1. Professional Development of Business
Systems Analysts in Software
Development Company
November 5, 2013
Case Study
Irena Jansone and Jekaterina Lebedeva

2. About Us
 C.T.Co Ltd. is a Europe-oriented IT solutions and services
provider
 C.T.Co has extensive experience serving large companies in
the financial services industry:
 Insurance and Reinsurance
 Banking
page 2

3. Titles and Roles

IT Business Analyst



+


Systems Analyst


=

Business Systems
Analyst

Focused on requirements
Solves problems with IT solutions
Bridge between business and IT
Performs functional design
Takes requirements as inputs
Creates functional specifications
Specifies "how" a system will do
the "what"
Interfaces directly with the
developers
Responsibilities start with
requirements elicitation and end
with functional/technical
specifications
Expected to have both strong
business domain knowledge and
extensive competencies
page 3

4. BSAs in C.T.Co:
Organizational Structure
Program
Manager
Project
Manager
BSA Team
Lead
BSA
QA Team
Lead
Test
Engineer
Project
Manager
Development
Team Lead
BSA
QA Team
Lead
Test
Engineer
Developer
BSA
Development
Team Lead
Developer
Client Project Team
 Project-oriented organization
 C.T.Co BSAs as members of
Client BSA team
Client BSA
Team Lead
page 4

5. BSAs in C.T.Co:
Issues and Concerns
 Diversity of BSA role understanding
by project team members
 Indistinct expectations
 Variety in background,
professional education and
experience
 Need to gain support
from like-minded
colleagues
 Wish to share
experience and
knowledge
page 5

6. When BA Community Was
Born
November 2011
 7 Samurai (community
members)
 Combine experience of
Seniors and fervor of
Juniors
 Develop survival guide
 Become more strategic
 Join individual efforts
page 6

7. BA Community Activities
page 7

8. Company Standards
 Update of requirement
management processes
 Analysis Artifacts list
 Development and update of
Templates
page 8

9. QA/BA Workshops
16%
14%
5%
Informal presentation
E-mail
65%
16%
Other
Quality of specifications
47%
22%
Specifications
Availability of the BA
Sharing business background
15%
Smoothness of change
implementation
page 9

10. QA/BA Workshops
page 10

11. QA/BA Workshops
page 11

12. Experience Sharing
 Real-life experiences
 Artifacts created for a project (or group
of projects)
 Collaboration Models with customer
 Ideal World Model
 Real World Model
 Hell Model
 Challenges/Lessons Learned
Theory is when you know everything but nothing works.
Practice is when everything works but no one knows
why
page 12

13. Experience Sharing
 BA Community Space in Confluence/WIKI
 Business domain trainings
 Insurance/Reinsurance
 BPMN training
page 13

14. Enterprise Architecture
Workshop
page 14

15. Collaboration and
Requirement
Management Tools
We shape our tools and then our
tools shape us ©
Collaboration/Workflow
Content Management
Issue Tracking Tools
Requirement Management
Tools
 Prototyping/UX
 Vendor Presentation




page 15

16. Agile Trip Advisor



Agile Analyst – brand new role for
BSA
Agile Requirements training
Agile Games
 Group self-organization
 Active Listening and Adapting
 Cooperation & Communication
 Teamwork
 Learning to improve
page 16

17. Agile Games Event
page 17

18. Conferences
page 18

19. Scientific Conferences
page 19

20. Conferences and
Events
page 20

21. CBAP/CCBA
Certification: Why?
Organization
Professional development for
staff
Business analysis practices
according to industry standards
Identification of professional
business analysts to clients and
business partners
Increasing efficiency, consistency
and reliability of results
BSAs
Increased competence in
business analysis
Participation in a recognized
professional group
Personal satisfaction
Continuous improvement through
achieving and maintaining
certification
page 21

22. CBAP/CCBA
Certification: How?
 Instructor-led
webinars
 Self-paced
preparation
courses
 Trainings
page 22

23. CBAP Recertification
MAX CDU per Activity
Recertification
Requirement:
MIN 60 CDU in each
three-year cycle
page 23

24. Lessons Learned:
What’s Already Working
 Support from likeminded colleagues
 Group Synergy
 Competency of BSAs
increased
 Aligning expectations
 Improvement of
collaboration in projects
page 24

25. Lessons Learned:
What’s To Be Improved
 Competency model
definition
 Use it in Employee
Performance Review
 Alignment of BSA role
understanding – to be
continued
 Combining of work and
professional development
activities
page 25

26. Are We on the Way to a
Business Analysis Center
of Excellence?
Functions of
Business Analysis Center of Excellence
BA Community
Activities
page 26

27. Steps to Create of
Business Analysis Center
of Excellence
Access
Current
State
Specify
Desired
State
Analyze
Gaps
Maintain
Plan and
And
Implement
Enhance
Improvements Competencies
Effective BACoE:
 Responsibilities clearly outlined
 Appropriate resources assigned
 Proactive management
 Constant care
page 27

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