building ba competency in an it...

© 2014 BA Convention

Building BA competency in an IT organization

Haresh Chetnani BA CoE, Fiserv India

2014

© 2014 BA Convention 2

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Courtesy :- IIBA - The Evolving Role of the Business Analyst :

Our Next Super Hero! - August 2008

What does this convey?

When the delivery does not meet expectation




Questions

• Can business stakeholders convey their true needs to IT?

• Is IT in a position to engage in a dialog to ascertain the needs?

• It’s not easy to get at what the business needs in terms of defining business requirements,

but it’s absolutely crucial. Get it right the first time.

• The Requirements & Analysis Phase of any software development life cycle (SDLC) takes up

to about 40% of the timeline

• A missed requirement can cost a fortune, depending on when it’s discovered

Some facts




Business Analyst is the answer to avoid such situations

Changing Requirements roles …..

Traditionally, this role was filled by the systems Analyst

Information Technology

Systems

Analyst

Developer

Information Technology

Business

Analyst

Now we see….

Architect Developer

Business

User

Business

User




Business Analysis as a catalyst between technology

and Business Needs

Business Need

Business approaches IT

with need

IT analyses the business need and tries

to form solution

IT approaches Business Analyst

Business Analyst

approaches Business for

further discussion




Business analysis – definitions

• Business analysis is the set of tasks and

techniques used to work as a liaison among

stakeholders in order to understand the structure,

policies, and operations of an organization, and to

recommend solutions that enable the organization

to achieve its goals – IIBA (BABOK v 2.0)

• Business analysis defines the capabilities that

enable an organization to deliver value to its

stakeholders – Agile handbook

• The definitions are restrictive and have explained

the ‘discipline’ or ‘practice’ through identifying the

tasks and techniques. They do not cover one of

the critical aspect of business analysis – marrying

the technology to customer needs.

Business analysis is the discipline of identifying business needs and determining solutions to

business problems. Solutions often include a systems development component, but may also

consist of process improvement, organizational change or strategic planning and policy

development




Complexities of market demands drive confluence

of BA competencies

Finance

Consumer Products

Energy

Manufacturing

Construction

Others ….

Product

Software

Infrastructure

Others …

Process

Data

Elicitation

Negotiation

Strategy

Others …

Ind

ustr

y

The profession will mature along three axis

Industry

Competency

Function

The Developing Marketplace






In IT, BA competencies pervade throughout the project

management life cycle

Product process

definition

Business Process

definition

Documentation

(SRS, BRD, F

Specs)

Elicitation (User

interviews,

workshops, JAD

session)

Interfaces -

inbound and

outbound data

validation

Product

Parameterization

and validation

Integrated

functional testing –

designing and

execution

Management

(change

management,

traceability, test

cases validation)

Interface Testing –

designing and

executing

Compliance report

verification and

trouble shooting

Post production

Support

Release and

Support

Testing &

Integration Implementation

Design &

Development

Requirements

Analysis

Business

Modeling

Logical Data

Modeling and

validation

Prototyping and

user interface

designing

Process Modeling/

workflow/BRE

definition

User interface flow

definition

Data capture,

mapping migration

and validation

Data elements

capture definition

External and

internal solutions

and channel

integration

MIS / Account data

validation

Functional test

scenarios definition

and elaboration

User

documentation,

report designing

and training

Project Origination

Project Initiation and

planning

Project Execution

and Control

Project Closure

BA

Skill

s

Project Lifecycle




A matured BA is expected to possess some core

competencies

Core

Competencies

Communication

Facilitation

Negotiation

Conflict Management

Formal (presentation, documentation)

Analysis

Logic

Decision Analysis

Process & Data Modeling

Systems Thinking

Implementation Skills

IT Knowledge

Process Change

Organizational Change

Quality Assurance

Project Management

Domain Knowledge

Products

Processes

Markets

Systems

Consulting

Relationship Management

Strategic Planning

Coaching Skills

Delegation and Management Skills




Implementation at Fiserv




Fiserv has defined career tracks and career streams across

various job roles

TM2:Senior

Developer

Project Lead

Delivery

Manager

Delivery Track

Project

Manager

Delivery Head

System

Designer

Enterprise

Architect

Solution

Architect

Tech CoE Head

Lead – Business

Analyst

I

Principal

Consultant

Solution Architect

/ Consultant

Practice

Head

Specialist Tracks

Test Lead

Testing Practice

Manager

Test Manager

Testing Practice Head

TM2: Sr. Test Engineer

Enterprise

Architect (Product)

Product

Soln. Architect

System Designer

(Product)

TM1:Developer TM1: Test Engineer

Business Analyst

Business Associate

BPO

Delivery

Mgmt

TM2: Process

Expert

Team Lead

Service

Head

Operations

Manager

Operations

Head

TM1:Business

Associate

Architect Stream Testing CoE

Stream

Business Analysis

Stream

IT Delivery

Mgmt

Beginner

level




Business Associate

Enablers

Foundations of a BA

Establishing a Business

Mindset

Analytical

Thinking Focused on developing problem solving skills

Communication Focused on one-to-one and within teams

Strategic

Thinking Not Applicable

Leadership Not Applicable

Requirements

Management

Focused on understanding the different

categories of requirements

Process Not Applicable

Project

Management Not Applicable




Business Analyst

Analytical

Thinking Focused on solving technical problems

Communication Focused on group facilitation with mid-level

stakeholders

Strategic

Thinking Not Applicable

Leadership Not Applicable

Requirements

Management

Focused on gathering and documenting technical

and business requirements for small projects

Process Focused on process modeling from requirements

Project

Management Focused on how BA works with PM

Enablers

Logical Data Modeling

How to Gather and

Document User Requirements

Use Case Modeling

Facilitation Techniques for

Requirements Development




Lead Business Analyst

Analytical

Thinking Focused on solving complex technical problems

Communication Focused on presenting and communicating

information to Executives

Strategic

Thinking Focused on understanding strategic decisions

Leadership Focused on leading small teams

Requirements

Management

Focused on gathering and documenting technical

and business requirements for large projects

Process Focused on process improvement from

requirements

Project

Management Focused on learning how to manage projects

Enablers

Testing Techniques

For Validating Requirements

Managing IT Projects

High Impact

Communication




Solution Architect

Analytical

Thinking Focused on strategic problem solving

Communication Focused on facilitating requirements with

Executive audiences

Strategic

Thinking

Focused on analyzing and enabling strategic

decisions

Leadership Focused on leveraging multiple leadership styles

at the enterprise level

Requirements

Management

Focused on proactively identifying business

requirements and influencing customer

requirements

Process Focused on identifying required process

improvements without requirements

Project

Management Focused on leading large change projects

Enablers

Strategic Enterprise Analysis

Communicating Up

Business Process Analysis

Innovation and Design


Let’s Play !!!!




Conclusion

• Demand for BA role is growing because organizations recognize that building a solution is

not sufficient – they must understand the needs first

• The BA profession will develop along three axis

– Industry

– Function

– Competency

• Demand for greater specialization will grow as understanding of the value of the BA and

formalization of the role continue

• Organizations must understand need to determine the type and maturity of BA required

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