Full Business Analysis
Study Guide
Igor Arkhipov, CBAP
8. BA Governance
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All the activities we have
talked about - they should
not run ad hoc!
They need to be properly planned and monitored.
Intro to Business Analysis, chapter 8: governance
Igor Arkhipov, CBAP
The definition
Governance encompasses the system by which an organisation is controlled
and operates, and the mechanisms by which it, and its people, are held to
account.
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Intro to Business Analysis, chapter 8: governance
Governance Institute of
Australia
Igor Arkhipov, CBAP
What do you need to plan?
There a few things that a BA needs to plan for upfront in order to set oneself
up for success.
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General BA approach
BA activities
Decision making process
Change control process
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Prioritisation process
Approval process
Information management
Stakeholder engagement
It is important not to plan a BA approach in isolation. It needs to be aligned
with the project management approach and project plan!
Intro to Business Analysis, chapter 8: governance
Igor Arkhipov, CBAP
8.1 Business analysis approach
Igor Arkhipov, CBAP
BA approach
Business analysis approach describes the overall method for performing
business analysis work.
It should be designed in a way that supports and complements the general
project management methodology in the organisation and helps satisfy the
initial need behind the initiative.
Intro to Business Analysis, chapter 8: governance
Igor Arkhipov, CBAP
Agility continuum (repeated)
We have previously discussed this in chapter 5. It is the degree to which your
organisation prefers to adapt to or predict changes (essentially, how it
manages risks).
You need to understand the approach in the organisation to plan BA activities
properly.
predictive
Intro to Business Analysis, chapter 8: governance
adaptive
Igor Arkhipov, CBAP
Predictive approach
A predictive approach focuses on minimizing upfront uncertainty and ensuring
the solution is well defined before the start of implementation.
It maximizes control and reduces (predicted) risks.
Intro to Business Analysis, chapter 8: governance
Igor Arkhipov, CBAP
Predictive approach
Despite common misconception, “predictive approach” is not a direct
synonym to the much criticised “waterfall approach” which is associated with
bad project management practices. Let’s not make this mistake.
Intro to Business Analysis, chapter 8: governance
Igor Arkhipov, CBAP
Predictive approach
Aspects of the predictive approach:
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Intro to Business Analysis, chapter 8: governance
Solution is largely defined before the start of implementation
Level of formality is comparatively high
Activities are planned upfront and divided into tasks
Tasks are grouped into defined phases
Igor Arkhipov, CBAP
Predictive approach
When the predictive approach is a preference:
➔ requirements can effectively be defined ahead of implementation
➔ or the risk of an incorrect implementation is unacceptably high
➔ or when engaging stakeholders presents significant challenges
Essentially, this approach can work best with the extremes: the most trivial and
the most complex projects.
Intro to Business Analysis, chapter 8: governance
Igor Arkhipov, CBAP
Adaptive approach
The adaptive approach focuses on rapid delivery of business value in shorter
iterations. It welcomes a higher degree of uncertainty regarding the overall
delivery of the solution.
It maximises the ability to adapt to change and supports the exploratory
approach to finding the best solution.
Intro to Business Analysis, chapter 8: governance
Igor Arkhipov, CBAP
Adaptive approach
Aspects of the adaptive approach:
➔ Solution is defined in iterations with the ability to collect
feedback between them and improve
➔ Level of formality is lower, the information is mostly collected
via collaboration and preserved on a “just in time” and “as
needed” basis
➔ Deliverables are defined first, activities are planned as
needed to deliver the expected outputs
➔ Tasks are performed iteratively
Intro to Business Analysis, chapter 8: governance
Igor Arkhipov, CBAP
Adaptive approach
When the adaptive approach is a preference:
➔ When the solution cannot be defined upfront or the context
changes faster than the team can deliver in a predictive manner
➔ When early feedback is important to shape the solution
➔ When fast time to market is crucial
➔ When the cost of mistake is not high
Essentially, this approach can work best with a commercial environment,
allowing the product to get to customers faster and be adapted based on real
time feedback.
Intro to Business Analysis, chapter 8: governance
Igor Arkhipov, CBAP
8.2 Plan activities & Design
processes
Igor Arkhipov, CBAP
Plan BA activities
Depending on the delivery approach and the nature of the project, the BA
activities will vary.
In general, a good practice to plan the activities is to define which BA
outcomes are expected by the team, and to plan the steps for each
outcome to deliver them.
Once this is done, the BA plan should be communicated with stakeholders
and integrated with an overall project plan to resolve dependencies.
Intro to Business Analysis, chapter 8: governance
Igor Arkhipov, CBAP
Decision making process
Business analysts get involved in decision making a lot. To succeed, you need
to define (as much as possible):
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Which stakeholders have decision making authority
Which subject matter experts can be consulted during decision
making
Who needs to review the decisions
How you maintain a decision registry
Intro to Business Analysis, chapter 8: governance
Igor Arkhipov, CBAP
Change control process
We have talked about what you need to do to manage change in chapter 5.
Now, let us consider what you need to plan for to enable efficient change
control.
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Define who can request a change and communicate this to the
stakeholders
Define the elements of a change request - is there specific
information you need to collect for each change?
Decide on how the changes will be documented and communicated
Agree who authorizes the change
Intro to Business Analysis, chapter 8: governance
Igor Arkhipov, CBAP
Prioritization process
The team always needs to understand the relative priorities of things. Help
them by:
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Defining who is involved in prioritisation sessions
Defining the level of formality
Defining the criteria for prioritisation for different entities:
◆ Initiatives
◆ Requirements
◆ Change requests
◆ Tasks
Intro to Business Analysis, chapter 8: governance
Igor Arkhipov, CBAP
Approval process
Obtaining approval on different elements of the solution is vital. Make sure the
stakeholders are aligned on:
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The timing and frequency of approvals
Types of requirements and designs that need approval
Level of formality
Always consider the organisational culture, the type of information being
approved, and the organisational context when designing the approval
process.
Intro to Business Analysis, chapter 8: governance
Igor Arkhipov, CBAP
Plan information management
Regardless of the level of formality, you need to bring structure to the way you
store information.
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Defines types of information and appropriate ways to store and
access it
Define the level of abstraction / detail you need to capture for each
type
Plan an approach for traceability
Define attributes you need to capture
Plan for reuse
Intro to Business Analysis, chapter 8: governance
Igor Arkhipov, CBAP
8.3 Performance improvements
Igor Arkhipov, CBAP
How do we measure
performance?
Efficiency is a “relationship between the result achieved and the resources
used”, in other words, a measure of profitability from efforts applied.
Effectiveness is an “extent to which planned activities are realised, and
planned results are achieved”. In other words, this measurement shows us
whether the work brings any expected additional value to the business at all.
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Intro to Business Analysis, chapter 8: governance
Based on ISO 9000
Igor Arkhipov, CBAP
Is it quality?
A combination of effectiveness and efficiency as a measure of performance
should be used when measuring the overall quality.
However, the quality of any process cannot be measured separately from the
perception a customer has of it.
Intro to Business Analysis, chapter 8: governance
Igor Arkhipov, CBAP
Is it quality?
Quality
Performance
Efficiency
Intro to Business Analysis, chapter 8: governance
Perception
Effectiveness
Igor Arkhipov, CBAP
What to measure?
Efficiency: time spent, people involved, iterations involved, delivered on
schedule.
- Use business data to collect these.
Effectiveness: accuracy and completeness of the outputs, ease of use,
benefits, whether business objectives are met.
- Use expert judgement and business data to collect these.
Perception: is the team supported enough, do the outputs and activities
comply with expectations.
- Collect feedback to collect these.
Intro to Business Analysis, chapter 8: governance
Igor Arkhipov, CBAP
Recommend actions
Based on the analysis of the metrics collected you are expected to
recommend actions for further improvement:
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Preventative: reduces the probability of an event with a negative impact
Corrective: establishes ways to reduce the negative impact of an event
Improvement: establishes ways to increase the probability or impact of
events with a positive impact
Intro to Business Analysis, chapter 8: governance
Igor Arkhipov, CBAP
What to consider?
When managing BA performance:
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All performance metrics will encourage certain behaviours and
discourage others.
Poorly chosen metrics may drive behaviour that is detrimental to the
enterprise as a whole. Choose wisely.
Always seek and consider feedback.
Intro to Business Analysis, chapter 8: governance
Igor Arkhipov, CBAP