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Howard Podeswa

What are the Quantitative Benefits of Business Analysis?

At the end of my IIBA Webinar I tossed out a question to listeners: What are the quantitative benefits of business analysis?

“Hi-Lo”, Howard Podeswa, Oil on canvas, 2007, 10 “ x 10” It’s something I’ve been spending some time on. While there are many touted (and self-obvious) benefits of analysis , hard figures are hard to come by – and it’s hard figures that high-level executives want to see when we make the case for the profession. Fellow BAs have begun to take me up on the challenge and I have, at the same time, been meeting with CEO, CFOs, CIOs and others in upper-level management. So I thought it was time to throw out the question to the collective wisdom of the Modern Analyst community. What I’m looking for are measures that quantify either the benefits that have been derived from business analysis or the costs of doing it badly: metrics like the annual cost to projects attributable to a poor requirements analysis process relative to the annual project budget; estimated decrease in turnaround time due to improved analysis, and so on. I’m also looking for war stories – either horror stories of where things went wrong due to poor analysis or uplifting stories when things have gone well – with figures to back it all up where possible. Alternatively – if you have a source of stats on the cost benefits of good requirements that you think is helpful, please pass that one, too.

Readers are invited to post their contributions to this blog or, if confidentiality is required, to contact me directly at [email protected]. Once I have a representative response, I’ll be summarizing and posting the results on this site.

(Attached jpg: Caption: “Hi-Lo”, Howard Podeswa, Oil on canvas, 2007, 10 “ x 10”. Description: “Hi-Lo” is a reconstruction of the painting “The Night Watch” by Rembrandt, created by measuring and graphing the high and low points in the original composition.)

Howard Podeswa of Noble Inc.

Blog Image: “Hi-Lo”, Howard Podeswa, Oil on canvas, 2007, 10 “ x 10”.

“Hi-Lo” is a reconstruction of the painting “The Night Watch” by Rembrandt, created by measuring and graphing the high and low points in the original composition.)

This entry was published on Nov 27, 2010 / Howard Podeswa. Posted in Leadership & Management, Getting Started as a Business Systems Analyst. Bookmark the Permalink or E-mail it to a friend.

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COMMENTS

Howard Podeswa posted on Monday, November 29, 2010 10:36 AM

UPDATE - Quantitative BA benefits: Many thanks to Robert Cooper and to Adriana Beal for pointing to the survey "Business Analysis Benchmark" at http://www.iag.biz/resources/library/business-analysis-benchmark.html . Adriana also provided this link: http://bealprojects.com/example/
This discussion may also be followed in the Modern Analyst group in LinkedIn at: http://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?view=&gid=29008&type=member&item=35942484&qid=f7e45c7e-478e-4a73-9029-61b6bafa5ce9
- Howard

kanak posted on Tuesday, October 9, 2012 1:03 AM

Hi All,

I am working as a BA in the BFSI domain for last 4 years. I need advise on any certification/courses or training programmes which can be done to hone my BA skills and more from career standpoint.

Thanks
Kanak

Sudeshna Bhattacharya posted on Tuesday, July 8, 2014 1:02 PM

Hello Howard ,
As you rightly mentioned reduction of turn-around time is the common measure , other parameters can be as follows :
1) Simplicity - user must find that it has made their lives simple . Immediate reactions are like "We have peace of mind now" , "Our eyes used to become red but still we had to continue , now no pain only gain" , "It is now a sleek system".
2) Accuracy - Previous system / application was error prone . There were more customer complaints which sometimes resulted into court cases followed by huge penalty .
3) Re-aligned role - Previous process used to involve more man power which the new analysed system has removed . Existing experienced workforce can be utilized for more productive work . Their roles have been re-aligned . Cost of the job reduced - something which required a Sr. Officer can be done by a junior clerk .
4) New business area explored - Having solved one problem , user has gained confidence to take / solve another challenge .
5) Reduction of meeting, escalation and bureaucracy - Previous system used to involve more approval which ultimately resulted into a "Many men many mind" system , things went round in circle . New analysed system is straight forward . It has no space for delay due to approval (or in-decision) , escalation , inter-department bureaucracy .
6) Reduction of operational cost , increase of profit margin - This is what people want to achieve ultimately .

Best Regards,
Sudeshna Bhattacharya