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When Does The Business Analyst’s Involvement In A Project End?

Written by Cynthia Low on . Posted in Articles. 1 Comment on When Does The Business Analyst’s Involvement In A Project End?

july15_car_200x133.pngWe’ve got another line-up of timely articles examining the field of business analysis and surrounding areas. I feel certain that you’re going to find some interesting and provocative ideas and we look forward to your responses, both positive and negative.

 

  • When is the BA’s Work Finally Finished? Many people think (some BAs and PMs included) that the BA’s work is done when they’ve signed off on the requirements document. Jill Lilles points out that BA’s role in the project is far from over.
  • A Second Look under the Hood of the BA/PM Position Family. Bob Wysocki continues his series about the over-lapping roles of the BA and PM. In this article he takes a deeper look at the relative prominence of the two roles in different phases of their careers.
  • IIBA. Check the IIBA section for the 2008 Annual Report and some comments.
  • This issue’s blogs. Marcos Ferrer revisits the challenge he threw out last month and asks why BA s don’t have the same level of empowerment as many other professionals. Terry Longo talks about the side-by-side roles of the business analyst and the business manager. And I’m heading for a long weekend away from all forms of electronic communication ….I think. I promise not to….

All the best and I hope you’re managing to enjoy the summer without too many interruptions.

Adam R. Kahn
Publisher, Business Analyst Times
[email protected]

A Second Look under the Hood of the BA/PM Position Family

Written by Cynthia Low on . Posted in Articles.

This is the sixth article in the series. In the previous article (A First Look under the Hood of the BA/PM Position Family) I defined the BA/PM position family and the career path sequence. Then I wrote the generic position descriptions of the six-position family. The structure and ordering of the six positions in the BA/PM landscape is now defined at the generic level. Each of the 36 cells in the BA/PM landscape has now been generically defined with respect to the BA/PM position family.

Depending on the extent to which project management and business
analysis exists in your organization, there may be empty cells or cells
with more than one position title in them. If your organization has
more than one specific position title in a cell, then there will
probably be some ordering of those position titles with respect to
their skill and competency profile. So the career path may contain
advancements to positions within a single cell. The minimum skill and
competency profile required to enter a cell at the lowest position is
work that still remains to be done. That will require a significant
effort and help from both the PM and the BA side. That discussion is
left for a future article.

A Deeper Look into the BA/PM Landscape

Since we now have a BA/PM generic position family defined and a career path for that family, Figure 1 takes on more meaning. An example will help. Figure 1 shows an individual whose current position is in the BA/pm Associate Manager cell. This person is a professional project manager with basic business analysis skills and competencies. This is a very common position. Recognizing the importance and value of having stronger business, their short-term goal is to have a position in the BA/PM Associate Manager cell. To do this, they will build a plan in their Professional Development Program (PDP) to accomplish their short-term career goal. Their PDP will focus on improving their business analysis skill and competency profile from that of a PM/ba Associate Manager to that of a PM/BA Associate Manager. The PDP for this person might contain the following strategies:

Experience Acquisition

  • Seek out project assignments that have more of a business analysis focus than they are accustomed to.
  • Support professionals who are more senior to you and have a business analysis skill that you need to improve to better meet current position requirements.

On-the-job Training

  • Look for opportunities to observe and support the business analysis work of BA/PM professionals
  • Take courses (on or off site) to enhance the business analysis skills required of your current position

Off-the-job Training

  • Take courses (on or off site) to add business analysis skills that will be required by your targeted position in the PM/BA Associate Manager cell
  • Look for opportunities to observe and support a professional practicing the business analysis skills you will need in your targeted position.

Professional Activities

  • Read books and journal articles on topics relevant to your targeted position in the PM/BA Associate Manager cell
  • Attend meetings and conferences offering seminars and workshops relevant to your targeted position in the PM/BA Associate Manager cellSecondLook1.png
    Figure 1: Using the BA/PM Landscape for a Short-Term Professional Goal in the same Position

In my experience with PDPs they tend to cover an annual planning horizon with at least semi-annual status meetings with a mentor, or as needed meetings that you will request.   

Figure 2 illustrates an example that is a little more complex. Here the short-term PDP is targeting a change from a position in the PM/ba Associate Manager cell to a position in the PM/ba Senior Manager cell. As you can see the Core, PM and ba skills profiles will be affected. The ba skills profile will be minimally affected only by the change of position level.

 

SecondLook2.png
Figure 2: Using the BA/PM Landscape for a Short-Term Professional Goal at a Higher Level Position

Figure 3 is a combination of the situations depicted in Figures 1 and 2. It illustrates yet another example of a more complex situation than is illustrated in Figures 1 and 2. Here the change is not only to a higher level position (Associate Manager to Senior Manager) as was the case in Figure 2 but also to a position requiring a broader and deeper business analysis skills profile (ba to BA) as was the case in Figure 1. A career change like this may take some time to accomplish. Not only will the person need to acquire additional experience to qualify for the higher level position, they will also need to increase their business analysis experience, and skill and competency profile, to qualify for the higher level position’s business analysis requirements. A better professional development plan might be to follow one of the two-step strategies below:

PM/ba Associate Manager -> PM/BA Associate Manager -> PM/BA Senior Manager

or

PM/ba Associate Manager -> PM/ba Senior Manager -> PM/BA Senior Manager    

The likely promotion opportunities may help you choose the better of the two strategies.

 

SecondLook3.png
Figure 3: Using the BA/PM Landscape for a Longer-Term Professional Goal at a Higher Level Position

Career Planning Using the BA/PM Landscape

A section of the PDP should be devoted to long range career planning. The BA/PM landscape is a tool that can aid in the planning process. Figure 4 illustrates a career path leading from a position in the BA Team Member cell to a position in the BA/PM Senior Manager cell. The CareerAgent System that I mentioned in an earlier article (A First Pass at Defining the BA/PM Position Family) included a decision support system that helped the individual plan their career path down to the position title level within the cells. It mapped out a training and development sequence leading from position to position across the BA/PM landscape until the final career goal had been reached.

 

SecondLook4.png
Figure 4: A Career Path from a Position in the BA Team Member Cell to a Position in the BA/PM Senior Manager Cell

As the plan is executed it will most likely change. Even the targeted position might change. There are several factors that will influence the plan and suggest revisions more compatible with the changing business environment and that offer more career growth and professional development opportunities.

A Call to Action

In the previous article (A First Look Under the Hood of the BA/PM Positin Family) I stated that this is a work in progress. I have participated in the development of similar structures for the IT professional but not for the BA/PM professional (or PM/BA if you prefer). Much remains to be done. I welcome a partner from the BA side to work with me in this challenging and valuable pursuit. It is my hope that I have launched this effort in a direction that ultimately will make sense across the entire BA and PM professional landscape. If you are interested in discussing a possible collaboration, you may reach me directly at [email protected].

Putting It All Together

In this article I have shown by example how the BA/PM landscape and BA/PM position family would be used in professional development and career planning.

The responses to the first five articles have been overwhelming. They have been both positive and negative. Being a change management advocate I am thankful for your interest but not surprised with your reactions. My hope is that we can continue the exchange. As always I welcome opposing positions and the opportunity to engage in public discussions. Your substantive comments are valuable. Criticism is fine and is expected but, in the spirit of agile project management, so are suggestions for improvement. Also in the spirit of agile project management, I am trying to find a solution to the career and professional development of the BA, BA/pm, BA/PM, PM/BA, PM/ba and PM.

I realize that I have taken a controversial position and in so doing have stepped out of my comfort zone and perhaps put myself in harm’s way. I do so intentionally. Through all of the earlier articles I hoped to get your attention and that has happened. In this and subsequent articles I hope to get you to start thinking about the care and feeding of a single BA/PM professional – one who is fully skilled in both disciplines. I have a very strong belief that there is a crying need for the BA/PM professional. As you dig deeper into the BA/PM through this series I ask that you approach my suggestions with an open mind and offer your ideas in this public forum.

Robert K. Wysocki, Ph.D., has over 40 years experience as a project management consultant and trainer, information systems manager, systems and management consultant, author, training developer and provider. He has written fourteen books on project management and information systems management. One of his books, Effective Project Management: Traditional, Adaptive, Extreme,3rd Edition, has been a best seller and is recommended by the Project Management Institute for the library of every project manager. He has over 30 publications in professional and trade journals and has made more than 100 presentations at professional and trade conferences and meetings. He has developed more than 20 project management courses and trained over 10,000 project managers.

When is the BA’s Work Finally Finished?

Written by Cynthia Low on . Posted in Articles.

The business analyst’s work is not finished when the requirements document is signed off. Although other experts are responsible for the project activities, the BA remains involved to ensure that decisions made have no adverse impact on the business stakeholders. As the project progresses, the BA should collaborate with the solution team (for example, development, procurement) to ensure that the agreed solution will satisfy the requirements.

After the solution has been built, the BA collaborates with many people on activities such as testing, conversion, cutover, and training. Depending on the roles defined in an organization and the project, the BA may collaborate with the people who are responsible for these activities, or the BA may be the responsible person. In either case, the BA ensures that all of the right things happen.

Monitor Solution Design and Planning

As the technical team derives the solution design, the BA must learn enough about the implications of that design to ensure that it supports the requirements well. For example, the BA might:

  • Review user classes to ensure that all of the solution functions, uses, and end users have been accounted for.
  • Review the developers’ functions and feature list for completeness.
  • Map the documented requirements (both functional and Quality of Service) onto the elements of the system design to ensure complete coverage.

When the technical team defines their phasing plan (which identifies the order in which requirements will be addressed and functionalities designed and built) for incremental development, the BA must ensure that the plan supports the stakeholders’ needs. If the plan calls for features to be delivered in a certain order, the BA should ensure that the planned order and delivery dates will suit the business stakeholders. The BA should also ensure that the phasing plan provides opportunities for any needed prototyping or validation during the project.

Tracing the requirements to the design is a good way to ensure complete coverage, and it lays the foundation for maintaining traceability throughout the project. The traceability information must be captured and recorded as the designs are being done, as trying to derive the traceability after the fact is difficult, if not impossible.

Finally, as the solution is being designed and built, the BA may identify business process improvements that are unrelated to the solution that is being built that would be beneficial. This is especially likely where those processes will be affected when the solution is implemented.

Validate the Approved Solution

As each deliverable of the project becomes available, the BA must ensure that appropriate validations take place to be sure that those deliverables satisfy the requirements and can be used by the intended end users.

  • System testing looks at the final system to determine if the requirements have been satisfied.
  • System integration testing refers to testing the final solution to ensure that it can coexist and integrate with existing systems and databases. Many organizations have an independent testing group whose main responsibility is to prepare for and perform these tests. When that is the case, the BA will usually review the test plans and the test results, and at times, the BA may help with the testing. However, in organizations that don’t have testing groups the entire responsibility falls to the BA.
  • Operations testing involves testing the solution to ensure that it can be installed and run without an adverse effect on the other existing systems. If the computer operations group takes responsibility for this testing, then the BA will usually review the test plans and the test results. But if this testing is necessary and no one takes responsibility for it, then the entire responsibility for this testing falls to the BA.
  • Acceptance testing ensures that the business need and user’s needs have been fully satisfied. If the customer takes responsibility for this testing, then the BA will usually review the test plans and the test results. Otherwise, the entire responsibility for this testing falls to the BA.

Assess Other Solution Options

The BA should collaborate with a variety of people on the project as the solution is being put together. In all cases, expect the experts in each area to be making good choices. The BA’s role in the collaboration is merely to serve as the business stakeholders’ advocate and assure that their needs will ultimately be met.

Although the technical team takes the lead in evaluating and deciding on the technologies that could be employed to build the solution, the BA should remain involved. This is because every technical choice has the potential to cause limitations in the solution that will be noticeable to the users. So, the BA must learn enough about the effects of the team’s technical choices to ensure that they actually do support satisfying the requirements, and ultimately, the business needs.

When the plan involves purchasing or leasing (as opposed to developing internally) a solution, the BA may take the lead in choosing the solution. But even if someone else has primary responsibility for this, the BA will still remain closely involved. The BA ensures that any RFP (request for proposal) or RFQ (request for quote) accurately translates the requirements. The BA should also verify that the proposals received will fully meet the business need. And, when the solution is finally received, the BA ensures that it is adequately tested to be sure that is actually satisfies the requirements.

Support Implementation of the Solution

In some organizations, an operations team takes the lead in implementation, but often the BA is responsible. In either case, the BA must remain involved to ensure that implementation and any necessary conversion meets the needs of the users.

The BA ensures that any necessary installation planning is done, and that the appropriate technical experts review that plan for correctness. This could be as simple as ensuring there is enough disk space for the new software, or as complex as replacing entire computer systems with new ones.

Conversion is almost always an issue. Since the solution is most likely changing some attribute of the business process, there will probably be data conversion; there may also be other kinds of conversions to be done. Planning for these includes identifying the rules for handling the inevitable problems that will be found.

Finally, the plan to the final cutover to the solution must be well thought out. When should it happen? Will there be downtime involved? If so, how much is acceptable? An important, but often overlooked item is the “backout” plan. If the cutover fails, what must be done so the business can resume working with the old system? If there is significant data conversion or other changes, this can be a difficult problem.

Communicate the Solution Impacts

The responsibility for communicating the impact of the solution is assigned to different people in different organizations. In any case, the BA must still remain involved. Before the new solution is implemented, the BA should work with the business stakeholders to ensure that they are ready for it by:

  • Ensuring that everyone who needs to know about the implementation has the information they need, when they need it, before implementation
  • Setting the expectations of users and other stakeholders about how the change will affect them and the business process
  • Making sure that any needed training and help is available to the users in a timely manner

After the implementation is complete, the BA collaborates with the appropriate people to report on the implementation. This reporting provides pertinent information to all the parties who need to know that the implementation took place, and if there were problems. A key item is the business impact that the change had. Since the project was undertaken to improve a business process, the actual impact on the business process is of major concern.

Perform Post-Implementation Review and Assessment

The final validation occurs after rollout of the solution is complete. This activity, also known as “Lessons Learned,” is designed to help the organization learn from each project, supporting continuous process improvement.

You need to capture these successes, identify why they happened on this project, and determine what can be done on future projects to make them routine. The parts of this project that worked particularly well represent opportunities for future projects.

By the same token, if there were things in this project that were problematic, they also represent opportunities for improvement. You need to capture these issues, identify why they happened on this project, and determine what can be done on future projects to avoid them.

The Lessons Learned review is one of the most potent mechanisms for organizational learning and continuous improvement, as long as you actually use what you learned in future projects.

In Summary

Solution assessment includes all the activities that the BA collaborates in to ensure that the technical and other decisions being made by the development team result in meeting the needs of the business and users. These activities include design decisions, phasing for incremental development, maintaining the traceability matrix, choosing technologies, procuring solutions, and ensuring usability.

Copyright © Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved.

Jill Liles has been the Marketing Manager for Global Knowledge’s Business Analysis training courses for two years. Her background is in continuing education and non-profit marketing, and she graduated Summa Cum Laude from Peace College in Raleigh, NC.

This article was originally published in Global Knowledge’s Business Brief e-newsletter. Global Knowledge (www.globalknowledge.com) delivers comprehensive hands-on project management, business analysis, ITIL, and professional skills training. Visit our online Knowledge Center for free white papers, webinars, and more.

First Critical Issue – NOT!

Written by Marcos Ferrer on . Posted in Articles.

The first great challenge I listed last month was:

  1. Will the society at large empower BAs to operate at the level of professionalism required of (say) accountants (transparency, completeness, accuracy)?

Why might we want this?  Would it really make things better for project outcomes?  Would it help our professional success?  Watch me contradict myself!

Let’s brainstorm a little.  Don’t accountants “ruin projects” in their own way?  Sure they do.  How about:

  • Enron’s creative accounting, with the knowledge of the CFO (Fastow)
  • The failure of Baring’s investment bank, due to a one month long, 29 billion dollar speculative binge by a single young trader (responsible accountant’s name unknown).
  • Which accountants were overseeing the enormous investments being made in sub-prime mortgages?

What these all have in common is that certain members of each firm, who happened NOT to be accountants (except for Fastow, who clearly was in a position to know better), used their power to bypass accounting standards, intimidate and manipulate the accountants (aren’t you on our team?), and to invent new, unsustainable pyramid schemes, commonly known as no-brainer market opportunities (this stuff is only illegal for small operators like you or me).

This is similar to what happens in some projects: A PM, or executive sponsor uses their power to bypass the business investigation, analysis and due diligence performed by some BA.  The outcomes vary from unnecessary extra costs to complete project failure, sometimes even in the billions of dollars.

The difference is that the responsible accountants in the financial projects tend to go to jail.

Hmmm, maybe we don’t want this – can you imagine yielding to some PM’s pressure to stretch the rules, and ending up in jail when things go wrong?  You think maybe we wouldn’t like this? 

THEN WHY DO WE DO IT TO ACCOUNTANTS?  What is different?

The answer to this question tells us how to change challenge #1.

Mere certification cannot resolve these issues, AND it is a good start.  If you believe, like I do, that BA must rise in our society, please contact me with your ideas – we must lead, or continue to follow, and I for one am tired of being an armchair quarterback.

Thanks for being my reader, if this inspired you at all, please make a comment, so BA Times can know that we care.

Have fun!

20-20 Vision

Written by Terry Longo on . Posted in Articles.

I have always been intrigued by the organizational structure based on two reporting hierarchies, in which each employee has an “HR” manager and a “business” manager.  While I do not claim to understand all of the implications of such an arrangement, I did work very closely with a client using that structure, and a couple of dynamics were very clear:

  1. The business managers are able to really focus on vision, strategy, and execution
  2. Employees in general had a keen sense of ownership of their own careers and roles in the organization, supported enthusiastically by their HR managers

No doubt you have heard (and even harrumphed yourself in a fit of frustration) the adage “If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself”.  Though this is taken as a comment on quality (“done right”), I think it is more a comment on fulfillment of vision.  This is why the BA and his or her elicitation, analysis and documentation skills are so valuable – they are about extracting, reconciling, and revealing the stakeholders’ vision.

It is the dual-hierarchy management model I observed that prompted me to wonder: Is it not the case, axiomatically, that the business manager (the role, not the person) really is the business analyst?  Well, maybe that’s putting it too strongly.  But what if, by design, business managers were also business analysts?  It is common practice for the business manager, who is accountable for business results, to envision the to-be state and then delegate the business case development to a BA.  Imagine the efficiency to be gained if the business manager was also the BA – and what that means in terms of the potential for fulfillment of vision?

It seems the dual-hierarchy organization implicitly embraces the value and importance of the Business Analyst.  I wonder too whether there are other organizational idioms that give the BA role the space it needs.

Have you had experience with the dual-hierarchy management approach, or for that matter with other organizational design elements that are explicitly favorable to the practice of BA?