lets test our understanding with sample questions from the chapter. (c) adaptive processes...

Business Analysis Planning and Monitoring

3(c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!

What is planning?

How planning helps?

What the BA should be planning?

(c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best! 4

Home sweet homeIt was getting quite cold outside as the month of December was approaching. However, Dinesh was very relaxed as his first large Oracle Financials implementation for a prestigious retail chain in Seattle was well on schedule. He was confident that his team would complete the project in the balance one month left and he would be back home in India after 6 months of on-site stint.

His phone rang. Todd, Head of Legal, wanted to see him. Dinesh had met Todd only during the project kick-off. For subsequent project review meetings, no one from legal function was invited.

When he met Todd, his comments hit him hard. Todd told that most of the financial reports developed by Dinesh’s team need to be rewritten, as none met legal requirements with respect to US taxation. With just under a month left, Dinesh and his team were now faced with the task of completely rewriting these reports that had taken over 3 months to create.

(c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!

5

Tools for BA planning• Acceptance and evaluation criteria

definition• Brainstorming • Interviews• Decision analysis• Business rules analysis


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Lets review the handout and present

Business analysis tools..01

• Acceptance and evaluation criteria definition– Acceptance criteria describe the

minimal set of requirements that must be met in order for a particular solution to be worth implementing. Evaluation criteria are the set of requirements that will be used to choose between multiple solutions.

• Brainstorming– Brainstorming is a group

discussion oriented technique intended to produce a broad or diverse set of options. The primary rule behind brain-storming is no criticism to any one’s ideas and developing on others’ ideas.

• Interviews– In an interview, the interviewer

formally or informally directs questions to a stakeholder in order to obtain answers that will be used to create formal requirements.


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• Decision analysis– Decision analysis is an approach to

decision-making that examines and models the possible consequences of different decisions. Decision analysis assists in making an optimal decision under conditions of uncertainty.

• Problem tracking– Problems may include issues,

questions, risks, defects, conflicts, or other concerns that need to be tracked to resolution.

• Root cause analysis– Root cause analysis is a structured

examination of the aspects of a situation to establish the root causes and resulting effects of the problem.


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• Lessons learned process– Lessons learned sessions can include

any format or venue that works for the key stakeholders identified as participants in these sessions.

• Metrics and Key performance indicators (KPI)– A metric is a quantifiable level of an

indicator that an organization uses to measure progress. An indicator identifies a specific numerical measurement that represents the degree of progress toward achieving a goal, objective, output, activity or further input.

– A KPI is one that measures progress towards a strategic goal or objective.

– Reporting is the process of informing stakeholders of metrics of indicators in specified formats at specified intervals.


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• Organization modeling– An organizational model defines how

an organization or organizational unit is structured. Organizational units bring together a group of people to fulfill a common purpose or goal.

• Process modeling– A process describes how multiple

people or groups collaborate over a period of time to perform work.

• Requirements workshops– A requirements workshop is a highly

productive focused event attended by carefully selected key stakeholders and subject matter experts for a short, intensive period (typically one or a few days).


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• Risk analysis– A risk describes an uncertain event or

occurrence that may have an effect on the ability of the business analyst, project team, or organization to achieve an objective. Risks by their nature can be positive or negative.

• User stories– A user story is a textual description of

things that the solution needs to allow users to do. User stories are typically a sentence or two that describes who uses the story, the goal they are trying to accomplish, and any additional information that may be critical to understanding the scope of the story.

– A user story includes a short description of the problem to be solved.


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• Scope modeling– Scope models serve as a basis for

defining and delimiting the scope of business analysis and project work. Scope models allow the definition of a 'complete' scope—that is, the boundaries of the scope correspond with the natural boundaries of a business domain.

• Survey/Questionnaire– A survey administers a set of

written questions to the stakeholders and subject matter experts.

• Functional decomposition– Functional decomposition involves

breaking down a large problem into smaller functions or deliverables.

• Stakeholder map– A map indicating stakeholder

influence and attitude


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• Estimation– Estimation techniques are used to

develop a better understanding of the possible range of costs and effort associated with any initiative. Estimation is used when it is impossible to determine exact costs. Estimation cannot and does not eliminate uncertainty; rather, the purpose of estimation is to get a reasonable assessment of likely costs or effort required.

• Structured walkthrough– A structured walkthrough is a

working session where invited participants review and discuss a set of requirements.

• RACI chart– List of deliverables with

information on Responsible (Author), Accountable (Approver), Consulted and Informed


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Business analysis planning and monitoring

Plan business analysis approach

Conduct stakeholder

analysis

Plan business analysis

activities

Plan business analysis

communication

Plan requirements management

process

Manage business analysis

performance


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Inputs, Activities and Outputs


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What are the common approaches for Business Analysis?

How do these approaches differ?

Which approach is good and why?


Business analysis approach

• Business analysis approaches describe the overall process that will be followed to perform business analysis work on a given initiative, how and when tasks will be performed, the techniques that will be used, and the deliverables that should be produced.

• In software world, approaches could vary from waterfall to agile

• Lean and Six Sigma• Plan driven vs. Change

driven approaches(c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!

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Plan driven approaches vs. Change driven approaches


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Attribute Plan driven Change driven

Focus To detail as much as possible in the beginning to maximize control and reduce risk.

To discover as we go.

Authority to approve

Sponsor Designated person

Applicable situation

Complex, high cost of failure, well drafted requirements possible.Challenging stakeholder interaction.

Low cost of failure Requirements amorphous

Model Water-fall Agile / Iterative

Level of detail

High Low

Change management

Formal process Through product backlog, time driven

Communication

Formal Informal

What are the factors that a BA must consider while deciding on the business analysis approach?

What are requirements management tools?

How do they help the BA?


Plan business analysis approach

PurposeTo select an approach for business analysis, decide which stakeholders need to be involved in the decision, and who will be consulted regarding and informed of the approach, and the rationale for using the approach.


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Element• Decide business analysis

approach based on timing of business analysis work, formality and, level of detail for business analysis deliverables.

• Identify requirements prioritization approach.

• Identify change management approach.

• Decide on business analysis planning process.

• Identify stakeholder communication approach.

• Identify requirements analysis and management tools.

• Estimate business analyst effort based on project complexity.(c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the

Best!22

Who are stakeholders?

Why stakeholder analysis is critical?

How do we analyze stakeholders?


Who are stakeholders?• Stakeholders are all those who have

interest in the project and who may influence the project outcome

• Key stakeholders are– Project sponsor– Customer– Users– Project Team– Functions affected by the project

implementation

Why manage stakeholders?– Stakeholder management is critical to the

success of every project in every organization you will ever work with.

– By engaging the right people in the right way in your project, you can make a big difference to its success and to your career.(c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the

Best!24

Steps in stakeholder management


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Stakeholder

Identification

Identifying key stakeholders who will or will be influenced

by your project

Stakeholder

Analysis

Understanding needs, expectations, and interests of

key stakeholders

Stakeholder

Management

Managing stakeholder expectations and helping them

adapt to change

Stakeholder Analysis Template

Solution

Delivery

Affected Organizational Unit

Organization or Enterprise

Affected External

Stakeholders

Customers, suppliers,

regulators, and others

Sponsors, executives,

domain SMEs, and others who

interact with the affected

group.

End users, help desk, and

others whose work changes

when the solution is delivered

Project team and others directly involved with creating the

solution

Identifying stakeholders


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Stakeholder influence patterns


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Positive

High Influen

ce

Negative

High Influen

cePositiv

e Low

Influence

Negative Low Influen

ce

Understand reasons for discomfortEngage activelyCommunicate vigorouslyIdentify positive influencers who can influence these stakeholders

Understand reasons for discomfortEngage activelyCommunicate frequentlyIdentify positive influencers who can influence these stakeholders

Identify what should be done to move these stakeholders to high influence zone

You are lucky!

Stakeholder charter• Many stakeholder management

issues can be resolved by having an appropriate stakeholder charter

• A stakeholder charter sets ground rules for engagement with all stakeholders

• This is a joint responsibility of the project manager and business analyst


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Adaptive Stakeholder Charter

Lets have a look at sample stakeholder charter!

Conduct stakeholder analysis

PurposeIdentify stakeholders affected by a proposed initiative, or who share a common business need, appropriate stakeholders for project or project phase, determine stakeholder influences and, approval authority for project deliverables.

Element• Identify stakeholders.• Determine complexity of

stakeholder groups.• Assess stakeholder attitudes.


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Plan business analysis activities

PurposeDetermine business analysis activities to be performed, deliverables to be produced, estimate effort, and identify tools required to measure progress of those activities and deliverables.

Element• Consider geographic

distribution of stakeholders.• Type of project or initiative.• Identify business analysis

deliverables.• Determine business analysis

activities.(c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!

32

Plan business analysis communication

PurposeDescribe structure and schedule for communications regarding business analysis activities.

Element• Consider geographic

locations.• Consider cultural diversity.• Consider type of project.• Determine communication

frequency.• Consider communication

formality.


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What is requirements management?

Why requirements management is critical?

How do we manage requirements?


Plan requirements management process

PurposeDefine process to be used to approve requirements for implementation and manage changes to solution or requirements scope.

Element• Define requirements

repository.• Define traceability

requirements.• Identify requirement

attributes.• Define requirements

prioritization process.• Define requirements change

management process.(c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!

37

Demo of Open Source Requirements Management Tool

(OSRMT)


Manage business analysis performance

PurposeTo manage performance of business analysis activities to ensure they are executed as effectively as possible.

Element• Determine BA

performance measures.• Prepare performance

reports.• Identify preventive and

corrective actions.


40

Lets review the vocabulary for the knowledge area (10 Mins)


Lets develop a business analysis plan for the given

case study. Time : 30 Minutes


lets test our understanding with sample questions from the chapter. (c) adaptive processes...

Documents

business analysis planning

business analysis tools

decision analysis assists

present slide

optimal decision

legal requirements

ba planning acceptance

brainstorming brainstorming