4 DEVELOPING THE BUSINESS ANALYSTS

INTRODUCTION

Business analysts enter the role via many different routes. While some follow the ‘developer to IT analyst’ route, many become business analysts having worked in generic business operations roles or even specialisms such as accountancy, auditing or legal roles. Some business analysts work to improve business processes without the formal recognition that they are conducting business analysis. However, whatever the route to move into business analysis, it is undoubtedly the case that the broad range of frameworks and techniques with which business analysts need to be proficient present development challenges.

This chapter discusses some key elements of providing a development ecosystem for business analysts within a BA Service. These elements are:

• the T-shaped professional business analyst;

• skills development frameworks;

• the service view of skills development;

•the BA Service as a learning organisation.

THE T-SHAPED PROFESSIONAL BUSINESS ANALYST

The T-shaped professional concept can help to support the development of business analysts. A T-shaped professional is required to have broad generic skills (the horizontal row of the T) and deep specialist skills (the vertical column of the T) that are relevant to their chosen profession. Therefore, these skills will vary according to the requirements of each profession. Presentational and written communication skills are examples of the generic skills that are likely to be required by those working within service professions, such as business analysts.

Gorman suggests that the generic skills of the T-shaped Professional should focus on interactional skills, which are defined as:

This is the case for the BA Service. One of the key services identified in Chapter 2 concerns ‘stakeholder engagement’ and reflects the need for business analysts to interact with their colleagues from other disciplines and business stakeholders on a regular basis. These interactions may occur for several reasons; for example:

• to present options to address a business problem;

• to elicit information or requirements;

• to produce a written business case setting out the justification and recommendations for a proposed project.

Interactions that are concerned with stakeholder engagement require two generic skill sets: the personal skills that support effective interaction and communication with stakeholders; and the business domain skills that enable the business analysts to ‘speak the business language’.

Personal skills

The concept of the T-shaped professional may be used when analysing and defining the skills required of business analysts. The generic interactional skills may be represented within the cross-bar of the T-shape. Therefore, the personal qualities required of a business analyst may be viewed as forming part of the horizontal element of the business analyst T-shape. Research by Paul (2018) has identified eight key areas of personal skills and these are represented within the T-shape cross bar shown in Figure 4.1.

Figure 4.1 The personal skills of the T-shaped business analyst

This entire set of skills are needed to work effectively with stakeholders and range from standard communication and presentation skills, to more exacting skills such as influencing and negotiation. Many of these skills are applicable to a range of professional disciplines, in addition to business analysis, when these disciplines need to work with different stakeholders. However, some of the personal skills identified, such as facilitation and innovation, are particularly relevant to the business analyst role and could be described as specialist skills offered by business analysts.

The relevance of each business analyst personal skill shown in Figure 4.1 is explained in Table 4.1.

Some people possess excellent interpersonal skills. They seem to have a natural facility for engaging with colleagues, delivering presentations and facilitating meetings.

Table 4.1 Personal skills of a business analyst

Personal skill	Relevance to business analysts
Assertiveness	Stakeholders, sometimes those at a senior level, often suggest ideas or change initiatives. Sometimes they identify ‘the problem’ or even ‘the solution to the problem’. Business analysts must be able to challenge such suggestions or comments to clarify the root cause of problems and to ensure that the identification of the solution has not been based on assumptions, sales promises or incomplete information. Challenging stakeholders and questioning their suggestions may be daunting for some business analysts. However, it is a necessary part of the role and requires the business analyst to possess a sufficient degree of assertiveness. It is also important to ensure that assertiveness is not confused with aggressive behaviour, as this can be counter-productive
Communication	The ability to communicate is essential for any role with responsibility for working with stakeholders. In the case of business analysis, the responsibility is to understand what is said, listen actively and ask questions in order to elicit accurate information. The information may be tacit (not recognised and difficult to articulate) rather than explicit (known and clearly defined), placing an additional onus upon the analyst to communicate effectively
Facilitation	Facilitation skill is a key element within the business analyst skill set and is essential when delivering several of the BA services. The ability to facilitate discussions, meetings or workshops requires ongoing development and practice. This skill underpins much of business analysis work, whether redesigning business processes, analysing situations, eliciting requirements or defining the scope of a solution
Influencing	Analytical skills often result in the business analyst identifying where an approach will not be effective or where there is a more beneficial alternative. However, stakeholders may be unwilling to change their views or amend their ideas. In these situations, business analysts must be able to influence the stakeholders so that they are more open to discussion, challenge and the consideration of alternative ways forward. These situations can be difficult to handle. Therefore, influencing is a skill that is often developed through extensive experience of working with stakeholders, often those at a senior level
Innovation	The identification of alternative options is a key aspect of several of the business analysis services. This requires business analysts to be able to think creatively and innovatively, possibly through applying techniques that assist this thinking process. An innovative mindset is critical for the digital business analyst who needs to have the ability to consider the possibilities offered by technology that will enable the organisation to offer additional or personalised services to customers, typically beyond the identified requirements
Negotiation/conflict management	Negotiating with stakeholders, for example, about requirements and solutions, is often needed when conducting business analysis. Additionally, there is always the prospect of such negotiations developing into conflicts that require careful management
Presentation	Presentation skills are required of most people working in business and this is certainly the case for business analysts. They may be called on to deliver presentations in many different situations and to a range of audiences. Good presentation skills are needed to carry out all of the services within the BA service portfolio
Relationship building	It is important that business analysts build good working relationships with stakeholders. The collaborative nature of business analysis depends upon business analysts having good relationships with their stakeholders; for example, when eliciting information or managing conflicting perspectives. It is well-established that the existence of rapport between individuals helps them to work in an atmosphere of trust and support

However, even where this is the case, the most successful communicators, presenters or facilitators understand that improvement is always possible, and that well-founded techniques and frameworks can help to further develop these skills.

Developing personal skills can be difficult, as this often relies on core personal qualities such as confidence and resilience. However, it is possible to improve personal skills through learning and applying relevant rules, techniques, processes and frameworks. For example:

• The ability to communicate in writing may be improved through learning fundamental rules of grammar.

• The ability to manage negotiation and conflicts may be developed through applying frameworks, such as the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict MODE Instrument (see Chapter 10), and Ury and Fisher’s (2012) Principled Negotiation process.

• The ability to deliver presentations is enhanced through careful preparation, application of standard approaches such as the 4As (Aim, Audience, Appearance, Arrangement) (Thomas, Paul and Cadle, 2012) and gaining experience within different presentational contexts (such as providing information to colleagues, delivering training sessions or presenting at industry seminars).

The recognition that improvement is possible and desirable is an important first step in the development of interpersonal skills. This then needs to be followed by a process that encompasses learning, application and reflection. An approach to learning, Triple Loop learning, is discussed later in this chapter.

Business skills

T-shaped business analysts are required to have the ability to interact with, and provide the required information for, those who represent their business domain. To do this effectively, business analysts need to have knowledge and skills relevant to the business domain in addition to the personal skills described above.

Most stakeholders expect business analysts to be able to discuss their issues with sufficient understanding of the terminology, legal framework, key processes and so on. Business analysts who do not have the ability to do this can find that their credibility is significantly undermined and this may damage their stakeholder relationships.

Business skills cover a wide range of areas – such as business finance or legal issues – but in overview are concerned with the knowledge and understanding of two key aspects:

• The business domain within which the business analyst works. This area of business skill is likely to be specific to a sector of the economy, organisation or line of business. While many business analyst roles require knowledge and understanding of the particular business domain, it is sometimes the case that this is not an ‘essential’ skill for recruitment purposes. Some BA leaders believe that business domain knowledge can be learnt when working within the domain environment. However, the requirement is likely to be for this learning to be completed at speed!

• Generic business understanding. This can be a difficult area in which to gain competence as it typically requires experience and genuine interest in how organisations and their finances work. Many BA leaders express concerns about the lack of business acumen and commercial awareness of business analysts. A well-worn quote is: ‘a business analyst should be able to assess how many products (cups of coffee, books, cars, etc.) we would need to sell to pay for a proposed change’. In addition to business acumen concerning business finance, business analysts should also be able to understand aspects such as organisational structures, business models and cultures. All of these topics fall within this skill area.

Business skills also fall within the ‘horizontal’ skills required of the T-shaped business analyst. This is represented in Figure 4.2.

Figure 4.2 The personal and business skills of the T-shaped business analyst

Professional, analytical skills

The professional skills of the business analyst are extensive and concern analytical thinking and the techniques that support analytical thinking. These are the ‘deep’ specialist skills that are specifically relevant to the T-shaped business analyst and distinguish a business analyst from other roles. They are the core skills of the business analyst, without which it is not possible to conduct the role with any degree of proficiency. There are numerous techniques, so they have been categorised and described in Chapter 2; they are represented in the vertical leg of the T-shape, which is shown in Figure 4.3.

Figure 4.3 The T-shaped business analyst

This T-shaped view of the business analyst demonstrates the extensive set of skills, techniques and knowledge required to perform business analysis work. The range and variety of skills and techniques may be viewed as a toolkit from which business analysts may select the ‘right tool for the job’. It is important for business analysts to be able to identify when a skill or technique will help to meet a particular need or address a specific situation.

The extent of the business analysis toolkit may help to explain the difficulties encountered by less experienced business analysts when working within a context where their role lacks clarity. However, the definition of business analysis as a catalogue of service offerings, as defined in Chapter 2, may help to alleviate this situation as it will bring clarity regarding the activities and skills relevant to a specific assignment.

SKILLS DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORKS

The BA service portfolio described in Chapter 2 and the business analyst T-shaped definition outline above may be adapted to meet the needs of an organisation and can support the creation of a skills development framework.

A skills development framework offers a more detailed view than a T-shaped professional definition because it defines each skill in detail and at a number of levels of competence. Some skills development frameworks also include references to development approaches such as training, certification and personal learning. They may also provide career pathways, indicating the skills required to work at different levels and the minimum requirement for an individual to be promoted to a new role.

Skills development frameworks underpin the managerial activities conducted by anyone in a leadership role. They provide a basis for managerial work conducted across the staff responsibilities landscape as shown in Figure 4.4.

Figure 4.4 Staff responsibilities landscape supported by skills development framework

A strong skills development framework can be a highly effective tool when developing business analysts. However, it is important to recognise that while it offers a basis for staff development, it does not replace the need for judgement and thoughtful application. Table 4.2 provides further detail on the application of a skills development framework to the staff responsibilities landscape.

Table 4.2 Application of a skills development framework

Management task	Use of skills framework
Recruitment	The framework provides a basis for identifying the criteria required of a new recruit. This enables recruiting leads to be clear about what is required when communicating with professionals supporting the recruitment, such as HR professionals or external recruitment agencies, and conducting interviews. This approach is discussed further in Chapter 3
Career and skills development	The framework identifies the required skills and competency levels for each grade within a role and provides a basis for assessing an individual business analyst’s skill set, identifying gaps and suggesting areas for development. Information supporting personal development, such as training approaches, certification and personal learning, may also help with career progression
Appraisal and performance management	The framework provides a basis for the appraisal of a business analyst’s performance; it helps to identify whether the person is meeting the skills requirements of the role at the relevant grade, and where further opportunities for development might lie Skills development frameworks typically cover different types of skill; the standard three categories of professional/analytical, personal and business skills are often used. This means that attitudinal requirements may be identified within the personal skills category and any issues may be highlighted and addressed. The framework should describe the skill requirements at increasing levels of competence, so it can help to identify the business analysts capable of performing at a more senior level. The definition of the skills and competency levels that apply to different grades and roles provides a strong basis for assessing potential candidates for promotion and specific advice about what they need to do to gain promotion
Removal	The framework helps to clarify where a business analyst does not possess the skills needed for the role and may be better suited to another discipline or possibly a different organisation. The skills categories within a skills development framework can help to identify where there are issues with performance. For example, some business analysts may have excellent professional skills but may struggle to achieve the personal skill requirements

Chapter 3 explored approaches to business analyst recruitment, including the use of a skills development framework to define competence-based criteria for use when evaluating different candidates for a role. This chapter considers the management task concerned with business analyst career and skills development. The appraisal and performance management and removal tasks are discussed in Chapter 5.

Skills development frameworks support these management tasks by providing information on the following areas:

• skill definitions across three skill categories;

• detailed definitions of the required levels of competency for each skill;

• skill requirements at different grades;

• personal development resources such as training courses, self-study materials and support from colleagues;

• certifications recognised and recommended within the organisation.

Industry skills development frameworks

Skills development frameworks may be based upon industry skills frameworks, such as the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA (www.sfia-online.org/en)), or may be developed by an organisation. SFIA is published by the SFIA Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation that is run by a board composed of representatives from several professional organisations. These organisations are BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, the itSMF (IT Service Management Forum), the IMIS (Institute for the Management of Information Systems) and the IET (The Institution of Engineering and Technology).

SFIA offers a reference model that is made up of definitions of a comprehensive suite of skills that are relevant for anyone working within information systems and digital transformation. The SFIA design is intended to be straightforward to apply, independent of technology and approach, and based upon the practitioner experience. It is intended to offer an adaptable set of definitions that may be configured to suit the needs of organisations applying SFIA.

The skills are grouped into seven categories, each of which is formed of two or more sub-categories, as shown in Table 4.3.

Seven levels of responsibility are defined within SFIA. These are: 1 – Follow; 2 – Assist; 3 – Apply; 4 – Enable; 5 – Ensure, Advise; 6 – Initiate, Influence; 7 – Set Strategy, Inspire, Mobilise. Each level is defined in terms of generic attributes of autonomy, influence, complexity, knowledge and business skills.

There are 102 skills defined within SFIA. Each skill is described in overview and then at a number of levels of responsibility. For example, the business analysis skill is defined at levels 3–6; the business process improvement skill is defined at levels 5–7. When using SFIA to define a role, it is typically the case that a role profile may be formed of skills from a variety of categories and sub-categories, and there may be different levels of different skills. For example, there may be a role description that consists of:

Table 4.3 SFIA categories and sub-categories

SFIA category	Sub-categories
Strategy and architecture	Information Strategy, Advice and Guidance, Business Planning and Strategy, Technical Planning and Strategy
Change and transformation	Business Change Implementation, Business Change Management
Development and implementation	Systems Development, User Experience and Installation, Integration
Delivery and operation	Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operation
Skills and quality	Skill Management, People Management, Quality and Conformance
Relationships and engagement	Stakeholder Management, Sales and Marketing

• business analysis, level 4;

• business process improvement, level 5;

• business modelling, level 3;

• benefits management, level 5.

BCS have also developed an extended version of SFIA known as SFIAplus (www.bcs.org/develop-your-people/develop-your-team-or-organisation/sfiaplus-it-skills-framework). This framework incorporates the skills definitions from SFIA but provides additional information about areas such as techniques, training and study resources. SFIAplus offers extensive information and is an extremely helpful resource for developing the BA Service. However, SFIAplus is only available to BCS members.

The IIBA offers a competency framework that provides descriptions of skills required by business analysts. The skills are described at five levels of proficiency: strategist; expert; skilled; practical knowledge; general awareness. This framework is devoted to business analysis and, therefore, the skills are defined at a more granular level than those within SFIA.

Organisational skills frameworks

Most organisations use standard frameworks, such as SFIA or the IIBA Business Analysis Competency model, to provide information and a basis for discussion, but then develop their own tailored skills frameworks. One way of doing this is to use the BA Service Framework as a basis, augmented by the business analysis T-shape. The next section in this chapter explains the development of an organisational skills framework.

SERVICE VIEW OF SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

The business analyst role is complex and wide-ranging. Business analysts work on a variety of assignments and projects that may be at a portfolio, programme or project level. The outcomes from business analysis also vary. While requirements definition is typically at the heart of business analysis, there may also be a need for business analysts to conduct activities relating to other areas such as feasibility assessment and business process improvement. The BA service portfolio should be the starting point for developing the performance and skills of the business analysts. This portfolio identifies the services to be offered and should drive the identification of the skills required to deliver the services.

Developing the skills framework

The process to develop a skills framework for a BA Service is shown in Figure 4.5.

Figure 4.5 Process to develop a skills framework

Essentially, the activities within this process are as follows:

• Define BA service portfolio. This may be based upon the BA Service Framework defined in Chapter 2, which should be customised in line with the organisation’s approach to business analysis.

• Define activities and techniques for each of the business analysis services. This may also be based upon the BA Service Framework but will need to be customised for the domain or organisation.

• Derive skill requirements for each BA service. The skills required to offer each service in the portfolio and to perform the related activities should be identified. The T-shaped business analyst discussed earlier in this chapter provides an initial view of the skill requirements.

• Define skills and competency levels. Each skill should be described in overview and at different levels of competency. It is helpful to apply a standard framework when defining the competency levels. SFIA provides a seven-level framework and the IIBA Business Analysis Competency model uses five levels, as described earlier. However, in practice, this may be considered to be too complex. Many organisations apply a three-level framework and a good example is the Aware, Proficient, Expert framework. This framework is defined in Table 4.4.

•Develop service profiles. Identify the skills and the required level of competency required to provide each service. If a service is conducted by business analysts at different grades, it may be necessary to provide different profiles for each grade.

Table 4.4 Framework for competency definition

Competency level	Definition
Aware	Knows about the skill and has a general idea of how and when it might be used. Needs training (formal and informal) before applying the skill, and guidance when applying the skill
Proficient	Is able to apply the skill without guidance; can explain how to apply the skill and can help others to apply the skill. Personal development may be required to keep up to date with good practice and to extend the ability to apply the skill
Expert	Has comprehensive knowledge of all aspects of the skill. Is both highly trained and highly experienced. Is respected and acknowledged as a source of definitive guidance. Is able to confidently provide advice on the use of the skill to address complex problems

Example skill framework components

An example skill description is shown in Table 4.5. This is for a business process improvement skill, which is described in overview and at three levels of competency.

Table 4.5 Business process improvement skill description

An example service definition is shown in Table 4.6.

Table 4.6 Example of service definition

An example service/skills profile is shown in Tables 4.7–4.9. Each table covers a skill area as follows:

• Table 4.7: professional skills for the requirements definition service;

• Table 4.8: personal skills for the requirements definition service;

•Table 4.9: business skills for the requirements definition service.

Table 4.7 Professional skills for the requirements definition service

Table 4.8 Personal skills for the requirements definition service

Table 4.9 Business skills for the requirements definition service

Role profiling

Once the skill and service profiles have been developed, it is possible to develop a profile for each business analyst role within the BA Service. This involves defining the role in terms of the services offered and the skill/competency requirements for the delivery of the services. The role profile may be visualised using a ‘heat map’ approach, showing the skills required to conduct the role and the levels of competency required. An example of a role profile is shown in Figure 4.6.

Figure 4.6 Example of a business analyst role profile

A role profile sets out the skill requirements for anyone performing a particular role and, therefore, provides a benchmark against which performance may be assessed and monitored. It also helps managers to recruit staff, set performance objectives, determine training needs and identify candidates for promotion.

THE BA SERVICE AS A LEARNING ORGANISATION

Acquiring and maintaining the required skills is important for anyone working in a professional discipline. Where that discipline has a technological and business focus, as is the case for business analysis, ongoing skill development is critical to meet the needs of a constantly changing business environment.

For example:

• Government policy or legal regulation changes have an impact upon how organisations work. Business analysts have to keep up to date with such changes in order to support their organisations in ensuring compliance.

• Socio-cultural changes often result in new or extended customer requirements. Business analysts need to be tuned in to different ways in which customers want services to be delivered and the experience they expect them to have when dealing with the organisation.

• Technological changes are frequent and can change the way in which organisations operate and the services they can offer. Business analysts have to conduct their work within a digital context, and this requires them to be knowledgeable about new developments and the potential that they can offer.

Given the frequency of change and the nature of the business analyst role, the acquisition of new knowledge and skills – and the enhancement of existing knowledge and skills – is important for both BA leaders and individual business analysts.

Peter Senge wrote that the following characterises a learning organisation:

Senge’s description is highly aspirational and offers a vision for business analysts and leaders when building and developing the BA Service. While BA leaders are responsible for developing a learning focus and embedding a culture of learning within the BA Service, the business analysts have a shared responsibility for executing the vision of the learning BA Service:

• Each individual needs to be aware of the skill requirements for the role they perform. Beyond having an awareness, the individual also needs to embrace learning and adopt several mechanisms to ensure the required skills are developed, maintained and enhanced as necessary.

• Each BA leader has to offer their staff support for their personal skills development. This support has several facets: provision of learning opportunities, learning resources and a clear direction for learning. There has to be coherence and consistency amongst these three elements. For example, a BA leader who emphasises the importance of skills development yet offers limited support – whether through training or other resources – will undermine the message and fail to embed a learning culture within the team.

Skills development process

The process for personal skills development is represented in Figure 4.7.

Figure 4.7 Skills development process

This is a standard gap analysis process that should be familiar to most business analysts. The process depicts how the skills development framework may be used to support BA leaders when developing the business analysts within their team. The individual stages in this process are as follows:

• Determine skills development framework. As discussed earlier in this chapter, the skills development framework consists of service, skill and role profiles that set out what an individual business analyst needs to know and to be able to do. This framework offers the ‘to be’, or ‘target’, state.

• Evaluate personal skills. Each individual business analyst can be assessed, or may assess themselves, against the relevant role profile within the skills framework. The framework also offers the potential for individuals to assess themselves against other role profiles when they wish to move into a different business analyst role or gain promotion. This assessment provides the ‘as is’, or ‘current’, state.

• Analyse the skills gap. The gaps are identified by comparing the desired target state with the current state. This evaluation will identify the skills or knowledge that the individual does not hold at the required levels of competency.

•Determine skill acquisition approach. The competency gaps should be considered in the light of the resources provided within the BA Service. Relevant approaches to address any gaps should be identified and adopted. Skills acquisition is an ongoing process that should be reviewed regularly. Ideally, business analysts should be responsible for monitoring their individual skill sets and identifying where a need for development has arisen.

Triple Loop learning

The BA Service can increase the effectiveness of its learning and decision making by understanding the feedback mechanisms, or loops, which are applied after an action has led to an outcome. The Triple Loop learning concept (Argyris and Schon, 1974), represented in Figure 4.8, shows how business analysts may learn from both challenges and successes. This concept prompts consideration of the quality of business analysis, the standards by which quality is evaluated, and the ways in which those standards are defined in the first place.

Figure 4.8 Triple Loop learning (adapted from Swieringa, Wierdsma and Swieringa,1992)

• Single Loop: Doing things right. Policies, procedures, standards and quality criteria (in other words ‘the rules’) are all applied successfully by business analysts. Business analysis techniques are used correctly and in line with the standards defined by the BA Service (see Chapter 6).

• Double Loop: Doing the right things. Business analysts provide services defined in the BA service portfolio and reflect on whether the procedures, rules and standards should be changed or updated (see Chapter 12). New business analysis techniques are adopted as appropriate and BA leaders review and update the BA service portfolio when required (see Chapter 2).

•Triple Loop: Defining what is right. The direction and approach of the BA Service may need revision or transformation in response to changes in organisation strategy, internal context, external influences and industry practices. BA leaders may need to review and update the vision for the BA Service (see Chapter 8) and BA Service Charter (see Chapter 11).

Learning approaches

A variety of learning approaches exist and may be made available to business analysts. Again, it is not just the responsibility of the BA leaders to determine the learning resources – all of the business analysts within the team should share responsibility for identifying these resources.

Different individuals learn in different ways and this, plus the continuing nature of learning, requires different learning resources to be made available (see also Appendix 4). The possible resources are described in Table 4.10.

Table 4.10 Learning and development approaches

Learning approach	Description
Formal training course (face to face)	Formal training courses provide an efficient means of learning new techniques and gaining new skills. It is also the case that a training course enables the exchange of experience and insights, and, if provided to a group of colleagues, can help in the development of a BA Service Formal training courses are usually based on established good practice and provide a means of standardising the approach taken to business analysis work across the BA Service. For example, the adoption of UML techniques such as use case and class diagrams
Formal training course (online)	Online formal training courses should also be based on established good practice. However, it is important to evaluate the quality of such products. They can also provide a means of standardising how the business analysis work is conducted Online learning is typically a form of personal study, so does not generate the advantages that may accrue from group discussions and sharing of experiences. These products have greater flexibility, though, as they can be accommodated within time constraints at work
Personal study using other resources	Skills development requires individuals to engage with the development process and to spend their own time on this, even if also attending formal training. The resources that are available to support personal development are extensive, easily accessible and varied Business analysts should be encouraged and motivated to look for available online instruction (videos, articles, online learning) and published material (books, magazines, articles)
Informal learning event	Many organisations run informal business analysis team events such as lunchtime presentations or discussions. These may focus on a specific topic and last for a limited time (such as an hour). They offer an opportunity to share skills and knowledge and are often tailored to the organisation. An ongoing programme of informal events helps to foster a culture of learning, which allows benefits from investment in formal training to be realised
Conference	Business analysis conferences have increased in number over the last few years. While they charge for admittance, they can offer a way of gaining additional skills, knowledge and insights in a short space of time. The nature of such conferences is that the range of topics tends to be extensive, so they can offer a significant development opportunity
Seminar	Professional bodies such as BCS or IIBA run meetings and seminars on a regular basis. Each event tends to focus on a set theme and there is typically at least one speaker and time for discussion. These events also offer an opportunity to meet and network with fellow business analysts The BAMF runs seminars twice a year for BA leaders and managers. These seminars also offer an opportunity for discussion, sharing experiences and networking
Internal learning resources	Many business analysis teams have a shared repository where individual business analysts may share information. The repository also presents an opportunity for the organisation to share standards, policies and other forms of guidance. Such repositories can be a valuable resource for personal development
Voluntary work	Business analysts may work on a voluntary basis to support organisations such as charities or small businesses. This provides opportunities to gain experiences in environments that are outside the normal workplace

Learning as a community

Benefits of a Community of Practice

The business analysis profession places particular emphasis on the benefits of engaging with the professional community across organisations and sectors. This enables business analysts to learn from their peers and to share ideas and insights. The CoP concept may be applied internally to a BA Service, as discussed in Chapter 1, as this helps to provide business analysts with a sense of identity and common purpose within the organisation. This sense of identify and purpose may be fostered through face-to-face or virtual events, and the provision of collaboration spaces and tools (see Chapter 7).

The benefits from a CoP are defined as follows:

Therefore, a CoP will form a strong basis for the BA Service, as it will engender the sense of a sharing, learning community.

Wenger, McDermott and Snyder also commented on the nature of ‘practice’:

This requires a CoP to be supported by a wide-ranging repository that exists to share information amongst practitioners about the work conducted by their profession. Within a BA Service, this repository would help to define ‘how’ business analysis is conducted and would provide business analysts with access to the collective wisdom of their internal community.

Developing a sense of community is essential if the aims of identity, focus, collective wisdom and sharing are to be achieved. This requires business analysts, particularly BA leaders, to arrange regular community events in order to foster a culture of common understanding and shared values (discussed in Chapter 11). While this may involve a significant investment of time, effort and funding (see Appendix 9), there are significant benefits to be gained from such events, including:

• an environment for professional development;

• a source of inspiration and motivation;

• a professional support mechanism;

• a professional network;

• a sense of professional identity;

• an opportunity to strengthen relationships;

• an opportunity to learn as a group;

• an opportunity to share knowledge;

• a means of identifying dependencies and associating related work;

• a way to establish consistent ways of working;

• a mechanism to improve ways of working.

The CoP concept can be particularly beneficial if a BA Service is large or geographically distributed. The sense of shared purpose can help to encourage communication with colleagues in different locations or domains; the central repository can provide a basis for communication and sharing across geographical boundaries. A CoP can also offer a means of structuring the community through ‘local’ events, based around physical location or business area, that can generate contributions to the learning resources.

Reasons Communities of Practice fail

Inevitably, there will be innovators and early adopters who welcome the creation of a CoP enthusiastically; there will be others who defer adoption until they can see the benefits clearly; and there will be those who resist or avoid engaging with a CoP until forced to do so (Rogers, 2003). Given this mix of perspectives, and the pressures of everyday business analysis work, both new and established CoPs can run into issues.

Table 4.11 sets out some key reasons why CoPs fail to prosper.

Table 4.11 Reasons why Communities of Practice fail

Some key, generic actions that can help to address this variety of issues that can arise are as follows:

• Encourage everyone to be honest about issues.

• Focus on building relationships as a core activity.

• Continue to seek senior support and sponsorship.

• Create or revisit regularly the terms of reference or purpose for the CoP.

A learning community can offer an additional means of ensuring that business analysts develop their knowledge and skills. Taking time to foster this community can reap significant rewards both for the BA Service and the organisation.

Professional business analysis certifications

Training courses may be accredited or endorsed by professional bodies. An accreditation is typically based upon a professional certification that has a defined syllabus setting out the topics to be included in the course. Where this is the case, course attendees are able to sit an examination leading to the particular certification.

The major professional bodies that offer certifications in business analysis are as follows:

• BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT:¹ BCS offers certifications that support the business analyst career path from entry/apprentice level to expert. The BCS International Diploma in Business Analysis is widely adopted by organisations wishing to ensure that their business analysts have professional certifications. This certification has also been adopted as a means of ensuring standardisation and consistency of approach to business analysis work.

• IIBA² offers a range of certifications, including the Entry Certificate in Business Analysis, Certificate of Competence in Business Analysis and Certified Business Analysis Professional. These certifications are based upon the IIBA Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK®), which has been adopted as a standard by many organisations.

• BAMF:³ the BAMF offers the Expert BA Award (which is endorsed by BCS) and has also contributed to the development of the BCS Advanced Diploma in Business Analysis.

• International Requirements Engineering Board (IREB)⁴ offers certifications that are concerned with Requirements Engineering.

• Project management awarding bodies, such as Project Management Institute (PMI)⁵ or the Association for Project Management Group (APMG),⁶ also offer business analysis certifications.

Business analysis certifications have been available since the mid-1990s, when BCS introduced a certification in Business Activity Modelling. This was followed by the BCS Diploma in Business Analysis, which was launched in 1999. Since this time, certifications have grown in importance within the business analysis community. The advantages offered by certification are as follows:

• Certifications confirm that an individual has achieved a level of competence in a topic. For example, a business analyst holding the BCS International Diploma in Business Analysis has been tested for knowledge, understanding, application and the ability to analyse and synthesise information within a business analysis context.

• Certifications usually require significant effort from examination candidates, so they also confirm that they are prepared to apply themselves to learning and personal development.

• From an organisational perspective, certifications signal that the organisation is prepared to invest in their staff. From a business analysis perspective, they also provide evidence to the rest of the organisation of the professionalism of the BA Service.

• Where certification examinations are taken within the context of a formal training course (whether in class or online), course participants tend to devote more time and attention to study and, therefore, tend to gain more from the experience than when attending courses where there is not a certification.

• Certification provides common language and baseline understanding of core concepts for all members of the BA Service.

The BCS publication, Business Analyst (Reed, 2018), offers further information on business analysis certifications.

CONCLUSION

BA leaders have a broad range of staff development responsibilities. Fulfilling these responsibilities can be time-consuming and difficult, and an approach that incorporates the use of skills development frameworks and role profiles can be extremely helpful. Given that business analysts work within business environments that are subject to frequent change across many different areas, there is a pressing need for ongoing personal development.

There are a variety of learning approaches available to business analysts, some formal and some less so. Formal learning approaches, such as training courses, are often based upon professional certifications like those offered by BCS.

A CoP offers a basis for building a sense of a common purpose and identity amongst business analysts. This helps to develop a shared responsibility for learning, where everyone within the team contributes to learning and development. A willingness to share information, knowledge and experiences, and the provision of resources to support sharing, is key to the success of a community learning initiative.

The provision of a skills development framework and an internal information sharing repository is the responsibility of the BA leader. However, participating in learning activities and contributing to the learning resources are the responsibility of everyone in the BA Service. It is only when both leaders and practitioners engage in the learning process, and the principles and philosophy of a learning organisation are embraced, that a learning culture will be embedded within the BA Service.

CASE STUDY 2: GREEN-FIELD BA SERVICE

Michael Greenhalgh, British Council

When Michael Greenhalgh joined the British Council, he found a green-field site for business analysis. There were several BAs based at sites across the UK and in Europe, but there had been little opportunity to clarify the role or share best practice. Therefore, there were no standards, templates or shared ways of working across the business analysis team.

The situation was in contrast to the business analysis approach at Michael’s previous organisation. He moved to the British Council from a financial services institution where there was a mature BA practice, having taken for granted all the components that make the delivery of a BA Service successful. Michael commented: ‘I realised everything had always been in place; building it was daunting but also a great chance to review what was important.’

The first task that Michael decided upon was to listen to the existing BAs and their customers. There was mixed understanding of the BA role, even amongst those who had the job title ‘business analyst’. Keen to use industry standards and best practice where possible, Michael looked to BCS and IIBA resources, and developed a clear definition of the BA role within the British Council.

There was a sense of urgency within the organisation to adopt business analysis tools and templates. However, Michael felt it was important to concentrate first on the people within the business analysis team, focusing on the development of key business analysis skills. He was keen to build trust within the team and enable more senior BAs to mentor their less experienced colleagues.

Michael carried out a maturity assessment of the British Council’s BA community and used the results of this assessment to set targets and create a shared improvement plan to which all the BAs would contribute. He wanted to create a sense of a highly professional community, so set up monthly meetings (a mixture of face to face and virtual) as well as encouraging the establishment of business analysis working groups. These groups were tasked with developing specific initiatives and reporting progress to the main BA community meeting. Guest speakers from other roles were invited to present to the BA community, providing a basis for the BAs to learn from others and avoiding an insular focus. The British Council encourages professional development and is highly supportive of learning from external sources.

Reflecting on the initial period when he was creating the BA community, Michael said: ‘I was conscious of the opportunity and the responsibility. I wanted to get it right, and there was a lot of information available to support us; I read lot of books! We needed to find our space within the organisation, to build good relationships and trust with other roles, particularly project managers, architects and business partners.’

The BAs at the British Council are still striving for continuous improvement and, having established many changes, Michael’s role has changed over time. He commented: ‘My role is to support BAs day to day to do their job better, more effectively, and to try to clear blockers. I also communicate with colleagues outside the BA community and sell the benefits of the BA role.’

1 See www2.bcs.org/certifications/ba

2 See www.iiba.org/certification/core-business-analysis-certifications

3 See www.bamanagerforum.org/the-expert-ba-award

4 See www.ireb.org/en

5 See www.pmi.org/certifications/types/business-analysis-pba

6 See www.apmg-international.com