The PMI Guide to Business Analysis

• Publisher: Project Management Institute
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781628254730
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Project Management
• Index: Business

The Standard for Business Analysis – First Edition is a new PMI foundational standard, developed as a basis for business analysis for portfolio, program, and project management. This standard illustrates how project management processes and business analysis processes are complementary activities, where the primary focus of project management processes is the project and the primary focus of business analysis processes is the product. This is a process-based standard, aligned with A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) – Sixth Edition, and to be used as a standard framework contributing to the business analysis body of knowledge.

Part 1

The PMI Guide to Business Analysis

The information contained in this part is not an American National Standard (ANS) and has not been processed in accordance with ANSI's requirements for an ANS. As such, the information in this part may contain material that has not been subjected to public review or a consensus process. In addition, it does not contain requirements necessary for conformance to an ANS standard.

1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 OVERVIEW AND PURPOSE OF THIS GUIDE

The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, referred to here as the guide, is intended to serve the needs of organizations and business analysis professionals by providing practical knowledge and good practices needed to contribute to portfolio, program, project, and product success and support the delivery of high-quality solutions. This guide is intended to enable business analysis to be effectively performed regardless of the project life cycle, whether a predictive, iterative, adaptive, or hybrid approach is used, and provide guidance for business analysis regardless of the job title of the individual performing it. This guide:

• Defines what the work of business analysis is and why it is important;
• Describes the competencies, processes, tools, and techniques needed to effectively perform business analysis tasks and activities;
• Defines concepts related to business analysis that can be applied consistently across all product and project life cycles, product types, and industries to deliver successful business outcomes within portfolios, programs, and projects;
• Highlights collaboration points between those who perform business analysis activities and other roles that business analysts typically need to work with collaboratively; and
• Provides and promotes a common business analysis vocabulary for organizations and business analysis professionals.

According to PMI's Pulse of the Profession^® In-Depth Report: Requirements Management: A Core Competency for Project and Program Success [1],¹ 47% of unsuccessful projects fail to meet original goals due to poor requirements management. In the 2017 Pulse Report: Success Rates Rise—Transforming the High Cost of Low Performance [2], 39% of failed projects identify inaccurate requirements gathering as a primary cause of failure. Research continues to validate that when organizations do not embrace business analysis and overlook the importance of establishing effective processes to perform it, there is a direct impact to their ability to perform effectively on projects. Those organizations that demonstrate maturity in business analysis practices are 55% more successful in implementing strategy and are much more likely to achieve the expected value from the investments made on programs and projects. These are just a few of the statistics obtained from recent PMI research proving the value of business analysis.

Currently organizations are interested in understanding how best to:

• Strategically leverage business analysis to ensure that investments are allocated to the highest-value initiatives;
• Adequately invest so that product teams have the resources they need to properly identify and solve the right problems; and
• Deliver solutions that provide measurable business value and meet stakeholder expectations.

Such trends are driving the need for additional skilled business analysis professionals globally.

PMI research has also shown that improved business analysis skills and practices can significantly impact the success of an organization, including providing a competitive advantage in the marketplace. In this research, business analysis was identified as a contributor to gaining a competitive advantage over the past five years by 81% of the business analysts who stated they work in an organization where business analysis practices are considered highly mature [2]. In addition to skills development and process maturity, organizations are also taking steps to champion an improved and stronger integration of business analysis with project management, recognizing the contributions of each role in ensuring project success.

Business analysis professionals from every level of experience and competency, regardless of where they report functionally, require a business analysis standard that can be universally applied in any size organization, industry, or region of the world. Business analysis professionals need a standard that recognizes generally accepted good practices to support the practice of business analysis efficiently, effectively, and consistently to deliver solutions that provide the most value.

This guide identifies business analysis practices that are generally recognized as good practice. These terms are defined as follows:

• Generally recognized. Generally recognized means the knowledge and practices described are applicable to most portfolios, programs, and projects most of the time, and there is consensus about their value and usefulness.
• Good practice. Good practice means there is general agreement that the application of the knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques when performing business analysis contributes to the successful delivery of the expected business values and results across portfolios, programs, and projects. Good practice does not mean that the knowledge described should always be applied uniformly to all portfolios, programs, or projects; the business analysis professional, working with stakeholders and the product team, determines what is appropriate for given situations.

This guide is different from a methodology. A methodology is a system of practices, techniques, procedures, and rules used by those who work within a discipline. The guide, on the other hand, is a foundation upon which organizations can build methodologies, policies, procedures, rules, tools, and techniques needed to practice business analysis effectively. This guide aligns the global community on what comprises the business analysis profession and aims to help organizations realize improvements in business analysis capabilities by ensuring that business analysis is commonly defined and understood.

1.1.1 THE NEED FOR THIS GUIDE

As organizations strive to meet market demands, the expectation is to deliver better solutions in a faster and less expensive manner. Recent PMI research identified business analysis as a key competency to help organizations achieve this goal. The Standard for Business Analysis and the PMI Guide to Business Analysis are intended to assist organizations and individuals in understanding the business analysis discipline as a basis for attaining mature and effective business analysis processes.

1.1.2 INTENDED AUDIENCE FOR THIS GUIDE

This guide is intended for anyone who performs business analysis activities, regardless of job title or percentage of time spent performing business analysis. This guide is also intended for anyone who works with someone who performs business analysis, for example, those who perform portfolio, program, or project management; the information presented here supports better collaboration among roles. This guide can be used by organizations and project teams to understand what constitutes good business analysis practice and can serve as a framework to provide a common business analysis language and structure by which practices can be further understood with regard to the value and purpose each provides.

1.1.3 THE VALUE OF BUSINESS ANALYSIS

Organizations with highly mature business analysis practices believe that business analysis has a tangible impact on their organization's success and provides a competitive advantage [3]. Research confirmed that a significantly larger percentage of highly mature organizations rank themselves well above average against their peer organizations with regard to:

• Ability to implement strategy,
• Organizational agility,
• Management of projects, and
• Overall financial performance [3].

With strong research validating business analysis as a key competency, organizations that follow mature business analysis practices will deliver better results and do so more efficiently and effectively than peer organizations with immature practices [3].

PMI's Pulse of the Profession^® In-Depth Report: Requirements Management: A Core Competency for Project and Program Success [1] reports that organizations can focus more attention on the following three critical areas to improve the effectiveness of their business analysis capabilities:

• People. By putting in place the necessary human resources who can properly apply business analysis to recommend solutions to the problems or opportunities addressed by the portfolios, programs, and projects, and at the same time, recognizing and developing the skills needed to perform this important role.
• Processes. By establishing and standardizing processes at the portfolio, program, and project levels, so consistent application of good business analysis can occur across initiatives within an organization.
• Culture. By creating a sense of urgency at the top so that executive management and sponsors fully value the practice of business analysis as a critical competency of portfolios, programs, and projects, and provide the appropriate support and commitment needed to excel throughout the organization.

Those responsible for performing business analysis can work collaboratively with members of their organization to determine and apply the appropriate level of generally recognized good business analysis practices for different situations and needs. The effort to determine and apply the appropriate business analysis processes, tools, techniques, and other items, including the life cycle(s) being employed, is referred to as tailoring. Refer to Section 1.3.4 for more information on how business analysis practices may be tailored to address the specific needs of the organization.

Business analysis can be performed when creating or enhancing a product, solving a problem, or seeking to understand stakeholder needs. The value of business analysis spans many industries and types of projects. For instance:

• In the financial industry, business analysis can be used to create or modify financial products that meet customer needs;
• In the health-care industry, business analysis can be used to minimize wait times from entrance to first diagnosis;
• On construction projects, business analysis can be used to define the requirements of a new building for use as the basis for the scope of work;
• Governments use business analysis to analyze situations and determine the best solutions to improve issues such as poverty, economic crises, and environmental issues;
• In manufacturing, business analysis can be applied to optimize assembly-line processes; and
• On IT projects, business analysis is performed to translate the business requirements into stakeholder and system requirements to provide clear guidance to designers and developers on what to build.

There are many uncertainties that affect business outcomes, such as whether consumers will purchase a product when it is built, whether existing infrastructure will support future growth rates, uncertainties over having sufficient staff to support customer demands, or the many unknowns that could result in a product being broken when used in unconventional ways that were not considered during product design. Effective business analysis enables individuals, groups, and public and private organizations to achieve better business outcomes. Effective business analysis helps:

• Address business needs;
• Manage risk and reduce rework;
• Minimize product defects, recalls, lawsuits, and reduction in consumer confidence; and
• Achieve stakeholder satisfaction.

These items are further discussed in Sections 1.1.3.1 through 1.1.3.4.

1.1.3.1 ADDRESSING BUSINESS NEEDS

Organizations are often tempted to provide solutions before fully understanding a situation. Business analysis enables the organization to identify and fix the root causes of problems instead of repeatedly addressing symptoms as they occur. Good business analysis hinges on conducting a needs assessment and recommending a solution based on the specifics of the problem space, including, but not limited to, understanding the business and enterprise architectures. Business analysis assists in detecting new opportunities that are essential for the growth and perhaps even the survival of an organization. Exploiting opportunities is imperative to secure a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Business analysis helps organizations obtain business value when addressing business needs.

1.1.3.2 MANAGING RISK AND REDUCING REWORK

What constitutes sufficient business analysis is dependent on the risk appetite of the organization and the level of confidence required before the organization is comfortable proceeding with its initiatives. The decision to proceed without performing sufficient business analysis and accepting a higher level of uncertainty is oft...