Downloaded 172 times
Uploaded byPatrick van Abbema, PMP, CBAP, CSP
Best practices and competencies for Enterprise Analysis
The document outlines best practices and competencies for enterprise analysis through a case study presented by Patrick Van Abbema. It details the tasks involved in enterprise analysis, such as defining business needs, assessing capability gaps, and determining solution approaches. The document emphasizes the importance of these activities in generating deliverables for organizations.
More Related Content
More from Patrick van Abbema, PMP, CBAP, CSP
Best practices and competencies for Enterprise Analysis
- 1. Best practices andcompetencies for Enterprise Analysis: A Case Study1Patrick van AbbemaAltNexus Inc.
- 2.
- 3. Describe activities fororganizations to:3
- 4. Activities are derivedfrom Inputs, (information) relating to specific Tasks (activities), that create specific Outputs (deliverables)4Source: BABOK v2
- 5.
- 6. Define the BusinessNeed6
- 7.
- 8.
- 9.
- 10. Define a BusinessCase10
- 11.
- 12. CASE STUDY –In the beginning
- 13.
- 14. Enterprise Analysis -Questions
- 15. Enterprise Analysis -Results
- 17. Enterprise Analysis -Results
- 18.
Editor's Notes
- #3 Many Business Analysts do not believe that they perform enterprise analysis. Can you describe why the business analyst is probably among the most qualified in the organization to perform enterprise analysis?Why do you feel that it is important to be part of EA? Business requirements are identified and documented through EA, (page 81).
- #5 What are the implications of ignoring any of the inputs?Should organizational process assets be discounted at this stage? Answer: No, they provide important insight into the organization’s processes, procedures, and historical information. These help the project benefit from past experience.
- #7 New business needs can come from where?From the top down – the need to achieve a specific goalFrom the bottom up – a problem with the current state of a process, function or systemFrom middle management – a manager needs additional information to make sound decisions or must perform additional functions to meet business objectivesFrom external drivers – driven by customer demand or business competition in the marketplaceBusiness Need: A business need describes a problem that the organization is or is likely to face, or an opportunity that it has not taken, and the desired outcome. The business need will guide the identification and definition of possible solutions.
- #8 Define Solution Performance Assessment: (page 87): identifies shortcomings, problems, or limitations of an existing solution. Also consider if the organization is maybe not using all capabilities that are not being used. Current Capability AnalysisGather as much information as possible about the current state of the areas of the enterprise affected by the business need. Goal: Understand the business and how the business and technology architectures support it. .2 Assessment of New Capability RequirementsCompare future and desired business statesWhat, if anything, needs to be added?.3 AssumptionsMust be identified and clearly understood
- #9 The organizational process assets once again play an important role. Your organization may require specific approaches be taken to solutions of a given type.PurposeTo determine the most viable solution approach to meet the business need in enough detail to allow for definition of solution scope and prepare the business caseDescriptionDescribes the general approach to create or acquire the new capabilities to meet the business needConsider:Possible approachesMeans of deliveryOrganizational capabilities to implement and use1 Alternative GenerationIdentify as many potential options as possible to meet the business objectives and fill in the capability gaps.2 Assumptions and ConstraintsShould always be questioned to ensure they are valid.3 Ranking and Selection of ApproachesAnalyze the operational, economic, technical, schedule-based, organizational, cultural, legal and marketing feasibility.Solution Approach: A description of the approach that will be taken to implement a new set of capabilities. Solution approaches describe the types of solution components that will be delivered (new processes, a new software application, etc.) and may also describe the methodology that will be used to deliver those components.
- #10 Notice we are adding each of the outputs of the tasks we have previously worked through (Business Need, Required Capabilities, and the Solution Approach) into our inputs.PurposeTo define which capabilities a project or iteration will deliverDescriptionConceptualize the recommended solution in enough detail to so stakeholders understand the business capabilities to be deliveredSolution scope includes:The scope of analysisThe capabilities supportedThe capabilities that will be supported by future iterationsThe enabling capabilities that are required in order for the organization to develop the capabilities required to meet the business needSolution Scope DefinitionDescribes solution in terms of major features and functions as well as interactions with outside people and systems.2 Implementation ApproachDescribes how the chose solution approach will deliver the solution scope.3 DependenciesDefine major business and technical dependencies that will impose constraints on the effort to deploy the solutionSolution Scope: Defines what must be delivered in order to meet the business need, and the effect of the proposed change initiative on the business and technology operations and infrastructure.
- #11 There’s a new input here– Stakeholder Concerns – but is it really “new”?Stakeholder concerns may include risks or issues that must be accounted for in the business case.What happens when the stakeholder’s concerns are ignored or discounted? BenefitsQualitative and quantitative gains.2 CostsEstimate the total net cost of the solutionTotal cost of ownership Opportunity costs.3 Risk AssessmentDetermine if the proposed initiative carries more risk than the organization is willing to bear.4 Results MeasurementHow the costs and benefits will be assessed and evaluatedPurposeTo determine if an organization can justify the investment required to deliver a proposed solutionDescriptionDescribes the justification for the project in terms of the value to be added to the business as a result of the deployed solution, as compared to the cost to develop and operate the solution