What Every Pm Needs To Know About Ba_english

What Every Project Managers Needs to Know About Business Analysis By George Bridges, PMP Because of the rise of the business analysis profession, the field of project management will never be the same again! Only a few years ago, there was no such thing as a business analyst (BA). Today, we see more and more organizations using BAs to define the requirements of new systems and products and to manage product scope. BAs are working directly with project managers and project teams. And rightly so. A good BA can help carry the project manager’s burden and greatly increase a project’s chances of success. By definition, the project manager manages the project’s triple constraints of time, cost, and scope. The product scope is, by definition, what the project will produce. Defining the product or service to be produced for the customer is called managing the product scope – and that is what a BA does. Before the involvement of a BA, the PM and other team members were responsible for the product definition and managing its scope. Let’s see what this new business analyst is and how a BA works in harmony with a project manager to manage project scope and help projects succeed.

Business Analysis and the Role of the Business Analyst The rise of the business analysis profession has been legitimized by the emergence of a new professional organization called the International Institute for Business Analysis (IIBA™). Similar to the Project Management Institute (PMI), the IIBA™ has established a body of knowledge, called the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK®) that is rapidly being accepted by industries worldwide. The BABOK® provides the basis – or framework – for any organization to establish methodologies to manage the requirements of approved projects according to documented industry best practices. The BABOK® consists of six knowledge areas: Enterprise Analysis, Requirements Planning and Management, Requirements Elicitation, Requirements Analysis and Documentation, Solution Assessment and Validation, and Requirements Communication. A BA is ultimately responsible for elaborating and integrating these knowledge areas in projects. Simply put, the BA gathers requirements, analyzes requirements, determines solutions, validates solutions, and facilitates communication among stakeholders about requirements and solutions. A BA analyzes business needs to identify an organization’s business problems and proposes solutions that bridge the organization’s needs by using information technology. Perhaps the most valuable BA functions occur during the Requirements Planning and Management and the © 2008 International Institute for Learning, Inc. © Microsoft® Corporation

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Requirements Communication phases. The product plan, the definition of the resources needed to complete the work, the risk assessment, and the requirements change-management process are all part of the Requirements Planning and Management phase. The Requirements Communication phase interacts with all the other phases throughout the project duration through activities such as interviewing stakeholders, facilitating group meetings, conducting surveys, and communicating the results of the requirements analysis back to the stakeholders. These two phases both span the entire life cycle of every project. Additionally, the BA works in two domains throughout the project’s duration. The first domain involves defining the problem and obtaining an agreement within the organization on precisely what the problem is. The second domain involves defining the precise solution and obtaining agreement on that solution from the organization’s stakeholders. The work in both these domains is accomplished through requirements elicitation from stakeholders, but it continues throughout the project because clarity of ideas can lead to refinement of both the problem and the proposed solution to the problem.

Enterprise Analysis The BA should be involved in the early stages of a project, even before a project manager is assigned. In the pre-stages of a project – the Enterprise Analysis phase – the BA defines and produces the business case, which is the financial and technical justification for the project.

Requirements Planning and Management During the Requirements Planning and Management phase, the plan that supports all the work that is involved with managing the product requirements is developed and produced. This requirements plan is the product plan – not to be confused with the project plan. The product requirements plan becomes a subset of the project plan and is maintained throughout the life of the project by the BA. After project kickoff, the BA continues to manage the requirements of the product, including the requirements change-management process. The BA works for the PM and provides updates to the PM all through the project’s course. The BA becomes a part of the larger project team, but the accountability for the project rests with the PM.

Requirements Elicitation The BA’s primary role in the Requirements Elicitation phase is to gather the requirements of the business, the users, and the organization’s management into one requirements document. The BA must determine the entire set of requirements for the product or service that will be delivered at the end of the project. This requires the BA to draw out – to seek out, understand, and clarify – and then to document all of the key stakeholders’ requirements. The tools of elicitation consist of conducting interviews, organizing and conducting workshops, and analyzing documents. These functions are planned and managed under the direction of the BA.

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Requirement Analysis and Documentation After gathering the stakeholders’ requirements, the BA must analyze these requirements to ensure that they are accurate, complete, free from ambiguity, and feasible. The primary tool of the BA during this stage is business process modeling. The business process models help the BA to clarify and define completely the voice of the customer – the detailed needs and requirements that satisfy the customer. Often, the models from this analysis are the basis for the requirements documentation.

Solution Assessment and Validation The BA must be aware of the technology possibilities and provide options to stakeholders for solving their problems. But … a solution must not only be identified, a solution must also be validated back to user requirements. The BA must verify the solution as being business feasible, technically feasible, and politically feasible. Additionally, the BA must create a sense of urgency about the solution so that the organization can stay on track and meet the project’s objectives.

Requirements Communication The last – and perhaps the most important – BA function is communication. The BA must communicate with the business operations people, the technical people, and the executive decision makers and sponsors. Communication with such diverse groups must be well planned and well organized. How the BA communicates with each group is different in method, approach, and technique. For instance, communication is formal with upper-level management and when conducting sign-offs with the stakeholders. However, requirements gathering can be conducted in more relaxed, informal communications, such as e-mail messages, telephone calls, and small group meetings.

Conclusion Business analysis is a new profession. Most project managers are not even aware that a business analyst can relieve them of the burden of managing the product requirements. Yet, the growth and development of the business analysis profession is part of a quiet revolution that is going on right now in organizations around the world. The field of business analysis is growing rapidly and is having a widespread, positive impact on project teams. The future success of projects is at stake. Every project manager of a medium to large project needs to consider making a BA part of that project’s team. Today, the business analyst is a vital component of every successful project.

© 2008 International Institute for Learning, Inc. © Microsoft® Corporation

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George Bridges (MS, PMP) is a trainer and senior consultant for the Business Analysis and the Project Management certification programs for International Institute for Learning (IIL). He has an extensive background in systems development and operations research. He has over 30 years of experience analyzing and developing business systems for major global corporations and gathering and producing requirements analysis and solution assessment and validation for manufacturing, telecommunication, Web-based, and financial systems in industry and the nonprofit arena.

© 2008 International Institute for Learning, Inc. © Microsoft® Corporation

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