Whitepaper - Effective Business Analysis

EffectiveBusinessAnalysis
HowBusinessAnalystscanimprove
theoutcomesofITProjects

2
Contents
About Peter Bricknell......................................................................................................3
About Sheena Comar.....................................................................................................3
Business analysis to bring better project outcomes.......................................................4
What a good business analyst can bring to a project?...................................................5
When to Engage a Business Analyst in the Project Life Cycle ....................................14
Introducing a Business Analyst role on the Project......................................................18
What is a Centre of Excellence (COE).........................................................................20
Conclusion....................................................................................................................23
References ...................................................................................................................24

3
About Peter Bricknell
Peter Bricknell is a Director in the Management Consulting team at Hitachi
Consulting specializing in aligning business and IT.
Peter has over 15 years of consulting and management experience gained serving
some of the largest and most influential corporations and public sector organisations
in North America, Europe, and Africa in areas that include business transformation,
business process improvement, strategic technology planning, IT effectiveness and
information systems development and implementation.
Peter has experience across the spectrum of Information Systems development and
delivery – from IT strategy, requirements definition, software support, methodology
development, training, cultural change and roll-out. As a result, Peter has a unique
blend of business, people and technical perspectives across multiple cultures, to help
people and businesses make a positive impact in our world.
Peter’s qualifications include:
 Chartered Engineer
 Member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology
 MA Engineering Science, Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge
About Sheena Comar
Sheena Comar is a Senior Consultant in the Management Consulting team at
Hitachi Consulting.
Sheena has over 7 years of industry experience within the Energy & Utilities and Oil
and Gas Industries, with experience in Business Analysis and Data Migration. With
excellent solutions design Sheena has worked on complex projects across the globe,
from inceptions to deployment, whilst proposing recommendations and resolving
business issues, in order to deliver innovative business solutions.

4
Business analysis to bring better project
outcomes
Imagine you are at the start of a project, one that is using technology. The business
case is in place. The Project Manager is on board, a Change Management process is
known and the Technical teams are in place. Is that enough or is something missing?
The real challenge now is connecting the hope that the project delivers the expected
outcomes. Research by Gartner suggests that, ‘Only 40% of CFOs find that their IT
investments are producing the returns they expected’. This means, 60% of projects
are failing to deliver the business benefits outlined in the Business Case, resulting in
business solutions which do not meet the true needs of the organisation. The CHAOS
study identifies some of the major challenges faced by projects, with over 24% related
to requirements management.
One role which plays an integral part in the execution of a project, and one which is
often overlooked or misrepresented, is the Business Analyst. In some cases the role is
either filled by a junior team member or taken up by the Project Manager or a
Technical Architect because defining requirements is fun, easy and anyone can do it.
Some organisations focus on the technical capture of requirements forgetting the
influencing, prioritising and the softer skills that are crucial to the role.
This whitepaper aims to help a team who is shaping a project identify:
 What a good business analyst can bring to a project
 What to look for in selecting someone for the role of a Business Analyst, whether
internally, via contractors or with a vendor
 How to spread good practices from project to project – the Business Analyst
Centre of Excellence.
“Only 40% of CFOs find
that their IT investments
are producing the
returns they expected.”
- - Gartner, How to
Optimize IT
Investment Decisions

5
What a good business analyst can bring to
a project?
WHAT IS A BUSINESS ANALYST
A Business Analyst acts as a consultant amongst stakeholders and helps articulate a
level of change that is required by a business. They provide direction to facilitate the
delivery of effective solutions that provide tangible business benefits to an
organisation. By assessing the existing business processes/model, Business Analysts
understand how the different business units within an organisation integrate and
identify opportunities for improvement.
The Professional Association of the Business Analysts discipline, IIBA defines a
Business Analyst as ‘A liaison among stakeholders in order to understand the
structure, policies, and operations of an organisation, and to recommend solutions that
enable the organisation to achieve its goals’.
In some organisations, the role of a Business Analyst is often non-existent. This can
present some difficulties particularly when the strategy and goals of a business are not
in line with those of the developers. The language spoken by technical resources is
often different to that of the business and thus can cause issues in interpreting the
requirements, or assuming the solution can only be provided by technology.
A Business Analyst bridges this gap and works collaboratively with the technical
teams and the business to deliver a working solution which meets the needs of the
business, whilst investing in the right IT solution.
HOW DOES A BUSINESS ANALYST DIFFER TO A PROJECT MANAGER OR A
BUSINESS ARCHITECT
There are many activities and skill sets which are common amongst a Project
Managers, Solutions Architect and a Business Analyst. In smaller organisations or
smaller projects, both roles may be carried out by the same person. Although
possible, it is difficult for one person to maintain the right balance and perform both
roles effectively.
A Project Manager primarily focuses on balancing time, cost and quality and is
responsible for the overall success of the project within the agreed timeframe and
budget.
The Business Architect is another important role which works at a more strategic level
across an enterprise and is generally accountable for developing the vision for the
enterprise wide solution.
The Business Analyst focuses on understanding business problems within a business
domain and co-ordinates the business needs with the outputs of the project, by
documenting the requirements that the solution must meet.

6
A typical Business Analyst is largely concerned with managing requirements and
business rules and delving into the detail by probing stakeholders for clarity and
asking lots of questions. However Business Analysts holds several hats; they are the
bridge from the business to IT and offer additional skills which can support the Project
Manager and other teams.
Project Manager
Business Analyst
Solutions Architect
Common Skills
• Plan Development
• Scope Management
• Cost Management
• People Management
• Quality Management
• Risk Management
• Communication Management
• Business Case support
• Requirements Gathering
• Business Rules & Policy capturing
• Develop the business architecture
• Support solution evaluation
• Monitor requirements & scope delivery
• Estimation and Deployment support
• Create Business Policies and Rules
• Provide and approve Business Architecture
• Provide and approve Business Requirements
• Provide and approve User Requirements
• Approve Functional Requirements
• Understand Non Functional Requirements
• Project Plan Development
• Project Time Management
• Apply the business architecture
• Document Business Requirements
• Drive Requirements review/approval
• Scope Management

7
THE ROLE OF A BUSINESS ANALYST
A Business Analyst has significant influence on a number of areas of the ROI;
increasing benefits achieved through the solution and reducing overall costs. The
activities of a Business Analyst span a number of phases and stretches far beyond the
delivery of the solution specification. In fact, Business Analysts have the tools and
capabilities to support a number of activities from inception through to deployment.
Reduction in Costs
An additional role within the scope of a project may increase costs initially, however
the long term benefits are often overlooked, and this is what a Business Analyst looks
to achieve. So, how might these long term benefits be measured?
 Reduction in Rework: Change is inevitable in any business environment, but
unnecessary change can be avoided. The majority of unwanted change stems
from poor requirements and governance of those requirements. Business
Analysts are pivotal in ensuring requirements are well understood.
 End User Involvement: Interact with and gain feedback from end users with
the use of storyboards, throughout the specification stage, to set expectations
and gain first hand picture of the business process.
 Executive Support: Focusing on understanding the business context, goals
and vision by asking the right questions so that a problem is clearly articulated
and can be communicated to all key stakeholders, to secure buy in.
 Stakeholder Engagement: Engaging with the key SMEs from all areas of the
business to elicit, capture and define requirements and facilitate in workshops
 Aligning Objectives: Ensuring objectives are aligned between all business
functions and any implications are visible to stakeholders likely to be impacted.
 Firm Requirements: Validating requirements with the business and
documenting the requirements for traceability and a tighter control over scope.
 Collaboration: Reconciling the viewpoint of the technical teams with the
perspectives of the business needs, through effective review and collaboration.
 Technical Competence: Identify developer skills needed to mitigate risk of
rework and ensuring the requirements are delivered by IT whilst supporting the
business through the implementation process.
 Reduction in Requirements Churn: Stakeholder time is valuable; productive
sessions require a rapid understanding of information by the right people from
all affected business functions. Business Analysts have the competencies
required to perform the discussions and drive an efficient logical decision
making process, track issues, document discussions without repeatedly
covering old ground.
 Discovering Cost-Effective Solutions: The Business Analyst formulates an
appreciation of the business needs and is able to propose and recommend a
number of cost effective solutions which may deliver the benefits. This is
achieved by assessing the business processes and the internal IT services.

8
Increasing Benefits
Additional benefits can be gained from a project solution by enforcing some common
practices amongst the Business Analysis activities:
 Identify New Business Needs: Discover gaps and additional areas of
improvement through continual evaluation of the IT model in alignment with the
business strategies, with a focus on buy in from all stakeholders.
 Reliable Estimates and Expectations: Documenting and distributing
comprehensive material to all stakeholders to enforce a unified view of goals. A
gap analysis helps ensure accurate estimations of tasks and deliverables.
 Prioritization: Whilst all business requirements are considered important, it is
essential to prioritize business goals and requirements to effectively manage
requirements and the sequence of deliverables. Priorities should be reviewed
throughout the lifecycle as scope creep occurs and priorities change.
 Change Control: The scope of a project continually changes direction
throughout the lifecycle through new opportunities or incorrect requirements.
Risks can be mitigated by implementing a Change Control process which
involves Identifying and assessing the impact of the change (on resources,
schedule and budget), assessing the actual need of the change, providing
recommendations and prioritizing the change.

9
KEY COMPETENCIES OF A BUSINESS ANALYST
It is the responsibility of the Business Analyst to define the right solution to ensure
project success. The following key competencies have been identified by the BABOK
guide as the range of fundamental skills, behaviours and characteristics that are
required of a successful Business Analyst. Whilst these traits are not unique only to
Business Analysts, they provide the foundations in which supports the on-going
activities of Business Analysis activities.
The core competencies are broken down into 6 capability areas: Analytical thinking
and problem solving, Behavioural Characteristics, Business Knowledge,
Communication skills, Interactions Skills and Software applications.
Analytical Thinking and Problem Solving
Observation Evidence on Projects
 Creative Thinking -
Generating Innovative and
appropriate ideas and
concepts to aid in problem
solving
 Anticipating issues and preparing in
advance to minimize problems
 Alternative ideas and solutions to business
problem
 Decision Making - Effective in
making decisions and assisting
others to make better
decisions
 Gathering source Information and evaluate
options by making comparisons
 Conclude and communicate final decision
based on evidence/research
 Learning -
Effective at gaining skills or
knowledge of the business
domains and functions, and
translating the learning and
understanding of what
activities need to be performed
to achieve business benefits
 Gathering Information and making
comparisons
 Impact assessment of all options during
decision analysis
 Problem Solving -
Defining and solving problems
to ensure underlining problem
is understood and addressed
 Performing analysis of the problem by
looking into current business process and
identifying root cause
 Creating a Requirements Traceability
Matrix (RTM) to ensure solution meets the
objectives of the problem
 Systems Thinking -
Understanding how people,
processes and systems
interact within an organisation
as a whole.
 Understanding overall objectives of all
stakeholders and business units
 Assessing how a change to a process may
affect the entire system and
communicating changes to all affected

10
Behavioural Characteristics
 Ethics - Behaving ethically to
earn stakeholder trust and
respect and recognizing
potential problems with
requirements or solution
 Involving all stakeholders and end users
when making decisions
 Highlighting issues as they arise and
accepting responsibility for project delays
or failure
 Personal Organization -
Effectively manage tasks and
information. The role of a BA is
extended to support the
business throughout the
development. Therefore the
BA is also responsible for
planning and managing the
scope of the solution
 Planning and managing the scope of the
solution.
 Prioritizing tasks and effective time
management for efficiency in completing
tasks.
 Monitor the progress of work packages
and deliverables
 Trustworthiness – Gaining
trust and confidence of
stakeholders to access
organization sensitive
information for effective
elicitation of requirements, in
the interest of the business.
 Understanding stakeholders true needs,
not wants
 Highlighting difficult business issues/topics
to stakeholders
 Stakeholder involving the BA in decision
making and accepting recommendations

11
Business Knowledge
 Business Principles and
Practices - Understanding the
fundamental characteristics
and best practices that are
common to all organizations.
 Awareness of business environments,
operations, process and practices
 Awareness of relevant regulatory,
compliance, and governance frameworks
 Understanding of auditing and security
issues
 Industry Knowledge - An
understanding of the potential
challenges an industry may be
faced with and evidence of
solutions applied elsewhere
 Understanding of industry related material,
regulatory environment, resources and
process documents
 The ability to identify key trends shaping
the industry.
 Understanding of processes and
methodologies
 Organizational Knowledge –
Ability to analyses the
business models and
architecture of the
organization.
 Demonstrating understanding of how the
different business units integrate, through
process/systems modelling
 Business specific knowledge of
products/services offered through process
modelling
 Regular liaison with key SMEs and
stakeholders within the organization
 Solution Knowledge –
Understanding of the existing
business and identifying most
effective change to suit
business needs.
 Understanding business needs through
requirements definition and providing
effective solution to business problems
 Assessing commercial market for alternate
solutions
 Implementing a change in minimal
timeframe
 Communicating business benefits to
stakeholders during negotiation
 Quality Assurance –
Ensuring that that solution
transitioned to stakeholders
meets the highest standards.
 Demonstrating that requirements can be
traced through the whole development
lifecycle
 Identifying changes in scope and reflecting
this back through the project and
requirements

12
Communication Skills
Oral – Ability to communicate ideas
and information to the target
audience, using the right tone to
achieve the positive/negative
influence as required
 Paraphrasing to ensure understanding of
requirement
 Articulating ideas effectively through
detailed explanations
 Asking lots of questions to clearly
understand requirement
 Delivering presentations with appropriate
use of content and objectives
 Escalate critical/difficult issue and risks in a
calm, rational manner
Teaching - Effectively communicate
issues and requirements and to
ensure the information is understood
and retained.
 Explaining context of a solution to SMEs
and stakeholders and acknowledging
stakeholder understanding
 Preparing presentation material for
stakeholders
 Kinaesthetic (through doing)
Written - Effectively document
requirements and elicitation results,
for a various contexts and audiences.
A broad vocabulary, strong grasp of
grammar and understanding of
terminology appropriate to the
audience is required
 Ability to adjust style of writing according to
audience
 Appropriate choice of words
 Proper use of grammar
 Ability of the reader describe the content of
the written communication
 Appropriate use of Methodology/Tools
(UML/BPM) to illustrate processes

13
Interaction
Facilitation and Negotiation –
Facilitating interactions between
stakeholders in order support
negotiation on how to best resolve
disagreements regarding the priority
and nature of requirements. Evidence
on a project:
 Ensuring viewpoints and objectives of all
participants in a discussion is
communicated and understood by all
 Facilitating workshops by organising
agendas, taking meeting minutes, sticking
to time etc.
 Concentration to ensure discussions is not
side-tracked.
 Identifying important issues and common
areas of agreement
Leadership and Influencing -
Effective in formal and informal
leadership roles, in order to guide
others investigating requirements and
to help encourage stakeholder
support for a necessary change.
 Motivating people to ensure the same
goals are achieved
 Listen to views of wider team and acting on
them
 Probe for questions during requirements
phase
Teamwork -
Work closely with other team
members to effectively support their
work so that solutions can be
effectively implemented
 Regular meeting with wider team to
eliminate silo mentality and ensure
everyone are working towards common
goal
 Developing trust among team members by
 Supporting other team members (BAs,
PMs, SMEs etc)
Software Applications
General Purpose Applications -
Use of office applications, such as
Word and Excel to document and
track requirements and PowerPoint to
deliver presentations.
 Preparation of a presentation through use
of PowerPoint to walkthrough the solution
 Tracking changes to the requirements /
design documents in Word to enable target
audience to view changes
Specialized Applications -
Use of specialized tools to define the
as is and to be states of an
organisation and to support the
development, validation and
implementation of requirements.
 Use of a modelling tool, such as UML /
BPN to demonstrate understanding of as is
processes.
 Use of Requirements management tools to
facilitate elicitation and documentation of
requirements and to support change
control

14
When to Engage a Business Analyst in the
Project Life Cycle
If we consider the Waterfall or the Agile Methodology, there are several stages from
Analysis through to Deployment. HFusion ®, Hitachi Consulting’s project delivery
methodology is focused on driving effective client engagements within the project life
cycle, from conception through to transition and provides a basic framework for
planning and execution.
The Methodology is structured upon five Phases which closely correlate to the
different stages the wider methodologies, be in Waterfall or Agile. Each Phase is
broken down into several logical process groups of related processes. The
Methodology is partnered with our Project Management Discipline, a licensed
derivative of the Project Management Institute’s (PMI) PMBOK®.
The Business Analyst supports many different activities across all the phases of the
Methodology (as highlighted in the diagram above), playing a primary role in the
Define and Design.

15
A Business Analyst should be involved where:
Define  Need for Justification - The Business Analyst supports the justification of a need
for change by highlighting at high level, he benefits realization and building a high
level solution.
 Business Case & Estimating - When you need understand the details behind the
issues for a benefits & business case and build a high level solution
 System and Vendor Selection - When you need to select an IT vendor
 Project Support - Assisting the PM in estimation and project scoping
Design  Business Requirements - When you need to define the user requirements and
ensure the solution matches the requirements.
 Detailed Solution Specification - When you need to understand the issues and
build a high-level solution.
 Project Support - Assisting the PM in estimation and project scoping
Develop  Business Requirements Assurance - Provide advisory support to the design
and development, testing and delivery of the solution
 Deployment Support - Supporting the smooth deployment of a project, by
working closely with the business area around training the users and ensuring
they have the documentation to use the solution.
Deploy  Facilitation of lessons learnt and knowledge capture
Transition  Business Case (Validation) - Close the loop on the business case, measure
KPIs against Business Case
 Test Support - Supporting the Testing Cycle
 Handover - Transfer process and technical ownership, defect reporting, and
future enhancement management from the project team to the long-term support
team
At the start of the cycle, the Business Analyst has an important role in understanding
and grasping the concepts of how the initiatives connect with the overall goals and
objectives of the organisation. The Business Analyst then supports the design and
development teams in ensuring the requirements of the business are understood and
being met. Finally, the Business Analyst performs a handover and knowledge transfer
to the end users and the support teams.

16
WHAT ARE THE KEY DELIVERABLES OF A BUSINESS ANALYST
The following summarizes the deliverables that a Business Analyst is Responsible for,
and those that a Business Analyst is consulted, focusing on the key outputs across
each areas of the Hitachi HFusion® Methodology.
This is not an exhaustive list of deliverables. The key is to identify where in the
lifecycle a deliverable is needed and customize the recommendations to make them fit
in to the project and business areas.
The following Responsibility Assignment matrix (RACI) describes each of the
deliverables above which a Business Analyst may be involved in, aligning these to the
HFusion® Methodology:

17
DELIVERABLE DESCRIPTION RACI
Define
 Project Approach Describes the overall project methodology C
 Baseline KPI
Measurements
Current baseline values for the solution's Key Performance Indicators
(KPI)
R
 Business Case Recommended path forward and business alternatives C
 Business
Requirements
Record, manage and prioritize company's business needs R
 Solution Summary
Presentation
Executive level presentation to communicate the formulated solution to
key stakeholders
C
Design
 Future State Process
Flow
Flow chart depicting the steps of the future state business process R
 High Level
Requirements
Captures High Level requirements R
 Requirements
Traceability Matrix
(Contained within the RTM) captures detailed requirements of the solution
and tracks implementation
R
 Gap Analysis Detail Detail of each gap, its resolution options, and recommended resolution R
 Detail Solution
Specification
Describes in detail each of the high level requirements C
 Test Strategy Describes the detailed plan for executing all test types C
Develop
 Solution Validation
Assessment
Assesses if the solution is able to meet the business need at an
acceptable level of quality
R
Deploy
 Review Checklist Topics to be reviewed at project milestones to verify a holistic solution C
Transition
 Solution KPI
Measurements
Contains the values for the key performance indicators (KPI) that are
captured once solution is operational
R
 Solution Results
Presentation
Deliverable is used to present the final results of the solution to key
stakeholders
C
 Handover Support Handover document with Instructions R

18
Introducing a Business Analyst role on the
Project
Many organisations have a mix of Business Analyst skills available, from permanent
staff to contractors or suppliers. There is no right answer on how to resource it.
However, some key principles which should be considered are the scope of work, the
competency levels of resources within the organisation, expectations of the
stakeholders and the organisational culture.
INTERNAL
Where the initiative is the change of internal processes, the default option is to use
Internal Business Analysts as they already have an understanding of the different
business areas, with an appreciation of business processes, legacy systems, issues
and resolutions. Internal relationships are already established, thus easier to gain
access to SMEs. The big question is whether they have the skills to be a Business
Analyst and if not, how they can be coached and trained rapidly for the project. This
can help make an informed decision of how well their Business Analysts can fulfil the
expectations and may even result in a mixed vendor / internal Business Analyst team.
The shortfall is the lack of industry wide knowledge in which external BAs benefit.
Internal resources may also find it difficult to express ideas, concern or disagreement
amongst management and as we know, negotiation is key to a successful Business
Analyst.
EXTERNAL CONSULTANCY
One of the main reasons companies’ select external suppliers is to cut costs (Gartner)
and to obtain an objective viewpoint. They possess Subject Matter Expert knowledge
with access to specialized experts, which helps organisations keep on top of industry
practices. Understanding the business and how it functions as an enterprise however
may take significant time.
Advantages
•In-depth Internal Business
Knowledge, which stays within the
business
•Implement own process/way of
working
•Understands company business
processes
•In built trust
•Knowledge and access to SMEs
•Leverage internal relationships
Disadvantages
•Limited experience of Stakeholder
Management and Consulting Skills
•May not have the required skill set,
may require training
•Can have multiple responsibilities
and therefore this may influence
tasks, deliverables and timescales
•May not always have a structured
approach to problem solving
•Wider industry Knowledge missing
•Not so experienced working in
challenging environments
•Difficult to deliver difficult messages
to management
•May be prejudiced towards legacy
thinking - no new/fresh perspective

19
Consultancies tend to invest heavily in the career development of their staff, as a core
selling point to clients and adopt a clear focus on structure and deliverables. They are
able to bring people onto a project and roll people off projects as necessary, enabling
flexibility and ensuring the right people are brought in at the right time.
INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR
Sometimes, being too close to a problem can fabricate the issue further making it
difficult to determine the root cause. Contractors bring a fresh approach and industry
expertise to a project, but may not necessarily have the basic technical competence
required to bridge the business objectives
Organisations don’t need to invest in training or development of a contractor, but
unlike vendors, a contractor is not always focused on deliverables and tends not drive
a solution, as a contractor is a single person as opposed to a consultancy. The risk is
that the role is time bound, not outcome driven.
COMBINED INTERNAL / VENDOR TEAM
Larger organisations are increasingly starting to realize the benefits of leveraging a
mix of both internal and external expertise. Success comes from a blended team.
Strong vendor Business Analysts can help steer the performance of the business to
the next level and grow the internal teams by mixing the people who know the internal
network with those focussed on outcomes. The challenge is to clearly define the
internal roles so they can drive internally and understand how to review vendor
deliverables. Some organisations worry that by choosing only external
vendors/contractors, their internal information is exposed and the reliance upon
vendors will increase.
Advantages
•Provides new thinking and objective
views
•Can make recommendations without
being influenced by internal
resources
•Access to specialized expertise
(resources)
•Industry Knowledge / SME – know
what works and what doesn't
•Focus on deliverables, benefits and
outcomes - efficient and productive
•Experienced in stakeholder
management and rounded
consulting skills
•Temporary help for one time
projects or task rather than
employing permanent staff
•Can breakdown internal politics and
barriers
Disadvantages
•Need to upskill on company,
processes, policies and people
•Need to develop internal
relationships and knowledge
•Can be viewed as expensive when
compared with internal costs - need
a balance timescale, deliverables
and the cost of making the wrong
decisions
Advantages
•Temporary help for one time project
or task rather than employing
permanent staff
•Efficiency and Productivity
•Specialized Expertise
•No Training
•Industry and technical SMEs
•New fresh thinking
•Industry experience
•Can breakdown internal politics and
barriers
Disadvantages
•Different ways of working
•Can be expensive
•Not driving the situation (T&M)
•Difficult to transition Staff
•Client always holds the risk, not the
contractor

20
What is a Centre of Excellence (COE)
A Centre of Excellence (COE) provides structure and a physical or virtual organisation
to build consistency and maturity of the Business Analyst function within an
organisation.
Building a Business Analyst COE allows an organisation to benefit from:
 Effective Business Analysts within a common understanding within the
organisation
 A community of practice by improving techniques and efficiency
 A defined approach for conducting Business Analysis activities, making it easier
to plan and achieve higher standard of quality
 A centralized point of excellence internally
 Integrated processes and practices
Hitachi consulting can help organisations define and seed this capability. The model
provides a distinct framework of processes, services, knowledge, skills and tools
which offer a robust approach to providing the Business Analysis capabilities to a
client, whilst continually improving the level of Business Analysis maturity.
The following model defines the operating model of the Business Analyst COE.

21
REASONS TO CONSIDER BUILDING A BA CENTER OF EXCELLENCE (COE)
Building a Centre of Excellence helps an organisation move from pockets of expertise
or reliance on specific contractors to an enterprise wide service that can help diverse
properly. A COE focuses not only on a business unit, but provides a multi-dimensional
service to all areas of the organisation.
There are a number of reasons why organisations embark upon building a functional
unit which governs the Business Analysis practice across the enterprise:
1) To Maintain a consistent approach to Processes and Improve Quality
Within an organisation, it is not unusual to find Business Analysts adopting different
methods of elicitation, capturing, documenting and modelling requirements. Where
there is no clear structure or framework, the output of deliverables and the approach
to BA activities is largely inconsistent. This can present challenges to clients whilst
validating and approving requirements, and to the technical teams in understanding
and translating requirements.
A COE puts a structure in place which defines methodologies, metrics and tools
across all members of the organisations. A COE continually reviews the maturity of
the business to improve processes, which additionally:
 Increases efficiency amongst Business Analysts
 Reduces the need for training
 Ensures up to date material
 Ensure outputs and results are consistent
 Skilled Business Analysts with a unified methodical approach
2) To Share knowledge and Improve Core Competencies
Businesses are always looking to improve their core competencies and identify gaps
within the internal capabilities. Knowledge sharing is something which is often
overlooked in organisations. Information and knowledge is rarely documented or
shared amongst others and remains with individuals. This presents big risks for
organisations looking to maintain consistency amongst processes and impacts the
quality of service provided. In the event that an individual leaves a company,
knowledge also disappears.
A COE encourages knowledge Management and Knowledge Sharing throughout an
organisation by uniting SMEs across business units to reduce the silo work style and
elevate capabilities through documentation, communication and best practices.
3) To Drive Maturity and Staff Retention
On one hand, organisations struggle with hiring the right calibre of skilled Business
Analysts, whilst on the other hand, retention of the more talented BAs is proving to be
a challenge. A BA COE promotes professional career development with clear
competency models defining roles, descriptions and functions. The development
framework provides training and opportunities for growth. Business Analysts will have
the opportunity to engage with BAs from other functional and geographic areas of the
business, increasing overall knowledge of the multi facet business. The following
additional benefits can be achieved:
 Organic growth, where junior members of the COE are mentored by seniors
 Opportunity to work on initiatives with Business Analysts enterprise wide
 Defined skills and career plan, focusing on the maturity of BA Skills by
identifying gaps in competency/performance
 Alignment of performance metrics to certifying organisations, like the IIBA
 Discover natural talent
 Recognition of a highly skilled Business Analysts

22
FIRST STEPS TO BUILDING A COE
The first step is to identify the capabilities that lie within an organisation and the gaps
which need further development.
Hitachi Consulting uses a 45 point assessment against each of the focus areas in the
Operating Model to capture feedback from interviews and score the team across the
dimensions of building a Business Analysis Centre of Excellence. Each rating is
scored on a scale of one to four (with one being no formal capability, or definition),
based on the Capability Maturity concepts. This was scored for As-IS, To-Be and also
the relative importance of this attribute to the business, showing the gaps in capability
and an indication of priority.
When the gaps have been defined, the next step is to implement a process for
improvement by focusing on key areas for improvement.

23
Conclusion
The successful delivery of any project is made up of a number of key ingredients
which include the right people with the right skills and an in depth understanding of the
enterprise wide goals.
 When building a project team, consider previous projects and how much a BA
team has been involved in the project lifecycle. Is there a need for a Business
Analyst and do they have the bandwidth to create and scope valuable changes
to business processes? How can the Business Analyst bridge the business
ideas and capabilities? With the business in mind, there needs to be a clear
definition and expectation of the Business Analyst role and how to connect the
deliverables to the project team.
 When selecting a team of Business Analysts, review the internal capabilities
against criteria, such as the BABOK Competency Model to determine the
necessary measures needed to prepare for a BA model and weather to make
use of the experts of an external force. Is their budget available? Perhaps
collaborating internal business knowledge with external industry experts can
maximize the internal capabilities to the strength of the external vendors, but
there needs to be a consistent process in place to make this work.
 It is worth considering building a BA COE which is reliable, robust and
repeatable across projects, providing the in-house capabilities exist. Playing to
the strengths of best practices and implementing a framework will give structure
to requirements gathering, documentation and managing information, leading to
high quality and higher success rates across all projects. Regularly monitoring
the capability gaps and Investing in the development of these areas will
strengthen the BA service provided to businesses.
Based on Fosters research 40% of IT Projects are failing to deliver the expected
benefits. The BA role is often undervalued but can make the difference between
success and failure.

24
References
1. The Evolution of a Profession, Kathleen Barret, IIBA President
2. If you think you can do without a business analyst…think again,
George Bridges, Maureen McVey, September 2011
3. How does Business Analysis Create Value, Laura Brandenburg in
Marketing your value, 2010
4. A Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK
Guide), V2.0
5. The CHAOS Study, 1994

ByPeterBricknell,HitachiConsulting&SheenaComar,HitachiConsulting.
AKnowledge-DrivenConsulting®WhitePaper©2013HitachiConsultingCorporation.
HitachiConsultingisthebusinessconsultingcapabilityofHitachi,Ltd.,aglobaltechnologyleaderandacatalystof
societalchange.Inthatsamespirit-andbuildingonitstechnologyheritage-HitachiConsultingisacatalystofpositive
businesschange,propellingcompaniesaheadbyenablingsuperioroperationalperformance.Workingwithintheir
existingprocessesandfocusingontargetedfunctionalchallenges,wehelpourclientsrespondtodynamicglobal
changewithinsightandagility.Ouruniqueapproach-‘strategicpragmatism’-producesconsistent,measurable
businessresultsanddeliversanexceptionalconsultingexperience.
Formoreinformationemail:learnmore@hitachiconsulting.com
EMEAHeadOffice
2MoreLondon
Riverside,London,SE12AP
Tel+44(0)2079474500
Fax+44(0)2079474510
www.hitachiconsulting.co.uk FS 79589

Whitepaper - Effective Business Analysis

Recomendados

Recomendados

Mais conteúdo relacionado

Mais procurados

Mais procurados (20)

Semelhante a Whitepaper - Effective Business Analysis

Semelhante a Whitepaper - Effective Business Analysis (20)

Mais de Peter Bricknell

Mais de Peter Bricknell (6)

Whitepaper - Effective Business Analysis