Introduction to Business Engineering

The term Business Engineering may not be familiar to you as same as other Engineering disciplines. Although business engineering is now an established field in the world, it’s popularity compared to other Engineering applications is not recognizable. Nevertheless Business Engineering will rule the business world as well as Engineering world in the near future as it is the cutting edge of science, engineering and business, crossing the boundaries of each discipline to gain new insights.

For your further knowledge, through this article I will make an effort to provide you with a deep understanding on Business Engineering starting from the introduction.

What is Business Engineering?

Business Engineering (BE) is the interaction between business domains and engineering applications. The core concept of BE includes the design of a business with analytics and supporting information technological tools in a systematic way. The major process involved with Business engineering (BE) is the development and implementation of business solutions, from business model to business processes and organizational structure to information systems and information technology. BE is centered around the advantages of information technology for transforming a business into a business system. Business engineering is often regarded as a subfield of business informatics because of its massive use of information technology. So, to state briefly Business Engineering combines knowledge in the fields of business administration, Industrial Engineering, as well as information technology for Identifying and analyzing business problems and finding solutions.

What areas will be covered in Business Engineering?

Every company, organization or the work of an entrepreneur start its journey as a Business. If I say the world is full of different kinds of businesses I won’t be wrong. So, Business Engineering is a large landscape covering several subject areas including but not limited to,

Business Analysis

Business Analysis can be generally described as a research discipline that helps you to define and validate solutions that meets business needs, goals, or objectives. As mentioned above there are several business domains so, these solutions may include the development of a software or system component, improvements in process, organizational changes or strategic planning and policy development. The main purpose of business analysis is to identify solutions that meet the need for improvement. Moreover, business analysis helps you to understand the structure and the dynamics of the company and provide a pathway to identify and articulate the need for change.

Although, the practices and procedures may vary in various industries there are six common steps for business analysis as,

1. Enterprise analysis
2. Requirement planning and Management
3. Requirement Elicitation
4. Requirement analysis and Documentation
5. Requirement Communication
6. Solution Evolution and Validation.

In order to implement these steps, some prevailing business analysis techniques that are used by business analysts can be identified.

· MOST — Mission, Objectives, Strategies

· PESTLE — Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological, Legal, Environmental

· SWOT — Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats

· MoSCoW — Must or Should, Could or Would

· CATWOE — Customers, Actors, Transformation Process, World View, Owner, Environmental

Business process reengineering (BPR)

“Business Reengineering is the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical, contemporary measures of performance, such as cost, quality, service, and speed” — Michael Hammer and James Champy

Business process reengineering is a method used to improve the performance of any business by increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of processes that exist across the business. Simply stating it is the act of recreating a business process with the goal of improving product output, quality, or reducing costs. The world is being subjected to changes every day so normally, reasons such as new market opportunities, increasing competition, poor financial performance, and decreasing market share arise the need for a change in any business. BRP is the approach used to bring this change in order to provide solutions for the above reasons. Business process reengineering is not an easy task as it involves enforcing change in an organization which will tear down something people are used to and create something new. But proper implementation of Business Process Reengineering can be a game-changer to any business.

Generally, Six Key Steps can be identified in Business Process Reengineering also,

1. Define Business Processes
2. Analyze Business Processes.
3. Identify and Analyze Improvement Opportunities.
4. Design Future State Processes.
5. Develop Future State Changes
6. Implement Future State Changes.

There are several business process reengineering methodologies out there that helps in bringing the change to any business process. Some of them can be listed as,

· Hammer / Champy Methodology

· Davenport Methodology

· Manganelli / Klein Methodology

Enterprise resource planning (ERP)

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) refers to a type of software used in different business domains to manage day-to-day business activities such as accounting, procurement, project management, risk management and compliance, and supply chain operations. ERP is usually referred to as a category of business management software. A complete suite of ERP applications forms an ERP system that can be used to effectively communicate and bring together business processes to enable a flow of data between the applications. The main purpose of an ERP system is to increase efficiency of a business by managing and improving how resources are utilized. For better understanding imagine an organization with several departments. In this situation an enterprise resource planning system act as the component that binds together the different computer systems of each department. Without an ERP application, each department would have a system specified for its own tasks. But with ERP software, each department still has its system, but all of the systems can be accessed through one central application with one interface. So, ERP applications allow different departments to communicate and share information more easily with the rest of the organization.

There are also different operational types of ERP software:

• On-premise ERP: ERP software which is deployed directly on your in-site devices.
• Open Source ERP: Open source ERP software used to you customize your application to better suit your workplace.
• Cloud-based ERP: ERP Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) which is available over a Cloud-hosting service.
• Hybrid ERP: ERP which blend on premise and Cloud-based deployment.

Operations Management (OM)

The term operations describes all the activities required to create and deliver goods or services to its customers or clients after performing a certain process. Operations management is the process that generally plans, controls and supervises manufacturing and production processes and service delivery. OM is important in a business because it helps effectively manage, control and supervise goods, services and people.

Since all business fields have operations, certain ways to create an output from various input sources, whether it be manufacturing physical products or offering services, OM is essential in reaching the goals of every business domain. Operations management is a multidisciplinary functional area in a company, along with finance and marketing which are three major functions of any organization. The objective of operations management is to maximize efficiency while producing goods and services that effectively meet customer satisfaction.

As a whole Operations Management includes:

• Forecasting

• Capacity planning

• Scheduling

• Managing inventories

• Assuring quality

• Motivating employees

• Deciding where to locate facilities

• And more . . .

Inventory Management (IM)

If we consider any business there are several types of inventories you encounter ,

• Raw materials & purchased parts

• Work in progress

• Finished-goods inventories

• Replacement parts, tools, & supplies

• Goods-in-transit to warehouses or customers

Inventory management is the system that organizes the way inventory moves through the supply chain. It covers all steps from sourcing, storing, and selling inventories. In business terms, inventory management means the right stock, at the right levels, in the right place, at the right time, and with the right price. Inventory management is crucial for businesses to ensure that they are maintaining aligning inventory levels at all times to minimize cost.

Inventory management is a complex process, but the basics are essentially the same, regardless of the size or type of business. So, a certain business domain will use various inventory management methods. Some of these management techniques include,

· Economic order quantity (EOQ)

· ABC analysis

· Just-in-time (JIT)

· safety stock

· reorder point (ROP)

· FIFO (First-in, First-out) and LIFO (Last-in, First-out)

Computer-aided Design and Computer-aided Manufacturing (CAD/CAM)

Computer Aided Design and Computer Aided Manufacturing are two computer based technologies used in a business to perform design and manufacturing functions. Computer-aided design (CAD) involves creating computer models defined by geometrical parameters in the design process. CAD systems enable designers to view objects under a wide variety of representations and to test these objects by simulating real-world conditions. CAM is the use of computer systems to plan, manage and control the operations of manufacturing plant through either direct or indirect computer interface with the plant’s production resources. The main purpose of CAM is to create a faster production process involving computer based tools so, as a result CAM reduces manpower costs in the manufacturing process. The development of CAD and CAM has greatly shortened the period between design and manufacture and greatly expanded the scope of production processes. Additionally, CAD/CAM has given the designer much more direct control over the production process, creating the possibility of completely integrated design and manufacturing processes.

What are the career paths, Business Engineering will bring?

Business Engineering is a new but an outstanding discipline that brings out more captivating career paths to young minds interested in business and Engineering.

Business Engineer

A Business Engineer is a hybrid between a business person and an engineer, a person with the understanding of how the business world works and engineering abilities to understand a complex organization. A business engineer is a combination of a commercial and technical role. So, Business Engineer should interact with customers while consulting Account Managers to provide technical and commercial support. Responsibilities also include Supporting and training the organization in technical, commercial and market-oriented tasks and Coordinating and driving customer-related and internal projects.

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or comparable technical field with hands on knowledge on business models, ERP, BRP, CAD/CAM and other related fields will be considered in hiring a Business Engineer. According to PayScale, the average yearly pay for a Business Engineer is $67,429. The total pay varies from $35,479 — $83,845 based on salary and bonus. If you enjoy engaging in business as an Engineer, career path you are seeking is Business Engineer.

Business Analyst

A Business Analyst is a person who helps businesses to analyze their processes, products, services, and systems to improve current condition and make profitable decisions through business analysis. Business analysts are responsible for connecting the gap between IT and the business. BA is also accountable for identifying requirements of each and every stakeholder related to business domain by interacting with them and for engaging relevant stakeholders in the requirements elicitation process. Business Analyst does not engage directly in finding solutions for arising technical problems but it is their duty to help the technical team in avoiding problems due to lack of correspondence between their work and needs of stakeholders. So, a Business Analyst is expected to perform an excellent job in bridging technical team and stakeholders. A professional business analyst plays a big role in moving an organization toward efficiency, productivity, and profitability. Moreover, a business analyst job description typically includes creating a detailed business analysis, outlining problems, opportunities, solutions for a business, budgeting and forecasting, planning and monitoring, variance analysis, reporting and documentation, defining business requirements and reporting them back to stakeholders and negotiating conflicts among stakeholders during elicitation. There are various classifications for titles and roles of a business analyst like business process analyst, business systems analyst, business operation analyst, depending on the business domain and project goals.

This position usually requires a bachelor’s degree at the minimum with an understanding about related fields such as Business Engineering, business Administration, management and Information Technology. According to salary.com the average Business Analyst salary in the United States is $77,434, but the salary range typically falls between $69,536 and $86,509. If you enjoy analyzing data, creating solutions, working with a variety of people and have sound knowledge on information technology, a career as a business analyst could be for you.

What are the future trends of Business Engineering?

Business Engineering together with Artificial Intelligence (AI) will define the future of business domains. Artificial intelligence has begun to increase its footprint in almost every field. Business engineering also has cross paths with AI to provide better products and services to the customers. At present generative design applications automatically optimize CAD designs to best fit the functional definition even including how it will be manufactured. One important subset of AI, Machine Learning algorithms help businesses to analyze large amounts of data, identify patterns and predict outcomes. In manufacturing, AI solutions can make the production process more efficient and enable autonomous maintenance and upgrades. Use of AI in Business Engineering will save time and money by automating and optimizing processes and increase productivity and operational efficiencies. Both AI and Business Engineering are emerging technologies so, their union will take sometime to fully enter the world but it’s sure that the change they are bringing to any business domain will be enormous.

In the business engineering paradigm, a business is viewed as a complex system of structures and processes that can be engineered to strengthen business performance.

Hope you enjoy the article and have grasped an idea of business engineering. Thank you very much for reading !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Isuruni Rathnayaka