Reason for article
To help create an understanding of how business analysts can be used and how they can contribute to ensuring a project is delivered successfully; to budget and time.
Research on why projects fail
Sources of Failure according to a survey by Gartner were identified as being due to poor communication between IT and the business and failure to think about the real needs of the business
In another recent study of approximately 600 businesses published by a software development firm (Geneca) the single biggest performance opportunity was a business centric approach to requirements.
Results that indicated this were:
- 80% of businesses in the study admitted to spending at least half of their time on rework
- 78% feel the business is usually or always out of sync with project requirements and business stakeholders need to be more involved and engaged in the requirements process.
- 55% feel that the business objectives of their projects are clear to them.
- Less than 20% describe the requirements process as the articulation of business need.
- Only 23% state they are always in agreement when a project is truly done.
What a business analyst does and why it should make a different to the success of projects
A business analyst can control, influence and block all of the issues mentioned in the research above. I have taken 3 main key areas that a business analysts plays a key role in to explain further.
Stakeholder communication
A business analyst will be the conduit between different levels of the business and IT ensuring that information is gathered and understood from everyone in the project. If there are many different business teams then the business analyst will ensure they gather the whole picture as each individual SME (subject matter expert) may only know their own area. In addition business people have more of a tendency to think at a higher level and IT at a lower level of detail. A business analyst will bridge this gap to ensure that IT resource has the level of detail they need to continue and the business resource understands what is required and why. This reduces guesswork and ambiguity for IT and brings the different teams more together. Also uncovering and correcting problems identified by stakeholders sooner will reduce the amount of time spent on re-work.
Requirements elicitation
A business analyst will typically start by ensuring they understand the scope from the sponsor and project manager and then ensure that all stakeholders are identified who need to contribute to the requirements. They will conduct workshops, interviews and establish whether there is any existing documentation that can be used to help clarify the requirements. They will challenge requirements stated to make sure they fit within the scope of the project and that each requirement is justified and prioritised. For example if a piece of information is stated as required, what will the business do with it. If the requirement is just because they have already done it that way then questions can be asked to its value. It may also identify missing requirements if it leads to further needs.
Business Process Modelling
A business analyst can use business process modelling to understand the processes of a business triggered as part of the project, identify problem areas and improvements. This is a great benefit of having a business analyst on a project because it will take the opportunity of basing the new solution on more efficient and improved processes.
Requirements documentation and sign off
A business analyst will make sure that all of the requirements are written down, understood and agreed with all of the stakeholders. This will baseline the requirements so any changes later on can be managed effectively and reduce the risks of scope creep. By having the requirements written down development and testing can also be traced back to the requirements to ensure they are being met and ensure more transparency for agreeing when the project has been completed.
Thoughts? Questions? Please share in the comments.
If you have found this article useful then you might like my book – The Business Analysis Handbook – Techniques and Questions for better Business Outcomes. The book is available from www.koganpage.com and all major print and e-book retailers.
Thank you this is very useful