APPENDIX 7
BUSINESS ANALYSIS WORK PACKAGE CONTENT
Explanation: A work package is used to agree and document the business analysis work to be carried out, the boundaries, activities and outputs/deliverables. It should cover:
Why the analysis is required (purpose and goals).
What analysis will be carried out (activities and details of deliverables).
Who will do the analysis and who will be involved (named BA and stakeholders).
When the work is required (deadlines, dependencies and constraints).
How the analysis will be done (methods, approach to review, sign-off arrangements).
The creation of the work package facilitates a conversation about the business analysis service to be provided and records the agreements about the business analysis activities and deliverables. This enables shared expectations and outcomes to be defined. A tension about work packages may arise regarding the business analysis activities required to address the business need and the limitations of a fixed time frame.
SUGGESTED CONTENT FOR BA WORK PACKAGE
Document controls
Business analyst(s) |
Whole-time equivalents/number of BAs required |
Requestor |
Who is asking for the business analysis work to be carried out? |
Target start date |
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Target completion date |
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Assumptions |
What assumptions are being made by the requestor/author? Examples are: availability of BAs, complexity of the work, number of stakeholders, availability of stakeholders, prior knowledge or level of experience of the business BAs |
Related documents |
For example, previous or related work packages, budget or recruitment approvals, statements of senior support, evidence of prioritisation, relevant plans |
Detail
Purpose and goal(s) of the wider project/work |
What is the context for this work package? How does this work package contribute to the wider aims of the project? |
Purpose and goal(s) of the business analysis work package |
What are the analysis activity and deliverables trying to achieve? What business questions are being addressed via the analysis? (What is the focus of the analysis: fact-finding, developing and exploring options, enabling informed decision making, risk mitigation, enabling communication, relationship building, documenting information, assessing impact…?) This information is key to selecting the appropriate business analysis outputs and methods |
BA(s) allocated to carry out the work |
Who will carry out the work package? |
Stakeholders involved |
Who will the BA(s) need to work with? |
Outputs to be delivered |
What is the work package going to produce? What will it create or modify? What will these deliverables look like in terms of format, content, scope? It may be worth considering minimum outputs and possible subsequent or nice-to-have deliverables if time allows |
Who will receive the outputs? Recipients, beneficiaries, consumers. How will they use the outputs? |
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Out of scope |
Is anything specifically excluded from the business analysis activities? Groups of stakeholders, business areas, systems, deliverables |
Sources of information |
Have any sources of information for this work already been identified? Subject matter experts, business areas, documents, policies, regulations, existing systems, other projects, lessons learned logs from previous projects |
Related activities |
What other activities will be taking place in parallel, or which will impact this work package, or which could be impacted by this work package? What are the dependencies (in terms of people, activities and timescales)? |
Quality |
What quality checking method(s) will be used? Consider both format and content (peer review, team review, use of templates, quality criteria, review checklists) |
Configuration management |
What controls will be used to ensure different versions of the products are properly maintained? Where should work package outputs be stored? |
Sign-off arrangements |
Who will approve or accept the work? What conditions must be met for this to happen? Relevant governance groups and boards? How should completion be communicated and to whom? |
Time frame |
What is the agreed time frame for this work package? |
Constraints |
What other constraints exist? Consider POPITTM, as well as financial, timescales, policy or legal constraints on the work |
Progress reporting arrangements |
How should progress on the work package be reported? To whom, how often, by what means |