After working for several companies as a BA, (all do it slightly different), here is what I have found.
BAs should be one of the first engagers on the project.
BAs are often given great responsiblity with no authority.
BAs are often given work that no one else wants to do, that does not fall under the BA Role Definition.
If their Role is not defined and enforced, they will find themselves doing tech support, testing, tech writing, training, coordinating, secretarial work for their boss, and junk work for IT, etc...
In my experience, I have always done the BA role and the PM role, but because my title is BA, I don' t have PM authority. IT folks are constantly jumping in trying to take over the project, (they have done the analysis in the past, so this is a natural thing for them to do, and will only be stopped by a strong BA department).. For this reason, I believe BAs should have their own office (BAO) simliar to the PMO and should report to a Senior BA.
Business Architect, PM, and BA, should be on the same level, working together on the project.
(After I came up with this idea, I discovered companies are heading in this direction and some are doing this now. I recently saw a job in Canada that sounds like they have the BAs reporting to the PMO office. I would take it one step farther and have the BAs with their own office.
I have a PowerPoint Presentation of the flow of a project and how the BAs interact if you are interested. Because it is so loosely defined, I have spent a lot of time defining it, just for my own personal pleasure. If you are interested, I will post it on my website so you can view it. (It is too large to post here)
In addition I would suggest a Senior BA be assigned to setup and define the role.
Job Description:
POSITION SUMMARY
The Team Lead, PMO Business Analyst Team will support all Business Analysts within the Global BB / EMEA IT PMO, assisting with the prioritization of team workload, and supporting team relationships within departmental business units. The Team Lead will also work with the Manager, ... Operations PMO to ensure global standards, processes and documentation for the Business Analyst role are designed, implemented and followed.
ACCOUNTABILITIES:
- Plan and coordinate team efforts in support of team and departmental business unit goals
- Ensure successful relationships are built with departmental business units
- Ensure a roadmap of individual and overall departmental business unit deliverables (as relates to projects, or beyond as individual departmental business units require) is collated and accurately maintained
- Completion of staff appraisals and setting of objectives, in conjunction with Manager, NA BlackBerry Operations PMO
- Day-to-day management of the team, including acting first point of escalation for all Business Analyst team issues
- Development and maintenance of local and global standards to assist with business goals
- Production of regular management reports for team status
- Maintain skills matrix, and training plans, with all team
- Perform the role of Business Analyst on projects where required