Should You Implement a Business Analysis Center of Excellence?

In a previous article, at beginning of the year, I discussed the “Top 10 Business Analysis Trends for 2011” as described by ESI International, a business analysis education provider and an IIBA® Endorsed Education Provider (EEP). Looking back upon the year, I see how very close they were on the emergence of these trends. One in particular, number 7, “Resurgence of Centers of Excellence” strikes me. It hits home because this also seems to be on the rise in the Cincinnati and Dayton markets.

Kupe also wrote on this subject this week at BA Times. He describes it as a topic of a discussion panel at the Building Business Capabilities conference earlier this month. The eight comments posted to Kupe’s article show a few people that have been involved in implementing Business Analysis Centers of Excellence (BACoE).

So now you ask yourself “Should we setup a BACoE for our company?” You can answer that question by rephrasing it “Will our company benefit from a BACoE?” Setting up a BACoE for the purpose of saying that you have one, is not good enough. How will the organization benefit from having a BACoE? What is the purpose of the BACoE? So find the value add to the organization that a BACoE can provide and you will find the purpose and benefit of having a BACoE and that will make it worth implementing.

One thing to realize when implementing a BACoE is that it is a process that takes time. It isn’t a something that you setup and it is done. It will take continual improvement of your documentation4, processes, tools and training material keeps your BACoE delivering the best possible value to the organization. I have described this process of continual improvement before. So don’t implement the BACoE and never revisit it, not only continually use the material of the BACoE, but continually improve that material. Keep your BACoE as innovative and up-to-date as possible. That is how you will best serve your organization.

Would your organization benefit from a BACoE? Your friends at STAR BASE Inc. would love to explore that possibility with you.