An integrated method to evaluate business process alternatives

Purpose – Globalization and digitalization have led to the need for a different view of international business. Computer technology, especially in the form of enterprise systems, presents the opportunity to apply best (or at least better) practices. Twentieth century enterprise systems were focused on internal optimization. Twenty‐first century enterprise systems need to be much more open, and to focus on the demand chain, driven by serving customers better. To better fulfill this need, this paper aims to present a method for evaluation of business process alternatives focusing on demand chain needs. Design/methodology/approach – A method integrating decision making and system approach principles is presented that includes use of soft systems approaches to identify goals and interrelationships among system parts, generation of alternatives, analysis of alternative performance on goals, refining alternatives to better satisfy goals, and multiple criteria selection analysis to recommend choice. Findings – The method is demonstrated on a small business process design. This process can allow broader consideration of organizational goals and focus on customer demands. Originality/value – The paper demonstrates how such a method might work to better support the design of enterprise systems in this dynamic new environment.