Effective Business AnalysisHow Business Analysts can improve the outcomes of IT Projects

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Contents

About Peter Bricknell ...................................................................................................... 3

About Sheena Comar ..................................................................................................... 3

Business analysis to bring better project outcomes ....................................................... 4

What a good business analyst can bring to a project? ................................................... 5

When to Engage a Business Analyst in the Project Life Cycle .................................... 14

Introducing a Business Analyst role on the Project ...................................................... 18

What is a Centre of Excellence (COE) ......................................................................... 20

Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 23

References ................................................................................................................... 24

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About Peter Bricknell

Peter Bricknell is a Director in the Management Consulting team at Hitachi Consulting specializing in aligning business and IT. Peter has over 15 years of consulting and management experience gained serving some of the largest and most influential corporations and public sector organisations in North America, Europe, and Africa in areas that include business transformation, business process improvement, strategic technology planning, IT effectiveness and information systems development and implementation. Peter has experience across the spectrum of Information Systems development and delivery – from IT strategy, requirements definition, software support, methodology development, training, cultural change and roll-out. As a result, Peter has a unique blend of business, people and technical perspectives across multiple cultures, to help people and businesses make a positive impact in our world. Peter’s qualifications include:

Chartered Engineer

Member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology

MA Engineering Science, Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge

About Sheena Comar

Sheena Comar is a Senior Consultant in the Management Consulting team at Hitachi Consulting. Sheena has over 7 years of industry experience within the Energy & Utilities and Oil and Gas Industries, with experience in Business Analysis and Data Migration. With excellent solutions design Sheena has worked on complex projects across the globe, from inceptions to deployment, whilst proposing recommendations and resolving business issues, in order to deliver innovative business solutions.

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Business analysis to bring better project outcomes

Imagine you are at the start of a project, one that is using technology. The business case is in place. The Project Manager is on board, a Change Management process is known and the Technical teams are in place. Is that enough or is something missing?

The real challenge now is connecting the hope that the project delivers the expected outcomes. Research by Gartner suggests that, ‘Only 40% of CFOs find that their IT investments are producing the returns they expected’. This means, 60% of projects are failing to deliver the business benefits outlined in the Business Case, resulting in business solutions which do not meet the true needs of the organisation. The CHAOS study identifies some of the major challenges faced by projects, with over 24% related to requirements management.

One role which plays an integral part in the execution of a project, and one which is often overlooked or misrepresented, is the Business Analyst. In some cases the role is either filled by a junior team member or taken up by the Project Manager or a Technical Architect because defining requirements is fun, easy and anyone can do it. Some organisations focus on the technical capture of requirements forgetting the influencing, prioritising and the softer skills that are crucial to the role.

This whitepaper aims to help a team who is shaping a project identify:

What a good business analyst can bring to a project

What to look for in selecting someone for the role of a Business Analyst, whether

internally, via contractors or with a vendor

How to spread good practices from project to project – the Business Analyst

Centre of Excellence.

“Only 40% of CFOs find that their IT investments are producing the returns they expected.”

- - Gartner, How to Optimize IT Investment Decisions

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What a good business analyst can bring to a project?

WHAT IS A BUSINESS ANALYST

A Business Analyst acts as a consultant amongst stakeholders and helps articulate a level of change that is required by a business. They provide direction to facilitate the delivery of effective solutions that provide tangible business benefits to an organisation. By assessing the existing business processes/model, Business Analysts understand how the different business units within an organisation integrate and identify opportunities for improvement.

The Professional Association of the Business Analysts discipline, IIBA defines a Business Analyst as ‘A liaison among stakeholders in order to understand the structure, policies, and operations of an organisation, and to recommend solutions that enable the organisation to achieve its goals’.

In some organisations, the role of a Business Analyst is often non-existent. This can present some difficulties particularly when the strategy and goals of a business are not in line with those of the developers. The language spoken by technical resources is often different to that of the business and thus can cause issues in interpreting the requirements, or assuming the solution can only be provided by technology.

A Business Analyst bridges this gap and works collaboratively with the technical teams and the business to deliver a working solution which meets the needs of the business, whilst investing in the right IT solution.

HOW DOES A BUSINESS ANALYST DIFFER TO A PROJECT MANAGER OR A BUSINESS ARCHITECT

There are many activities and skill sets which are common amongst a Project Managers, Solutions Architect and a Business Analyst. In smaller organisations or smaller projects, both roles may be carried out by the same person. Although possible, it is difficult for one person to maintain the right balance and perform both roles effectively.

A Project Manager primarily focuses on balancing time, cost and quality and is responsible for the overall success of the project within the agreed timeframe and budget.

The Business Architect is another important role which works at a more strategic level across an enterprise and is generally accountable for developing the vision for the enterprise wide solution.

The Business Analyst focuses on understanding business problems within a business domain and co-ordinates the business needs with the outputs of the project, by documenting the requirements that the solution must meet.

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A typical Business Analyst is largely concerned with managing requirements and business rules and delving into the detail by probing stakeholders for clarity and asking lots of questions. However Business Analysts holds several hats; they are the bridge from the business to IT and offer additional skills which can support the Project Manager and other teams.

Project Manager

Business Analyst

Solutions Architect

Common Skills

• Plan Development

• Scope Management

• Cost Management

• People Management

• Quality Management

• Risk Management

• Communication Management • Business Case support

• Requirements Gathering

• Business Rules & Policy capturing

• Develop the business architecture

• Support solution evaluation

• Monitor requirements & scope delivery

• Estimation and Deployment support

• Create Business Policies and Rules

• Provide and approve Business Architecture

• Provide and approve Business Requirements

• Provide and approve User Requirements

• Approve Functional Requirements

• Understand Non Functional Requirements

• Project Plan Development

• Project Time Management

• Apply the business architecture

• Document Business Requirements

• Drive Requirements review/approval

• Scope Management

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THE ROLE OF A BUSINESS ANALYST

A Business Analyst has significant influence on a number of areas of the ROI; increasing benefits achieved through the solution and reducing overall costs. The activities of a Business Analyst span a number of phases and stretches far beyond the delivery of the solution specification. In fact, Business Analysts have the tools and capabilities to support a number of activities from inception through to deployment.

Reduction in Costs

An additional role within the scope of a project may increase costs initially, however the long term benefits are often overlooked, and this is what a Business Analyst looks to achieve. So, how might these long term benefits be measured?

Reduction in Rework: Change is inevitable in any business environment, but unnecessary change can be avoided. The majority of unwanted change stems from poor requirements and governance of those requirements. Business Analysts are pivotal in ensuring requirements are well understood.

End User Involvement: Interact with and gain feedback from end users with the use of storyboards, throughout the specification stage, to set expectations and gain first hand picture of the business process.

Executive Support: Focusing on understanding the business context, goals and vision by asking the right questions so that a problem is clearly articulated and can be communicated to all key stakeholders, to secure buy in.

Stakeholder Engagement: Engaging with the key SMEs from all areas of the

business to elicit, capture and define requirements and facilitate in workshops

Aligning Objectives: Ensuring objectives are aligned between all business

functions and any implications are visible to stakeholders likely to be impacted.

Firm Requirements: Validating requirements with the business and

documenting the requirements for traceability and a tighter control over scope.

Collaboration: Reconciling the viewpoint of the technical teams with the

perspectives of the business needs, through effective review and collaboration.

Technical Competence: Identify developer skills needed to mitigate risk of rework and ensuring the requirements are delivered by IT whilst supporting the business through the implementation process.

Reduction in Requirements Churn: Stakeholder time is valuable; productive sessions require a rapid understanding of information by the right people from all affected business functions. Business Analysts have the competencies required to perform the discussions and drive an efficient logical decision making process, track issues, document discussions without repeatedly covering old ground.

Discovering Cost-Effective Solutions: The Business Analyst formulates an appreciation of the business needs and is able to propose and recommend a number of cost effective solutions which may deliver the benefits. This is achieved by assessing the business processes and the internal IT services.

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Increasing Benefits

Additional benefits can be gained from a project solution by enforcing some common practices amongst the Business Analysis activities:

Identify New Business Needs: Discover gaps and additional areas of improvement through continual evaluation of the IT model in alignment with the business strategies, with a focus on buy in from all stakeholders.

Reliable Estimates and Expectations: Documenting and distributing comprehensive material to all stakeholders to enforce a unified view of goals. A gap analysis helps ensure accurate estimations of tasks and deliverables.

Prioritization: Whilst all business requirements are considered important, it is essential to prioritize business goals and requirements to effectively manage requirements and the sequence of deliverables. Priorities should be reviewed throughout the lifecycle as scope creep occurs and priorities change.

Change Control: The scope of a project continually changes direction throughout the lifecycle through new opportunities or incorrect requirements. Risks can be mitigated by implementing a Change Control process which involves Identifying and assessing the impact of the change (on resources, schedule and budget), assessing the actual need of the change, providing recommendations and prioritizing the change.

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KEY COMPETENCIES OF A BUSINESS ANALYST

It is the responsibility of the Business Analyst to define the right solution to ensure project success. The following key competencies have been identified by the BABOK guide as the range of fundamental skills, behaviours and characteristics that are required of a successful Business Analyst. Whilst these traits are not unique only to Business Analysts, they provide the foundations in which supports the on-going activities of Business Analysis activities.

The core competencies are broken down into 6 capability areas: Analytical thinking and problem solving, Behavioural Characteristics, Business Knowledge, Communication skills, Interactions Skills and Software applications.

Analytical Thinking and Problem Solving

Observation Evidence on Projects

Creative Thinking -

Generating Innovative and

appropriate ideas and

concepts to aid in problem

solving

Anticipating issues and preparing in

advance to minimize problems

Alternative ideas and solutions to business

problem

Decision Making - Effective in

making decisions and assisting

others to make better

decisions

Gathering source Information and evaluate

options by making comparisons

Conclude and communicate final decision

based on evidence/research

Learning -

Effective at gaining skills or

knowledge of the business

domains and functions, and

translating the learning and

understanding of what

activities need to be performed

to achieve business benefits

Gathering Information and making

comparisons

Impact assessment of all options during

decision analysis

Problem Solving -

Defining and solving problems

to ensure underlining problem

is understood and addressed

Performing analysis of the problem by

looking into current business process and

identifying root cause

Creating a Requirements Traceability

Matrix (RTM) to ensure solution meets the

objectives of the problem

Systems Thinking -

Understanding how people,

processes and systems

interact within an organisation

as a whole.

Understanding overall objectives of all

stakeholders and business units

Assessing how a change to a process may

affect the entire system and

communicating changes to all affected

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Behavioural Characteristics

Observation Evidence on Projects

Ethics - Behaving ethically to

earn stakeholder trust and

respect and recognizing

potential problems with

requirements or solution

Involving all stakeholders and end users

when making decisions

Highlighting issues as they arise and

accepting responsibility for project delays

or failure

Personal Organization -

Effectively manage tasks and

information. The role of a BA is

extended to support the

business throughout the

development. Therefore the

BA is also responsible for

planning and managing the

scope of the solution

Planning and managing the scope of the

solution.

Prioritizing tasks and effective time

management for efficiency in completing

tasks.

Monitor the progress of work packages

and deliverables

Trustworthiness – Gaining

trust and confidence of

stakeholders to access

organization sensitive

information for effective

elicitation of requirements, in

the interest of the business.

Understanding stakeholders true needs,

not wants

Highlighting difficult business issues/topics

to stakeholders

Stakeholder involving the BA in decision

making and accepting recommendations

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Business Knowledge

Observation Evidence on Projects

Business Principles and

Practices - Understanding the

fundamental characteristics

and best practices that are

common to all organizations.

Awareness of business environments,

operations, process and practices

Awareness of relevant regulatory,

compliance, and governance frameworks

Understanding of auditing and security

issues

Industry Knowledge - An

understanding of the potential

challenges an industry may be

faced with and evidence of

solutions applied elsewhere

Understanding of industry related material,

regulatory environment, resources and

process documents

The ability to identify key trends shaping

the industry.

Understanding of processes and

methodologies

Organizational Knowledge –

Ability to analyses the

business models and

architecture of the

organization.

Demonstrating understanding of how the

different business units integrate, through

process/systems modelling

Business specific knowledge of

products/services offered through process

modelling

Regular liaison with key SMEs and

stakeholders within the organization

Solution Knowledge –

Understanding of the existing

business and identifying most

effective change to suit

business needs.

Understanding business needs through

requirements definition and providing

effective solution to business problems

Assessing commercial market for alternate

solutions

Implementing a change in minimal

timeframe

Communicating business benefits to

stakeholders during negotiation

Quality Assurance –

Ensuring that that solution

transitioned to stakeholders

meets the highest standards.

Demonstrating that requirements can be

traced through the whole development

lifecycle

Identifying changes in scope and reflecting

this back through the project and

requirements

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Communication Skills

Observation Evidence on Projects

Oral – Ability to communicate ideas

and information to the target

audience, using the right tone to

achieve the positive/negative

influence as required

Paraphrasing to ensure understanding of

requirement

Articulating ideas effectively through

detailed explanations

Asking lots of questions to clearly

understand requirement

Delivering presentations with appropriate

use of content and objectives

Escalate critical/difficult issue and risks in a

calm, rational manner

Teaching - Effectively communicate

issues and requirements and to

ensure the information is understood

and retained.

Explaining context of a solution to SMEs

and stakeholders and acknowledging

stakeholder understanding

Preparing presentation material for

stakeholders

Kinaesthetic (through doing)

Written - Effectively document

requirements and elicitation results,

for a various contexts and audiences.

A broad vocabulary, strong grasp of

grammar and understanding of

terminology appropriate to the

audience is required

Ability to adjust style of writing according to

audience

Appropriate choice of words

Proper use of grammar

Ability of the reader describe the content of

the written communication

Appropriate use of Methodology/Tools

(UML/BPM) to illustrate processes

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Interaction

Observation Evidence on Projects

Facilitation and Negotiation –

Facilitating interactions between

stakeholders in order support

negotiation on how to best resolve

disagreements regarding the priority

and nature of requirements. Evidence

on a project:

Ensuring viewpoints and objectives of all

participants in a discussion is

communicated and understood by all

Facilitating workshops by organising

agendas, taking meeting minutes, sticking

to time etc.

Concentration to ensure discussions is not

side-tracked.

Identifying important issues and common

areas of agreement

Leadership and Influencing -

Effective in formal and informal

leadership roles, in order to guide

others investigating requirements and

to help encourage stakeholder

support for a necessary change.

Motivating people to ensure the same

goals are achieved

Listen to views of wider team and acting on

them

Probe for questions during requirements

phase

Teamwork -

Work closely with other team

members to effectively support their

work so that solutions can be

effectively implemented

Regular meeting with wider team to

eliminate silo mentality and ensure

everyone are working towards common

goal

Developing trust among team members by

Supporting other team members (BAs,

PMs, SMEs etc)

Software Applications

Observation Evidence on Projects

General Purpose Applications -

Use of office applications, such as

Word and Excel to document and

track requirements and PowerPoint to

deliver presentations.

Preparation of a presentation through use

of PowerPoint to walkthrough the solution

Tracking changes to the requirements /

design documents in Word to enable target

audience to view changes

Specialized Applications -

Use of specialized tools to define the

as is and to be states of an

organisation and to support the

development, validation and

implementation of requirements.

Use of a modelling tool, such as UML /

BPN to demonstrate understanding of as is

processes.

Use of Requirements management tools to

facilitate elicitation and documentation of

requirements and to support change

control

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When to Engage a Business Analyst in the Project Life Cycle

If we consider the Waterfall or the Agile Methodology, there are several stages from Analysis through to Deployment. HFusion ®, Hitachi Consulting’s project delivery methodology is focused on driving effective client engagements within the project life cycle, from conception through to transition and provides a basic framework for planning and execution.

The Methodology is structured upon five Phases which closely correlate to the different stages the wider methodologies, be in Waterfall or Agile. Each Phase is broken down into several logical process groups of related processes. The Methodology is partnered with our Project Management Discipline, a licensed derivative of the Project Management Institute’s (PMI) PMBOK®.

The Business Analyst supports many different activities across all the phases of the Methodology (as highlighted in the diagram above), playing a primary role in the Define and Design.

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A Business Analyst should be involved where:

Define Need for Justification - The Business Analyst supports the justification of a need

for change by highlighting at high level, he benefits realization and building a high

level solution.

Business Case & Estimating - When you need understand the details behind the

issues for a benefits & business case and build a high level solution

System and Vendor Selection - When you need to select an IT vendor

Project Support - Assisting the PM in estimation and project scoping

Design Business Requirements - When you need to define the user requirements and

ensure the solution matches the requirements.

Detailed Solution Specification - When you need to understand the issues and

build a high-level solution.

Project Support - Assisting the PM in estimation and project scoping

Develop Business Requirements Assurance - Provide advisory support to the design

and development, testing and delivery of the solution

Deployment Support - Supporting the smooth deployment of a project, by

working closely with the business area around training the users and ensuring

they have the documentation to use the solution.

Deploy Facilitation of lessons learnt and knowledge capture

Transition Business Case (Validation) - Close the loop on the business case, measure

KPIs against Business Case

Test Support - Supporting the Testing Cycle

Handover - Transfer process and technical ownership, defect reporting, and

future enhancement management from the project team to the long-term support

team

At the start of the cycle, the Business Analyst has an important role in understanding and grasping the concepts of how the initiatives connect with the overall goals and objectives of the organisation. The Business Analyst then supports the design and development teams in ensuring the requirements of the business are understood and being met. Finally, the Business Analyst performs a handover and knowledge transfer to the end users and the support teams.

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WHAT ARE THE KEY DELIVERABLES OF A BUSINESS ANALYST

The following summarizes the deliverables that a Business Analyst is Responsible for, and those that a Business Analyst is consulted, focusing on the key outputs across each areas of the Hitachi HFusion® Methodology.

This is not an exhaustive list of deliverables. The key is to identify where in the lifecycle a deliverable is needed and customize the recommendations to make them fit in to the project and business areas.

The following Responsibility Assignment matrix (RACI) describes each of the deliverables above which a Business Analyst may be involved in, aligning these to the HFusion® Methodology:

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DELIVERABLE DESCRIPTION RACI

Define

Project Approach Describes the overall project methodology C

Baseline KPI

Measurements

Current baseline values for the solution's Key Performance Indicators (KPI)

R

Business Case Recommended path forward and business alternatives C

Business

Requirements

Record, manage and prioritize company's business needs R

Solution Summary

Presentation

Executive level presentation to communicate the formulated solution to key stakeholders

C

Design

Future State Process

Flow

Flow chart depicting the steps of the future state business process R

High Level

Requirements

Captures High Level requirements R

Requirements

Traceability Matrix

(Contained within the RTM) captures detailed requirements of the solution and tracks implementation

R

Gap Analysis Detail Detail of each gap, its resolution options, and recommended resolution R

Detail Solution

Specification

Describes in detail each of the high level requirements C

Test Strategy Describes the detailed plan for executing all test types C

Develop

Solution Validation

Assessment

Assesses if the solution is able to meet the business need at an acceptable level of quality

R

Deploy

Review Checklist Topics to be reviewed at project milestones to verify a holistic solution C

Transition

Solution KPI

Measurements

Contains the values for the key performance indicators (KPI) that are

captured once solution is operational

R

Solution Results

Presentation

Deliverable is used to present the final results of the solution to key

stakeholders

C

Handover Support Handover document with Instructions R

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Introducing a Business Analyst role on the Project

Many organisations have a mix of Business Analyst skills available, from permanent staff to contractors or suppliers. There is no right answer on how to resource it. However, some key principles which should be considered are the scope of work, the competency levels of resources within the organisation, expectations of the stakeholders and the organisational culture.

INTERNAL

Where the initiative is the change of internal processes, the default option is to use Internal Business Analysts as they already have an understanding of the different business areas, with an appreciation of business processes, legacy systems, issues and resolutions. Internal relationships are already established, thus easier to gain access to SMEs. The big question is whether they have the skills to be a Business Analyst and if not, how they can be coached and trained rapidly for the project. This can help make an informed decision of how well their Business Analysts can fulfil the expectations and may even result in a mixed vendor / internal Business Analyst team.

The shortfall is the lack of industry wide knowledge in which external BAs benefit. Internal resources may also find it difficult to express ideas, concern or disagreement amongst management and as we know, negotiation is key to a successful Business Analyst.

EXTERNAL CONSULTANCY

One of the main reasons companies’ select external suppliers is to cut costs (Gartner) and to obtain an objective viewpoint. They possess Subject Matter Expert knowledge with access to specialized experts, which helps organisations keep on top of industry practices. Understanding the business and how it functions as an enterprise however may take significant time.

Advantages

• In-depth Internal Business Knowledge, which stays within the business

• Implement own process/way of working

•Understands company business processes

• In built trust

•Knowledge and access to SMEs

•Leverage internal relationships

Disadvantages

•Limited experience of Stakeholder Management and Consulting Skills

•May not have the required skill set, may require training

•Can have multiple responsibilities and therefore this may influence tasks, deliverables and timescales

•May not always have a structured approach to problem solving

•Wider industry Knowledge missing

•Not so experienced working in challenging environments

•Difficult to deliver difficult messages to management

•May be prejudiced towards legacy thinking - no new/fresh perspective

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Consultancies tend to invest heavily in the career development of their staff, as a core selling point to clients and adopt a clear focus on structure and deliverables. They are able to bring people onto a project and roll people off projects as necessary, enabling flexibility and ensuring the right people are brought in at the right time.

INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR

Sometimes, being too close to a problem can fabricate the issue further making it

difficult to determine the root cause. Contractors bring a fresh approach and industry

expertise to a project, but may not necessarily have the basic technical competence

required to bridge the business objectives

Organisations don’t need to invest in training or development of a contractor, but unlike vendors, a contractor is not always focused on deliverables and tends not drive a solution, as a contractor is a single person as opposed to a consultancy. The risk is that the role is time bound, not outcome driven.

COMBINED INTERNAL / VENDOR TEAM

Larger organisations are increasingly starting to realize the benefits of leveraging a mix of both internal and external expertise. Success comes from a blended team. Strong vendor Business Analysts can help steer the performance of the business to the next level and grow the internal teams by mixing the people who know the internal network with those focussed on outcomes. The challenge is to clearly define the internal roles so they can drive internally and understand how to review vendor deliverables. Some organisations worry that by choosing only external vendors/contractors, their internal information is exposed and the reliance upon vendors will increase.

Advantages

•Provides new thinking and objective views

•Can make recommendations without being influenced by internal resources

•Access to specialized expertise (resources)

• Industry Knowledge / SME – know what works and what doesn't

•Focus on deliverables, benefits and outcomes - efficient and productive

•Experienced in stakeholder management and rounded consulting skills

•Temporary help for one time projects or task rather than employing permanent staff

•Can breakdown internal politics and barriers

Disadvantages

•Need to upskill on company, processes, policies and people

•Need to develop internal relationships and knowledge

•Can be viewed as expensive when compared with internal costs - need a balance timescale, deliverables and the cost of making the wrong decisions

Advantages

•Temporary help for one time project or task rather than employing permanent staff

•Efficiency and Productivity

•Specialized Expertise

•No Training

• Industry and technical SMEs

•New fresh thinking

• Industry experience

•Can breakdown internal politics and barriers

Disadvantages

•Different ways of working

•Can be expensive

•Not driving the situation (T&M)

•Difficult to transition Staff

•Client always holds the risk, not the contractor

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What is a Centre of Excellence (COE)

A Centre of Excellence (COE) provides structure and a physical or virtual organisation to build consistency and maturity of the Business Analyst function within an organisation.

Building a Business Analyst COE allows an organisation to benefit from:

Effective Business Analysts within a common understanding within the organisation

A community of practice by improving techniques and efficiency

A defined approach for conducting Business Analysis activities, making it easier to plan and achieve higher standard of quality

A centralized point of excellence internally

Integrated processes and practices

Hitachi consulting can help organisations define and seed this capability. The model provides a distinct framework of processes, services, knowledge, skills and tools which offer a robust approach to providing the Business Analysis capabilities to a client, whilst continually improving the level of Business Analysis maturity.

The following model defines the operating model of the Business Analyst COE.

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REASONS TO CONSIDER BUILDING A BA CENTER OF EXCELLENCE (COE)

Building a Centre of Excellence helps an organisation move from pockets of expertise or reliance on specific contractors to an enterprise wide service that can help diverse properly. A COE focuses not only on a business unit, but provides a multi-dimensional service to all areas of the organisation.

There are a number of reasons why organisations embark upon building a functional unit which governs the Business Analysis practice across the enterprise:

1) To Maintain a consistent approach to Processes and Improve Quality

Within an organisation, it is not unusual to find Business Analysts adopting different

methods of elicitation, capturing, documenting and modelling requirements. Where

there is no clear structure or framework, the output of deliverables and the approach

to BA activities is largely inconsistent. This can present challenges to clients whilst

validating and approving requirements, and to the technical teams in understanding

and translating requirements.

A COE puts a structure in place which defines methodologies, metrics and tools

across all members of the organisations. A COE continually reviews the maturity of

the business to improve processes, which additionally:

Increases efficiency amongst Business Analysts

Reduces the need for training

Ensures up to date material

Ensure outputs and results are consistent

Skilled Business Analysts with a unified methodical approach

2) To Share knowledge and Improve Core Competencies

Businesses are always looking to improve their core competencies and identify gaps

within the internal capabilities. Knowledge sharing is something which is often

overlooked in organisations. Information and knowledge is rarely documented or

shared amongst others and remains with individuals. This presents big risks for

organisations looking to maintain consistency amongst processes and impacts the

quality of service provided. In the event that an individual leaves a company,

knowledge also disappears.

A COE encourages knowledge Management and Knowledge Sharing throughout an

organisation by uniting SMEs across business units to reduce the silo work style and

elevate capabilities through documentation, communication and best practices.

3) To Drive Maturity and Staff Retention

On one hand, organisations struggle with hiring the right calibre of skilled Business

Analysts, whilst on the other hand, retention of the more talented BAs is proving to be

a challenge. A BA COE promotes professional career development with clear

competency models defining roles, descriptions and functions. The development

framework provides training and opportunities for growth. Business Analysts will have

the opportunity to engage with BAs from other functional and geographic areas of the

business, increasing overall knowledge of the multi facet business. The following

additional benefits can be achieved:

Organic growth, where junior members of the COE are mentored by seniors

Opportunity to work on initiatives with Business Analysts enterprise wide

Defined skills and career plan, focusing on the maturity of BA Skills by identifying gaps in competency/performance

Alignment of performance metrics to certifying organisations, like the IIBA

Discover natural talent

Recognition of a highly skilled Business Analysts

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FIRST STEPS TO BUILDING A COE

The first step is to identify the capabilities that lie within an organisation and the gaps which need further development.

Hitachi Consulting uses a 45 point assessment against each of the focus areas in the Operating Model to capture feedback from interviews and score the team across the dimensions of building a Business Analysis Centre of Excellence. Each rating is scored on a scale of one to four (with one being no formal capability, or definition), based on the Capability Maturity concepts. This was scored for As-IS, To-Be and also the relative importance of this attribute to the business, showing the gaps in capability and an indication of priority.

When the gaps have been defined, the next step is to implement a process for improvement by focusing on key areas for improvement.

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Conclusion

The successful delivery of any project is made up of a number of key ingredients which include the right people with the right skills and an in depth understanding of the enterprise wide goals.

When building a project team, consider previous projects and how much a BA team has been involved in the project lifecycle. Is there a need for a Business Analyst and do they have the bandwidth to create and scope valuable changes to business processes? How can the Business Analyst bridge the business ideas and capabilities? With the business in mind, there needs to be a clear definition and expectation of the Business Analyst role and how to connect the deliverables to the project team.

When selecting a team of Business Analysts, review the internal capabilities against criteria, such as the BABOK Competency Model to determine the necessary measures needed to prepare for a BA model and weather to make use of the experts of an external force. Is their budget available? Perhaps collaborating internal business knowledge with external industry experts can maximize the internal capabilities to the strength of the external vendors, but there needs to be a consistent process in place to make this work.

It is worth considering building a BA COE which is reliable, robust and repeatable across projects, providing the in-house capabilities exist. Playing to the strengths of best practices and implementing a framework will give structure to requirements gathering, documentation and managing information, leading to high quality and higher success rates across all projects. Regularly monitoring the capability gaps and Investing in the development of these areas will strengthen the BA service provided to businesses.

Based on Fosters research 40% of IT Projects are failing to deliver the expected

benefits. The BA role is often undervalued but can make the difference between

success and failure.

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References

1. The Evolution of a Profession, Kathleen Barret, IIBA President

2. If you think you can do without a business analyst…think again, George Bridges, Maureen McVey, September 2011

3. How does Business Analysis Create Value, Laura Brandenburg in Marketing your value, 2010

4. A Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK Guide), V2.0

5. The CHAOS Study, 1994

By Peter Bricknell, Hitachi Consulting & Sheena Comar, Hitachi Consulting. A Knowledge-Driven Consulting® White Paper © 2013 Hitachi Consulting Corporation.

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