Evaluation of a Pattern-Based Approach for Business Process Improvement

Although many approaches for business process improvement (BPI) are available and have proven their usefulness, it is often stated that they do not provide sufficient methodological support for all phases of a BPI initiative. To close this gap, a pattern-based approach has been suggested as a suitable means to directly support the “act of improvement” and to provide systematic guidance. However, what is missing is an evaluation that provides well-founded insights into the qualities and benefits of this approach. Therefore, this paper presents the results of a laboratory experiment which was conducted to assess the impact of the BPI-Pattern Approach on a process improvement project. The findings, which are based on a number of hypothesis tests, confirm a positive influence on both effectiveness and efficiency when the BPI-Pattern Approach is used