This SlideShare seeks to clarify the roles between Project Managers and Business Analyst and identify ways to create synergies for project success.

1. Business Analyst vs. Project Manager:
Eliminating the
Confusion!

2. 2
SlideShare Goals
• This SlideShare seeks to
clarify the roles between
Project Managers and
Business Analyst and
identify ways to create
synergies for project
success.

3. 3
SlideShare Overview (1 of 2)
• Understand roles and responsibilities for Project
Managers and Business Analyst
• Establishing open lines of communication as a starting
point for project success
• Managing scope and role delineation between the
Project Manager and Business Analyst
• Creating opportunities for project success through
successful communication
• Establishing a clear definition of what requirements
management is and who is responsible for this task
• Creating a plan that clearly identifies project and product
risks and how to co-manage them for project success

4. 4
SlideShare Overview (2 of 2)
• Understanding what should be measured for product
performance, why it should be measured and who
should be doing the measuring
• Successfully closing out project tasks to create a
foundation for ongoing success

5. 5
Fears from a PM Perspective (1 of 2)
Has this been your experience?
 Business Analyst will commit to unrealistic requirements and
expectations with the stakeholder that jeopardize the project
timeline
 Business Analyst will collect an endless amount of
requirements that don’t trace back to stakeholder functionality
and burn an excessive amount of project time
 Project Manager will be left out of critical meetings and
conversations with the sponsor and stakeholders
 Business Analyst does not have the technical skills or
knowledge of the organizations enterprise to accurately elicit
and articulate the requirements to the stakeholders or to the
development team

6. 6
Fears from a BA Perspective (2 of 2)
Has this been your experience?
 Project Manager does not understand the complexity of
eliciting, analyzing and managing requirements and
consistently rushes the Business Analyst to meet
unrealistic delivery deadlines
 Project Manager does not understand the role of a
Business Analyst and views his/her as a project
assistant rather an equal partner on the project
 Project Manager fails to realize the Business Analyst is
responsible for the requirements solving the right
problem and delivering value to the organization

7. 7
Project ManagerBusiness Analyst
Project Planning
Project Scope
Budget
Resource Management
Schedule
Project Risks
Role
Delineation
Scope
Management
Communications Management
Requirements Management
Risk Management
Product Performance
Project Close Out
Requirements Planning
Solution Scope
Requirements Elicitation & Modeling
Verify &
Validate Requirements
Acceptance Criteria

8. 8
1 - Understanding the Roles
Business Analyst
A Business Analyst is a person
who is responsible for
discovering, synthesizing and
analyzing information from a
variety of sources within an
enterprise. A Business Analyst
is responsible for eliciting the
actual needs of stakeholders
and aligning those needs with
the delivered solution.
Source: The Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge v3
Project Management
A Project Manager is a
person who has total
responsibility for ensuring
the project is completed on
time, within budget, within
scope and at the desired
performance level.

9. 9
2 – Open Communication
Create an environment of
constant and open
communication
All Inclusive
Stakeholder
Meetings
Timely
Dissemination
of information
Daily/Weekly
Checkpoints

10. 10
Scope Management
The process used to ensure
all the work required to
complete the project is
accounted for in the project
scope and plan to
successfully complete the
project.
 Project Scope
 Product Scope

11. 11
3 – Managing Scope
Business Analyst Role
• Define and manage product
scope based on stakeholder
needs
• Ensure requirements trace to
delivered solution
• Manage requirements conflicts
and design issues
• Advocate product scope
changes based on changing
business priorities
Project Management Role
• Manage project scope
• Manage project tasks and
deliverables needed to ensure
the features, functions and
characteristics of the product or
service are included in the
delivered solution

12. 12
Project Communication - Stakeholders
The overall process of
ensuring information is
distributed in a timely and
appropriate method
throughout the project team
to all stakeholders

13. 13
4 – Establish a Communication Plan
Business Analyst Role
• Pre-Project
communications during
business case research
and development
• Stakeholder analysis
• Establish a Business
Analysis communication
plan for key deliverables,
managing requirements
risks and overall progress
Project Management Role
• Stakeholder analysis
• Project communication to
all stakeholders
• Integrate Business
Analyst communication
plan in the overall project
plan
• Establishing a
Communication plan to
manage project risks

14. 14
Requirements Management
The process of eliciting,
analyzing, tracing, prioritizing,
obtaining agreement,
controlling change and
providing ongoing
communication
on requirements for
stakeholder approval and
change management.
Requirements management is
an ongoing process done
throughout the project.
Communication
CommunicationCommunication

15. 15
5 – Establish Requirements Management Plan
Business Analyst Role
• Establish how
requirements will be
elicited, analyzed, traced,
prioritized, communicated
and approved
• Manage requirements
changes
• Providing ongoing project
communication regarding
requirements
Project Management Role
• Utilize requirements
management plan to
establish the project plan,
timeline and project
requirements
• Understand how product
risks impact overall
project timelines

16. 16
Managing Project Risk
The identification, analysis,
response planning,
monitoring and controlling of
risks on a project to
decrease the possibility of
negative impact to a project
 Project Risks
 Product Risks

17. 17
6 – Establish Risk Management Plan
Business Analyst Role
• Requirements
prioritization and
validation and the
creation of the
requirements risk
management plan
 Product, technical
and business risks
Project Management Role
• Identification, analysis
and creation of risk
mitigation plans for all
project related risks with
input from the Business
Analyst

18. 18
Product Performance
The measurement of how
well a product performs in
regards to stakeholder
expectations

19. 19
7 –Establish Product Performance Metrics
Business Analyst Role
• Ensure the delivered
solution meets
stakeholder expectations
• Provide corrective actions
to the Project Manager if
the solution does not
meet stakeholder needs
• Identify any areas for
process improvements to
the Project Manager
Project Management Role
• Working with the
Business Analyst,
understand any corrective
or preventative actions
regarding the delivered
solution
• Together with the
Business Analyst, create
a plan to correct any
performance issues

20. 20
Project Closing
Project closure marks the
end of a project’s operation,
measurement of a products
performance, gaining
product acceptance from the
stakeholders and
transferring data and
operations over to the
production support teams.

21. 21
8 – Establish Project Closure Tasks
Business Analyst Role
• Reporting product
performance metrics
• Ensure product meets
stakeholders acceptance
criteria
• Obtain product sign off
from key stakeholders
Project Management Role
• Report overall project
results to the project
sponsor leveraging data
from the Business
Analysis performance
metrics
• Conduct a lessons
learned session to identify
best practices for
continuous improvement
• Project closeout tasks

22. 22
What’s Next?
1. Respect each other’s
roles & responsibilities
2. In areas of possible
conflict and overlap
establish a plan
3. Focus on the synergies
to drive project success