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The Enterprise Business Analyst
Developing Creative Solutions to Complex Business Problems
Kathleen B. Hass (Author)
Publication date: 10/01/2011
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The Enterprise
Business Analyst
DEVELOPING CREATIVE SOLUTIONS
TO COMPLEX BUSINESS PROBLEMS
KATHLEEN B. HASS, PMP
About the Author
Kathleen (Kitty) B. Hass is a senior practice consultant specializing in strategic planning and execution, enterprise business analysis, and complex project management. She is a prominent presenter at industry conferences and has authored and coauthored eight books on project management and business analysis, including the Business Analysis Essential Library series and Managing Complex Projects: A New Model, which was awarded the David I. Cleland Project Management Literature Award by the Project Management Institute in 2009.
Kitty has more than 25 years of experience in project portfolio management, business process reengineering, IT applications development and technology deployment, training and mentoring, and requirements management. She has managed large, complex projects in the airline, telecommunications, retail, and manufacturing industries and for the federal government.
Kitty’s consulting experience includes engagements with multiple federal agencies, including USDA, USGS, NARA, and an agency within the intelligence community, as well as industry engagements at Colorado Springs Utilities, Toyota Financial Services, Toyota Motor Sales, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, New Zealand Ministry of Education, Sun Life Financial, Maco Mutual, Manheim, West Bend Insurance.
Kitty is member of the Board of Directors for the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) and has served as IIBA® Chapter Council Chair and a member of the IIBA Business Analysis Body of Knowledge committee. She holds a BA in business administration, summa cum laude, from Western Connecticut University.
CHAPTER 1
The Heart of the Matter—An Examination of the Profession of Business Analysis
Let’s begin by examining the entire scope of the business analysis profession and the business analyst (BA) role. The emergence of business analysis practices began in the 1980s when businesses turned their attention to improving software requirements and streamlining processes. By the early 21st century, a number of large companies that already had substantial business analysis practices called for common standards. This led to the creation of the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) in 2003 (www.theiiba.org). IIBA is the fast-growing, independent, nonprofit professional association serving the field of business analysis. It is dedicated to advancing the professionalism of the occupation.
IIBA members comprise individuals with various titles who fill a diverse set of roles: requirements engineers, business systems analysts, quality analysts, requirements analysts, project managers, technical architects, business architects, developers, consultants—really anyone involved in analysis for systems, business, or process improvement designed to add value to an organization.
Join IIBA and your local IIBA chapter to help advance the profession. Both the international organization and local chapters offer a wealth of professional development activities to help you become a professional business analyst.
DEFINING BUSINESS ANALYSIS
IIBA has developed a standard definition and role delineation for business analysis, underscoring its emergence as a formal occupation. Since this book is about business analysis leadership, we will consistently emphasize the strategic, creative leadership role of the business analyst. As you read the definition of business analysis, note the reference to defining organizational goals and determining courses of action to achieve the goals, both very strategic in nature. IIBA defines business analysis as:
The set of tasks and techniques used to work as a liaison among stakeholders in order to understand the structure, policies and operations of an organization, and recommend solutions that enable the organization to achieve its goals.
Business analysis involves understanding how organizations function to accomplish their purposes, and defining the capabilities an organization requires to provide products and services to external stakeholders. It includes the definition of organization goals, how those goals connect to specific objectives, determining the course of action that an organization has to undertake to achieve those goals and objectives, and defining how the various organizational units and stakeholders within and outside that organization interact. 1
CODIFYING BUSINESS ANALYSIS
IIBA has codified the profession in its Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® (BABOK® Guide). 2 The IIBA website describes the BABOK® Guide as:
The collection of knowledge within the profession of Business Analysis and reflects current generally accepted practices. As with other professions, the body of knowledge is defined and enhanced by the Business Analysis professionals who apply it in their daily work role. The BABOK® Guide describes Business Analysis areas of knowledge, their associated activities and the tasks and skills necessary to be effective in their execution. The BABOK ® Guide is a reference for professional knowledge for Business Analysis and provides the basis for the Certified Business Analysis Professional™ (CBAP®) Certification. 3
Figure 1-1 lists knowledge areas and associated activities covered in the BABOK® Guide.
FIGURE 1-1. BABOK® Guide Knowledge Areas
In particular, the enterprise analysis activities present the business analyst with the chance, indeed the responsibility, to create and innovate. Per the BABOK® Guide:
Enterprise Analysis describes the business analysis activities necessary to identify a business need, problem, or opportunity, define the nature of a solution that meets that need, and justify the investment necessary to deliver that solution.… It describes the business analysis activities that take place for organizations to:
Analyze the business situation in order to fully understand business problems and opportunities
Assess the capabilities of the enterprise in order to understand the change needed to meet business needs and achieve strategic goals
Determine the most feasible business solution approach
Define the solution scope and develop the business case for the proposed solution
Define and document business requirements. 4
A WORD TO THE WISE
Join a study group sponsored by your local IIBA chapter. Certification instills in your current and future employers confidence in your business analysis knowledge and skills.
CERTIFYING BUSINESS ANALYSTS
IIBA has also developed a Business Analyst Certification Program unique to the profession of business analysis. Establishing a certification for business analysis has helped standardize and professionalize the practice of business analysis. Certification creates common expectations for organizations of the knowledge, skills, and competencies certified business analysts must acquire.
As of this writing, there are two certification levels. Both designations require candidates to make a robust commitment to professional development and to adhere to the code of conduct for business analysts. The two certification levels are described below.
CERTIFIED BUSINESS ANALYSIS PROFESSIONAL™ (CBAP®)
This designation is awarded to candidates who have successfully demonstrated their business analysis expertise. This certification is awarded to business analysts who have documented their work experience in business analysis through the CBAP application process and have passed the IIBA CBAP examination. An individual must have accumulated five years of relevant work experience within ten years before he or she can apply to become a Certified Business Analysis Professional. CBAPs are experts in identifying the business needs of an enterprise to determine the best solutions, a role that is increasingly seen as a vital component of any standout organization. More and more companies are recognizing the CBAP designation and the value and expertise that these professionals bring to bear.
CERTIFICATION OF COMPETENCY IN BUSINESS ANALYSIS™ (CCBA™)
This intermediate-level certification is for professionals who wish to expand their career options and obtain recognition for their ongoing investment in their professional development. This certification was launched in 2010, with the first candidates writing the CCBA exam in 2011. The certification benefits organizations that need to signal to their stakeholders that their business analysts have gained significant knowledge of best practices and standards in the field. The certification process itself also offers employers the opportunity to assess staff competencies and recognize employees’ professional achievement and commitment to excellence. Candidates can apply for the CCBA designation after they have accumulated about two and a half years of business analysis experience within the past seven years.
All certified business analysts gain proficiency in areas of knowledge outlined in the BABOK® Guide. However, professionals with the intermediate CCBA certification are expected to apply their skills to smaller-scope and less complex tasks than those with the more rigorous CBAP designation. Details on how to obtain either designation can be found in the certification section of the IIBA website (www.theiiba.org).
THE BUSINESS ANALYST COMPETENCY MODEL
IIBA has developed the world’s most comprehensive Business Analysis Competency Model for assessing the ability of business analysts to successfully fulfill the role. It covers knowledge, skills, and behaviors and describes the qualities that can make a business analyst successful. Per the IIBA, “The Competency Model is different from the BABOK® Guide in that while the guide outlines the work a business analyst performs and details the knowledge required to perform that work, the model provides a method for identifying what behaviors make a BA successful in performing the activities outlined in the BABOK® .” 5
BUILDING A MATURE BUSINESS ANALYSIS PRACTICE
The following elements are essential in building a mature BA practice:
An acknowledgement of the value of business analysis as a critical business practice
A competent BA workforce
Effective business analysis methods, tools, and support
A BA center of excellence that establishes and maintains the practice.
Figure 1-2 depicts how the elements fit into an overall framework.
FIGURE 1-2. The Framework of a Mature BA Practice
© 2011 By Kathleen B. Hass and Associates, Inc.
THE BUSINESS ANALYST ROLE: BOTH TACTICAL AND STRATEGIC
Given that business analysis is a relatively new profession, varied opinions and interpretations exist of the purpose and importance of business analysis. Some organizations restrict the practice to the process of requirements management: gathering requirements from the customer; structuring requirements by classes or categories; evaluating requirements for selected qualities; modeling requirements to further represent their relationships; decomposing requirements into more detail; finalizing requirements in the form of documents, models, diagrams, matrices, and tables; and then managing subsequent changes to the requirements. Others broaden the definition to include very different but related fields such as financial analysis, quality assurance, organizational development, solution testing, training, and documenting business policies and procedures. Indeed, in many organizations individuals fulfill multiple project roles concurrently, while being dubbed the project or systems manager. These roles may include the responsibilities of project manager, technical lead, and requirements manager.
As the profession matures, the business world is realizing that it needs business analysts who operate at multiple levels. While companies need innovation experts to break new ground, they also need more tactically focused business analysts who concentrate on business operations continuity and incremental improvements to products, business processes, and applications.
Less seasoned business analysts typically work at the operations level, while very senior business analysts are more strategically focused. Not everyone can be creative enough to become a strategic enterprise business analyst charged with converting opportunities into innovative products and services. However, for organizations to remain healthy and to stand out among their peers, they need business analysts operating at four levels, each with its own business focus, as shown in Figure 1-3. 6
FIGURE 1-3. BA Workforce Capability Model
© 2011 By Kathleen B. Hass and Associates, Inc.
THE OPERATIONS-/SUPPORT-FOCUSED BUSINESS ANALYST
Level 1 includes both generalist analysts and business system analysts. These business analysts are tactically focused, ensuring business operations are maintained and continually improved. They typically spend about 30 percent of their time doing business analysis activities for low-complexity projects designed to maintain and continually improve business processes and technology. In their remaining time, they may fulfill other roles, including project manager, developer, engineer, subject matter expert (SME), domain expert, and tester. As legacy processes and systems age, these business analysts are becoming more and more valuable, since they are likely the best (and often only) SMEs who fully understand the legacy operational processes and technology. As application modernization efforts emerge, these BAs are invaluable, working closely with business architects to document the current state of the business supported by the applications undergoing modernization. Operations- or support-focused BAs may be entry-level, intermediate, or senior-level analysts.
A WORD TO THE WISE
Regardless of the focus of your work assignments, strive to remove yourself from transactional, tactical thinking and look at the entire system you are supporting, including customers and users, products and services, business processes, business rules, data, application systems, and technologies. Prioritize your work based on its value to the customer and the wealth it will bring to the organization. And make every effort to bring about innovation, not just conduct business as usual.
THE PROJECT-FOCUSED BUSINESS ANALYST
Level 2 analysts include both IT- and business-oriented analysts who work on moderately complex projects designed to develop new/changed products, services, business processes, and IT systems to meet business objectives. Similar to operations analysts, project-focused analysts may be entry level, intermediate, and senior level. Typically, these BAs come in two types:
IT-oriented analysts who improve business results through changes to technology. These are mostly generalists; specialists include experience analysts, business rules analysts, business process analysts, and data analysts.
Business-oriented analysts who improve operations through changes to policy and procedures. Business-oriented analysts are mostly specialized, functionally focused on finance, human resources, marketing, manufacturing, among other business areas. In decentralized organizations, these analysts are dedicated to a major business area, improving the processes and the corresponding technologies that are used to run the operations. In more centralized organizations, these business analysts are organized as a pool of talent whose efforts can be transferred seamlessly to the areas of the enterprise that are in most need of business analysis support.
THE ENTERPRISE-FOCUSED BUSINESS ANALYST
At this level, the business analyst is focused on strategy execution. Level 3 includes enterprise analysts and business architects who are operating across the enterprise. Business architects make the enterprise visible and keep the business and IT architecture in sync. Enterprise analysts ensure that the business analysis activities are dedicated to the most valuable initiatives and that the business analysis assets (such as models, documents, matrices, and diagrams) are considered corporate property, are secured and managed as part of the enterprise architecture, and are therefore reusable. Enterprise analysts focus on the analysis needed to prepare a solid business case for innovative initiatives that will transform the enterprise into a highly competitive, standout organization. Partnering with complex-project managers, these analysts work on highly complex enterprise-wide projects. It is at this level that the creative skills of the business analyst begin to give birth to innovation. Enterprise-focused BAs are typically very senior-level, seasoned analysts.
THE COMPETITIVE-FOCUSED BUSINESS/TECHNOLOGY ANALYST
Business analysts with a competitive focus usually function as enterprise analysts, strategists, or business/technology analysts. These BAs are recognized business domain and technology visionaries who serve as innovation experts, organizational change specialists, and cross-domain experts. They are concerned with nothing less than the future viability of the organization. They convert business opportunities to innovative business solutions, turning new products or services and even new business processes into sources of competitive advantage, and they translate strategy into breakthrough process and technology. Their focus is outside the enterprise; they look at what is happening in the industry, formulate the future vision and strategy, and design innovative new approaches to doing business to ensure the enterprise remains competitive or even leaps ahead of the competition.
BUSINESS ANALYSIS IN PRACTICE
The goal of an effective business analysis practice that serves the organization at all four levels is threefold (see Figure 1-4):
FIGURE 1-4. The Goals of Business Analysis
1. Implement rigorous enterprise analysis practices . The strategic business analyst ensures his organization is investing in the most valuable projects and is building innovative solutions to business problems and opportunities.
2. Implement effective requirements management practices . This is the role most often associated with the business analyst: eliciting, documenting, and managing changes to requirements.
3. Conduct meticulous organizational change management practices . This is the area project teams most often forget.
RIGOROUS ENTERPRISE ANALYSIS PRACTICES
Enterprise analysis activities are consistently shortchanged, underfunded, and underutilized. But these practices are paramount if an organization is to remain competitive and become a standout organization. Enterprise analysis activities include but are not limited to the following:
Building the current- and future-state business architecture
Conducting rigorous opportunity analysis and problem analysis with a small expert team to ensure understanding of the business need
Conducting feasibility analysis with a small expert team to identify the most feasible solution to propose
Developing a business case with a small expert team to propose a new project to build the solution
Continually validating the assumptions and forecasts made in the business case throughout the project
Conducting solution assessment and validation throughout the project
Measuring the business benefits of the deployed solution compared with the forecasts in the business case.
EFFECTIVE REQUIREMENTS MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
Requirements management activities are the typical, tactically focused endeavours in which business analysts engage on a daily basis. They include but are not limited to the following:
Planning the requirements approach and activities
Eliciting requirements using multiple elicitation techniques and validating elicitation results
Defining and specifying requirements using multiple techniques (e.g., text, models, tables, matrices)
Analyzing requirements to ensure they are accurate, complete, and testable
Validating that the requirements meet the business need throughout the project
Managing changes to requirements; welcoming changes that add business value; reducing the cost of change through iterative development
Communicating requirements using custom messages for each stakeholder.
THOROUGH CHANGE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
Change management activities that are vital for a successful transformation effort are often overlooked, but more and more, organizations are looking to their business analysts to help manage the cultural and organizational changes needed to successfully deploy a significant change. These change management practices include but are not limited to the following:
Ensuring the organization is ready to operate the new business solution efficiently and effectively
Managing the organizational change required to ensure the new business solution is operated efficiently and effectively
Developing the necessary business artifacts: business policies, procedures, rules, training, retooling, restructuring
Implementing an effective benefits measurement and management system for the new solution.
A BUSINESS ANALYSIS PRACTICE MATURITY MODEL
In 2010, my business partner, Lori Lindbergh, and I researched the current state of business analysis practices using a proprietary business analysis practice maturity model (see Figure 1-5). 7 The purpose of this study was to evaluate and benchmark the current state of business analysis practices in organizations and contribute to the advancement of the body of knowledge and research in the field of business analysis. To date, limited research has been conducted on business analysis practices at the organizational level and their linkage to improved project and business outcomes. By gaining a better understanding of BA practices, organizations can more effectively evaluate their current state and establish an effective road map for the advancement of BA practices through prioritized, sequential improvements.
FIGURE 1-5. A Business Analysis Practice Maturity Model
© 2011 By Kathleen B. Hass and Associates, Inc.
The findings from this study are encouraging. 8 They indicate that organizations have begun to recognize business analysis as a critical business management practice. Business analysis centers of excellence are emerging, with defined business analysis processes and standards, training programs, career paths, and professional development programs. Four key findings from the study are outlined below.
FINDING #1: BUSINESS ANALYSIS PRACTICES ARE MOSTLY TACTICAL, BUT AN ENTERPRISE FOCUS IS EMERGING
Most organizations’ BA practices focus on managing requirements at the project level to meet the immediate business need. An enterprise—that is, more strategic—business analysis practice is emerging, with a focus on creativity and innovation, but this is not yet commonly accepted practice. Often, enterprise-focused activities are not yet thought of as part of the business analysis disciplines.
It is interesting to note that the maturity of BA practices appears to be consistent across industries. All of the organizations have begun to implement BA practices and are approaching level 2 maturity. Level 2 organizations mainly focus their BA efforts at the project level to ensure business requirements are managed. The emphasis is on
BA planning and monitoring
Requirements elicitation
Requirements management and communication
Requirements analysis.
Most organizations are continuing to build maturity and consistency in these practice areas and have begun to implement an enterprise focus to ensure business needs are met and strategies are executed through rigorous enterprise analysis and solution assessment and validation.
FINDING #2: COMPLEXITY MATTERS
Organizations with more complex projects reported more challenges in meeting delivery commitments for full scope, schedule, budget, or some combination of these. Significant correlations were found between scope and budget challenges and projects with multiple complexity dimensions. Organizations are beginning to acknowledge that mature BA practices and a highly competent BA workforce will help them better manage the complexity dimensions that impact project success.
FINDING #3: MATURE BUSINESS ANALYSIS PRACTICES DELIVER MORE SUCCESSFUL PROJECTS AND BUSINESS BENEFITS
More mature BA practices were significantly correlated with improved budget, schedule, and scope performance. The findings suggest that the maturity of BA practices in the participating organizations may be inadequate to manage highly complex projects.
FINDING #4: PROFICIENT BUSINESS ANALYSTS LEAD TO PROJECT SUCCESS
Organizations need a competent, valued BA workforce that takes a deliberate approach to business analysis using effective planning, stakeholder management, change management, and flexible business analysis approaches. Organizations with more projects on track for scope, schedule, and/or budget were significantly more likely to:
Have more mature BA training programs with a focus on building BA competency, BA professional development programs, and BA career advancement opportunities
Have a stronger focus on customer involvement and satisfaction
Use a more systematic approach for dealing with change.
COLLABORATIVE LEADERSHIP
Simply put, a project manager increases their chance of getting an ‘unqualified success’ by over 400% by using elite analysts with specific competencies at the start of requirements discovery.
—IAG BUSINESS ANALYSIS BENCHMARK
Every significant business transformation project, especially those with a major technology component, whether it is developed in house or outsourced, or whether it is a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) purchase, a custom development, or a complex systems integration, needs exceptional business analysis. On high-performing teams, business analysts align themselves with professional project managers, architects, the best developers, and business visionaries to define business needs and determine the most appropriate, cost-effective, and innovative solution.
COMPLEX PROJECT TEAMS: SHARED LEADERSHIP
As this core leadership team forms, a project performance partnership emerges that rivals the world’s great teams (e.g., U.S. Navy SEALS, special operations teams, professional sports teams, heart transplant teams, or firefighter and paramedic teams). What do high-performing teams have in common? They all have a well-understood mission and clear roles and responsibilities. They are highly trained and practiced to hone their skills. They are small, so they can be nimble and coordinated—but they are mighty in their execution. They call upon subteams and subject matter experts to assist when needed. They all have a coach or sponsor they can enlist when they come upon a barrier to success. Organizations need to develop similar high-performing teams for critical business change initiatives.
A WORD TO THE WISE
Do everything you can to build strong relationships with the key stakeholders you work with—especially the project manager. Work to make yourself indispensible, a valued colleague, a credible expert, a central member of the project team.
At the center of the team is the dynamic twosome: the project manager and the business analyst. One has her eye on the management of the project, while the other focuses on management of the business requirements, business benefits, and customer value. The wise project manager welcomes this teaming trend, understanding that “it takes a team” to lead complex projects, and that inadequate information relating to requirements leads to poor estimates and makes time and cost management virtually impossible.
Project managers rely on business analysts to help provide more-detailed project objectives; business needs analysis; clear, structured, useable requirements; solution innovation and trade-off analysis; requirement feasibility and risk analysis; and cost-benefit analysis. Obviously, this differs from the traditional systems analyst focus—leaping over business requirements and focusing on writing system specifications. Without a business analyst acting as a key liaison between the business, product development, and IT departments, requirements will be poorly defined, resulting in a disconnect between what is built and what the business needs.
THE BUSINESS ANALYST’S LEADERSHIP
The business analyst serves as the liaison between the customer groups, the business community, and the technical solution providers throughout the project life cycle. As projects become large, cross-functional, global, and complex, business analysis skills are indispensable.
The business analyst leads the requirements elicitation effort, and the proposed solution must be one that breaks new ground before it is considered ready to be designed and implemented. Since requirements play a vital role in engineering IT systems, and 60 to 70 percent of IT project failures are tied directly to poor requirements management, it is not surprising that the business analyst role is becoming more significant. Collaborating with the project manager, the business visionary (the business representative who understands the business vision and strategy), and lead developers, the business analyst manages the entire requirements life cycle—from understanding the business strategy to ensuring that the delivered solution meets the need and adds value to the bottom line. In divergence with the past, the business analyst has a critical role throughout the project, not simply during the requirements phase. The business analyst possesses a vast array of knowledge and skills to do the job. In addition, the business analyst is directly or indirectly involved in creating and maintaining numerous important deliverables, such as the business case.
ENTERPRISE ANALYSIS AND PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
Management works diligently to fund and manage a portfolio of valuable projects—the right projects. Subsequently, the focus is on flawless project execution to maximize the value delivered to the organization—in other words, doing projects right. The business analyst plays a vital role in both endeavors. All too often, project success is elusive. Projects are late, are over budget, or may never even be delivered. Sometimes work is incomplete, does not meet requirements or expectations, and does not deliver the benefits or returns on investment expected by the organization. Because a disappointing (and costly) project delivery record cannot be tolerated, businesses must build the wherewithal to break the cycle. Executives must assemble an array of key leadership capabilities to improve the performance of change initiatives. These include:
Effectual portfolio management to ensure the highest value projects are funded
Agile and lean project management and systems engineering processes, tools, and techniques
Appropriate executive decision-making at key control gates
Exceptional project leadership and high-performing teams
Collaboration and respect between the business and IT communities
Professional business analysis processes that ensure executive teams invest in the most valuable projects and that solution teams have a clear understanding of the customer’s overall business and information needs.
LEADERS OF CHANGE
As the complex project management discipline matures into a strategic business practice, so will business analysts evolve into strategic leaders of change and innovation. Organizations embarking upon initiatives requiring far-reaching innovation and cutting-edge technology are beginning to focus on business analysis as well as project management, business architecture, and development prowess. Those working on IT initiatives are realizing that technical skills may be relatively easy to outsource, but they cannot abdicate control of their business requirements and solution innovation. In virtually every organization, the elevated leadership role of the business analyst is beginning to shape the future of business transformation.
Where can we get exceptional business analysts who can bridge the chasm between the business and technical communities? Frequently, we assume that expertise in the technical area of a project makes a qualified business analyst. To support important change initiatives, technically adept engineers are often asked to serve as business analysts as well as perform their technical role. In this case, business analysis is treated as a subset of the technical discipline. (Sometimes individuals assume a trio of leadership roles on projects: technical lead, project manager, and business analyst.) But time and again, difficulties arise on projects—not from lack of technical expertise, but from teams’ inability to gather, understand, analyze, and manage business requirements. Projects are often initiated, and design and construction of a solution is underway, before the solution team members have a clear understanding of what the business really needs. Once requirements are captured at a high level and the project plan is being executed, technical activities tend to demand the majority of attention. Under these conditions, requirements and project management suffer, and the initiative is positioned to become a runaway project. This approach to projects has contributed significantly to the prevalence of challenged and failed projects.
Tolerance is low for technical failure and high for inadequate and ever-evolving requirements. All too often, projects suffer from requirements creep caused by “let’s start developing and see how it turns out” syndrome. While this approach may be appropriate in some situations, it often falls short for complex business initiatives. Simply put, without a well-understood and documented requirements baseline, it is virtually impossible to meet project objectives. It has been said that if an organization has the resources and budget to invest in only a single life cycle area to improve project performance, that area should be requirements definition and management.
THE BUSINESS ANALYST’S KEY KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND COMPETENCIES
It is increasingly clear that while technical expertise is necessary, it is insufficient for successfully managing the large, enterprise-wide, complex, mission-critical, innovative projects that are the norm today. Just as a business leader must be multiskilled and strategically focused, business analysts must possess an extensive array of leadership skills as they rise to a senior strategic position in the enterprise. And as IT’s contribution moves beyond improving efficiency to boosting business effectiveness, the business analyst becomes the central figure on the project team. She must be “bilingual,” speaking both business and technical languages, or even “trilingual,” also speaking for the customer.
A WORD TO THE WISE
Make your own professional development plan a living, breathing document. Seek out a mentor from among the leaders in your organization. Read everything you can find on your industry, the technology that supports your company, and the business analysis profession. Become expert at promoting yourself, innovation, and your project.
Expectations are high and growing for the business analyst. To perform in this pivotal role, the business analyst must possess a broad range of knowledge, skills, and competencies. A look through the more than 5,000 job postings for business analysts on monster.com turned up this lofty job description:
The main purpose of the role will be to design and specify innovative solutions which meet the business requirements allowing the business benefit to be attained; and to facilitate divisional communication and awareness of the standards and quality expectations within the System Analyst teams. 9
Staffing surveys reveal an increasing demand for senior individuals who can perform the ever-widening range of business analysis functions. Since business analysts walk in customer, business, and technology worlds, they arrive from various fields. Some come from the ranks of engineering and programmer/analyst positions, while others have conventional business expertise supplemented by some IT training. To successfully fill the business analyst role, one must master a unique combination of technical, analytical, business, and leadership skills (see Figure 1-6).
Depending on the business analyst’s level of responsibility and placement in the organization, duties may include the following:
Identify and understand the business problem and the impact of the proposed solution on the organization’s operations
Document the complex areas of project and product scope, objectives, added value, or benefit expectations, using an integrated set of analysis and modeling techniques
Translate business objectives into requirements using powerful analysis and modeling tools
FIGURE 1-6. Business Analyst Knowledge and Skill Requirements
© 2011 By Kathleen B. Hass and Associates, Inc.
Drive collaboration on solution alternatives until the most innovative solution comes into view
Evaluate customer business needs, thus contributing to strategic planning of information systems and technology directions
Assist in determining the strategic direction of the organization
Liaise with major customers during preliminary installation and testing of new products and services
Bring about creativity and innovation through superior business analysis.
BUILDING A CAPABLE BUSINESS ANALYST WORKFORCE
Your organization needs to ensure it has appropriately skilled BAs who have the capabilities needed to successfully deliver complex new business solutions that meet 21st-century business needs. But it’s not just about competency (what you think you can do or your score on a multiple-choice knowledge assessment); it’s all about capability—examining your competency level against your current and future work assignments and the performance and project outcomes you achieve within your organizational context.
Individual business analyst capability assessments provide the information needed for individual business analysts to baseline their competencies and prepare their own professional development plans. Business analyst workforce assessments provide valuable information for management to draft an overall business analyst professional development plan for their organization. This plan forms a basis for workforce adjustments or realignment, training requirements, professional development activities, and specific mentoring and coaching needs. Organizations are increasingly using assessments to grow their business analyst competencies and to mature their business analysis practices.
POSITIONING THE BUSINESS ANALYST IN AN ORGANIZATION
As organizations struggle to implement contemporary business analysis practices, they are also wrestling with tough decisions about how best to incorporate the new role of the business analyst into the organization. Does it make sense to have business analysts centralized, reporting to a neutral organization like finance, IT, or an enterprise project management office (PMO) or center of excellence (COE), or should they report to individual business units? Should business analysts and project managers report to the same functional manager?
ORGANIZATIONAL PLACEMENT
While there is no one right answer to the organizational placement of business analysts, there are some general guidelines. For mid-level business analysts (those who manage day-to-day operational issues and also coordinate IT application system maintenance and enhancement projects), we see both the decentralized model, where the business analysts are placed in the business units, and the centralized model, where they reside in IT. Both models have challenges that must be understood and managed.
When mid-level business analysts are placed in IT, an unintended consequence may emerge: the business may not take ownership of its technology needs, and the business analyst might begin to speak for the business, as opposed to bringing others into the decision-making process. In this case, IT management needs to reach out to the business units to conduct working sessions and ensure the appropriate business SMEs are fully engaged in decisions about IT support, maintenance, and enhancement work.
When mid-level business analysts are placed in a business unit, it is difficult for them to feel like a team, and it is hard to manage consistency, standards, improvement of the business analysis process, and advancement of the business analysis profession within the organization. In addition, these business analysts tend to be more removed from IT and may not possess a deep understanding of the IT domain. In this instance, IT should foster communities of practice, where the business analysts can get together as a team for mentoring and training, to discuss lessons learned, and to improve methods and tools.
THE ENTERPRISE ANALYST
It is important for senior-level business analysts to be a part of an enterprise-wide project management office (PMO) or center of excellence (COE), a group that focuses on strategy and raising the value of project portfolios. This makes sense, since strategic projects have high stakes and are cross-functional, enterprise-wide, complex, and high risk. Placement in some sort of enterprise-wide office allows business analysts to:
Provide pre-project support: identify new business opportunities, conduct feasibility studies, conduct alternative analysis for the most creative solution, and then develop the business case for new projects, which will then be submitted to management for project selection and prioritization
Serve as the business analyst (or lead of a business analyst team, for a large program with supporting projects) for strategic, high-risk, complex projects, ensuring that requirements are fully understood and constantly validating that the solution will meet the business need during the entire solution development life cycle
Continually validate that the business case remains viable, trade-offs and risk mitigations are not compromising innovation, and the project investment is sound.
THE ROLE OF BUSINESS ANALYSTS
IT organizations are debating the role of business analysts. Should business analysts be line managers? Should they be fully dedicated to business analysis? Should they have other responsibilities “as assigned”? Organizations typically have several levels of business analysts; for smaller, low-risk projects, a business analyst will likely work on more than one project concurrently. Business analysts are not typically line managers. However, a pool of business analysts may report to a manager who is a senior business analyst. For large, strategic, high-risk, complex projects, a senior business analyst should be dedicated full time to the project, with no other responsibilities (as should a senior project manager). Organizations are learning that business analysis is a profession, and one needs to be able to master the knowledge, skills, and practices to become a superior business analyst and a strategic asset to the enterprise.
What is the business analyst’s role in critical initiatives that do not have a significant IT component? Business analysts get involved and play a leadership role in many nontechnical projects. Examples include developing the business architecture, business process reengineering, competitive analysis and benchmark studies, pre-project enterprise analysis, business case development, facilities enhancements, and organizational restructuring and relocating.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER: WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO THE BUSINESS ANALYST?
The business analyst is a vital 21st-century asset. In this chapter, we have characterized the new profession of business analysis as it is emerging in the early decades of this century. We see the role of the business analyst as both tactical and strategic. As businesses struggle to invent new products and services to remain competitive in the global, technology-based economy, the leadership role of the business analyst will become more valued, in fact vital.
