What is the impact of process orientation, analysis and documentation on process quality? In this paper, using financial processes in non-banks ("financial chain") as application domain an optimization framework for IT reliant business process is proposed and empirically evaluated. It is shown that a proper process orientation, documentation and process analysis is a necessary yet often neglected prerequisite for efficiency improvements. The framework can be used for preparing the business case for integration and outsourcing projects. Overall, the results empirically confirm the often neglected claim that you need to explicitly know and measure what you want to optimize.