Breakthrough Business Analysis

Kathleen B. Hass PMP

• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781567264654
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: R&D
• Index: Business

Traditional business analysis jobs are going away and are not coming back. BA tools are growing up, and typical BA tasks are being automated and commoditized. Instead of being regarded as documenters, BAs are being sought out to focus on strategy, innovation, and leadership. Breakthrough Business Analysis: Implementing and Sustaining a Value-Based Practice provides a framework for implementing a BA practice that is strategically positioned and value-based. Realizing the positive impacts of a value-based BA practice could very well mean the difference between success and failure for businesses negotiating 21st century challenges.
Value-based business analysis centers on strategy execution, world-class enterprise capabilities, and delivery of innovative products and services. The framework for implementing and sustaining a value-based BA practice involves three phases: 1. Readiness: “Is our organization ready?”
2. Implementation: “How do we build the BA practice?”
3. Sustainability: “How do we institutionalize and continue to improve BA practices?”Take the lead and be your organization's champion of a value-based, breakthrough BA practice that is focused on value to the customer and wealth to the bottom line.

PART I

Readiness: It’s All About the Culture

Is your organization ready to support a new or advanced BA practice? We define readiness as having the following elements in place:

• A business case describing the value and cost of implementing a mature BA practice

• An executive sponsor who is accountable for the business benefits derived from an effective BA practice

• A steering committee to guide the BA practice evolution

• A respected and influential BA practice lead.

Chapter 1 addresses how you can assess the culture in your organization and the need to develop a strong business case for a new/advanced value-based BA practice. We present a proven approach to building the business case. In addition, we focus on establishing the governance infrastructure for your practice: an executive sponsor and a BA practice steering committee.

In Chapter 2, we explore whether you have an influential BA practice lead who is capable of implementing an effective value-based BA practice.

CHAPTER 1

Is Your Organization Ready?

In this chapter we discuss the need for developing a business case to propose an enterprise-wide BA practice that is value-based and strategically focused. Do not be tempted to eliminate or truncate this important step. The business case development process will help you make the tough decisions and will enable you to customize the practice to your organization’s needs. A business case will be your invaluable tool for proposing a breakthrough BA practice.

The Standish Group has been alerting us for decades that businesses are dependent on complex, technology-enabled business transformation projects for their success, yet we have been extremely challenged to perform projects satisfactorily. The focus has all too often been exclusively on requirements for IT solutions and then on managing (most often, limiting) changes to those requirements (generally regarded as scope creep).

The relatively new discipline of business analysis rethinks the change initiative context and shifts the focus from IT to the business, from technology to business value. BA shows us that business value should be at the heart of our efforts and that business benefits should drive our decisions. After all is said and done, it is about the business value that new solutions bring, not about the features and functions we think the technology should perform.

Despite the application of some world-class practices, far too many attempts to implement value-based BA practices have been only marginally successful. Too often the improvements to BA practices have been driven from the bottom up. While support is needed from all levels of the organization, grassroots efforts tend to be project-specific and therefore disappear gradually as project teams are disbanded.

It is through the business case for implementing a new, value-based BA practice that you can elicit high-level, top-down support. And it is through the effort you invest in building the business case that you will begin to gauge your organization’s readiness to implement strategy-level BA practices.

ASSESSING THE CULTURE IN YOUR ORGANIZATION

Before you initiate the effort to build a business case for implementing a value-based BA practice, you will need to identify your organization’s key issues and consider how business cases are used to drive change initiatives.

Projects are essential to the growth and survival of organizations today. Projects create value through capability-building business processes and through new products and services, responding to competition and changes in the marketplace. Make no mistake: Your effort to implement a value-based BA practice is a major project, and it will likely compete with other project ideas for resources and funding. Your organization is not going to support you simply because you think it is the right thing to do. The business case is your vehicle for eliciting support for investing in the effort.

In many organizations today, the business case is treated more as a formality than as a critical component of strategy execution and value creation. Far too many projects do not even have a business case. If there is one, it is typically created as quickly as possible and is used simply to secure resourcing and funding.

If your organization is currently not optimizing its use of business cases to help make strategic decisions about investments, this is your opportunity to model best practices for using the business case. The purpose of the business case is not only to secure funding, but also to drive value-based decision-making throughout all levels of the organization.

BUILDING THE BUSINESS CASE FOR THE BA PRACTICE

The life of every important change initiative should begin and end with a business case. Unless a change initiative results in value to the customer and wealth to the bottom line, it is a failed venture—even if it is delivered on time and on budget. The business case presents the expected costs and benefits of the proposed venture. Without it, you are steering a rudderless vessel. The BA practice manager/lead can demonstrate the value of business analysis through execution and management of the business case.

GATHER THE EXPERTS

Implementation of a new business process such as business analysis is a major cultural change effort. You will not get the organizational support you need unless you make a convincing case. During the readiness phase of the effort, engage a small but influential team of business and technology experts to work with you to build the business case for implementing a value-based BA practice. It is imperative that you not build the business case in isolation. Involving experts who are notable leaders in the organization is critical. By involving influential experts, you will be building your team of high-level supporters.

MAKE THE CASE

You need to lead the group of experts through a discovery period to examine the value of the new/advanced BA practice. Walking through the business case elements will provide a solid structure for your deliberations.

Building a business case is fundamentally a developmental, creative endeavor. The effort requires adequate time, a skilled facilitator (the BA practice manager/lead), a strategic focus, and creative expert resources. You need to drive the effort so that you will begin to enhance your credibility as the BA lead. You own the business case—you develop and maintain the business case in collaboration with the organization’s business and technology thought leaders. You subsequently must defend and report against the cost and benefit projections contained in the business case. Be sure to capture the names and titles of the experts engaged to create the business case. They will lend credibility and authority to the proposal.

GET STARTED

The first step in building a solid business case is for the team of experts to arrive at consensus on the vision and purpose of the BA practice. The business case accomplishes the following:

• States the vision, mission, purpose, values, strategic goals, business objectives, and measures of success for the BA practice

• Outlines the expected total costs and quantifiable business benefits

• Describes the change management and communication approaches

• Presents the complexities, risks, and issues, and addresses how they will be managed

• Sets the course for how you will take the BA practice from good to great.

DETERMINE YOUR VISION

A sample vision is: Business analysis practices are transformed into a value-based management tool, business analysts are viewed as respected consultants, technology is used as a competitive advantage to bring about innovation, and critical change initiatives produce the forecast business benefits as documented in the business case.

DEFINE THE PURPOSE

A sample purpose is: The purpose of a value-based BA practice is to enable our company to build a world-class business analysis practice that delivers real business value.

DEFINE THE OBJECTIVES

The following are some sample objectives:

• Integrate the practices of business analysis with business ar...