Tag: Strategic

Why Good Business Analysis Involves More Than Gathering and Managing Requirements

Written by Indu Koul on July 13, 2022. Posted in Articles.

While the basic function of a Business Analyst (BA) may be broadly understood as gathering, developing and managing business requirements, so many more activities contribute to effective and authentic business analysis practice.

Good business analysis ultimately results in wide-scale improvements and value creation as well as a deeper and clearer understanding of technology and its purpose across an entire organization.

Outside of requirements management, here are just a few of the important elements of effective business analysis.

Budgeting, financial forecasting, modelling and reporting

Generally, BAs are engaged with a project after the project is approved with defined budget and timelines. However, this practice can produce many challenges and limited project success. Challenges include not fit-for-purpose solutions, scope creep, budget variations, limited usage of existing enterprise platforms, multiplying applications of similar functionality … and an end result of insignificant business value.

To address this, BAs at VU conduct a minor but critical analysis prior to projects commencing in order to approve and assign budget to the project. We call this a short mandatory analysis to check the viability of the project, focus on identifying the value of the project and aligning it with VU’s IGNITE framework Value Identification Phase.

Running for 3-4 weeks, this process is led by BAs to understand the business problems and various solution options (internal/external) with a priority of assessing internal enterprise platforms first. The short analysis consists of:

Understanding the business problems through user journey maps.
Building a blueprint of high-level AS IS process.
Identifying gaps in AS IS process.
Building blueprint of TO BE process.
Identifying Minimal Viable Product (MVP) deliverable within a few sprints.
Devising context solution overview that shows the overall system with user interaction and dependency on other systems (this identifies the impact on existing systems and their integration points, and the impact on other business areas).
Providing solution options keeping future in mind.

The outcome of the analysis is shared with vendors for quotation. The MVP option becomes vital in establishing realistic budget and timelines for the project. Post analysis, BA inputs become critical to submission of New Initiative Funds Request (NIFR) to justify the existence of a project through its value and benefits.

A pilot of the short analysis was conducted in 2021 with VU’s introduction of a new Academic Integrity Register. The Academic Integrity Register is an online system developed to record, report and support academic decision-making in relation to academic integrity concerns and breaches of students studying in the higher education and vocational education sector.

Identifying stakeholders and managing expectations

Identifying relevant stakeholders at the commencement of the project is as important as assigning stable budget to the project. At VU, BAs identify stakeholders and map them through a tool known as a Stakeholder Power Interest Map. The mapping is conducted collaboratively by the business team, communications team and the BA. This helps stakeholders visualize the importance and relevance of the project. Stakeholders can vary from business sponsors to business owners and end users to operational support teams. Mapping demonstrates the stakeholder’s power and interest in the project which tells us how we have to manage their involvement and expectations.

To return to our Academic Integrity Register Project as an example, there were business owners, business sponsors, and roughly 2000 academics as end users of the system. At the commencement of a project, BAs should work closely with business owners to develop a communication plan which includes who needs to be involved at which stage of the project. For example, with our Academic Integrity Register project, business teams led by business owners were involved at all design related workshops and system testing phases. However, it was not possible to involve thousands of end users in User Acceptance testing (UAT), so we asked for senior representatives from each stakeholder group to participate and ensure transition to the new system was successful. These senior representatives became champions of VU’s Academic Integrity Register digital transformation.

Another critical aspect of stakeholder engagement is formulating a Project Control Board. The project owner (business sponsor) assembles a Project Control Board (PCB) and its members to assist in oversight and decision making needed to drive delivery of the project outcomes. BAs identify risks and issues and provide recommendations on approach which are presented at PCB for approval. The PCB also helps in maintaining buy-in and interest of senior leadership.

Seeking opportunities for greater value creation/realization beyond the immediate solutions required

A system implementation is successful only when the system is used and exploited by end users to a level that value is generated, and business benefits are realized during a defined period of time. For a system to continuously generate value, it has to be designed with future needs in mind. In all projects, though we focus on resolving immediate business needs through delivering MVPs, the entire system architecture should be designed based on future needs and solution expansions.

It goes without saying that implementing a system, deploying it to end users, and asking them to use it without bringing them on a project journey is a big risk to value generation. That’s why it’s essential to ensure representation of each user group at all stages of the project. Taking users along the journey with you keeps them invested and interested. This practice becomes a critical part of value realization. Users must not only accept the system but use it to a level that more opportunities are identified to improve the system, processes and solution itself.

A successful project with high acceptance from end users automatically opens doors for further opportunities in terms of engagement with other strategic prospects, process improvement, building branding through enhancing reputations. For instance, our Academic Integrity Register project enabled many across the business to learn more about CRM products which helped in product selection for other business areas. Project teams, including BAs, became recognized for their expertise and engaged in other strategic initiatives where learnings from this project could be applied.

Building beneficial relationships – not only with stakeholders but with developers, architects and partners

BAs lead the analysis of business needs, articulate the needs, perform market analysis and internal platform analysis, Request for Information (RFI), Request for proposals (RFP), product selection and vendor on-boarding. Though the BA leads these initial activities, they require Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) from other areas to ensure all the ends meet. For example, BAs collaborate with architects for establishing architecture vision and solution design, and with cybersecurity teams to ensure cyber risk assessment is conducted prior to vendor and product selection. If a decision is made to leverage a third-party provider for implementation to achieve cost saving or shift special functions to more experienced providers, BAs collaborate with partners to ensure the product is built per the business requirements and is fit for purpose. Partnering with external providers comes with its own risks and BAs have to manage these risks and ensure the project continues to be managed effectively.

Historically third-party partners have worked in a more siloed way, creating systems based simply on what was presented to them in the business’ technical specifications document. However, today there is a set of expectations on partners and their developers to add further value to the system implementation and its processes by providing their expert views and leveraging past experiences. This requires a great deal of collaboration, trust and strong partnership between BAs and implementation partners.

Our Academic Integrity Register solution was developed by a third-party partner. Over the duration of the project, a great relationship was built between BAs and the third-party partner. Post success of the project, the third party became VU’s strategic partner in managing the services through a managed service agreement. Win-win.

In summary, experienced and effective Business Analysts observe the pattern of business operations. Findings through these patterns become essential in driving solution recommendation, direction in investments, and alignment in the strategic roadmap.

Why Cyber And Physical Security Needs To Be Top Of Mind For Business Analysts

Written by Thomas Wright on June 2, 2022. Posted in Articles.

Cybercrime costs organizations $2.9 million every minute and costs major businesses $25 per minute due to data breaches.

It is no secret that cybersecurity is a top priority for all businesses, especially those adopting emerging cloud based and IoT technologies.

Cyber and physical security are becoming increasingly linked concepts, and business analysts must be prepared to include physical and digital security in any project they oversee. Keep reading to understand how you can implement a physical and digital converged security strategy in your business.

Why Business Analysts Should Have Cybersecurity Knowledge

Cybersecurity is part of risk management and should be included in every project your company oversees.

Since cloud-based technologies are included more in physical security strategies and are necessary to support hybrid working strategies, business analysts need to understand cybersecurity better.

The business analyst is the technical liaison between the project manager and the technical lead. The business analyst must be able to straddle both worlds of project management and the technical side of the operation.

By ensuring a thorough knowledge of cyber and physical security, the business analyst can improve communications and create swifter operating procedures. Business analysis isn’t just common sense and requires knowledge of key aspects within a business’ infrastructure.

Merging cyber and physical security is necessary to meet modern security demands, as the internet of things (IoT) and cloud-based technologies are making businesses more exposed to hacking. The data analysts need to evaluate is hosted on cloud-based platforms that require protection to prevent a breach.

How To Implement Better Cybersecurity Practices

Here are some of the best tips for business analysts to modernize their security strategy to handle physical and digital security threats. Better cybersecurity means more trust from stakeholders and protection from potential losses caused by the exposure of sensitive data.

Merging Physical And Digital Security

With the increased adoption of the internet of things (IoT) and cloud-based technologies, a restructuring is required within the facets of your business’ security staff. Housing digital and physical security teams separately can make modern security threats increasingly challenging to handle effectively.

With assets becoming both physical and digital, your physical security staff and IT team may have difficulty determining which security elements fall under their jurisdiction. By merging both teams, you can improve their communication and create a physical and digital security strategy that allows for faster response to physical and digital security threats.

You can integrate cybersecurity software with physical security technologies to prevent unauthorized users from accessing critical security data. You will modernize your cloud-based security system and make it impervious to physical and digital security breaches.

Using Physical Access Control To Protect Digital Assets

Your office building is home to many digital assets that store sensitive data. If an unauthorized user gains access to your physical servers, your data can be vulnerable. However, you can install door locks that prevent unauthorized users from entering your building by installing access control technology.

Mobile credentials can be used for access control security, which has many benefits. Users will be able to download an app and receive their mobile access key, rather than waiting for a physical key or keycard to be given to them. Bluetooth access readers can detect mobile devices stored in pockets and bags, meaning that your employees can enter the building without even removing their device and presenting it to the reader. Smart door locks can enhance your security and increase the convenience of your employees.

Using A Zero-Trust Security Strategy

A zero-trust security strategy does not assume the trustworthiness of employees and building visitors. Zero-trust can be applied to both physical and digital security strategies to remove the possibility of an internal security breach.

Access control door locks can be installed internally in your building to ensure that permissions to areas containing sensitive data and company assets are only granted to users that require access. The same principle can be applied to your cybersecurity strategy, only giving users permissions to access the data they need to perform daily operations.

A zero-trust security strategy is essential to eliminate the risk of an internal security breach that could cost your business money and lose your stakeholders’ trust.

Cybersecurity Training

Data is more vulnerable in a hybrid or remote work model, which means your employees should receive training on keeping their devices and networks protected. You can start by providing basic cybersecurity training covering the following topics:

How to avoid phishing scams.
How to set strong passwords.
How employees can keep their device software up to date to avoid vulnerabilities.

By providing your employees with basic cybersecurity training, you can significantly reduce the likelihood of a cybersecurity breach caused by human error.

Summary

Business analysts face new challenges when it comes to overseeing projects that are sufficiently protected in terms of both the physical and digital. A converged security strategy can combine physical and digital security strengths and help to futureproof your business against the changing nature of security threats.

Being strategic in your non-strategic business analysis role

Written by Paul Benn on November 17, 2021. Posted in Articles.

We typically see business analysts as a tactical resource – eliciting requirements, analysing solution alternatives, determining the best approach for testing, and implementing a solution, defining non-functional requirements, etc.

This largely comes down to how we as a profession have marketed our ourselves.

The more valuable business analyst operates strategically and thinks strategically.

I am not talking about strategic business analysis; I am talking about being strategic. Even if you are a junior business analyst.

Benefit to strategic thinking in a business analyst role:

You can add a lot more value to an employer when you think strategically.

For instance, working through a problem by viewing multiple elements of and making meaningful comparisons allows the business analyst to come up with various options, and solution approaches to the problem.

If you want to take your career and leadership to the next level, you need to develop strategic thinking.

You need to be great at solving problems. You need to influence and lead your stakeholders through your strategic ability to solve these complex problems. The world is changing fast and you need to lead that change while leading people with you.

What does it mean to be a strategic thinker in business analysis?

We have kind of answered it in the introduction above, but let’s look at it in more detail.

We can define strategy as “a plan of action designed to achieve a long-term or overall aim,” – Oxford Dictionary

We define thinking as “the process of considering or reasoning about something….. using thought or rational judgement; intelligent,” – Oxford Dictionary

We define Business Analysis as “Business Analysis is a disciplined approach for introducing and managing change to organisations, whether they are for-profit businesses, governments, or non-profits.” – IIBA

At the intersection of these three, I believe we find the purpose of strategic thinking in business analysis. Above, I have highlighted the keywords that I believe help us understand strategic thinking in business analysis.

A strategic business analyst “introduces change to an organisation through consideration of organisational problems and opportunities identified, apply intelligent reasoning and rational judgement to the information available, analysing different factors or variables, to help the organisation not only identify the change but also manage the change, through a plan of action to achieve a future aim.”

Having this holistic view of what makes up strategic thinking in a business analysis role also helps us have a strategic thinking framework in our work.

This graphic I developed, using the three definitions above, help us define some framework for strategic thinking.

Element 1: We apply reasoning to business analysis work to determine the current and future state. Identify the gaps between the two and determine the change strategy and how it needs to be managed.

This is represented by the Business Analyst and Thinking circles intersection.

How do we do this?

There are three things we can do here to apply reasoning and judgement

We use what we know about the organisation’s capabilities, resources, objectives, the environment within which the organisation operates, identify change and the impact of the change.
We use the knowledge we have, the understanding of the organisational capabilities, the environment and other relevant information to guide stakeholders with expert reasoning and judgement.
As business analysts, we can apply our judgement and reasoning to determine what that value is and maximise the value an organisation can get out of a change initiative. We help the business rationalise the reason for change, and that if it is worth the value to be gained.

Element 2: We apply reasoning to the strategy objectives (the intersection of the bottom circles)

If you think about the BABOK describes as defining the future state

“defines goals and objectives that will demonstrate that the business need has been satisfied and defines what parts of the enterprise need to change in order to meet those goals and objectives”

Thinking strategically is in your role is about applying your reasoning and judgement to the desired change and to identify what areas of the organisation are affected and how. Having a systems thinking that looks across all the following areas:

Business processes,
Functions within departments and systems,
Functional areas and the interdependencies between them,
Changes to the organisation structure,
Staff competencies and the training/reskilling required,
Knowledge and skills required in the organisation,
Resources needed,
Tools used within the organisation,
The current and future locations of the organisation,
Data and information – what data is required and what the flow is,
Application systems needed, or enhancements to current ones,
Technology infrastructure to host the systems.

Element 3: The last element that is found at the intersection of Business Analyst and the Strategy circles in the diagram.

The BABOK refers to identifying the transition states that address or ensure the change progresses. As a business analyst, we manage that change. This is not project management, but we certainly have a lot to do with helping to identify the things to manage the change in an orderly manner that adds value to the organisation.

The BABOK says that as business analysts we:

“enable the enterprise to address that need, and align the resulting strategy for the change with higher- and lower-level strategies,”

Managing the change, for me, is about ensuring that we have done all that is possible to not only identify the change, but how that change is going to happen and that we have thought through how this all works together to achieve a common aim. This means I apply my capabilities and thinking to ensure that:

I help the organisation have outside in view of what is happening. This helps us, and stakeholders, to make rational decisions based on facts and not on assumptions.
Provide an objective view of what is happening based on sound research and data. So, for instance, I might look at market movement, other industries, competitors, the economy etc and use data to predict future trends.
Help stakeholders decide which route is best for the organisation and which changes will have most favourable outcomes in terms of value.
To ensure the change strategy remains on track, a business analyst would have identified the major decision makers needed. Maybe even predict where each stakeholder is needed along each of the transition states.
A business analyst defines and communicates the desired future state. Ensuring everyone is aligned with the desired change strategy.
Sometimes organisations don’t know what they want. A good business analyst can work in extreme cases of uncertainty to steer their organisation to more certainty about what their needs are.
A business analyst also needs to know how the change is going to happen, know each moving part, and how they will contribute to implementing the new future state. They create a clear, actionable plan that makes sense to everyone.

The original article, Using Strategic Thinking in a Business Analyst Role, goes on to explore the 7 habits to develop to aid your strategic thinking capability.

Business Analysis as A Service

Written by Business Analysis (BAPL) on October 6, 2021. Posted in Articles.

One billion dollars wasted, 100 million over budget, a 40-million-dollar initiative costing $250 million dollars! Recent announcements in the press regarding significant initiatives, projects & product overspend and minimal value, are testament to this. Successful initiatives are key to organisational success, and an effective requirements process is the key to successful initiatives. This is costing organisations millions of dollars in wasted expenditure, and many more millions in lost opportunity. If your Customer Journeys, Epics & User Stories are not correct and aligned, then your initiative is certain to fail.

A service is a means of delivering value to customers, by facilitating the outcomes customers need. Effective services start with the understanding of that need, and work towards providing the best possible outcome(s) within the customer environment. Business Analysis is a service like all others and considering it as such is important for that services success.

However, business analysis is a broad service offering that can cover anything to do with innovation, people, process, and technology. In addition, the customers of Business Analysis also vary including Product Managers & Owners, Developers, Testers, Solution Architects, all the way through to CIOs, CEO, and Company Directors.

What is Business Analysis as a Service?

Why not have your business analysis serviced like you do your car?

When your car needs a service, you book it in, arrive, hand over the keys, return later that day, pay and drive home. You trusted the dealership to do what you paid them to do, service the car.

You never asked for a specific mechanic, you never asked for a subject matter expert, all you wanted was for the service to be completed, the logbook to be signed and to have a checklist of the agreed work that was performed. No hassle, all done.

The way you and your internal customers (Product Owners, Project Managers, Development Leads etc) receive business analysis should be no different. You should have the confidence and expectation that you will receive the right outcomes to drive the initiative in the right direction.

When your business needs analysis, you book it in with us, you return later, pay, and receive the agreed outcomes. You can trust BAPL to do what you paid us to do.

You never need to ask for a specific consultant, we engage with your SME’s, you never need to ask for special requests as we scope and identify the requirements to the appropriate levels, highlight any risks or assumptions and deliver the agreed outcomes, bringing value for money, in shorter timeframes resulting in improved initiatives. No hassle, all done. It’s called Business Analysis as a Service, and our service is second to none.

In a Business Analysis as a Service model, we work in collaboration with you and your internal customers to establish the required services needed to deliver the analysis for the organisation’s improvements to their products and services. We would understand the need, define an appropriate approach, set timelines etc.

This provides an opportunity to identify the competencies and capabilities required to fulfill this need. The assigned BAs would work develop an approach and delivery plan, provide consistent reporting to ensure the agreed upon outcomes are being delivered, and to manage any issues that may be putting these outcomes at risk.

This model puts the accountability of business analysis outcomes back to the BA Team and BA Manager, rather than on the shoulders of the individual or the team they are working in. In doing so, it provides the BA Team Manager the ability to forward plan resourcing, forward plan capability uplifts, and assign the right person to the deliver the right service. This results in the right service, delivered in the right time, with the right analysis, resulting in better outcomes for your organisation.

This model works in both small and large team environments, agile and waterfall.

The importance of understanding value

Written by Annabel Russell on September 29, 2021. Posted in Articles.

Every company has many competing ideas on projects which need to be fulfilled in order to run successfully. Departments will usually get a budget and at times try to deliver as many items as possible, in order to say they have been completed. But are the correct items/functions/projects being delivered to really drive value to the customer and/or business?

In working in multiple companies over the years, I have seen many ways of deciding on priorities from who screams loudest to very formal detailed business plans being put forward explaining the rational behind the ask.

When prioritizing one key element we must understand is what value we are adding to the customer or the business by delivering the item.

Value statements are a great tool to clearly define the outcome of the item being delivered. One useful technique to really get stakeholders to think about value is writing SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timebound) objectives. Instead of writing “We will increase revenue” the new value statement will read “We will increase revenue of the whitening toothpaste product by 2% over the 12 months following implementation of a rotation pane on the toothpaste description page”.

While this seems like a relatively straightforward and logical tool, the fact is, some companies still do not follow this practice of clearly defining value and there are many reasons for this, which can include:

Stakeholders or product owners may not be comfortable to stand over quantified data
Stakeholders not believing in the idea but have been asked to progress the idea
The data may not be available in the company easily enough for stakeholders to quantify
A culture of blame, funding cuts or sidelining careers if the targets are not met

When value is not fully outlined and decisions are made based on feeling, this can lead to:

Items being delivered which are not adding value
Items being creating which are not required and could be culled causing waste
Potentially higher support and maintenance costs for items not required
Implementation costs of items not required
Loss of customers/revenue by not implementing needed functionality

Furthermore, value needs to be defined from the outset in order to measure success/failure of the implementation after the time period stated in the objective. Without this measure there is no way to gauge if the item really added value.