This proprietary technology is a worldwide Knowledge Management (KM) process, driven by the Ford Motor Company operation groups, and centered around three major principals of Knowledge Management : Collecting knowledge, in this case gathering, valuable proven practices, communicating knowledge about the practices to communities of practice/networks, and leveraging knowledge by actively managing the process.

Knowledge Management is a key principle for world-class organizations to achieve best-in-class performance. BPR has been recognized within the knowledge management arena as an example of how organizations can improve the management of their Number 1 resource.... employee know-how.

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Step One Collect Proven Practices

Step Two Communicate The Practices

Step Three Manage The Process

Benefits Summary

Process - Establish business processes for the collection and approval of high value practices that can be distributed and implemented throughout the company.

People - An ideal application for building relationships by quickly communicating information the key to fostering team learning.

Tools - Provides tools and technology to enable nimble and intuitive communication of the information.

Over the last six years, Ford has achieved over 10,000 replications/year of over 11,000+ best practices, resulting in the identification of over $1.3 Billion in value to Ford, of which nearly $939 Million in has been achieved. Ford has shown, through its launch of over 45 community's of practice, that BPR provides a proven process of learning, sharing, and adopting better business practices which in turn generate a higher yield.

Features

• Guiding principles for the BPR Process are:

  
  - High-value practices only -- no tips/techniques
  - Value of practices can be quantified
  - Idea has been implemented/proven
  - Process is a closed-loop, push process
  - Process is actively managed through the use of summary and detailed management reports.
  

• BPR User Manual - This 115+ page manual includes detailed instruction about the process, roles and responsibilities, data definitions, and capabilities of the system. Can be used to reduce process development, documentation time, provide more efficient training, and provide a guideline in adapting to other intranet solutions.
• Implementation Guidelines - A project management template used to govern the implementation of the process to each new community of practice at Ford. This guideline includes seven major tasks, 63 sub-tasks, timelines, and roles, which are completed prior to fully launching internal business partners.
• ISO Process - There are nine functions that support the three KM components noted above. These functions are detailed in a 43-step ISO process which serves as a guide in answering who, what and when.

Applications

Enterprise-wide solution for medium/large scale organizations.

Development Status

Development is complete and implementation at Ford Motor Company began in 1996.

Licensee Support

Ford will provide an appropriate amount of hours in assistance, in order to help customize, and launch BPR. This support is conducted in a workshop format, and is no additional charge, except for reimbursement for out of pocket costs for travel and living expenses. This knowledge transfer and implementation assistance from Ford's experience in launching eBPR in one of the largest corporations in the world, as well as experience in launching other licensees, is a critical component of this offering.