This document discusses the role of business analysis in modern project management. It defines business analysis as understanding an organization's structure, policies, and operations to recommend solutions that help achieve goals. The business analyst role has become more strategic and involves tasks like identifying opportunities, conducting feasibility studies, eliciting requirements, and ensuring requirements traceability. Both traditional "waterfall" and agile approaches are discussed. The key is choosing the right methodology based on a project's level of uncertainty, and using a hybrid approach if needed. The project management profession is changing with the rise of agile methods, requiring the blending of agile and traditional principles.

1. ROLE OF BUSINESS ANALYSIS IN
MODERN PROJECT MANAGEMENT
GAILRAYNUS, PMP
Harvard Business School, PPMO
March 6th, 2015
© 2015 ShareDynamics, Inc.

2. Gail’s Bio
• Principal at ShareDynamics, Inc., a consulting
company that provides advanced skills training and
services for PMs, BAs, and process improvement
professionals.
• Adjunct faculty at Graduate College of Engineering
at Northeastern University.
• Professional organizations:
• Past President of the Boston chapter of the Association
of BPM professionals.
• Speakers committee at PMI MassBay chapter.
• International Institute of Business Analysts (IIBA).
• Boston Product Marketing Association (BPMA).
• Agile New England.
© 2015 ShareDynamics, Inc.

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What is Business Analysis?
Business Analysis is the set of tasks and
techniques used to understand the structure,
policies and operations of an organization, and to
recommend solutions that enable the
organization to achieve its goals.
BABOK™ version 2.0

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Enterprise Analysis
• Identifying & scoping business opportunities
• Conducting feasibility studies and preparing business case
• Conducting risk assessment
Goals & Objectives

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Enterprise Analysis as a Process

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Requirements Categories

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Requirements Traceability

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Requirements Management & Traceability Tools
• Enterprise level:
• IBM Rational DOORS
• Borland Caliber
• Mid-market:
• Accompa
• Jama
• Entry-level
• JIRA
• FogBugz

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Requirements Elicitation Process

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Changing Role of BA
• More emphasis on business knowledge.
• More integration projects vs. pure software development.
• Focus on problem solving and resolution.
• More interactions with business user community:
• BA’s conduct interviews & training
• Participate in solution testing
• Have higher visibility.
• Manage projects.
BA role has become more strategic to the
organization!

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Underlying Competencies of BA

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Traditional PM/BA Roles

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Choosing the Right Methodology
Neither Waterfall nor Agile approach is inherently good or
bad, but each has advantages and limitations.

18. Agile Project Management?
“Waterfall” “Agile”
“Agile” and “Waterfall” are not really discrete methodologies.
The word “agile” also has a very broad meaning and is
really a way of thinking based on the Agile Manifesto rather
than a specific methodology like scrum.
“Plan-driven” “Change-driven”
© 2014 Breakthrough Solutions, Inc. 18

19. Hybrid Approach?
“Waterfall” “Agile”
It is also possible to blend the two approaches together.
Each has advantages and disadvantages depending
on the situation and the type of project.
“Plan-driven” “Change-driven”
Hybrid Approach
© 2014 Breakthrough Solutions, Inc. 19
Plan-driven and change-driven approaches should be
thought of as complementary rather than competitive.

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Choosing the Right Approach
The level of uncertainty in the project is a major factor in
choosing the right approach
A project with a relatively low level of uncertainty calls for a
more plan-driven approach.
Agile
Approach
© 2014 Breakthrough Solutions, Inc.
“Waterfall”
Approach

21. Waterfall vs Agile BA
Waterfall
• Requirements documented in
Use cases, requirements docs,
UI specs & business rules.
• Focus on completeness of
requirements documents.
• Not part of the development
team.
• Long turn-around.
Agile
• Requirements documented in
epics, user stories, and use
cases.
• Focus on understanding
business problems to swiftly
answer questions.
• Part of development team.
• Needs the ability to break big
picture into smaller pieces for
quick turn-around of features.
• Focus on the functionality of
developed of software.

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The project management profession is on the brink of some
very significant and major changes and agile “raises the bar” for
project managers:
© 2014 Breakthrough
Solutions, Inc.
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Project Management
Professional
Getting a PMP and PMI-ACP are going in the right direction.
The real challenge is to blend Agile & traditional PM
principles to fit a given situation.
Agile Certified
Practitioner
The Impact on PM Profession
Learning how to integrate
Agile and traditional
Project Management
principles and practices

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Thank you!!
Gail Raynus
(781) 863-9634
gailr@sharedynamics.com