1. Business Analysis - Progression Towards A Strategic Asset
Ashish Mehta VP, Global Practice Head – Business Analysis
NTT Data Inc.
Director – Executive Leadership Council Regional Director – India
IIBA

2. Learning
Why is it strategically important to have a well defined Business Analysis Organization that is beyond just IT?
What should be its charter and organizational positioning?
What are the key considerations for a successful Global Business Analysis Organization?

3. Business Context Business Needs Market Forces Business Strategies
Enterprise
Market Forces
Business Strategies
Business Goals
Business Objectives
Regulatory
Changes
Customer Needs
Functional
/ Process
New Products and Services
Process Changes
Org Changes
& so on…. IT
Changes is the IT layer to enable the business

4. Business Analysis Maturity
How to realize the opportunity?
Business Analysis Maturity
Enterprise Business Analysis
Ensure alignment of IT initiatives with business goals
Ensure synergies across initiatives
Participate in enterprise project governance
Greater Domain, Business Understanding
Increased Maturity, Competency
Functional Business Analysis
Analyze and improve business processes
Assist in leading system change s that are in line with business needs
Facilitate optimization of project portfolio
IT Business Analysis
Define business requirements and translating them in software specifications

5. IT CAREERS: 13 Most Important IT Roles
Opportunity
In today’s complex business environment, organizations need to maximize the value of business analysis function to get the following benefits:
Efficient organizational IT landscape aligned to the Business
Consistent high project success ratio
Optimized business processes
Increased throughput of enterprise project portfolio
IT CAREERS: 13 Most Important IT Roles 1
Business Analysis
70%
2 & 3
Architecture and IT Strategy/Planning (tie)
66% 4
Project Management
65% 5
Security
62% 6
Service management
60% 7
Client Relationship Management
56%
8 & 9
Business Continuity and IT Financial Management (tie)
55% 10
Portfolio Management
50% 11
Asset Management
34% 12
IT Research
30% 13
Human Resources (within IT)
20%
The age of IT specialization is dead, replaced by an emphasis on skills that can translate across the enterprise. That’s one of the chief findings of a recent Forrester Research survey in which 128 IT decision makers were asked about their changing staffing needs

6. BA Role Definition Where are we today? Most Prevalent Definitions…
Business Analyst is a bridge between Business & IT
Business Analyst is a requirements gatherer
One can move resources across organization to play Business Analyst role
What do we mostly FORGET…
Business Analyst is also a Problem Solver
Business Analyst is a “Solution-er”
Business Analysts need a specific skill set to be successful
The business analyst is a Thought Leader who understands business problems and opportunities in the context of the requirements and recommends solutions that enable the organization to achieve its goals…..

7. Challenges What does the real world looks like?
Business Analysts across an organization have varying level of maturity
Lack of Organizational Context for them to collaborate leading to Business Analysts working in silos
Lack of consistent and integrated collaboration among the BAs at all maturity levels
Lack of proportional distribution of BAs across the maturity levels
Business Analysts across all maturity levels not directed by common goals leading them in multiple directions
Inconsistency in approach, definition and output
Lack of predictability due to inefficient business analysis skills and processes
Lack of collaboration and knowledge sharing

8. How do we get to the End State?

9. How do we get to the End State?

10. The Enabler How do we get to the end state?
Enterprise Business Analysis
Functional Business Analysis
IT Business Analysis

11. The Enabler How do we get to the end state?
Enterprise Business Analysis
Functional Business Analysis
IT Business Analysis
KNOWLEDGE
MANAGEMENT
COLLABORATION
PROCESS &
APPROACH
GOVERNANCE
TOOLKIT

12. The Enabler How do we get to the end state?
Enterprise Business Analysis
Functional Business Analysis
IT Business Analysis
KNOWLEDGE
MANAGEMENT
COLLABORATION
PROCESS &
APPROACH
GOVERNANCE
TOOLKIT

13. Process and Approach Foundation
One of the most critical and important foundations for a successful business analysis organization is a Consistent business analysis process and approach that leads to a Predictable output. Bad approach & process means higher costs, rework, schedule and project failure risks.
PROCESS &
APPROACH
An approach that deliberately brings in the focus on “Big Picture First” mindset
An approach that follows industry standards laid out specifically for effective business analysis e.g. UML, BPMN, EPC, RUP, AGILE, Visual Modeling…
An approach that follows a repeatable “Step-by-Step” process to uncover the details - “Peal the onion, don’t cut it”. It reduces surprises in the end
An approach that has enough room for innovation and modification - “Each situation is different – your approach towards business analysis may require Tailoring”

14. Foundation
Collaboration
While Approach provides the ‘Theoretical Knowledge’ for Business Analysis, ‘learning from experience – one’s own and of others’ helps ‘Application’ of this Knowledge. The key, therefore, is effective Collaboration…
COLLABORATION
Vertical and Horizontal Collaboration among the business analysis community across the organization adds a great impetus to achieving business goals
Consistent mentorship is the best form of growing business analysis organization leading to predictable results
Management commitment and encouragement is most critical to bring synergy among the business analysis community
Underlying infrastructure and processes make collaboration very effective

15. Foundation
Knowledge Management
Current Knowledge and its Timely Availability can enhance the likelihood of the project success. Effective Training model can go a long way in increasing the maturity level of the business analysis organization
KNOWLEDGE
MANAGEMENT
A well organized knowledge management is extremely valuable to the business analysis community for them to be more effective and efficient
Consistent business analysis approach and process should enable production of knowledge artifacts
Its just not about only gaining knowledge, producing, disseminating and organizing knowledge IP is equally important and business analysts should diligently follow it
Knowledge management processes and governing infrastructure can enable a business analysis organization to have a strategic impact on business goals e.g. updating relevant knowledge assets as a part of project closure

16. Governance Foundation
Governance is the Glue that shapes and sustain the business analysis organization. Effective governance is the extremely essential yet most ignored overarching arm that decides the strategic nature of this critical function.
GOVERNANCE
Executive Sponsorship and Commitment for a formal Business Analysis Governance is critical to the success of this important function
A committed Business Analysis Review Forum is essential to enable continuous improvements in business analysis function to attain strategic status
Dashboards and Metrics culture at all the levels of business analysis maturity can go a long way
Effective resource management including allocation, appraisals and a well defined growth path is necessary to push business analysis organization along the maturity levels

17. Foundation
Toolkit
An Integrated toolkit containing standards, guidelines, templates, tools and checklists is essential to a consistent BA output and enhanced productivity
TOOLKIT
Toolkit should be comprehensive enough to address the needs of all the stakeholders - both upstream and downstream
Toolkit should be flexible enough to suit different nature of projects yet ensuring consistency
Usage of industry best practices and standards in the toolkit have a very positive impact on business analysis output – it ensures consistent interpretation
Toolkit should be integrated across all the three levels of business analysis maturity – IT, Functional and Strategic

18. Enterprise Business Analysis Functional Business Analysis
Business Analysis Competencies
Soft Skills
Technology
Analytical
Processes
Domain Knowledge
Enterprise Business Analysis
Highest
Business Processes
Breadth
Depth
Functional Business Analysis
Very High
Functional Processes
Breadth
Depth IT
Business Analysis
High
System Processes
Breadth
Depth

19. Typical BA Positioning … Corresponding Impact…
Organizational Positioning
Typical BA Positioning …
Part of the project team reporting into Project Management and/or Delivery
Belongs to PMO mostly from the resource allocation point of view
Business BAs (SMEs) belong to the business side of the organization collaborating with IT BAs in Delivery
Corresponding Impact…
Deliver projects within the reporting unit, minimal collaboration across different business lines
Centralized allocation of BAs to various projects, mostly resource focused than enterprise focused
Creates a divide between enterprise focused vs. the delivery focused BAs
The true potential of a Business Analysis organization is harnessed when all the BAs across the organization have a Sense of Belongingness to a Single Entity that:
provides great visibility into Business-IT alignment
leverages the potential of business analysis standards and best practices
provides a platform for organization-wide collaboration
provides great opportunities for career growth
and finally, lay the foundation for a strategic asset…

20. Challenges | Critical Success Factors
Management Commitment
Highly Critical and Must Have Criteria
Management’s confidence that the Structured Business Analysis “Will” Help!
Clear and Realistic Vision
Define the “To-Be” State of the Business Analysis Capability
“Step by Step” and “Realistic” Roadmap
Stakeholder Buy-in
Business Analysis affects Processes, Operations, SDLC, Infra etc…
Integrate Business Analysis “Framework” with others…
Experience and Expertise
Most needed for such critical “Transformation” that “Impacts” the organization
Leverage the learning of “Others” – They would have seen many such Changes!
Ready to CHANGE!
No one can bring this change “Alone”!
Everyone needs to be “Geared Up” for this Change! – Ultimately It’s Business!

21. Progression Towards A Strategic Asset
Enterprise Business Analysis
Build an Enterprise Architecture that is aligned to the business goals
Make sure that the IT is aligned to the business by providing strategic guidance to the Functional Business Analysts
Greater Domain, Business Understanding
Increased Maturity, Competency
Functional Business Analysis
Make sure that all the projects within a function are tied together and are able to optimize business processes across the function
Make sure that the projects/processes across the function are in line with the enterprise architecture
IT Business Analysis
Have IT Business Analysts LOOK beyond their projects – its not just a “Requirements Gathering” job
The progression towards the end state needs adjustments in mindset and activities at an organization level as well as at an individual level….

22. Learning
Why is it strategically important to have a well defined Business Analysis Organization that is beyond just IT?
What should be its charter and organizational positioning?
What are the key considerations for a successful Global Business Analysis Organization?

23. Q & A