Bite sized training sessions:

Scope of the
Business Analyst Role
 Objectives

• Review the scope of the BA role

• Make a case for the importance of the BA
role
• Discuss whether a BA really is a BA…
• Think about the “analyst” part the BA title
 Putting the Business Analyst in context

Programme/Project Manager
Owner/sponsor “The sponsor will get it all,
“I want it all now and for free”
I want it now
I want it for free”

BUSINESS
ANALYST

Subject Matter Experts/Users
“We must have this
- and soon! -
or our business will fail”
Solutions developers
“Given all the other projects we are
already doing for you, the best we can do
is a bit, in 6 months and it will of course
cost a bit”
Sponsor:
We’re going to the moon!

Project Manager:
ok, we have to plan…first off, SME’s, what do you need?

SME:
We’ll need a spaceship and spacesuits! Business Analysts: Do we need anything else?

Business Analysts:
to answer your question I need to know…
Why are we going to the moon?
(Problem analysis)
How will we know it was a worthwhile trip?
(Objectives analysis)
Therefore - what will we need to ensure it is worthwhile?
(Requirements analysis)

Developer:
So we need to develop solutions for the following requirements…
An example of rocket science...?
Mars Climate Orbiter went in to orbit at
57km above Mars instead of 150km.
It was completely destroyed.

Cause: some navigation calculations

performed in Imperial units (pound-
seconds) and some in metric units (newton-
seconds).

Most project failures are due to

incomplete/inaccurate requirements
 Discussion

What do you think are the

other main causes of project
failure?
 Why Projects Fail
The Standish Group “Chaos Report” (1994)
The landmark study of project failure covering 365 executive managers and 8,380 applications in all major industry segments
including: banking, retail and wholesale.

Some of the contents of this slide were taken from www.it-cortex.com

 More chaos stats, stats and
…

Source:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dannawi/archive/2009/05/15/2009-
standish-chaos-report-we-are-successful-in-the-failure.aspx
 Discussion

How can BAs mitigate the main

risks for project failure?
 Cost of analysis errors
The cost of correcting analysis errors rises almost exponentially
the longer they remain undetected.

Barry Boehm

Relative cost of
correcting error
 How much poor analysis £costs

• 40-56% of bugs can be traced to requirement errors

• Finding and fixing requirement errors consumes 70-85% of project rework

costs

• The average project exceeds its planned time schedule by 120%

• 52.7% of projects will cost 189% of their original estimate

• Only 16.2% of projects will be completed on time & on budget

• 30% of projects are cancelled before completion.

 Discussion

What do you think a business analyst

does?

Should PMs do what BAs do and vice-

versa?
 Scope of the Business Analyst role (I)
There is a chain of reasoning that leads from the statement of a
problem to the implementation of solutions…
UAT
…it is documented in products… specs
Code &
Databases
Tech
Business & Processes & Specs
Drivers Objectives Scope Functional &NF Data Loaded
Requirements Models Data
Extracted
data

TOR Business Business

Procedures Training

BA products BA product
application
 Scope of the Business Analyst role (II)
There is a chain of reasoning that leads from the statement of a problem to the implementation of solutions…

…involving up to 10 groups of people…

Owners
defines measures of success and $targets
…Business Analysts confirm & document $Mone
y!

Strategists
determine the strategy to hit the targets
…Business Analysts help research, create strategy, challenge & document
Sponsors
establish a Programme that delivers the strategy
…Business Analysts document Programme TOR
and help build the Business Case
Programme Managers
Institute Projects that implement the programme
…Business Analysts document the Project TOR

Project Stakeholders
…Business Analysts specify requirements for
Projects (in the Business Model)
Solution Builders
build solution
…Business Analysts protect requirements & document compromises
Project managers
Implement solution
…Business Analysts help with
-Process and data migration
-Cutover planning
-Rollout
Design Analysts
design solution that satisfies the requirements
…Business Analysts write functional specifications, protect
requirements & document compromises
Solution Builders & Business
test solution
…Business Analysts ensure tested against requirements
Users
Accept solution
…Business Analysts help with
-$MEASURING $BENEFITS $REALISATION

POST-IMPLEMENTATION
Business Analysts feed back to the Owner how well their
measure of success has been achieved
 Definition of terms for
“Business Analysis”

Business: why “Business”?

…should it be Change Requirements???
Analysis:
“the process of breaking a concept down into more simple
parts, so that its logical structure is displayed” (OED)

a : examination of a complex, its elements, and their relations

b : a statement of such an analysis (Merriam Webster)
Inductive VS Deductive Analysis
• Induction:
– a method of reasoning from a part to a whole, from
particulars to generals, or from the individual to the
universal.
– Example: whenever I let go of a hammer, it falls to the
ground. Therefore, every time I let go of a hammer it will
fall to the ground.
• Deduction:
– a rigorous proof, or derivation, of one statement (the
conclusion) from one or more statements (the premises)—
i.e., a chain of statements, each of which is either a
premise or a consequence of a statement occurring
earlier in the proof.
– Example: All fairies are pink. Tinkerbelle is a fairy. Therefore,
Tinkerbelle is pink.

• Which is better? That’s elementary, Watson.

 …and there’s more the BA needs to be
thinking about…
• Argumentation theory – how to discover the truth.

• Philosophy – what is “truth” in a business context and how to do we

prove it?

• Rhetoric – persuasion and/or enquiry?

• Opinions – they matter but are only one tool – not the only tool!

• Communication theories – how to best communicate what to who?

…BAs are the analytical engine of a

project…no-one else is accountable for
doing it…we better do it well!
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Questions?