Question

How might a business learn about a proposed process improvement through a prototyping activity? What is the fundamental purpose of a prototype? Give a specific example.

Answer 1

Prototyping technique is a quicker or miniature version of a desired system . In the requirement of process improvement manytimes estimation of cost itself and it's impact is difficult to determine. During this prototyping technique can be adopted inorder to represent this to the higher authority and explain the possibilities, estimate the impact and approximate costing etc.Prototyping helps in decision support as it can avoid risk by identify the drawbacks at the early stage itself instead of investing a lot on the process . The fundamental purpose of prototyp is to create a miniature model,making a cost effective representation of the desired things and avoid risk .

One specific example of protyping is a mini ERP in a system for integration of procurement and order fulfillment activities. The smaller version of ERP can give a pilot run and can understand the benefits on terms of turn around time, commmunication efficiency etc.