More often than not, the outcome of the business analysis project is directly dependent on proper planning.
The business analysis planning and monitoring activity lays out the groundwork necessary for the successful completion of the whole project.
It’s one of the key BABOK (Business Analysis Body of knowledge) knowledge areas
and the one that influences others and forms the guidelines for all of the tasks to be performed.
Monitoring also plays a key role in evaluating the business analysis work during the project. Detailed planning and close monitoring are essential for delivering the desired outcomes.
Table of Contents
Introduction – Business Planning and Monitoring
While performing the tasks during the course of the business analysis planning and monitoring part of the work, business analysts use and implement all of the six core BACCM (Business Analysis Core Concept Model) concepts.
They determine how changes are requested and analysed and determine the right approach that will satisfy the need of the organisation.
Also, they evaluate how business analysis performance has contributed to the implementation of the solution. As for the stakeholders, the BA’s job is to analyse their needs and characteristics to ensure proper planning and monitoring.
Furthermore, at this stage, they need to conduct performance analysis so the planned activities will deliver a satisfying value to the business.
All of this would not be possible without ensuring a complete understanding of the organisational context and developing the right analysis approach.
The BABOK guide includes five tasks that BAs should perform as a part of the business analysis planning and monitoring knowledge area.
These tasks focus on organising and coordinating analysts and stakeholders, planning the approach to specific parts of a project, and defining the roles. They should produce outputs that can serve as a foundation for tasks in other knowledge areas. We’ll take a closer look at all five of these tasks.
Plan Business Analysis Approach
The plan business analysis approach task defines and creates methods that will be used while performing business analysis activities.
The outputs produced here are a groundwork for the tasks form all of the other knowledge areas. It determines the timeline of the projects, what and when will be performed, and which deliverables are expected.
Also, planning the business analysis approach identifies suitable techniques and tools which will be used over the course of the project.
Some organisations already have established and formalised procedures and approaches and the analyst will have to work within these standards. Of course, this doesn’t necessarily mean that some of these approaches won’t have to be adjusted as the project progresses.
In organisations without set procedures, the BA will work with stakeholders to devise the most suitable approach.
The main inputs of planning a business analysis approach are the needs of a specific organisation – problems or opportunities that the organisation is facing.
The business analyst must have a full understanding of the organisational needs as he starts the planning and be aware that those needs may change during the project.
The expected output of this task is to define the business analysis activities and approach necessary for achieving the desired goals, determine work timeline and sequencing, decide on techniques to be used, and determine expected deliverables.
Plan Stakeholder Engagement
Planning the stakeholder engagement includes establishing and maintaining a fruitful collaboration with stakeholders, understanding their roles and relevance, and identifying their needs. To communicate in the best possible way, the business analyst must perform a thorough analysis of all of the crucial stakeholders and their characteristics.
The more stakeholders are involved, the more complex the task becomes, the inclusion of every new stakeholder may require the use of a different technique or the adjustment to the existing approach.
Similar to the previous task the main input of planning the stakeholder engagement is the organisational need. If the analyst has an understanding of the needs, proper identification of key stakeholders will be much easier. Another significant input is the overall business analysis approach as it ensures better stakeholder analysis and communication.
Planning stakeholder engagement should provide a stakeholder engagement approach as an output, containing information on the number of stakeholders, their characteristics, roles, and assignments.
The main elements of the task of planning stakeholder engagement are:
- Performing stakeholders analysis – identifying roles, attitudes, decision-making authority, level of power or influence;
- Defining stakeholder collaboration;
- Stakeholder communication needs.
Guidelines and tools that a business analyst will lean on while planning stakeholder engagement are business analysis performance assessment, change strategy, and current state description.
The key stakeholders for this task are customers, domains subject matter expert, end-user, project manager, regulator, sponsor, and supplier.
Plan Business Analysis Governance
To plan business analysis governance is to define business analysis components that will serve as a support of governing function in an organisation. It’s defining how decisions are made on all aspects of the business, including designs, requirements, reviews, changes, and prioritisation.
For the organisation to function properly, the process of governance should be clear and unambiguous. All of the decision-makers and their competencies must be clearly identified. Also, the information needed to make the decision should be precisely defined.
The primary inputs in planning business analysis governance are business analysis approach which ensures consistency in planning and stakeholder engagement approach which provides information on stakeholders, their characteristics, needs, and roles.
When performed in the right way the planning of business analysis governance should provide an output of governance approach which contains information on decision making stakeholders and their authority and responsibility.
The business analysis governance planning includes the following key elements:
- Decision making;
- Change control process;
- Plan prioritisation approach;
- Plan for approvals.
Guidelines and tools that will come useful for planning business analysis governance are business analysis performance assessment, business policies, the current state description, and legal/regulatory information.
Stakeholders of significance for business analysis governance planning are domain subject matter expert, project manager, regulator, and sponsor.
Plan Business Analysis Information Management
The role of business analysis information management planning is to define the way information gathered during the business analysis process will be captured, stored, accessed, and integrated with other available information. This includes all information elicited, created, and compiled over the course of the business analysis process.
The amount of information obtained this way can be enormous and proper handling is essential for its future use. All of the information should be optimised and easily accessible for whatever period it is needed.
Business analysis information management planning uses all of the outputs from previous tasks as its input. This includes the business analysis approach, stakeholder engagement approach, and governance approach. The main expected output is the information management approach which defines the state of information upon the completion of the change.
The key elements of planning the business analysis information management task are:
- Organisation of business analysis information;
- Level of abstraction;
- Planning a traceability approach;
- Planning for requirement reuse;
- Storage and access;
- Requirements attributes.
Guidelines and tools used during this task are business analysis performance assessment, business policies, information management tools, and legal/regulatory information.
The main stakeholders with the role to play at this stage are domain subject matter expert, regulator, and sponsor.
Identify Business Analysis Performance Improvements
Identifying business analysis performance improvements include monitoring and management of business analysis performance in order to ensure the realisation of improvements and securing continuous opportunities.
It’s the assessment of the work that the business analyst has done and serves as a guideline for implementing improvements where needed. This task consists of establishing performance measures, conduction analysis based on those measures, reporting, and identifying potential necessary actions.
The primary inputs are business analysis approach and performance objectives which are the external goals set by an organisation. The output of this task is the business analysis performance assessment. It details puts actual performance against the planned one, identifies potential issues, and proposes solutions.
Identifying business analysis improvements includes a few key elements:
- Performance analysis;
- Assessment measures;
- Analysing the results;
- Recommending actions for improvement,
The main tool used here is the organisation performance standard including performance metrics or organisational expectations.
For this business analysis planning and monitoring task, the main stakeholders are domain subject matter expert, project manager, and sponsor.
Business Analysis Approach Template
Business Analysis Doctor has a plan business analysis approach template (as part of their business analysis template package) that identifies the business analysis approach and activities that will be performed across an initiative including who will perform the activities, the timing and sequencing of the work, the deliverables that will be produced, and the business analysis techniques that may be utilised.
The business analysis template package also includes a BA planning template sample so that you can see what a completed BA plan looks like and provides a good business analysis approach document example (as a useful reference of a business analysis plan).
Bridging the Gap has a set of supporting email communication templates that can support you in business planning and monitoring work scenarios such as setting expectations (explain what you do, clarify assignments, manage your workload, and provide meaningful status reports); getting information (get the information you need when you need it by making a clear request, following up politely, and escalating as needed); request input on requirements deliverables (manage your requirements documents through the entire lifecycle, from early draft to final approval); managing issues (identify, resolve, and communicate about project issues without causing unnecessary drama).
Having a set of business analysis planning and monitoring templates will help you provide the groundwork for the successful completion of your whole project.
Conclusion – Business Analysis Planning and Monitoring
In all business analysis projects whether waterfall or agile the business analyst will need to understand and review their business analysis planning and monitoring approach to suite the context of their project (and also when they arrived in the project).
This article has provided an introduction to the business analysis planning and monitoring activities necessary for the successful completion of the whole project.
Learn more about the other IIBA business analysis knowledge areas: