The application of technology and management science to the modification of existing systems, organizations, processes, and products in order to make them more effective, efficient, and responsive. Responsiveness is a critical need for organizations in industry and elsewhere. It involves providing products and services of demonstrable value to customers, and thereby to those individuals who have a stake in the success of the organization. Reengineering can be carried out at the level of the organization, at the level of organizational processes, or at the level of the products and services that support an organization's activities. The entity to be reengineered can be systems management, process, product, or some combination. In each case, reengineering involves a basic three-phase systems-engineering life cycle comprising definition, development, and deployment of the entity to be reengineered.