3.5.1 Purpose
The purpose of Identify Business Analysis Performance Improvements is to assess business analysis work and to plan to improve processes where required.
3.5.2 Description
To monitor and improve performance, it is necessary to establish the performance measures, conduct the performance analysis, report on the results of the analysis, and identify any necessary preventive, corrective, or developmental actions.
Performance analysis should occur throughout an initiative. Once potential performance improvements are identified, they become guidelines for the next time a task is executed.
3.5.3 Inputs
- Business Analysis Approach: identifies business analysis deliverables that will be produced, activities that will need to be performed (including when they will be performed and who will be performing them), and techniques that will be used.
- Performance Objectives (external): describe the desired performance outcomes that an enterprise or organization is hoping to achieve
3.5.4 Elements
.1 Performance Analysis
What constitutes effective business analysis work depends on the context of a particular organization or initiative. Reports on business analysis performance can be informal and verbal, or they may include formal documentation. Reports on business analysis performance are designed and tailored to meet the needs of the
various types of reviewers.
.2 Assessment Measures
If current measures exist, the business analyst may leverage them or determine new measures. The business analyst may also elicit assessment measures from stakeholders.
Performance measures may be based on deliverable due dates as specified in the business analysis plan, metrics such as the frequency of the changes to business analysis work products, the number of review cycles required, task efficiency, or qualitative feedback from stakeholders and peers regarding the business analyst’s deliverables. Appropriate performance measures enable the business analyst to determine when problems are occurring that may affect the performance of business analysis or identify opportunities for improvement.
Measures may be both quantitative and qualitative. Qualitative measures are subjective and can be heavily influenced by the stakeholder’s attitudes, perceptions, and other subjective criteria.
Some possible measures are:
- Accuracy and Completeness: determine whether the business analyst work products were correct and relevant when delivered, or whether ongoing revisions were needed to gain acceptance by stakeholders.
- Knowledge: assess whether the business analyst had the skills and/or experience to perform the assigned task.
- Effectiveness: assess whether the business analyst work products were easy to use as standalone deliverables or whether they required extensive explanation in order to be understood.
- Organizational Support: assess whether there were adequate resources available to complete business analysis activities as needed.
- Significance: consider the benefit obtained from the work products and assess whether the cost, time, and resource investments expended to produce the work products were justified for the value they delivered.
- Strategic: look at whether business objectives were met, problems were solved, and improvements were achieved.
- Timeliness: evaluate whether the business analyst delivered the work on time per stakeholder expectations and schedule.
.3 Analyze Results
The business analysis process and deliverables are compared against the set of defined measures. The analysis may be performed on the business analysis process, the resources involved, and the deliverables.
Performance may be determined from the point of view of the stakeholders who are the recipients of the business analysis work. Other times a personnel manager or a Centre of Excellence may make this determination and provide assessments.
All stakeholders may have input in assessing the value of the business analysis work but organizations may differ in terms of who has the authority to set the targets against which performance is measured.
.4 Recommend Actions for Improvement
Once the analysis of performance results is complete, the business analyst engages the appropriate stakeholders to identify the following actions:
- Preventive: reduces the probability of an event with a negative impact.
- Corrective: establishes ways to reduce the negative impact of an event.
- Improvement: establishes ways to increase the probability or impact of events with a positive impact.
These actions are likely to result in changes to the business analysis approach, repeatable processes, and tools.
3.5.5 Guidelines and Tools
- Organizational Performance Standards: may include performance metrics or expectations for business analysis work mandated by the organization.
3.5.6 Techniques
- Brainstorming: used to generate ideas for improvement opportunities.
- Interviews: used to gather assessments of business analysis performance.
- Item Tracking: used to track issues that occur during the performance of business analysis for later resolution.
- Lessons Learned: used to identify recommended changes to business analysis processes, deliverables, templates, and other organizational process assets that can be incorporated into the current initiative and future work.
- Metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): used to determine what metrics are appropriate for assessing business analysis performance and how they may be tracked.
- Observation: used to witness business analysis performance.
- Process Analysis: used to analyze existing business analysis processes and identify opportunities for improvement.
- Process Modelling: used to define business analysis processes and understand how to improve those processes to reduce problems from hand-offs, improve cycle times, or alter how business analysis work is performed to support improvements in downstream processes.
- Reviews: used to identify changes to business analysis processes and deliverables that can be incorporated into future work.
- Risk Analysis and Management: used to identify and manage potential conditions or events that may impact business analysis performance.
- Root Cause Analysis: used to help identify the underlying cause of failures or difficulties in accomplishing business analysis work.
- Survey or Questionnaire: used to gather feedback from stakeholders about their satisfaction with business analysis activities and deliverables.
- Workshops: used to gather assessments of business analysis performance and generate ideas for improvement opportunities.
3.5.7 Stakeholders
- Domain Subject Matter Experts: should be informed about the business analysis activities in order to set expectations regarding their involvement in the work and to elicit their feedback regarding possible improvements to the approach.
- Project Manager: is accountable for the success of a project and must be kept informed of the current status of business analysis work. If potential problems or opportunities for improvement are identified, the project manager must be consulted before changes are implemented to assess whether those changes will have an impact on the project. They may also deliver reports on business analysis performance to the sponsor and other stakeholders.
- Sponsor: may require reports on business analysis performance to address problems as they are identified. A manager of business analysts may also sponsor initiatives to improve the performance of business analysis activities.
3.5.8 Outputs
- Business Analysis Performance Assessment: includes a comparison of planned versus actual performance, identifying the root cause of variances from the expected performance, proposed approaches to address issues, and other findings to help understand the performance of business analysis processes.
