Enterprise Analysis: The importance of the “why” and the “what”

Adrian Reed adrian.reed@blackmetric.co.uk

@UKAdrianReed

Covered today:

• What is enterprise analysis?

• When does it happen?

• A “slice” of enterprise analysis in practice: Developing a project concept

– Understanding “The Why”

– Defining “The What”

Enterprise Analysis “… Describes the business analysis activities necessary to:

• Identify a business need, problem or opportunity,

• Define the nature of a solution that meets that need

• Justify the investment necessary to deliver that solution”

IIBA Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK) v2.0 Ch5

The essence of a project: Why, What & How

WHY

WHAT

HOW

Enterprise Analysis: The Foundations

Image by avlxyz on Flickr, shared under a Creative Commons licence: www.flickr.com/photos/avlxyz/

Want vs. Need

A “slice” of Enterprise Analysis in practice Developing a project concept

What is a project concept? Developed pre-project to define (at a very high level)

• The problem or opportunity that the organisation is addressing

• The conceptual requirements that would need to be met to address the business need

• The likely solution(s) that could be considered

• The solution scope

Why, What & How

WHY

WHAT

HOW

PROJECT CONCEPT A “thin slice” to help determine

the business need, value &

scope

Techniques for establishing the “Why”

The problem of…..

Affects….

The impact of which is….

A successful solution would….

Problem Statement

What problem are we trying to

solve? Who are our

stakeholders?

Why should we care?

What are the benefits? How do

we know it’s done?

• Brainstorming

• Focus groups

• Surveys/questionnaires

• Systems analysis and reverse engineering (*by liaising with technical SMEs)

• Observation

• Document enquiry

• Interviews

• Workshops

Elicitation Techniques

1. Marketing team set up new TV advertisment campaign to promote a great new offer…

2. Customers love it

3. Customers REALLY love it!

4. Phone lines are jammed

Example: A mail-order retailer

WE NEED MORE PHONE LINES IN

OUR CALL CENTRE!

The problem of congested and busy phone lines

Affects our customers and call centre staff

The impact of which is we lose potential sales… as customers can’t get through

A successful solution would enable customers to get information and make a purchase quickly without holding, leading to increased revenues (and profits)

Problem Statement: “WE NEED MORE PHONE LINES!!”

Objectives CSF & KPI

• What conditions must be met for the project (and business) to be a success?

• In x months/years time, how will we know if we’ve been successful?

Identifying

CSFs & KPIs

Problem/

Opportunity

Financial:

• “When this initiative succeeds, how will we look to our financial stakeholders & shareholders”

Customer

• “If we are

successful, what will our customers say about us”

Internal

Processes

• What must we excel

at in order to create customer & business value

Learning / Innovation

• “To sustain the opportunity, what might need to be flexible or “future proof”?

Problem Statement

CSFs Financial

Key Performance Indicators

CSFs Customer

CSFs Innovation

CSFs Process

Concept level requirements – the “What”

• Who needs to interact with the system(s)* and processes that are in scope of the problem domain?

• A role doesn’t have to represent a single job title – it refers to users with similar characteristics – Shop Counter Staff

– Management

– Customers

* "System” may be IT or non-IT

Roles

• What is each stakeholder trying to achieve by using the system or process?

• Keep it high level “Verb Noun” is ideal

• Scope only – defer decision over detail

• Avoid words like “process” or “data” – be precise where possible:

– “Update data” could be “Update client’s details”

– “Process sale” could become “Take payment & Issue receipt”

Goals

Brainstorming Rules

• Suspend judgement

• Write & Say

• Freewheel – “anything goes” (scope & de-scope later)

• Quick, focussed

• Go for quantity!

Roles…

Customer Call Centre Agent

Call Centre Supervisor

Scheduler Infrastructure

Support

CEO’s assistant (Reporting)

Goals…

• Make purchases

• Make enquires

• Ask about current special offers

• Chase late deliveries

• Request service/technical support

• Complain

Customer

Scope…

• Which goals will you investigate, automate, improve or change?

• Which roles do these relate to?

(Stakeholder) Goals…

• Make purchases

• Make enquires

• Ask about current special offers

• Chase late deliveries

• Request service/technical support

• Complain

Customer

Roles and goals could become

• Actors

• Use Cases

Conceptual level use case diagram to show functional scope

(* Further elaboration, along with use-case descriptions will be required)

Foundations…

Well laid foundations last…

But environments can change…

• Where in your organisation are your business analysts located ?

• How are you adding value?

• Where do you think the BA adds most value?

• How do we measure that value?

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