Business Analysis Work Products
Business Analysis Work Products are the tangible outputs generated during the business analysis process. These can range from formal requirements documents to models, visual illustrations, or any other form of artifact that captures and communicates product information and requirements. These work products are critical for providing a detailed and comprehensive understanding of what the solution should achieve and how it should function.
Quality Assessment against Organizational Standards
One of the essential steps in the business analysis process is verifying the quality of these work products. Verification usually involves comparing them against the established benchmarks or standards that are part of the Business Analysis Organizational Standards. These standards set the quality expectations and may include criteria such as clarity, consistency, completeness, and other quality characteristics like measurability, testability, and traceability.
Identifying Issues for Performance Assessment
During verification, several issues may arise, each of which can be an indicator of underlying problems in the business analysis process:
Inappropriate Business Analysis Technique: If repeated issues are found, it may be because an unsuitable technique is being used for the requirements elicitation or analysis.
Inability of Practitioners: If the technique is not the issue, the people applying it might lack the necessary skills or expertise to do so effectively.
Stakeholder Participation: Sometimes, the problem may not be with the business analyst or the technique but with the stakeholders’ capacity to engage with the technique.
Insufficient Detail: Another problem could be the inability to capture sufficient detail using the chosen technique, resulting in gaps or ambiguities in the requirements or other work products.
Impact on Business Analysis Performance
Any of these problems should be considered when assessing the overall performance of the business analysis process. These problems, if detected, can provide valuable feedback and learning opportunities. Recognizing the issue is the first step in implementing solutions, whether they be changing the business analysis technique, providing further training to practitioners, improving stakeholder engagement methods, or enhancing the level of detail captured in business analysis work products.
In summary, Business Analysis Work Products are central to the effectiveness and quality of the overall business analysis process. They need to be rigorously verified and assessed against organizational standards to ensure they meet the expected quality benchmarks. Any issues arising during this verification can be instrumental in identifying areas for improvement in the business analysis practice.