Roadmap to the Strategic Business Analyst · Roadmap to the Strategic Business Analyst and how it...

Roadmap to the Strategic Business Analyst and how it crosses other disciplines

Presented by Lori Becker BBC Conference 11/5/2015

Background

•  Senior Strategic Business Analyst

•  City of Virginia Beach

•  40 + Departments

•  448,000 + Citizens (ranked 36th largest city in the U.S.)

•  5,500 + Employees

Lots of analysis cross over

Strategic Business Analyst

Business Relationship Manager

Tactical/Solutions Business Analyst

Enterprise and Business Architect

Systems Analyst Developer

The Super BA

•  Can leap over IT/Business Barriers

•  Develop Strong Kryptonite Business Relationships

•  Built on Truth, Justice and the BABOK Way

BYOC - Bring your own chair to the table

�  Working at the highest enterprise level of the organization

�  Collaborating with executive layer based on strategy and helping with investment decisions to deliver the best business value

�  Assisting the business to achieve its strategic goals

�  Communicate with C-Level, Mid Level, Users, and Engineers to bring desired outcomes

Not just a requirements gatherer

Was – Order Taker

Ø  The 3 C’s – Clear, Concise, and Correct

Ø  Requirements Docs, Technical Specifications, UML Diagrams, and Use Cases

Now – Influencer

Ø  4 Cs - Collaboration, Convergence, Consultant and Culture

Ø  Business Cases, Strategic Technology Assessments and Business Models

Service Model

Tactical BA·∙   Tactical/Operational·∙   Solution Specific·∙   SDLC/Project Life Cycle

IT Services Model

Services

·∙   Business Analysis·∙   Strategic Technology Assessment·∙   Business Case/Feasibility Study/BIA·∙   Business Modeling/Capability

Assessment·∙   Business Innovation ·∙   Workshop Facilitating·∙   BPI and Modeling·∙   Research – Benchmarks, Competitive

Analysis·∙   Portfolio Support Management·∙   Consulting·∙   Benefits Value Management (TCO, CBA,

ROI, NPV)·∙   Value Performance Evaluation

Services

·∙   Stakeholder Analysis·∙   Requirements Elicitation·∙   Requirements Management ·∙   Requirements Analysis ·∙   Requirements Change Management·∙   Application Design and Development

Plans·∙   Quality Assurance Solution ·∙   Solution Performance Evaluation ·∙   Service Desk Ticket and Problem

Resolution·∙   System/Application SME –

Operational support

Strategic BA·∙   Strategic·∙   Continual Service Improvement

BRM·∙   Strategic/Tactical/Operational·∙   Continual Service Improvement

Services

·∙   Strategic Road Mapping·∙   Supply & Demand

Coordination·∙   Manage Business Relationship·∙   Business Value Management·∙   Business Innovation·∙   Business Architecture·∙   Performance Evaluation

Strategic BA - Holistic Systems Thinker

IT Service Strategy and Delivery

Ø Understand IT’s 2-5 year Strategic Plan Ø Know what’s in the pipeline - project governance Ø  Core IT Systems (APM - applications & platforms) Ø Work Force apps and platforms Ø  IT Resources and Capabilities (including funding

sources)

Business Strategy

Ø Understand Lines of Business and Services Ø  Current State and Opportunities Ø  Future Strategic Plan Ø Key Stakeholders and Partners Ø  Business Capabilities and Resources

(including funding sources)

IT is not just an enabler or aligning to the business strategy

� Converging of IT Strategy and Business Strategy - They are so intertwined and co-mingled, there isn’t a clear distinction anymore.

� Strategies shouldn’t be developed separately then aligned together. Better to have a joint collaborative effort.

The New Business Landscape

Ø Social Media

Ø Mobile

Ø Business Analytics (Business Intelligence, Predictive

Analytics, Decision Management, and Big Data)

Ø Cloud Computation

Ø Internet of Things

Where does the Strategic BA fit into the Organizational Hierarchy?

Enterprise Architecture

Business Architect Solution Portfolio

Service Strategy

Strategic BA

Project and Work

Management

Solution Architect

Solution/Tactical BA

IT and Business – Different Views

Business and IT don’t always see the same outcomes.

�  Business Outcomes: Speed of deployment, sharing of info, collaboration, autonomy and agility.

�  IT Outcomes: Lower operational costs, be scalable, on demand capacity support, business continuity and stable environment.

Strategic Technology Assessments �  Look at an entire department’s core business services

�  Compare Business’s 3-5 year strategy with IT’s 3-5 year strategy

�  Do a Current, Future and Gap Analysis - Categorize by Strategic,

Tactical, Opertional and Quick Hits.

�  Result is list of initiatives or requests

�  Can categorize by strategic areas - Customer facing, Sharing

Information, Performance Measurements, or by Service Category (maintain,

grow and transform).

�  Prioritize and rank requests – schedule horizon

�  Perform Business Analysis for the top initiatives

Project Work, Managed Work , Operational Work

Executive Mgmt.

Requests

Capital Improvement

Requests

Service Requests

Ø  Don’t always think Project for demand management

Ø  Triage (What requests are critical, soon, can wait)

Ø  Perform Analysis (Business Brief)

Ø  Executive Approval - Gate 1

Ø  Managed work, project, or operational

Ø  Perform additional analysis as needed (Full Business Case, RFP)

Demand Management

Key Take Away

� A Strategic Business Analyst is imperative to increasing business value by influencing the business with an organizational holistic and enterprise approach from the business perspective and providing executive management information for better decision making.

� In other words… it’s more than just requirements.

Any Questions?

Thank you, Lori Becker Lbecker@vbgov.com 757-385-8428 Cell 720-936-1003