Business Analysis

Business Analysis as a Center of Excellence (BA-CoE) should be grown to fit the needs of your organization and not forced into an external model. Whether you want a formal or informal BA-CoE, it is best to make sure the benefits are equally split between your staff doing business analysis work and the organizations they serve. Having been asked to turnaround multiple underperforming PMO’s (Project Management Offices) over the years, the main goal must be increased value in the form of increased results, employee satisfaction, and reducing friction on your projects and other business analysis efforts. Our team will assess your goals, processes, and people and recommend the type of BA-CoE that may best serve you and your organization. We can help you implement a successful BA-CoE including both the technical aspects such as processes and templates and the Business Transformation Change Management that is absolutely key for fast adoption and thereby successful results.

Best Practice Implementation Considerations

In order to create an effective and lasting BA-CoE, the goals and buy-in must be planned and flexibly executed. Our best practices will generate a specific set of strategies, tactics, and expectations for the BA-CoE in the areas of:

• Assessment of BA-CoE effort and benefits for various informal and formal models
• Assessment of current processes, templates, training, and people
• Recommendation with options on how to take advantage of opportunities and solve problems
• Implementation leadership including the all-important Business Transformation Change Management and other communications
• Customization of current staff competencies, training needs, and performance improvement efforts
• Customization of existing and building custom training materials to match your tools, processes, level of staff, and desired behavior changes
• Document executive, management, business analyst, and internal or external customer roles
• Document each approved process using the most appropriate technique
• Set up Metrics for planning, implementation, adoption, and optimization by continuous improvement of your new BA-CoE

Best Practice Summary

Establishing visible and repeatable BA expectations and processes are the cornerstones of a quality focused business analysis center of excellence. The process and best practice noted above can be designed and integrated based on your organization’s needs, current gap areas, and planned scale of the BA and related functions.