November 5, 2013

Professional Development of Business Systems Analysts in Software Development Company

Case Study Irena Jansone and Jekaterina Lebedeva

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About Us

C.T.Co Ltd. is a Europe-oriented IT solutions and services

provider

C.T.Co has extensive experience serving large companies in

the financial services industry: Insurance and Reinsurance Banking

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Titles and Roles

Business Systems

Analyst

IT Business Analyst

Systems Analyst

+

=

Focused on requirements Solves problems with IT solutions Bridge between business and IT Performs functional design

Takes requirements as inputs Creates functional specifications Specifies "how" a system will do

the "what" Interfaces directly with the

developers

Responsibilities start with requirements elicitation and end with functional/technical specifications

Expected to have both strong business domain knowledge and extensive competencies

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BSAs in C.T.Co: Organizational Structure

Program Manager

Project Manager

Project Manager

BSA Team Lead

QA Team Lead

Development Team Lead

BSATest

EngineerDeveloper

BSA

BSAQA Team

LeadDevelopment Team Lead

Test Engineer

Developer

Client Project Team

Client BSA Team Lead

Project-oriented organization

C.T.Co BSAs as members of Client BSA team

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BSAs in C.T.Co: Issues and Concerns

Diversity of BSA role understanding by project team members

Indistinct expectations

Variety in background,

professional education and experience

Need to gain support from like-minded colleagues

Wish to share experience and knowledge

When BA Community Was Born

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November 2011

7 Samurai (community members)

Combine experience of Seniors and fervor of Juniors

Develop survival guide

Become more strategic

Join individual efforts

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BA Community Activities

Company Standards

Update of requirement management processes

Analysis Artifacts list

Development and update of Templates

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14%5%

65%

16%

Informal presentation

E-mail

Specifications

Other

47%

15%

22%

16% Quality of specifications

Availability of the BA

Sharing business background

Smoothness of change implementation

QA/BA Workshops

QA/BA Workshops

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QA/BA Workshops

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Experience Sharing

Real-life experiences

Artifacts created for a project (or group of projects)

Collaboration Models with customer

Ideal World Model

Real World Model

Hell Model

Challenges/Lessons Learned

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Theory is when you know everything but nothing works.

Practice is when everything works but no one knows

why

Experience Sharing

BA Community Space in Confluence/WIKI

Business domain trainings

Insurance/Reinsurance

BPMN training page 13

Enterprise Architecture Workshop

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Collaboration and Requirement Management Tools

Collaboration/Workflow

Content Management

Issue Tracking Tools

Requirement Management Tools

Prototyping/UX

Vendor Presentation

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We shape our tools and then our tools shape us ©

Agile Trip Advisor

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Agile Analyst – brand new role for BSA

Agile Requirements training

Agile Games

Group self-organization

Active Listening and Adapting

Cooperation & Communication

Teamwork

Learning to improve

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Agile Games Event

Conferences

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Scientific Conferences

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Conferences and Events

CBAP/CCBA Certification: Why?

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Organization BSAs

Professional development for staff

Business analysis practices according to industry standards

Identification of professional business analysts to clients and business partners

Increasing efficiency, consistency

and reliability of results

Increased competence in business analysis

Participation in a recognized professional group

Personal satisfaction

Continuous improvement through achieving and maintaining certification

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CBAP/CCBA Certification: How?

Instructor-led webinars

Self-paced preparation courses

Trainings

CBAP Recertification

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Recertification Requirement: MIN 60 CDU in each three-year cycle

MAX CDU per Activity

Lessons Learned: What’s Already Working

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Support from like-minded colleagues

Group Synergy

Competency of BSAs increased

Aligning expectations

Improvement of collaboration in projects

Lessons Learned: What’s To Be Improved

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Competency model definition

Use it in Employee Performance Review

Alignment of BSA role understanding – to be continued

Combining of work and professional development activities

Are We on the Way to a Business Analysis Center of Excellence?

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Functions of Business Analysis Center of Excellence

BA Community Activities

Steps to Create of Business Analysis Center of Excellence

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Specify Desired State

Access

Current State

Plan and

Implement Improvements

Maintain And

Enhance Competencies

Analyze

Gaps

Effective BACoE:

Responsibilities clearly outlined

Appropriate resources assigned

Proactive management

Constant care

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