Organisation: the management structure, roles, responsibilities and
resources;
Processes: the business processes used to deliver the organisation’s
products and services to customers, and to support its work;
People: the staff members responsible for implementing the business
processes and carrying out the work of the organisation;
Technology: the hardware and software systems used to support the work
of the organisation.
Using the four-view model
The technique is used as an aide-memoire when defining the elements that need
to be considered during a business change process. For example, if the business
processes are to be improved then their impacts upon the other three areas may
change: the IT systems may need enhancement to support the new processes; the
users – the people – may need to be trained and informed of their new roles; the
management structure may need to be amended to reflect the revised roles and
responsibilities. When defining changes to any part of an organisation or business
system it is vital that the other three elements of the model are considered and
the corresponding changes identified.
The four-view model is drawn to illustrate that a whole organisation or business
system consists of four elements that need to work in concert. Changing one of
these elements inevitably has an impact upon the other three, and all four
aspects need to work together if the business changes are to be successful.
A process that has been redesigned to be highly efficient will be diminished by
untrained staff or poor-quality IT support; a highly motivated and skilled team of
staff will fail to deliver optimum performance if the business processes they are
operating are cumbersome and bureaucratic.