How can a court carry out a successful reengineering or process improvement effort?
Critical issues to consider are: (a) whether the court is organizationally ready for reengineering or process improvement; (b) whether the court has created an appropriate governance structure to oversee and carry out the effort; (c) whether the court has made adequate preparations to deal with the change process and to overcome barriers to success; and (d) whether the court has chosen the right tools to accomplish the effort. With these issues in mind, it is desirable to take a “strategic management” approach and follow these four steps: 1. Establish an appropriate foundation; 2. Measure the “as is” versus “to be” gap and develop feasible alternatives to existing processes; 3. Choose the desired solution and plan for its implementation; and 4. Implement the enhanced business process solution and make further process improvements as needed. For more about these steps, see David Steelman, Court Business Process Enhancement Manual (Conference of State Court Administrators and National As
