My name is Aaron Whittenberger. I have over 23 years of IT experience, including 12 years as a consultant. I came up the Application Software Development path on the IBM Midrange platform. Then I moved to doing cross-platform interface design and development. From there I joined the Project Management and Business Analysis arena; and have earned my Certified Business Analyst ProfessionalTM (CBAP®) certification. I will be using my blog to describe the changes I see in the IT Consulting space as it transforms from the traditional technical role to a more business and analytical role in this dynamic economy.My name is Aaron Whittenberger. I have over 23 years of IT experience, including 12 years as a consultant. I came up the Application Software Development path on the IBM Midrange platform. Then I moved to doing cross-platform interface design and development. From there I joined the Project Management and Business Analysis arena; and have earned my Certified Business Analyst ProfessionalTM (CBAP®) certification. I will be using my blog to describe the changes I see in the IT Consulting space as it transforms from the traditional technical role to a more business and analytical role in this dynamic economy.STAR BASE Consulting is conducting a new pulse survey this month asking the question “is there really a rivalry between IT and Business or is this all just sensationalized hype?” I am very interested in seeing the results of this survey, but I believe I can predict the results. In almost every organization I have ever worked in the “Us vs. Them” culture existed. The relationship between IT and Business was more segregated, even adversarial at times, than that of a partnership.
Kupe tackles this topic this week on BA Times, where he discusses creating an environment in which the business wants to work with IT to derive technology-driven solutions. Doug Goldberg does an in-depth analysis of the subject on his blog, in which he describes approaches that a business-side analyst and an IT-side analyst to take to create a collaborative environment.
This topic is nothing new, just as the relationship between IT and Business is nothing new.
It took decades to get it where it is today. I am sure you can find bright spots in which IT and Business work together to achieve their goals, but in more organizations than not, this is not the case. Just as business processes and technology advance year by year, the relationship between IT and Business can be made better. I believe the Business Analyst is in prime position to turn the relationship around to a positive, collaborative, trusting relationship in which the two work together to achieve the strategic goals and initiatives of the organization. Why the BA? The BA is one role that works on both sides of the fence. The BA works with business stakeholders to bring out requirements for business improvement or application development solutions. The BA also works with the IT Solution Delivery Team to develop the solution that meets the business requirements. As the BA works with both teams, they are in prime position to bridge the gap between the two. So how should the BA go about bridging the gap?
Build a Relationship of Trust
One of the often overlooked roles of the Business Analyst is that of liaison between IT and the Business. In order to fulfill this role the BA must have a relationship with both sides of the organization. That relationship has to be built on trust. The business must understand that the BA is there not only to gather requirements but to understand the needs of the business and represent those needs to the IT delivery team. The IT delivery team must feel that the BA will represent the capabilities and limitations of technology to the business.
Communicate
The greatest factor that creates the “Us vs. Them” relationship is a lack of understanding. The business wonders why it takes IT so long to make a seemingly easy change. The IT application development team feels that business can not communicate effectively and does not understand the process of making application enhancements. Last month I spoke about creating a shared vision in relation to requirements and IT solutions. The BA should also create a shared vision of the needs and limitations of one organization to the other. The BA can communicate not only the requirements for IT solutions, but the stakeholder concerns surrounding those requirements. This adds context and can improve the ultimate solution developed as it increases the IT delivery team’s understanding. The BA can communicate to the business that the process of making application enhancements is more involved then changing a little piece of code and there it is. Testing, Quality Assurance, moving changes to production, Sox regulations, post-install processes and support are all time consuming tasks and increase the amount of time it takes the IT application development team to make an application enhancement. The more the business understands about these processes and the value they add to the solution, the more considerate they will be to the needs of the IT delivery team.
Build the Bridge
Through effective communication of the needs and limitations of one side of the business to the other and representing the other team to each team the BA can build a bridge of understanding between the two groups. By making each side realize that we are all in this together and desire the same outcome, you can build a relationship of trust and get rid of the “Us vs. Them” scenario and replace it with a collaborative working relationship that brings about better IT solutions to business needs.
So take the liaison role of the BA seriously and work to replace the adversarial relationship with a collaborative, understanding relationship. In this way you can show the BA value to the organization.
Kupe tackles this topic this week on BA Times, where he discusses creating an environment in which the business wants to work with IT to derive technology-driven solutions. Doug Goldberg does an in-depth analysis of the subject on his blog, in which he describes approaches that a business-side analyst and an IT-side analyst to take to create a collaborative environment.
This topic is nothing new, just as the relationship between IT and Business is nothing new.
It took decades to get it where it is today. I am sure you can find bright spots in which IT and Business work together to achieve their goals, but in more organizations than not, this is not the case. Just as business processes and technology advance year by year, the relationship between IT and Business can be made better. I believe the Business Analyst is in prime position to turn the relationship around to a positive, collaborative, trusting relationship in which the two work together to achieve the strategic goals and initiatives of the organization. Why the BA? The BA is one role that works on both sides of the fence. The BA works with business stakeholders to bring out requirements for business improvement or application development solutions. The BA also works with the IT Solution Delivery Team to develop the solution that meets the business requirements. As the BA works with both teams, they are in prime position to bridge the gap between the two. So how should the BA go about bridging the gap?Build a Relationship of Trust
One of the often overlooked roles of the Business Analyst is that of liaison between IT and the Business. In order to fulfill this role the BA must have a relationship with both sides of the organization. That relationship has to be built on trust. The business must understand that the BA is there not only to gather requirements but to understand the needs of the business and represent those needs to the IT delivery team. The IT delivery team must feel that the BA will represent the capabilities and limitations of technology to the business.
Communicate
The greatest factor that creates the “Us vs. Them” relationship is a lack of understanding. The business wonders why it takes IT so long to make a seemingly easy change. The IT application development team feels that business can not communicate effectively and does not understand the process of making application enhancements. Last month I spoke about creating a shared vision in relation to requirements and IT solutions. The BA should also create a shared vision of the needs and limitations of one organization to the other. The BA can communicate not only the requirements for IT solutions, but the stakeholder concerns surrounding those requirements. This adds context and can improve the ultimate solution developed as it increases the IT delivery team’s understanding. The BA can communicate to the business that the process of making application enhancements is more involved then changing a little piece of code and there it is. Testing, Quality Assurance, moving changes to production, Sox regulations, post-install processes and support are all time consuming tasks and increase the amount of time it takes the IT application development team to make an application enhancement. The more the business understands about these processes and the value they add to the solution, the more considerate they will be to the needs of the IT delivery team.
Build the Bridge
Through effective communication of the needs and limitations of one side of the business to the other and representing the other team to each team the BA can build a bridge of understanding between the two groups. By making each side realize that we are all in this together and desire the same outcome, you can build a relationship of trust and get rid of the “Us vs. Them” scenario and replace it with a collaborative working relationship that brings about better IT solutions to business needs.
So take the liaison role of the BA seriously and work to replace the adversarial relationship with a collaborative, understanding relationship. In this way you can show the BA value to the organization.
Like Adriana Beal, I am often asked by BAs and aspiring BAs if I think that becoming certified would be a good career move. Adriana covered the Certified Business Analysis ProfessionalTM (CBAP®) certification from the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA®) very well. She noted two situations in which she, and I, would recommend you to obtain the CBAP® certification: 
just introduced by the IIBA. This certification is targeted to the intermediate BA who has not yet achieved the 5 years of BA work experience required by the CBAP®. The IIBA has positioned this certification as a stepping stone to the CBAP®, as such it does not have a recertification process. The CCBATM is good for 5 years and it is expected that within that time most recipients will achieve their CBAP® certification. If not, you will have to sit for the CCBATM exam again.
So is it a good idea to get the CCBATM certification? There are many good reasons to obtain a certification; Adriana points many of them out in her article so I will not repeat them here. However, I am often asked this question by BAs with no or less than one year of work experience. They clearly do not meet the requirements of the CCBATM certification; so what is the alternative for them?
The alternative to a certification for someone who is just starting out their BA career is a “certificate” from an education provider that you have completed some training in a specific area. It is advisable to get your training from an Endorsed Education Provider (EEPTM) of the IIBA so that you know that what is being taught is in line with the IIBA Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® (BABOK®). One other recommendation for those just starting out their BA career, go ahead and join the IIBA now. Just putting your IIBA membership on your resume shows your dedication and passion for the BA profession. It also gives you an excellent talking point during interviews.
As you are beginning your career as a BA, concentrate on improving your BA skills and gaining experience in a breadth of BA tasks and techniques. Remember, work experience can stand alone on your resume; a certification (or certificate) can not.
- the job titles on your work history do not reflect your experience in business analysis (they include other titles such as programmer, software developer, financial analyst, etc.) and/or;
- you spent many years doing business analysis work for one company (perhaps even with the title of BA), but never obtained post secondary education, and is finding it difficult to get your resume noticed by other companies.
just introduced by the IIBA. This certification is targeted to the intermediate BA who has not yet achieved the 5 years of BA work experience required by the CBAP®. The IIBA has positioned this certification as a stepping stone to the CBAP®, as such it does not have a recertification process. The CCBATM is good for 5 years and it is expected that within that time most recipients will achieve their CBAP® certification. If not, you will have to sit for the CCBATM exam again. So is it a good idea to get the CCBATM certification? There are many good reasons to obtain a certification; Adriana points many of them out in her article so I will not repeat them here. However, I am often asked this question by BAs with no or less than one year of work experience. They clearly do not meet the requirements of the CCBATM certification; so what is the alternative for them?
The alternative to a certification for someone who is just starting out their BA career is a “certificate” from an education provider that you have completed some training in a specific area. It is advisable to get your training from an Endorsed Education Provider (EEPTM) of the IIBA so that you know that what is being taught is in line with the IIBA Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® (BABOK®). One other recommendation for those just starting out their BA career, go ahead and join the IIBA now. Just putting your IIBA membership on your resume shows your dedication and passion for the BA profession. It also gives you an excellent talking point during interviews.
As you are beginning your career as a BA, concentrate on improving your BA skills and gaining experience in a breadth of BA tasks and techniques. Remember, work experience can stand alone on your resume; a certification (or certificate) can not.
I am often asked what is a Business Analyst, what is the role of the BA or what does a BA do? Of course, those questions can be answered in many different ways that usually begin with the old standby answer “It depends…”.
When answering those questions, as with most BAs, I will get into the role of the BA within the organizational structure, Enterprise Analysis vs. Requirements gathering on a project, tasks and techniques. I go beyond these limited explanations and try to answer what I believe the requester is really asking “What is the goal of a BA?” I believe the goal of all business analysis activities, whether it is Enterprise Analysis or Requirements Gathering, should be to create a shared vision among the stakeholders.
Create a Shared Vision
Creating a shared vision is much like painting a picture. You are painting a picture in everybody’s mind so clear that everybody can see and understand the picture. No, painting
is not one of the tasks of business analysis. You paint a picture with your words and documentation. Text documents, flow diagrams, use cases, storyboards, activity diagrams, business process models, wireframes and other mockups can all be used in paint a picture. These can be used in combination to paint an even more vivid picture for your audience. Sometimes, as in requirements elicitation, it may mean that you gain the vision of the stakeholder. If in a requirements workshop, focus group discussion or one-on-one interview, drawings on paper or a whiteboard can facilitate shared vision and understanding. Often, it may be that you paint the “as-is” picture for the business stakeholder(s), and then they paint the “to-be” picture for you. By painting a picture so vivid that all stakeholders share the same vision of it, this is how we build the bridge.
Target the Vision to the Audience
In order for your audience to gain a vision, they must not only see the picture, but understand it. The picture must be painted in a way that facilitates understanding; it must be presented in a way that the audience can comprehend. You may use flow diagrams, use cases, story boards and/or activity diagrams when painting the vision to a business audience. You may use text documents, flow diagrams and/or activity diagrams to paint the picture for a technical team. You may use very short summary text documents and/or flow diagrams to present to management. To create a shared vision the picture must be presented in a way that facilitates quick comprehension from the audience to whom you are now presenting.
Sell Your Vision
Not only in our business analysis tasks, but in work outside of business analysis, we must create that shared vision; then be ready to talk about the vision and ensure that all see the same vision. Adriana Beal writing for Bridging the Gap, talks about successfully selling your initiatives to management. As Adriana writes, understand your manager’s framework and persuade your audience not only to accept your point of view, but to act upon it. What she is describing is painting a picture so vivid for your manager that they gain a shared vision with you and that they will want to take immediate concrete action on your proposal.
When answering those questions, as with most BAs, I will get into the role of the BA within the organizational structure, Enterprise Analysis vs. Requirements gathering on a project, tasks and techniques. I go beyond these limited explanations and try to answer what I believe the requester is really asking “What is the goal of a BA?” I believe the goal of all business analysis activities, whether it is Enterprise Analysis or Requirements Gathering, should be to create a shared vision among the stakeholders.
Create a Shared Vision
Creating a shared vision is much like painting a picture. You are painting a picture in everybody’s mind so clear that everybody can see and understand the picture. No, painting
is not one of the tasks of business analysis. You paint a picture with your words and documentation. Text documents, flow diagrams, use cases, storyboards, activity diagrams, business process models, wireframes and other mockups can all be used in paint a picture. These can be used in combination to paint an even more vivid picture for your audience. Sometimes, as in requirements elicitation, it may mean that you gain the vision of the stakeholder. If in a requirements workshop, focus group discussion or one-on-one interview, drawings on paper or a whiteboard can facilitate shared vision and understanding. Often, it may be that you paint the “as-is” picture for the business stakeholder(s), and then they paint the “to-be” picture for you. By painting a picture so vivid that all stakeholders share the same vision of it, this is how we build the bridge.Target the Vision to the Audience
In order for your audience to gain a vision, they must not only see the picture, but understand it. The picture must be painted in a way that facilitates understanding; it must be presented in a way that the audience can comprehend. You may use flow diagrams, use cases, story boards and/or activity diagrams when painting the vision to a business audience. You may use text documents, flow diagrams and/or activity diagrams to paint the picture for a technical team. You may use very short summary text documents and/or flow diagrams to present to management. To create a shared vision the picture must be presented in a way that facilitates quick comprehension from the audience to whom you are now presenting.
Sell Your Vision
Not only in our business analysis tasks, but in work outside of business analysis, we must create that shared vision; then be ready to talk about the vision and ensure that all see the same vision. Adriana Beal writing for Bridging the Gap, talks about successfully selling your initiatives to management. As Adriana writes, understand your manager’s framework and persuade your audience not only to accept your point of view, but to act upon it. What she is describing is painting a picture so vivid for your manager that they gain a shared vision with you and that they will want to take immediate concrete action on your proposal.
A few months ago I wrote on the benefits of developing a Business Case and how it should be used during the IT Governance and SDLC (Waterfall) process. My main point was that the Business Case document needs to be revisited at different points in the SDLC by the IT Governance body to continue to give its blessing to the project. At any point, yes even after development, the IT Governance body can hold up the “halt” sign on the project when factors or the environment has changed to make the project solution of little to no value. However, this can not be done when the IT Governance body reviews the project and the Business Case only at project inception. Constant review of the business case also assists in initiating the risk mitigation plan when factors or the environment changes that makes such mitigation necessary.
Today I look at the Business Case from a different perspective, that of Project Management. I have been involved in organizations that did the Enterprise Analysis activities that identified a business need and built the business case for a solution. The business case was brought before, and received the blessing, of the IT Governance body and a new project was born. It was then turned over to a Project Services team whose first task was to create a Project Charter.
I found it amazing that the similarities, in format and content, between the Business Case document and the Project Charter document were far greater than the differences. Some sections were reordered and some content was moved from one section to another, but essentially it would be easy to swap the names on the documents and most people wouldn’t even notice. Other than the intended purpose and audiences of the documents, they were essentially the same document. This naturally leads to the question: Do You Need Both Documents, or is it a great waste of time?
Yes, the Project Charter defined a few details in greater detail than the Business Case, but also realize it was written at least a week later, when more factors were known. Also, such content as risks and mitigation plans were then transposed, and further defined, into the project’s design documents. So why can’t the Business Case be used as the Project Charter?
In most cases, I would submit that the Business Case should be used as the Project Charter. Remember the Business Case has received the blessings of the IT Governance body and should therefore direct the scope of the project. Going back to the IT Governance body for approval of a Project Charter mostly restating the contents of an already approved Business Case would definitely be overkill and put undo burden upon the IT Governance body.
One case where Project Charter(s) are necessary after the approval of a Business Case, is when that Business Case is to be split into multiple projects to bring about the Business Case solution. In this scenario you would want a Project Charter for each project to define what part of the Business Case scope that particular project was initiated to handle.
In rare, very complex, business problems with complex business solutions you may find need for both a Business Case document and Project Charter document(s). In most cases, even in large companies, using the Business Case to define the scope and reach of a project is sufficient to get the job done.
Today I look at the Business Case from a different perspective, that of Project Management. I have been involved in organizations that did the Enterprise Analysis activities that identified a business need and built the business case for a solution. The business case was brought before, and received the blessing, of the IT Governance body and a new project was born. It was then turned over to a Project Services team whose first task was to create a Project Charter.I found it amazing that the similarities, in format and content, between the Business Case document and the Project Charter document were far greater than the differences. Some sections were reordered and some content was moved from one section to another, but essentially it would be easy to swap the names on the documents and most people wouldn’t even notice. Other than the intended purpose and audiences of the documents, they were essentially the same document. This naturally leads to the question: Do You Need Both Documents, or is it a great waste of time?
Yes, the Project Charter defined a few details in greater detail than the Business Case, but also realize it was written at least a week later, when more factors were known. Also, such content as risks and mitigation plans were then transposed, and further defined, into the project’s design documents. So why can’t the Business Case be used as the Project Charter?
In most cases, I would submit that the Business Case should be used as the Project Charter. Remember the Business Case has received the blessings of the IT Governance body and should therefore direct the scope of the project. Going back to the IT Governance body for approval of a Project Charter mostly restating the contents of an already approved Business Case would definitely be overkill and put undo burden upon the IT Governance body.
One case where Project Charter(s) are necessary after the approval of a Business Case, is when that Business Case is to be split into multiple projects to bring about the Business Case solution. In this scenario you would want a Project Charter for each project to define what part of the Business Case scope that particular project was initiated to handle.
In rare, very complex, business problems with complex business solutions you may find need for both a Business Case document and Project Charter document(s). In most cases, even in large companies, using the Business Case to define the scope and reach of a project is sufficient to get the job done.
What an exciting time to be a Business Analyst! Why do I say that? Because there is so much going on within and for the profession; within organizations worldwide as well as for the profession globally.
Those that follow the discussion forums on the Business Analysis groups (BA Forum, IIBA®, Modern Analyst) on LinkedIn, have seen me post and comment. I have seen conversations develop into two opposite points of view, usually between two individuals, and neither side is willing to change their view, nor consider the other view. When conversation degrade to name calling, you just know that if these two individuals were in the same room that they would be putting on the boxing gloves and it would be a knock-down, drag-out fight to the end. What I think these people are missing…or seem to forget…is history.
Whether you wish to admit it or not, the profession of Business Analysis is still very much in its infancy. It is growing dramatically all over the world. Look at the IIBA membership and chapter start-ups over the past few months. This leaves very widely spread opinions as to what the job of a Business Analyst is. Business Analysis or the IIBA does not enjoy the history and recognition that Project Management and the PMI® receive today. Someday it will, and the IIBA is growing maturity one building block at a time. Let’s take a look.
The PMI was incorporated in 1969, offers 5 certifications, has over 300,000 certified individuals and the PMBOK® is in its Fourth Edition. The IIBA was incorporated in 2006, offers one certification and is adding its second by end of the year, has less than 1,000 certified individuals and the BABOK® is in its Second Edition. Even ITIL® can be traced back to the British Government of the 1980’s. Six Sigma also got its beginnings in the 1980’s. So the IIBA and the Business Analysis profession does not get the recognition that these other professions, methodologies and/or approaches get at the C-level within organizations. It took some time for organizations to recognize these others, they want to see quantifiable results. Business Analysis is getting there; they are proving their value to organizations every day; and with time it too will get its due recognition.
So what is the International Institute of Business Analysis® (IIBA®) doing to help the cause? A few months ago they launch the Online Library, last month they release the second version of the BA Competency Model, and recently have announced their second certification level. Promised in coming months is the Agile extension to the BABOK. Make no mistake about it, the IIBA stands behind and for the Business Analysis profession. They are building maturity one building block at a time. As with all previous professions, methodologies and/or approaches organizations will be slow, but will eventually, adapt and recognize the value. BA Center of Competency and Center of Excellence are beginning to get recognized for the value they bring to the organization.
So why is it an exciting time to be a BA? Because we current practitioners are in on the ground floor. How often do you get an opportunity to define a profession for the world? Just as the framers of the PMI and PMBOK did 40 years ago, we forge a new area for the world to follow. Wouldn’t you grab the bull by the horns?
Those that follow the discussion forums on the Business Analysis groups (BA Forum, IIBA®, Modern Analyst) on LinkedIn, have seen me post and comment. I have seen conversations develop into two opposite points of view, usually between two individuals, and neither side is willing to change their view, nor consider the other view. When conversation degrade to name calling, you just know that if these two individuals were in the same room that they would be putting on the boxing gloves and it would be a knock-down, drag-out fight to the end. What I think these people are missing…or seem to forget…is history.
Whether you wish to admit it or not, the profession of Business Analysis is still very much in its infancy. It is growing dramatically all over the world. Look at the IIBA membership and chapter start-ups over the past few months. This leaves very widely spread opinions as to what the job of a Business Analyst is. Business Analysis or the IIBA does not enjoy the history and recognition that Project Management and the PMI® receive today. Someday it will, and the IIBA is growing maturity one building block at a time. Let’s take a look.The PMI was incorporated in 1969, offers 5 certifications, has over 300,000 certified individuals and the PMBOK® is in its Fourth Edition. The IIBA was incorporated in 2006, offers one certification and is adding its second by end of the year, has less than 1,000 certified individuals and the BABOK® is in its Second Edition. Even ITIL® can be traced back to the British Government of the 1980’s. Six Sigma also got its beginnings in the 1980’s. So the IIBA and the Business Analysis profession does not get the recognition that these other professions, methodologies and/or approaches get at the C-level within organizations. It took some time for organizations to recognize these others, they want to see quantifiable results. Business Analysis is getting there; they are proving their value to organizations every day; and with time it too will get its due recognition.
So what is the International Institute of Business Analysis® (IIBA®) doing to help the cause? A few months ago they launch the Online Library, last month they release the second version of the BA Competency Model, and recently have announced their second certification level. Promised in coming months is the Agile extension to the BABOK. Make no mistake about it, the IIBA stands behind and for the Business Analysis profession. They are building maturity one building block at a time. As with all previous professions, methodologies and/or approaches organizations will be slow, but will eventually, adapt and recognize the value. BA Center of Competency and Center of Excellence are beginning to get recognized for the value they bring to the organization.
So why is it an exciting time to be a BA? Because we current practitioners are in on the ground floor. How often do you get an opportunity to define a profession for the world? Just as the framers of the PMI and PMBOK did 40 years ago, we forge a new area for the world to follow. Wouldn’t you grab the bull by the horns?
Now didn’t I say that Business Analysis has far reaching impact on the organization? A new Forrester research report supports my claim as it ranks Business Analyst #1 of the 13 Most Important IT Roles.
The age of IT specialization has been replaced by an emphasis on skills that can translate across the enterprise. According to Forrester, this shift can be traced to a number of emerging trends:
* Maturing technologies such as software-as-a-service and business intelligence are changing IT skills requirements;
* The growing array of outsourcing options have altered in-house staffing priorities, with more specialized skills increasingly likely to be outsourced; and
* The continued search for cost-reduction opportunities has changed how IT decisions are made.
With those trends in mind, here is Forrester’s list of the 13 Most Important IT Roles, based on the percentage of IT executives who believe each role is growing in importance.
#1 – Business Analyst – 70%
Talk about holding all the cards: Not only do these IT pros know the business, they also have their fingers on all the insight. As the saying goes, knowledge is power.
#2 and #3 – Architecture and IT Strategy/Planning – 66%
As IT has evolved into an increasingly important part of business, both of these roles have become critical in ensuring that every department has the infrastructure and tools that it needs.
#4 – Project Management – 65%
What business doesn’t need people who can mange multiple personalities, master numerous business processes, understand different aspects of the business and make sure things get done?
#5 – Security – 62%
With the onslaught of breaches and identity theft that constantly filters through the headlines, not to mention the growing mandates for better access controls, is there really an explanation needed here?
#6 – Service Management – 60%
The whole thing about the customer applies here to, as managing IT from the customer’s perspective has become de rigueur.
#7 – Client Relationship Management – 56%
We’re in the age of customer service, and anyone who’s mastered the art of managing CRM environments is worth their weight in gold.
#8 and #9 – Business Continuity and IT Financial Management – 55%
With companies paranoid about their systems surviving natural and man-made disasters, and cost-effective IT spending more important that ever, it’s no wonder these roles are on the rise.
#10 – Portfolio Management – 50%
This is a growing area driven by the desire to demystify the measurement of the impact of IT investments.
#11 – Asset Management – 34%
Like other spin-offs from more general business roles, this is another specialized function better outsourced.
#12 – IT Research – 30%
Research? That’s what consultants are for.
#13 – Human Resources (within IT) – 20%
HR for IT is an increasingly unnecessary luxury in an increasingly self-service environment.
Take a closer look at that list and you will notice Business Analysis has been ranked #1, #2, #3 and #10.
The age of IT specialization has been replaced by an emphasis on skills that can translate across the enterprise. According to Forrester, this shift can be traced to a number of emerging trends:
* Maturing technologies such as software-as-a-service and business intelligence are changing IT skills requirements;
* The growing array of outsourcing options have altered in-house staffing priorities, with more specialized skills increasingly likely to be outsourced; and
* The continued search for cost-reduction opportunities has changed how IT decisions are made.
With those trends in mind, here is Forrester’s list of the 13 Most Important IT Roles, based on the percentage of IT executives who believe each role is growing in importance.
#1 – Business Analyst – 70%
Talk about holding all the cards: Not only do these IT pros know the business, they also have their fingers on all the insight. As the saying goes, knowledge is power.
#2 and #3 – Architecture and IT Strategy/Planning – 66%
As IT has evolved into an increasingly important part of business, both of these roles have become critical in ensuring that every department has the infrastructure and tools that it needs.
#4 – Project Management – 65%
What business doesn’t need people who can mange multiple personalities, master numerous business processes, understand different aspects of the business and make sure things get done?
#5 – Security – 62%
With the onslaught of breaches and identity theft that constantly filters through the headlines, not to mention the growing mandates for better access controls, is there really an explanation needed here?
#6 – Service Management – 60%
The whole thing about the customer applies here to, as managing IT from the customer’s perspective has become de rigueur.
#7 – Client Relationship Management – 56%
We’re in the age of customer service, and anyone who’s mastered the art of managing CRM environments is worth their weight in gold.
#8 and #9 – Business Continuity and IT Financial Management – 55%
With companies paranoid about their systems surviving natural and man-made disasters, and cost-effective IT spending more important that ever, it’s no wonder these roles are on the rise.
#10 – Portfolio Management – 50%
This is a growing area driven by the desire to demystify the measurement of the impact of IT investments.
#11 – Asset Management – 34%
Like other spin-offs from more general business roles, this is another specialized function better outsourced.
#12 – IT Research – 30%
Research? That’s what consultants are for.
#13 – Human Resources (within IT) – 20%
HR for IT is an increasingly unnecessary luxury in an increasingly self-service environment.
Take a closer look at that list and you will notice Business Analysis has been ranked #1, #2, #3 and #10.
Keith Ellis compares the business analysis profession to an iceberg in his article on BA Times. He notes that it looks small on the surface but when you get into it how much of “the job” is not visible on the surface.However, my take away from this article is about the impact of business analysts on the organization. “..not in little ways. In a big way!” Business analysis done properly can impact the organization unlike any other role within the organization. It literally changes the way the organization does business. It impacts every business unit within the organization and can affect project portfolio, financial performance, product offerings and speed to the market; all affecting competitive advantage.
You must also realize the negative impact that BAs can have on the organization when business analysis activities are not performed correctly, or not at all. It can also have a negative impact on competitive advantage. As Keith says “This is not an IT thing, it’s a business success thing.”
We practitioners often get bogged down in the day-to-day activities of the job and loose site of the impact we have, or can have, on the organization. Sometimes it is necessary to stop, take a deep breath and re-visit our own impact on the organization. Implementing a BA Center of Excellence for the organization can go a long way in ensuring the business analysts’ impact on the organization is positive.
What is the BA impact in your organization?
How many times have you developed Use Cases for a project, gone over them with the stakeholder, reviewed the functional requirements of the system, developed and delivered your IT business solution to have the stakeholder want to make changes to it immediately? Is this a symptom that the stakeholder did not understand the Use Case?
More then likely what the stakeholder did not understand is what the user interface (UI) would look like or how it would act. So then we as Business Analysts (BA) turn to Microsoft Visio, PowerPoint or some other tool to create a mockup or prototype of the UI. We share that with the stakeholder, but he/she is still left without the whole picture.
So now we as BAs turn to Microsoft Word, PowerPoint or some other tool to put some details behind the Use Cases and UI. We share that with the stakeholder and get their approval to build the solution. So back to Microsoft Word we go and write a high-level and eventually a detail design to give to the developers to build what we have laid out to the stakeholder. Now all of sudden you three to six documents that you must track and keep in synch; a change to one document may mean a change to another.
Masayuki Otoshi gives a solution to this dilemma in a BA Times article as storyboarding; a way to put Use Case, UI and detail specifications in one document. The article shows an example of user login webpage. It gives examples of the main stream, providing a correct user name and password and an exception stream, providing an incorrect user name and password.
On the surface storyboarding to provide UI and detail information to the stakeholder sounds like a good idea. The simplicity of the example falls short to show the usefulness of this tool. I deal mainly with complete Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and eCommerce website interfaces to the back-end order fulfillment system. Using storyboards to show the stakeholder(s) what the eCommerce webpages or the ERP desktop screens will look like before they are built allows the stakeholders to make changes to the look and feel of the system before development dollars are spent to build it. Giving the stakeholder(s) a more complete picture of the proposed system look and functionality during analysis and design phase of the project should reduce the amount of rework requested.
Storyboarding has been used in the Agile system development methodology for awhile. It has not caught favor in the SDLC or Waterfall methodology as of yet; but the need to draw a more complete picture to the stakeholder(s) of a proposed IT business solution as early as possible in the project cycle may give storyboarding the light of day.
I do see the usefulness of storyboarding for the SDLC as well as the Agile methodology. I look back on past projects where I could have used storyboarding, if nothing else, to decrease the project schedule.
I do raise one word of caution…remember your audience. All too often I have seen IT business solutions project teams try to combine multiple documents to serve several purposes. Giving the stakeholder(s) the level of detail that developers need to develop the solution may cause confusion with the stakeholder. So do not try to combine everything into one document. Even your wording should be different for stakeholder documents and technical documents. So try storyboarding if appropriate to the project. Someday we just may find it as mainstream as requirements documents and Use Cases are today.
More then likely what the stakeholder did not understand is what the user interface (UI) would look like or how it would act. So then we as Business Analysts (BA) turn to Microsoft Visio, PowerPoint or some other tool to create a mockup or prototype of the UI. We share that with the stakeholder, but he/she is still left without the whole picture.
So now we as BAs turn to Microsoft Word, PowerPoint or some other tool to put some details behind the Use Cases and UI. We share that with the stakeholder and get their approval to build the solution. So back to Microsoft Word we go and write a high-level and eventually a detail design to give to the developers to build what we have laid out to the stakeholder. Now all of sudden you three to six documents that you must track and keep in synch; a change to one document may mean a change to another.
Masayuki Otoshi gives a solution to this dilemma in a BA Times article as storyboarding; a way to put Use Case, UI and detail specifications in one document. The article shows an example of user login webpage. It gives examples of the main stream, providing a correct user name and password and an exception stream, providing an incorrect user name and password.
On the surface storyboarding to provide UI and detail information to the stakeholder sounds like a good idea. The simplicity of the example falls short to show the usefulness of this tool. I deal mainly with complete Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and eCommerce website interfaces to the back-end order fulfillment system. Using storyboards to show the stakeholder(s) what the eCommerce webpages or the ERP desktop screens will look like before they are built allows the stakeholders to make changes to the look and feel of the system before development dollars are spent to build it. Giving the stakeholder(s) a more complete picture of the proposed system look and functionality during analysis and design phase of the project should reduce the amount of rework requested.
Storyboarding has been used in the Agile system development methodology for awhile. It has not caught favor in the SDLC or Waterfall methodology as of yet; but the need to draw a more complete picture to the stakeholder(s) of a proposed IT business solution as early as possible in the project cycle may give storyboarding the light of day.
I do see the usefulness of storyboarding for the SDLC as well as the Agile methodology. I look back on past projects where I could have used storyboarding, if nothing else, to decrease the project schedule.
I do raise one word of caution…remember your audience. All too often I have seen IT business solutions project teams try to combine multiple documents to serve several purposes. Giving the stakeholder(s) the level of detail that developers need to develop the solution may cause confusion with the stakeholder. So do not try to combine everything into one document. Even your wording should be different for stakeholder documents and technical documents. So try storyboarding if appropriate to the project. Someday we just may find it as mainstream as requirements documents and Use Cases are today.
Futurists have been fore-telling the look of the business enterprise and the IT Department for years. The latest version from the Corporate Executive Board state that we are in for rapid, radical change. It fore-tells that the IT Department in 5 years will bear little resemblance to the IT Department of today. As business users become more tech savvy, the business units will absorb a lot of today’s IT functions. Along with continued IT outsourcing, they predict that only 25% of today's IT professionals will still be in IT in 5 years.
The CTO blog does not forecast such a dismal future for the IT professional, but it also acknowledges the need for better alignment with business strategic goals and faster IT solutions delivery.
Whereas, I will not completely buy in to the idea that 75% of today’s IT professionals will not be working in IT in 5 years or that change will be so rapid or radical. It is increasingly apparent that change in IT solution delivery is necessary, and that is where I suggest that business organizations start; in particular IT Governance.
I hope to see today’s IT Governance Committee, which approve and prioritize IT business solutions projects, replaced with a Business Improvement Project Review Board who approve and prioritize all business improvement projects. This new Governance Body will consider all business improvement projects; those with business solutions and those with IT solutions. As I mentioned a few weeks ago this new board needs to better track all projects and continue to give its support to all projects at every stage of the project. Once the cost of the project outweigh the benefits, or other external forces make continuance of the project unwise, the project can be stopped and decrease the expense to the organization.
Along with that we will see the idea of a Project Management Office (PMO) replaced with a Business Improvement Office (BIO). The BIO will be staffed with people with business backgrounds and those with IT backgrounds; however, cross-training and best practices will require all members of the BIO to look for the best solution, considering both business and IT solutions, to meet the needs of the business. The BIO will take over the project management, business analysis and quality assurance aspects of a project.
Continued competitive pressures will force the BIO to change its practices in order to achieve faster solution delivery. Some will embrace the Agile methodology; others will develop some hybrid methodology taking parts from both the Agile and Waterfall methodologies. However they achieve it, continued pressures for competitive advantage will require continual improvement in the methodology to push for faster and faster delivery while not sacrificing quality.
Many references now forecast a change to IT Departments and IT staffing as we know it today. It will be interesting to see the changes as they come about and see which forecast was most correct.
The CTO blog does not forecast such a dismal future for the IT professional, but it also acknowledges the need for better alignment with business strategic goals and faster IT solutions delivery.
Whereas, I will not completely buy in to the idea that 75% of today’s IT professionals will not be working in IT in 5 years or that change will be so rapid or radical. It is increasingly apparent that change in IT solution delivery is necessary, and that is where I suggest that business organizations start; in particular IT Governance.
I hope to see today’s IT Governance Committee, which approve and prioritize IT business solutions projects, replaced with a Business Improvement Project Review Board who approve and prioritize all business improvement projects. This new Governance Body will consider all business improvement projects; those with business solutions and those with IT solutions. As I mentioned a few weeks ago this new board needs to better track all projects and continue to give its support to all projects at every stage of the project. Once the cost of the project outweigh the benefits, or other external forces make continuance of the project unwise, the project can be stopped and decrease the expense to the organization.
Along with that we will see the idea of a Project Management Office (PMO) replaced with a Business Improvement Office (BIO). The BIO will be staffed with people with business backgrounds and those with IT backgrounds; however, cross-training and best practices will require all members of the BIO to look for the best solution, considering both business and IT solutions, to meet the needs of the business. The BIO will take over the project management, business analysis and quality assurance aspects of a project.
Continued competitive pressures will force the BIO to change its practices in order to achieve faster solution delivery. Some will embrace the Agile methodology; others will develop some hybrid methodology taking parts from both the Agile and Waterfall methodologies. However they achieve it, continued pressures for competitive advantage will require continual improvement in the methodology to push for faster and faster delivery while not sacrificing quality.
Many references now forecast a change to IT Departments and IT staffing as we know it today. It will be interesting to see the changes as they come about and see which forecast was most correct.
As I move from client to client, IT shop to IT shop, the one think I notice is that most organizations do not have an internal BA Body of Knowledge. There are several reasons that I can think of as to why organizations have not taken on the task of developing an internal BABOK:
1. Companies are slow to embrace the idea and value of a BA Center of Excellence.
2. Companies do not understand what an internal BABOK is and what should be in it.
3. Companies have not realized the value of an internal BABOK.
4. Not enough time, not enough resources.
So let’s take a look at these reasons. First, creating a BA Center of Excellence would allow the organization to use their BA talent in a more strategic role within the organization. It would allow them to move their BAs among the business units within the organization with a much less learning curve. BAs leaving the organization don’t take valuable business knowledge out the door with them and just as important, new BAs have a much shorter ramp up time to become effective to the organization. I believe once organizations realize the value that developing a BA Center of Excellence can have on the organization, they would all want one.
Secondly, there is reference material available that conceptually describes an internal BA Body of Knowledge, but you would have to dive deep into reading material to find it. So, let me spell out for all to see what we are talking about when we say an organization should develop an internal BA Body of Knowledge. This is a centralized, electronic copy of documents that define anything within the business. This is a wealth of knowledge that all your BAs can draw from to better perform their duties. This would allow a BA to learn a new area of the business quickly that they have not worked in before as they are assigned new tasks. This BABOK would define the business organization, the business units with it and the interrelationships between those business units. What did that sound like to you? If you said an Enterprise Architecture, you are absolutely correct. The first thing to include in your internal BABOK is the organization Enterprise Architecture, including all five parts of the architecture. Also include the BA Career Ladder, BA Competence Model, BA Job Descriptions, new BA training material, BA departure review and BA reference material pertinent to the organization.
Thirdly, now that you understand what wealth of knowledge is included in an internal BABOK, I think you can realize the value of it without me saying a word. Most organizations do not have an Enterprise Architecture, let alone an internal BABOK. Those organizations that somewhat have one; usually have it dispersed all over the company network, which makes finding material very difficult. Centralized, easy to access, electronic, included in the company’s backup and restore process adds tremendous value to the organization.
Lastly, this is always the reason that many good ideas do not take form. Realize, that if you had an internal BABOK that your BAs used on a daily basis that research tasks take a lot less time. This can decrease project schedules, freeing up more than just BA resource time.
That all sounds nice, but what does it mean to the organization? Well, there are many benefits to having an Enterprise Architecture and internal electronic BABOK to the organization:
- Project portfolio in greater alignment with business strategic goals and initiatives
- Realization of BA talent in a more strategic role
- New BAs become more effective to the organization faster
- Ensure enterprise knowledge stays within the organization when BAs leave the organization
- Starting point for Enterprise Capability Gap Analysis
- Reference material for new product feasibility studies
- Reference material for competitive edge analysis
- Required material for new enterprise software impact analysis
There are many benefits to the BA practice within the organization:
- Reference material easily available without exhaustive searching
- Understand BA Competencies important to the organization
- Understand BA Competencies needed to achieve the next level on the BA Career Ladder
- Move within the business units of the organization with greater ease and knowledge
- Needed reference material for Enterprise Analysis activities
Now can your organization survive in these economic times without an internal BABOK?
The Job Search website Dice.com recently released the top 20 IT Skills in demand in Today’s Market. They also show the percentage increase in demand for that skill over March of 2009. The list consists of:
1. Informatica (database) 71%
2. Virtualization 70%
3. ETL (Extract, Transform and Load) 57%
4. Python (web programming) 57%
5. Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) 55%
6. Sybase (database) 52%
7. WebLogic (application server) 50%
8. SOAP (web programming) 48%
9. Data Warehouse 47%
10. SharePoint 41%
11. MySQL (database) 40%
12. E-commerce 39%
13. JavaScript (web programming) 36%
14. VMWare (virtualization) 36%
15. CSS (web design) 36%
16. Business Analysis 35%
17. ITIL 34%
18. Ajax 34%
19. Perl (web programming) 33%
20. Business Intelligence 33%
As you can see from the list Database, Virtualization and Web programming are still IT staffing skills very much in demand, as they have been these past few years. The one IT staffing skill that I noticed that no longer makes the list is IT Infrastructure (Network Administrators, Network Engineer).
1. Informatica (database) 71%2. Virtualization 70%
3. ETL (Extract, Transform and Load) 57%
4. Python (web programming) 57%
5. Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) 55%
6. Sybase (database) 52%
7. WebLogic (application server) 50%
8. SOAP (web programming) 48%
9. Data Warehouse 47%
10. SharePoint 41%
11. MySQL (database) 40%
12. E-commerce 39%
13. JavaScript (web programming) 36%
14. VMWare (virtualization) 36%
15. CSS (web design) 36%
16. Business Analysis 35%
17. ITIL 34%
18. Ajax 34%
19. Perl (web programming) 33%
20. Business Intelligence 33%
As you can see from the list Database, Virtualization and Web programming are still IT staffing skills very much in demand, as they have been these past few years. The one IT staffing skill that I noticed that no longer makes the list is IT Infrastructure (Network Administrators, Network Engineer).
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the need to develop a Business Case document. Soon thereafter I find this one-page Business Case document. The first question that comes to mind is “how can you put all that needs to be in the Business Case document in one page?” Believe it or not, they did it. Of course, a lot of things were abbreviated. You have to question the usefulness of such a document.
Of course, a one-page document is not what we experience in our IT Business Solutions projects today. Instead, we have what Chris Gurney wrote for BA Times as the “Big Freakin’ Requirements Document”. Chris outlines the various reasons that our requirements document has to be so freakin’ long:
It has become common place in over the years to try to accommodate everyone with one document. So language is included for executive staff. Then we translate the requirements to a more detailed level for developers and testers. We turn on “Track Changes” feature to retain the history of changes to the document; which then leads to descendent versions of the document.
What Chris is trying to point out in the article is that a Word document is no longer sufficient for collaborative development of requirements for our IT business solutions projects. What you can expect to see is many vendors rush to provide software solutions to these shortcoming
s. Currently, there are some solutions out there to address these issues. I will not promote any current software solutions here, but you can expect to see more solutions from new vendors in this area. You will also see great improvements in features in the solutions that are already on the market. When business organizations migrate in groves to these solutions and away from Microsoft Word as the standard for “document” development then you will see this market grow rapidly. Large organizations with large IT staffs and geographically dispersed enterprise application development teams should be first to make the move. I think you will see Business Analysts within those organizations leading the charge, but with all “organizational shift” changes, convincing those that hold the purse strings of the value and need for new tools will be their greatest challenge.
Of course, a one-page document is not what we experience in our IT Business Solutions projects today. Instead, we have what Chris Gurney wrote for BA Times as the “Big Freakin’ Requirements Document”. Chris outlines the various reasons that our requirements document has to be so freakin’ long:
- To Communicate to all audiences
- To Validate that Needs are Met
- To Ensure Everything’s within in Scope
- To Manage Changes to Requirements
- To Meet Regulatory and Corporate Obligations
- To Define Requirements Collaboratively
It has become common place in over the years to try to accommodate everyone with one document. So language is included for executive staff. Then we translate the requirements to a more detailed level for developers and testers. We turn on “Track Changes” feature to retain the history of changes to the document; which then leads to descendent versions of the document.
What Chris is trying to point out in the article is that a Word document is no longer sufficient for collaborative development of requirements for our IT business solutions projects. What you can expect to see is many vendors rush to provide software solutions to these shortcoming
s. Currently, there are some solutions out there to address these issues. I will not promote any current software solutions here, but you can expect to see more solutions from new vendors in this area. You will also see great improvements in features in the solutions that are already on the market. When business organizations migrate in groves to these solutions and away from Microsoft Word as the standard for “document” development then you will see this market grow rapidly. Large organizations with large IT staffs and geographically dispersed enterprise application development teams should be first to make the move. I think you will see Business Analysts within those organizations leading the charge, but with all “organizational shift” changes, convincing those that hold the purse strings of the value and need for new tools will be their greatest challenge.According to an InfoWorld article this month, the U.S. IT market has added 25,000 jobs in the first two months of 2010. This is the largest month-to-month gain in IT staffing jobs in the U.S. since 2008 according to U.S. Labor Department statistics.
A contributing factor to that increase may be a new trend in the IT Outsourcing called “Homeshoring” or “Onshoring”. This is an alternative to offshoring your IT outsourcing by placing it in low-cost, non-urban U.S. areas. Monty Hamilton, CEO of Rural Sourcing Inc., recently spoke at the 2010 Outsourcing World Summit, where the idea of homeshoring was well received.
As salaries in India increase because of past American offshoring IT strategies, rural America becomes more competitive. This along with the other benefits, such as culture and the favorable time zone, may spark an increase in the coming years to homeshoring.
Mr. Hamilton notes that Small to Mid-sized Businesses (SMB) are first to realize the benefits of homeshoring. He also makes note that a few jobs may still be lower cost as offshore, such as moving stack A to stack B. However, when it comes to IT staffing, enterprise application development and IT strategy consulting, homeshoring is the growing trend.
A contributing factor to that increase may be a new trend in the IT Outsourcing called “Homeshoring” or “Onshoring”. This is an alternative to offshoring your IT outsourcing by placing it in low-cost, non-urban U.S. areas. Monty Hamilton, CEO of Rural Sourcing Inc., recently spoke at the 2010 Outsourcing World Summit, where the idea of homeshoring was well received.
As salaries in India increase because of past American offshoring IT strategies, rural America becomes more competitive. This along with the other benefits, such as culture and the favorable time zone, may spark an increase in the coming years to homeshoring.
Mr. Hamilton notes that Small to Mid-sized Businesses (SMB) are first to realize the benefits of homeshoring. He also makes note that a few jobs may still be lower cost as offshore, such as moving stack A to stack B. However, when it comes to IT staffing, enterprise application development and IT strategy consulting, homeshoring is the growing trend.
In a BATimes article John Moore visits the need and proper use of a Business Case document to increase the success of IT business solution projects. He demonstrates a failed project due to a competitor who released a competitive product in the market before our organization’s project completed. The business manager showing the project failed because it did not deliver the projected ROI. The IT project team noted that they delivered the project on-schedule, on-time and on-budget. Was that risk that a competitor could beat us to the marketplace identified at project initiation or during the life of the project? Were the proper stakeholders identified and included in the project communication plan?
John makes note how the Business Case document should be revisited several times during the project life cycle. Doing so may have caught the changing environment and allowed the organization to mitigate the risk from the competitor.
John makes very valid points that I believe show an improper IT solution Project Delivery System. Laura Brandenburg notes in her blog that the Business Case document is often created under another name, or as I have noticed in many organizations the Business Case document is created, then it is used to develop the Project Charter and Project Design documents. These documents should not only be created but needs to visited by an IT Governance body during multiple steps in the IT solution Project Life Cycle; not just at project initiation. At each point it makes a “go/no go” decision as to whether to continue the project. This is where many organizations fail to follow through.
Take the simplified high-level Project Life Cycle that includes 5 phases: Initiation, Analysis, Design, Development and Implementation/Closure. Most organizations will make the “go/no go” decision on an IT business solution project either prior to the Initiation phase that kicks off the project or at the end of the phase, depending on how the organization defines its Project Delivery System. In most organizations that is the only time that the IT Governance body will rule on the value of the project.
If the IT business solution project had to go before the IT Governance body at the end of the Analysis, Design and Development phases as well as the Initiation phase then the organization has greatly increased its ability to mitigate risk in the project, especially from external forces.
As the project goes through each phase of the Project Life Cycle, the benefits, costs, requirements and risks are further defined. In John’s example, if our competitor launched their product while we were still in Design then our IT solution project went before the IT Governance body for its next “go/no go” decision. The IT Governance Body, being aware of the competitor’s product launch, can now say that the project benefits are no longer valid. The risk mitigation plan can be executed, which may include dropping the project all together. This reduces the cost to the organization as those resources can now move on to a more valid IT solution project.
So not only is it important to make sure that you build a Business Case document, by whatever name you may call it, but be sure it is visited several times during the project life cycle, by others outside of the project team, to ensure that the assumptions (benefits, costs, risks) therein contained remain valid. This along with making sure the proper stakeholders are involved greatly increases ensuring that the IT solution project maintains its value to the organization.
John makes note how the Business Case document should be revisited several times during the project life cycle. Doing so may have caught the changing environment and allowed the organization to mitigate the risk from the competitor.
John makes very valid points that I believe show an improper IT solution Project Delivery System. Laura Brandenburg notes in her blog that the Business Case document is often created under another name, or as I have noticed in many organizations the Business Case document is created, then it is used to develop the Project Charter and Project Design documents. These documents should not only be created but needs to visited by an IT Governance body during multiple steps in the IT solution Project Life Cycle; not just at project initiation. At each point it makes a “go/no go” decision as to whether to continue the project. This is where many organizations fail to follow through.
Take the simplified high-level Project Life Cycle that includes 5 phases: Initiation, Analysis, Design, Development and Implementation/Closure. Most organizations will make the “go/no go” decision on an IT business solution project either prior to the Initiation phase that kicks off the project or at the end of the phase, depending on how the organization defines its Project Delivery System. In most organizations that is the only time that the IT Governance body will rule on the value of the project.
If the IT business solution project had to go before the IT Governance body at the end of the Analysis, Design and Development phases as well as the Initiation phase then the organization has greatly increased its ability to mitigate risk in the project, especially from external forces.
As the project goes through each phase of the Project Life Cycle, the benefits, costs, requirements and risks are further defined. In John’s example, if our competitor launched their product while we were still in Design then our IT solution project went before the IT Governance body for its next “go/no go” decision. The IT Governance Body, being aware of the competitor’s product launch, can now say that the project benefits are no longer valid. The risk mitigation plan can be executed, which may include dropping the project all together. This reduces the cost to the organization as those resources can now move on to a more valid IT solution project.
So not only is it important to make sure that you build a Business Case document, by whatever name you may call it, but be sure it is visited several times during the project life cycle, by others outside of the project team, to ensure that the assumptions (benefits, costs, risks) therein contained remain valid. This along with making sure the proper stakeholders are involved greatly increases ensuring that the IT solution project maintains its value to the organization.
A common reference I hear in business today is that the Business Analyst (BA) is the bridge between the business and information technology staffs within the organization. This infers that the knowledge of getting from one to the other, or interacting with either is contained within the BA alone. The BA should not be the bridge, but the bridge builder. If the knowledge is contained only within the BA, if the BA should leave the organization, then the bridge is gone. If the BA is the bridge builder, then if he/she should leave, the knowledge remains within the Organization.As an IT Strategy Consultant developing IT solutions here in Cincinnati and Southwest Ohio, I go from organization to organization and see that turnover within the BA ranks inevitably causes a great learning curve; either to recover the knowledge that has just walked out the door or bringing the new BA up to speed and making them an effective contributor to the organization.
What all these organizations lack is an Enterprise Architecture, a fundamental artifact of the Business Analysis profession. This and other artifacts are the foundation of creating a Business Analysis Center of Excellence. There is a maturity path that all organizations take from having a community of BAs that serve the organization with no continuity or conformity of service through a mature level in which that continuity and conformity of service is establish; into a BA Center of Excellence, where all BAs within the organization have a common standards of practice, tools and resources from which to draw knowledge.
Where is your Organization on the maturity path to a BA Center of Excellence?
I have spent a lot of time talking about the duties of the Business Analyst (BA); now let’s talk about the characteristics that make up a good BA. I find it interesting that Kupe wrote on this very subject this week, I guess great minds do think alike. As Kupe notes, the IIBA call these underlying competencies and define these as “the skills, knowledge and personal characteristics that support the effective performance of business analysis”.
The BA performs an important role in the application development process and is tasked with the duty of ensuring that the IT business solution meets the needs of the business. The BA develops and maintains the business and functional requirements that the IT business solution must contain in order to be deemed successful.
So we know the role and duties of the BA during a business application development project, so what “skills, knowledge and personal characteristics” does a person need to have to perform these duties. As the duties of the BA entail eliciting requirements from stakeholders and working with an application development team, you can imagine that communication is at the heart of the competencies of a BA. Good written and oral communication is necessary in order to be able to perform these duties. Good communication is not only departing information, but taking in information, or listening. This is often the skill that is over looked when we talk about skills or create a competency model.
Notice that when discussing competencies, that we not only are talking about “skills”, like Decision Making, Creative Thinking, Learning and Problem Solving; but we are also considering “knowledge” and “personal characteristics”. As the BA has to work with both the business and information technology staff, they need knowledge of the organization, industry and technology. What kind of personal characteristics would you want in a person that serves such an important role? I am sure ethics and trustworthiness would make the top that list.
So if you’re a BA looking to advance your career, there are some competencies to work on. If you’re an organization or manager looking to hire a BA, look not only at their skills and past performance, but develop some probing questions that will give you a look into their “underlying competencies”.
The BA performs an important role in the application development process and is tasked with the duty of ensuring that the IT business solution meets the needs of the business. The BA develops and maintains the business and functional requirements that the IT business solution must contain in order to be deemed successful.
So we know the role and duties of the BA during a business application development project, so what “skills, knowledge and personal characteristics” does a person need to have to perform these duties. As the duties of the BA entail eliciting requirements from stakeholders and working with an application development team, you can imagine that communication is at the heart of the competencies of a BA. Good written and oral communication is necessary in order to be able to perform these duties. Good communication is not only departing information, but taking in information, or listening. This is often the skill that is over looked when we talk about skills or create a competency model.
Notice that when discussing competencies, that we not only are talking about “skills”, like Decision Making, Creative Thinking, Learning and Problem Solving; but we are also considering “knowledge” and “personal characteristics”. As the BA has to work with both the business and information technology staff, they need knowledge of the organization, industry and technology. What kind of personal characteristics would you want in a person that serves such an important role? I am sure ethics and trustworthiness would make the top that list.
So if you’re a BA looking to advance your career, there are some competencies to work on. If you’re an organization or manager looking to hire a BA, look not only at their skills and past performance, but develop some probing questions that will give you a look into their “underlying competencies”.
In my previous two-part posts I discussed where the BA fits into the organizational structure. Even Jeff Welsh notes how application software development has changed over the years and requires a team approach for successful implementation of IT business solutions.
But you are sitting there saying we are a small to medium size business (SMB), my entire IT staff is 10 or less, I do not have a Business Process Orgranization (BPO) or Project Management Office (PMO); where should the BA fit into my organization?
SMBs need to utilize the BA role within their project delivery methodology. If the role is not being fulfilled then there is higher risk of failure of the project in that it does not meet the needs of the business. I have worked on many small-to-medium IT staffs and can attest to the fact that when resources are few that people wear many hats. There were projects where I served as the project manager, business analyst, developer and trainer. On smaller staffs, where only one or two of the people will be doing the duties of the BA, it is even more important to make sure that those people are easily accessible by the business units that they support. Have them sit in the vicinity of those business units instead of in the IT Department. I still feel that the BA is an IT function and should report to IT management as opposed to business management, but making the BA readily available and accessible to the business adds value to their role and gains buy-in from the business people to assist the BA with their duties.
So when making the organizational chart keep the BA in the IT Department; but when divvying up office space, make room for the BA near the business unit(s) that they are to support.
But you are sitting there saying we are a small to medium size business (SMB), my entire IT staff is 10 or less, I do not have a Business Process Orgranization (BPO) or Project Management Office (PMO); where should the BA fit into my organization?
SMBs need to utilize the BA role within their project delivery methodology. If the role is not being fulfilled then there is higher risk of failure of the project in that it does not meet the needs of the business. I have worked on many small-to-medium IT staffs and can attest to the fact that when resources are few that people wear many hats. There were projects where I served as the project manager, business analyst, developer and trainer. On smaller staffs, where only one or two of the people will be doing the duties of the BA, it is even more important to make sure that those people are easily accessible by the business units that they support. Have them sit in the vicinity of those business units instead of in the IT Department. I still feel that the BA is an IT function and should report to IT management as opposed to business management, but making the BA readily available and accessible to the business adds value to their role and gains buy-in from the business people to assist the BA with their duties.
So when making the organizational chart keep the BA in the IT Department; but when divvying up office space, make room for the BA near the business unit(s) that they are to support.
In my last post, I joined the discussion of “where does the BA fit into the organization?” I concentrated on the first line BA that should develop the enterprise architecture and help cultivate the business requirements for business process improvements. This BA would be part of a combined Business and IT staffed Business Process Organization (BPO). The purpose of the BPO is to analyze business issues and make the business case as to which IT business solutions projects should be undertaken.
Once a project is approved by the governance body it is turned over to the Project Management Office (PMO) to guide the project to completion. The PMO will be staffed with project managers (PMs) and business analysts (BAs) that will guide the project the rest of the way through the project life cycle. You may be asking why you would need BAs as part of the PMO, or project leadership team; after all the PM is responsible to see the project is completed on-time, on-budget and on-schedule. Yes, but the BA would be responsible to see that the project is completed and the IT business solution meets the business requirements. A business application development project will need functional and technical specifications that the BA should help develop.
The third role of the BA, I alluded to in my first post on this subject, is that of the Test or Quality Assurance Analyst. One role of the BA is to support the system, quality assurance and/or user acceptance testing phase of the project life cycle.
So the answer to the question ‘where does the BA fit …?” is in many positions within the organization. It depends on which BA role you wish to discuss, and whether the organization is large enough to have a BPO and/or PMO.
Any thoughts on the subject?
Once a project is approved by the governance body it is turned over to the Project Management Office (PMO) to guide the project to completion. The PMO will be staffed with project managers (PMs) and business analysts (BAs) that will guide the project the rest of the way through the project life cycle. You may be asking why you would need BAs as part of the PMO, or project leadership team; after all the PM is responsible to see the project is completed on-time, on-budget and on-schedule. Yes, but the BA would be responsible to see that the project is completed and the IT business solution meets the business requirements. A business application development project will need functional and technical specifications that the BA should help develop.
The third role of the BA, I alluded to in my first post on this subject, is that of the Test or Quality Assurance Analyst. One role of the BA is to support the system, quality assurance and/or user acceptance testing phase of the project life cycle.
So the answer to the question ‘where does the BA fit …?” is in many positions within the organization. It depends on which BA role you wish to discuss, and whether the organization is large enough to have a BPO and/or PMO.
Any thoughts on the subject?
I attended the CIO Speaker series sponsored by the Cincinnati Chapter of the IIBA®. The January meeting showcased the CIO and Deputy CIO of FirstGroup America. It was not part of their presentation, but a question was asked of them “should the BA report to IT or to the Business?” This alludes to the bigger question “where does the BA fit into the organization?”
This is the question that many organizations are still trying to answer today. Many organizations are just realizing the benefits of the BA role. One thing to realize, is those of us in the BA arena today are in the forefront of an infantile and growing profession. The International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA)®, the professions governing body, was formed in 2004; incorporated in 2006. There are 827 certified professionals (CBAP)® in the world. Compared to the Project Management Institute (PMI)®, which was incorporated in 1969, offer five certification programs and has nearly 300,000 certified professionals. You may say that your company has had BAs for the last 5 or 10 years. Then I say your company is one of the forward-thinking organizations that has recognized the benefits that the BA role provides in developing IT business solutions.
Now I believe this discussion will go on for years; but as this is my blog, here I get to put my two cents in. First, let’s define the role of the BA in which we discuss. Many organizations have a quality assurance team, department or processes within the IT application development team. As these people support system or user acceptance testing procedures, these people are Business Analyst. For this discussion, I refer to the Business Analyst that works on the front end of the project life cycle. Who develops the Enterprise Architecture, gathers business requirements for business process improvements and makes the business case for IT business solutions projects to make those improvements.
As the role of the BA is to develop requirements and make the business case for IT application development projects, this is an IT function; therefore the BA is an IT position and should report to the IT management as opposed to the Business management. Although the duties that the BA performs may put him/her in front of external customers of the company, their goal is not to perform the business of the company but to recommend IT business solution projects to improve business processes within organization; this is an IT function.
If your organization is large enough to use terms such as Business Process Organization (BPO) and Project Management Office (PMO); then you should find the BA at the heart of the BPO. The purpose of the BPO is to analyze and recommend improvements to business processes. So now you say that in most organizations the BPO is a business team; I would reply that it should be a combination business and IT team. The improvement to business processes may require a business solution, such as upgrade or replace business machinery or training; or an IT solution, such as application enhancement, system training or system upgrade. Therefore, the BPO should be made up of business positions and IT positions working together to determine the best solution to business issues.
One thing that I would change in many organizations is that I believe the BA should sit more in the vicinity of the business unit(s) that they support as opposed to sit in the IT Department. BAs will be much more effective when they fully understand the business processes in place, issues that business workers face and the daily going-ons within the business unit(s). Also, easy approachability to the BA for the business gains buy-in to the duties and recommendations of the BA.
So there is my opinion on the subject, what is yours?
This is the question that many organizations are still trying to answer today. Many organizations are just realizing the benefits of the BA role. One thing to realize, is those of us in the BA arena today are in the forefront of an infantile and growing profession. The International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA)®, the professions governing body, was formed in 2004; incorporated in 2006. There are 827 certified professionals (CBAP)® in the world. Compared to the Project Management Institute (PMI)®, which was incorporated in 1969, offer five certification programs and has nearly 300,000 certified professionals. You may say that your company has had BAs for the last 5 or 10 years. Then I say your company is one of the forward-thinking organizations that has recognized the benefits that the BA role provides in developing IT business solutions.
Now I believe this discussion will go on for years; but as this is my blog, here I get to put my two cents in. First, let’s define the role of the BA in which we discuss. Many organizations have a quality assurance team, department or processes within the IT application development team. As these people support system or user acceptance testing procedures, these people are Business Analyst. For this discussion, I refer to the Business Analyst that works on the front end of the project life cycle. Who develops the Enterprise Architecture, gathers business requirements for business process improvements and makes the business case for IT business solutions projects to make those improvements.
As the role of the BA is to develop requirements and make the business case for IT application development projects, this is an IT function; therefore the BA is an IT position and should report to the IT management as opposed to the Business management. Although the duties that the BA performs may put him/her in front of external customers of the company, their goal is not to perform the business of the company but to recommend IT business solution projects to improve business processes within organization; this is an IT function.
If your organization is large enough to use terms such as Business Process Organization (BPO) and Project Management Office (PMO); then you should find the BA at the heart of the BPO. The purpose of the BPO is to analyze and recommend improvements to business processes. So now you say that in most organizations the BPO is a business team; I would reply that it should be a combination business and IT team. The improvement to business processes may require a business solution, such as upgrade or replace business machinery or training; or an IT solution, such as application enhancement, system training or system upgrade. Therefore, the BPO should be made up of business positions and IT positions working together to determine the best solution to business issues.
One thing that I would change in many organizations is that I believe the BA should sit more in the vicinity of the business unit(s) that they support as opposed to sit in the IT Department. BAs will be much more effective when they fully understand the business processes in place, issues that business workers face and the daily going-ons within the business unit(s). Also, easy approachability to the BA for the business gains buy-in to the duties and recommendations of the BA.
So there is my opinion on the subject, what is yours?
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