Statistics: (3241 Views) (1 Comments) Print Posted: Tuesday, June 03, 2008 Categories: Career as a Business Systems Analyst, Project Management, Getting Started as a Business Systems Analyst

I’m sure there must be a thesis somewhere on this question: How do you know whether a specific decision or action definitely influences the actual event? I like soccer analogies — in a pre-World Cup game against Argentina, Sven-Goran Eriksson was praised for his tactical decision to bring on Peter Crouch and the 3-2 victory that resulted. Yet, Eriksson was slated for poor substitution decisions during the actual tournament when those decisions did not lead to a more positive outcome. In truth, can you really prove these decisions have either a positive or negative outcome? England may have beaten Argentina without the introduction of Crouch and, during the World Cup, the outcome of the games could have been even worse if the substitutions hadn’t been made!

I would like to think deliberate decisions and actions can influence a positive outcome, and I especially believe this is the case when business analysts work on projects and are able to play an effective role.

Too often I have experienced misunderstanding of what the business analyst role is and what it can add to a project. This article looks at how business analysis activity can have a massive impact on the outcome of a change program.  Article covers:

• Context and Challenges
• Scope of the Project
• Managing Expectations … or Trying To
• Business Requirements and Detailed Analysis
• Documentation
• Relationships
• Sign-Off

Author: Ian Partridge