in business process reengineering

Modeling and simulation are important technologies that can be applied to business process reengineering (BPR). Dynamic process models afford the analysis of alternative process scenarios through simulation by providing quantitative process metrics such as cost, cycle time, serviceability and resource utilization. These metrics form the basis for evaluating alternatives and selecting the most promising scenario for implementation. Tradeoffs can be made on the basis of measurements as opposed to intuition, resulting in more informed business decisions. The paper summarizes the ideas to be presented in a panel discussion session on the role of modeling and simulation in business process reengineering. Each panelist represents a different perspective: 1) a theoretical view, 2) a BPR practitioner's view and 3) a software system view. The objective of this session is to highlight key issues in modeling and simulation of business processes from each of these perspectives and to motivate research and tool development in this area.