what's in your business analysis toolkit - reboot 2013, ba world conference, ottawa nov 2013

What’s in Your BA Toolkit?What s in Your BA Toolkit?(Reboot 2013)( )

Marie HalseyNovember 2013

Marie Halsey Consulting Inc.

Learning Objectives

Why consider upgrading your BA toolkit?

What do today’s BA tools have to offer?

How do you choose your BA Toolkit?y y

November 2013 Marie Halsey Consulting Inc. 2

Background

One day …

BA Role: Liaison Among Stakeholders …

Business Sponsors Clients

ProjectManagers

SolutionDelivery Team

Customer Reps

Business Analyst

Delivery Team

EndUsers

- Solution Architect- Developer- DBA

U bilit S i li t

Suppliers

- Usability Specialist- Tester- Trainer- Change Manager

Operational Support

November 2013 Marie Halsey Consulting Inc.

Regulators

Types of Communication Tools…Low-tech Software-based

Collaboration

MS Office-Type Tools are Great!When you have …Static content or simple sequential iterationsStatic content or simple, sequential iterationsBaselines are against entire documentMi i l t bilitMinimal traceabilityMinimal meta-data; none with diagram

elementselementsNo need to duplicate content

Traceability Model Impact Analysis Integration

Variable Meta-data RM

ReuseIt’s HARD!

It s HARD!

Issue: WYSIWYG!No ‘packaging’ for different stakeholders

Stakeholders NotFully Engaged

OverwhelmingTime-consumingTime-consuming

And the Cost?

BAs Need a Purpose-Built Toolkit!PMs MS Project MS Project

Developers Highly sophisticated Highly-sophisticated

Testers Fully automated Fully-automated

test generation, execution, tracking

Past BA Tool Challenges

Baselining, versioning, release managementCComparing versions

Integration of requirements elementsPackaging / reporting, esp. non-text and

associated elementsSupport for re-use

BA Tools in 2013?Significantly improved features and usability:

AuthoringAuthoring

Managing

Validating

M it iMonitoring

Communicatingg

Integration

Key Advantage: Central Repository Single data source No duplication

Out-of-the-box standard Requirement types Att ib t Attributes Models

Customizable Customizable Requirement types Attributes

Fully integrated Diagram elements

Usability

At-a-Glance NavigationIntuitive, consistent

interface

Wizards, Tutorials

Usability‘Drag and drop’

diagram elements and objects

Customizable icons

Fast data capture & diagramming

UsabilitySpell checkingGlossariesGlossariesBulk data selectionRange (SHIFT Click) non contiguous (CTRL click)Range (SHIFT-Click), non-contiguous (CTRL-click)

Bulk processingParent child re parent traceabilityParent-child, re-parent, traceabilityUpdate attribute values

Model and diagram searching filtering sortingModel and diagram searching, filtering, sortingUndo/Redo

Requirements Authoring

Elicit and capture:Textual requirements

Generic Diagrams

Models

Authoring – Textual Requirements

Rich text editor

Parent-childhierarchy

Embedded objects and hyperlinks

Authoring – Generic Diagram Editor

System Context

Diagram elements fully attributed, traceable

Authoring – Use Cases

ActorStructuredUse CasesUse Cases

GlossaryGlossary, Data

Entity, Attribute

Authoring – Activity DiagramsAuto-generated/integrated

Activity Diagram

Auto-numberingAuto numbering

Authoring – Domain Models

I d D iIntegrated Domain Model and Data

Dictionary

Customizable and configurable

data attributes

Authoring – UI Prototyping Low/high fidelity Branding BrandingWidgets, controls UI Snapshots User comments Integrated with data

model elementsmodel elements

Authoring – Storyboards

Use mockups or snapshots of existing UIsnapshots of existing UI

Requirements ManagementOrganizeStructure CategorizationStructure, Categorization

TraceabilityVersion ManagementVersion ManagementBaselines, Release managementVersioning / Revision history DifferencingVersioning / Revision history, Differencing

Manage - OrganizeStructure: Projects, Requirement Types,Parent-child relationshipsParent child relationships

Categorize: Attributes help Prioritize, Track, Filter

Manage - Traceability Trees

Manage ‘suspect' relationships

At-a-glance impact analysis

Manage - Traceability Matrix

Directional / PPeer-to-peer

Visually assess coverage; missing traceability

missing traceability

Manage – Reuse

C j t t bilitCross-project traceability

P j t t tiProject segmentation

Requirement sharingRequirement sharing

Solution branchingg

Manage - Baselines

Select all requirements or just a subset

Manage – Revision History

Revision history

dRevision details

Versions are automatically maintained for every requirements artifact

Manage - Differencing

Easy to see what changed/revision marks

Requirements Validation

Generate review content

Conduct reviews

Obtain feedback

Obt i lObtain approval

Validate – Generate Content

Select artifacts to be reviewed

Check review progress

Validate – Conduct ReviewElectronicApproval!

Feedback

Screen mockup

TraceabilityActivity Diagram

Requirements Monitoring

Track requirement lifecycle

Requirement completion

ReviewReview

Approval Dashboards!!!

Monitor – Review ProgressBy artifact type

By reviewer

Monitor – Requirement Completion

Monitor – Requirement Activity

Requirements Communication

Package requirements

Collaborate

Comments and discussions

#hashtags, @mentions

Email notification

Communicate – Packaging

Template-driven Corporate branding Standards

Customized content

Word, Excel,HTML, XML

Customized content Textual requirements Attributes / Meta-data Images, links Diagrams, Mockups T bilit Traceability

Tool Integration

Internal

ExternalExternal

Integrate - Internal

Associate requirements artifacts with referenceartifacts with reference materialDocuments images andDocuments, images and

diagrams, URLs, etc.Associate diagram elementsAssociate diagram elements

with meta-data

Integrate - Internal

RequirementsBusiness Process

DiagramR i tBusiness Requirement

Stakeholder Requirement

Traces to Business Process

Diagram

Use Case Diagram

Activity Diagram

Requirement Attributes

Logs U I t f

Data Model(ERD, Class Diagram)Defects

Solution Requirement(Functional &

Non-functional)

Traces to Use CaseLogs(e.g., Decisions, Issues, Risks)

Business Rule

User Interface Mockup

Data Attribute

Data Entity

Data Dictionary

Contains

Discussionsata tt bute

ReferencesDocuments Tables Diagrams

Peer-to-peerAssociation

Association

Lifecycle Management Tools(e g quality assurance

Integration/Interoperability

Documents, Tables. Diagrams, URLs, Images, Other Artifacts

(e.g., quality assurance, development tools)

Integration is critical!

Integrate - External

Import/export from Word, Excel, Visio

Open API

Test generation/ integrationTest generation/ integration

ALM/SDLC Integration managers connect best-of-breed point solutions

How to Choose?It depends … Project size and complexityProject size and complexity Local or virtual team MethodologyWaterfall, iterative, agile

Project type Custom software COTS Custom software, COTS,

infrastructure/hardware-only Artifacts produced Maturity of BA organization

Note: MS Office-type tools may be enough!

yp y g

Follow the process!

Assess Current

Processes, P bl

Conduct Product Current

StateProblems Assessmen

tDetailed Toolkit Req’ts

Define BA Toolkit

Req’ts

Identify BA Toolkit

NeedsToolkit Needs

Select Product(s)

Identify T lki

Implement Toolkit GapsToolkit

pBA Toolkit

Prepare for Product Assessment

Weight / prioritize requirementsfPrepare list of candidate vendors

Check the internet, web reviewsTalk to peers, professional associationsGartner reports, Forrester surveysC id ftConsider open source software

Conduct survey based on high-level i t t h t li t 3 5 drequirements, to short-list 3-5 vendors,

Arrange for demos, training & support

Caveat emptor !

What’s Available?

Tool spectrum:Specialized, such as:PrototypingBPM, UMLMind maps

Broad-spectrum best-of-breedALM

Some Broad-Spectrum Candidates …

Also Visual Use Case

Caliber

Also DOORS and Requirements Composer

Formerly MKS Integrity

References Marie Halsey Consulting Inc.

“What’s in Your BA Toolkit (2010)” on SlideShare http://www.linkedin.com/in/mariehalseyIncludes toolkit requirements & selection processIIBA V d Sh bi IIBA Vendor Showcase webinars

Forrester reports D E d A i t Doreen Evans and Associates INCOSE Requirements Management Tools Survey Seilevel Evaluate and Select a Requirements Seilevel - Evaluate and Select a Requirements

Management Tool

One Final Thought …

What You Learned …

Why upgrade your BA toolkit?

What do today’s BA tools have to offer?

How do you choose your BA Toolkit?y y

Thank you!

Questions?

Marie HalseyMarie Halsey Consulting Inc.http://www.linkedin.com/in/mariehalsey

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