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Struggling to define Business Analysis & the Changing role of a BA (requirements elicitation, to change manager and trusted advisor)

Maria (Murphy) HorriganAccount Director Health & Human ServicesRegional Lead Business Analysis

BA World Symposium July 2008

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...previously, on Heroes

Business Analysis: In an agile environment Tools, practices, methodologies Career path Core competencies Organisations, alignment and membership Certification bodies Business-critical roles

... who are these guys?

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BAs apply different powers and abilities in order to deliver on critical client needs –

on projects, systems or processes

Heroes is a television show produced by NBC. This presentation was for educational purposes only and is NOT in any way, shape, or form affiliated with NBC, Tim Kring, or any other persons or organizations responsible for the production of Heroes, all trademarks and copyright belong to their respective owners.

http://heroeswiki.com/Main_Page

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“I can’t stand to fly, I’m not that naive”

Not about being Superman and coming in to save the day…

It’s not about taking over another project members role, it’s about the expertise and tools we can offer

Five for Fighting – “Superman”

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Save the cheerleader, save the world!

What powers and abilities do BAs need

to help make stuff happen?

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Hiro Nakamura -

Manipulate Time and Space Need to go back and analyse what

has happened in the past Jump to see the future to inform

the present Not just show the way but help

others to get therehttp://heroeswiki.com/Main_Page

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Micha Sanders

Techno path Understand what systems can do

to deliver outcomes for people Know what is possible Understand the business context,

requirements, data modelling and processes involved http://heroeswiki.com/Main_Page

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Matt Parkman

Telepath Mind reader “get inside peoples

heads” Its good to have BA dedicated to

knowing what the business and users want from the system

Sometimes client doesn’t know what they want…only what they don’t want

http://heroeswiki.com/Main_Page

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D.L HawkinsPhasing A BA who can walk through walls

of organisational silos A BA who can talk to the business

as well as the developers and translate between the two

http://heroeswiki.com/Main_Page

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Candice Wilmer

Chameleon Perform any role when you need it Sometimes the gig requires a

requirements specification, other times it’s a business cases, or mapping a business process or being that “trusted advisor”

You need a BA who has a toolkit, skills and abilities to adapt to any situation

http://heroeswiki.com/Main_Page

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Peter Petrelli

Empath Communicates Engenders trust Diverse abilities and skills Passionate Wants to “save the world” and

make it betterhttp://heroeswiki.com/Main_Page

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Clare Bennett

Cellular regeneration Change can open wounds old and

new Need BA who can help with

change management Be resilient

http://heroeswiki.com/Main_Pagehttp://heroeswiki.com/Main_Page

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Molly Walker

Clairvoyance “Find anyone, anywhere” A BA who can find the

information and the missing pieces of the puzzle

http://heroeswiki.com/Main_Page

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Sylar (Gabrielle Gray)

Intuitive aptitude We need BAs who can easily work

out “how things work” Pick up new abilities and skills as

required to expand superpowers

http://heroeswiki.com/Main_Page

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Heroes = Business Analyst

Manipulate Time & Space

Technopath

Cellular Regeneration

IntuitiveAptitude

Chameleon

Phasing

Clairvoyance

Telepath

Empath

BusinessAnalyst

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What is the BA role all about?

We need to apply all our powers: Requirements analysis IT systems focus Business and process improvement Testing and validation Communication and change management ... And more!!

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Is the BA role debate our kryptonite? So many powers! What is our main focus of activity – our central

concern? Will our struggle to define our role threaten our

existence? Is BA a profession or not? Where is the League of Justice for BAs?

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Role vs Discipline – for good or evil?Definition by Role: Organisations have LOTS of roles we can fill Roles vary from organisation to organisation Too broad If role ≠ my BA picture, what am I, who am I?

Definition by Discipline: Specialists in the field of business analysis are therefore business

analysts Too narrow Don’t box me in!!! If discipline definition ≠ my current role, am I really a BA?

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Chickens and Eggs

“Any definition broad enough to encompass the role is too broad to foster useful discussion of the discipline; any definition narrow enough for the discipline is too narrow for the role….basing either definition on the other means one is going to be insufficient. Trying to do both at once isn’t working, producing a classic chicken-and-egg problem”.

- Jesse James Garrett, IA Recon

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Working thru “defining the damn thing” together

“Community of Practice” can help shape the future of the profession

Shared tools Shared methodologies Shared approaches to work BA Practice by description NOT prescription

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It’s about learning and sharing….

“Andrew Hinton at inkblurt.com”

Work “Team”

•Involuntary membership•Obliged to be a member•Role defined by the project•Team defined by organisation•Focus on deliverables

Community of Practice

•Voluntary membership•“Because I’m interested”•Role described by the sum of the whole practice•Continual improvement of knowledge•Learning and sharing

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What is a “Community of Practice”?

“Andrew Hinton at inkblurt.com”

“Practice is a shared history of learning”

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These are emergent, self-organising, social groups for learning, making and improving the domain – the central concern of the practice.

There are many Communities of Practice

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It’s dynamic….

“Andrew Hinton at inkblurt.com”

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It’s a science arising out of many other sciences”….

AnalysisRequirements

Design

User-centred Design & Architecture

Business Process Management

Project Management

UAT

Business Analysis

Business Systems Analysis

Programming and Development

Adapted from “Andrew Hinton at inkblurt.com”

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Overlap of BA and PM role Requirements gathering and management

Both the PM and the BA face the same challenges Difficult to identify & document complete requirements up front

Process Improvement PM - Continuous process & practice improvement BA – business process improvement and effective project

management methodologies Skills and Competency profile

Profile of an effective PM or BA are virtual identical Morphed into one profession the “BA/PM”

Tools and Templates Again virtually identical

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image: http://www.lakefronthartwell.com/bm~pix/milkshake~s600x600.jpg

BA RolePM Role

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Not the center of the universe

Central Concern Analysis

RequirementsDesign

BA

Adapted from “Andrew Hinton at inkblurt.com”

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These Practices aren’t milkshakes

More like a McFlurry

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Central Concern will always overlap Many practices, disciplines and areas of concern have

overlap. E.g. UXD & IA; IA & BA; BA & EA People will migrate from one area of concern to another

based on their previous experience, skills and expertise, into new ones over time.

Even if we're called the PM, we might well be doing business analysis; or be called the BA on the project when we're really doing coordination and project management work.

There will always be differences between roles and activities we bring to our team and the central concern

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Overlap of practice & identity – so who am I?

“Andrew Hinton at inkblurt.com”

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Community of practice – “homes for identities”

Each of us tendsto identify with apractice

“Andrew Hinton at inkblurt.com”

ABAA

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Big BA vs Little BA

Image: Based on the cover to Batman #9 by Bob Kane.

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BA the ……..

“Andrew Hinton at inkblurt.com”

Activity:The actual work of analysing the “thing”

Thing:The analysis “stuff” itself

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Sending up the Bat Signal

How can we share ideas about: The differences in our Titles? Our evolving Role? Our tools, methodologies and deliverables

How do we adapt to: The demands of the rapidly changing business

environment? The impacts this has on our Discipline and

Practice?

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Instant access to BA Community of Practice• Access to body of knowledge (in people’s heads, not in documents)• Communities of practice• Experts, gurus and thought leaders• Access to friends and their friends and their friends

This is “what networking should be” - linkedIn• Leveraging: the power of many• The power of permission: trust • The power of networks: the friend of my friend is my friend

The cost (time, energy): easiest way (anytime, anywhere) to make contact, communicate, share, collaborate with “friends” and the BA Community of Practice

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http://www.linkedin.com

Linked in

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Twitter

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Facebook – building online communities

www.facebook.com

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www.barocks.com

Blogs

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Case studies

1. BAs in a changing environment: Learning new powers from intersections NOT milkshakes Agile environment Leveraging Community of Practice

2. BAs “with powers and abilities far beyond normal man”:

Adapting and changing roles Agile environment and tight timeframes Analysis from strategy and policy to complex data issues

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Case Study 1: BAs in this changing environment

Large paper based application process to be developed via the web

Involvement of multiple divisions across the organisation, other agencies

Political exposure due to external user interaction with system

Data commercial-in-confidence Pressure from stakeholders to develop process

transparency , accountability and efficiency Requirements three years in the making

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It’s Groundhog Day – the dreaded Business analysis spiral

Requirements gathering

Document divergent solution

M Hodgson : “Ain’t no backseat driver”

Analysis

New Information

Distraction

Build

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IIBA Model

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ABAA Framework

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ISO:13407 Human‐centred designprocesses for interactive systems

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Business-centred design

Understand Business

wants & needs

Develop and document design

solution

M Hodgson : “Ain’t no backseat driver”

Analysis

New Information

Workshop Possibilities

Prototype and refine screen concepts

Build

Validate requirements

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Sharing the solution – a new lifecycle!

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Lessons learned The environment is rapidly evolving BAs need to learn and adapt to survive There are tools not made by BAs that we can

look to for help One size (approach) doesn’t fit all Intersections of the ‘central concern’ is a strength

to draw from Give back to the community – blog about it!

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Case Study 2: BA powers and abilities Very political and high profile initiative Policy still being developed on the fly Tender is progress but delay in finding Vendor by

Program launch date Pressure for a deadline - (IT an afterthought) so

Interim system deemed to be required. 3 weeks to develop high level requirement

specifications Required extensive data analysis - match one

organisations product code’s to several other organisations

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BA role description

Powers and abilities: Project Management skills Test Management Subject matter expertise in Health In-depth knowledge of Medical products environment Business case development Forecasting needs for the longer term solutions

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yThe complex environment – service rebate system

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Distributor PDE Code Product Description PBS Indicator Distributor A 111245 Insulin Humuln 30/70 100u 10ml #Distributor A 160762 Insulin Humuln 30/70 Ct3.0m 5 #Distributor B 548707 INSUL HUMUL VL 10ML *Distributor B 797391 INSUL HUMUL 30/70 CRT3MX5 *Distributor C 689025 Insulin Humulin 30/70 10mlDistributor C 424579 Insulin Humulin 30/70 3mlx5

The complex data issue

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Approach Initiation & Scoping solution requirements (core functionality

to calculate payments based on total sales (volume) by distributors.

Research and Analysis to define key reports, outline key business processes, identify critical success factors, undertake a high level risk analysis

Develop Requirements Specification Develop Conceptual Design (prototype) Project Coordinate the Development of the system for the

business Evaluate - User acceptance testing

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Lessons learnt

In a changing environment: Requirements and development are being done

simultaneously BA may have to draw on various disciplines BA need to fulfil different roles during the project Drawing on core capability of analysis was key to

solving the complex data issues BAs are key to understanding the business environment BAs can add value through the entire project BAs can become the trusted advisor for the business

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We all need heroes…..

We are a thriving and growing community of practice We can help support Projects Our analysis skills can be utilised during various phases

of the delivery of an engagement We have proven methodologies, frameworks and tools to

add value and fulfil business needs

http://heroeswiki.com/Main_Page

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Central Concern

BA

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Questions?

Maria (Murphy) Horrigan Account Director Health & Human Services

Regional Lead Business Analysis

Email: mhorrigan@smsmt.comBlog: www.barocks.comWeb: www.smsmt.com