3-Part Blog Series – Part 2: The Importance of Strategic Business Analysis in Successful Project Outcomes
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Strategic business analysis increases a team’s efficiency in projects and drives better project outcomes. Understanding how to drive desirable project outcomes with strategic business analysis is vital to getting the results your company needs.
Successful Project Outcomes are More Important than Business Analysis
The goal of a business analysis professional is to help create a successful project outcome. “At the end of the day, doing good business analysis work or producing perfect requirements is not actually useful if it doesn’t lead to successful outcomes,” explained the Seilevel blog. “Launching successful products is a worthy end goal. Delivering business outcomes is a worthy end goal. Delivering the desired business value is a worthy end goal. Business analysis, I’m sorry to say, is not actually a worthy end goal.”
This indicates that business analysis professionals should make it their overarching goal to ensure project outcomes are outstanding. They can do this by focusing on nine areas in strategic business analysis.
9 Focus Areas in Strategic Business Analysis
By advocating for business analysis in strategic ways, you can create organizational change. Connecting with business analysis professionals, keeping lines of communication with analysts open, and getting buy-in from the right organizational leaders via education and support from the IIBA will ensure you see change sooner rather than later.
9 Focus Areas in Strategic Business Analysis
The BA Times said strategic business analysis is a key component of each project or change initiative. Why? Because, strategic business analysis ensures project outcomes align with the goals and objectives of the entire organization. The BA Times listed nine areas in strategic business analysis that companies should observe (they are partly a review of the IIBA Body of Knowledge cited by the BA Times). They include:
- Understanding the business’s structure, people, and culture.
- Conducting capability analysis to ensure the organization has the ability to do what it plans to do.
- Ensuring company leaders recognize organizational strengths and weaknesses, and identifying and defining opportunity and threats.
- Analyzing business problems and opportunities, and brainstorming solutions beyond simply improving processes and sales and reducing costs.
- Performing feasibility and risk analysis on potential solutions; comparing solution alternatives through success and failure analysis, pros-and-cons discussions, and cost, ease, and benefit analysis; and developing decision grids to prioritize solutions.
- Determining the proper scope change initiatives based on business, structure, and organizational parameters and capabilities.
- Developing the business case to drive out the investments and expected returns externally or internally for the key initiatives.
- Creating a communication plan that helps guide the organization through the changes that will take place as initiatives become implemented.
- Building a roadmap focused on using project management best practices of implementation with business champions, key initiatives, tactical focus, time and dates, and a reporting structure.
When organizations focus on the BA Times’ nine areas in strategic business analysis, successful project outcomes are the natural result.
Strategy to Execution Framework: a Roadmap to Successful Business Transformation
Are you interested in implementing successful business transformation in addition to excellent project outcomes? The IIBA Strategy to Execution Framework can help.
The Strategy to Execution Framework is a 9-step roadmap for successful business transformation, as well as a companion to the BABOK® Guide. It can be used in conjunction with other frameworks if needed. Usually, it ends up preceding other frameworks and methodologies as it forms the bridge between strategic planning and implementation. Additionally, it sets the foundations for a business-led transformation program.
Seventy percent of all business transformation initiatives fail. You can ensure yours succeeds. Start by downloading a free preview copy of the Strategy to Execution Framework.
About The Author:
Sema Sali is a business analysis ambassador at IIBA, leveraging the intercept of marketing with business analysis to increase awareness of the value and criticality of business analysis to the success of organizations in today’s complex and disruptive world. She contributes to the growth of IIBA’s ecosystem through marketing efforts of IIBA’s Organizational Programs for Corporate, Academic and Endorsed Education Providers.
