7 APPLYING SOFTWARE TOOLS TO SUPPORT THE BA SERVICE
INTRODUCTION
Almost every area of our work and personal lives is now supported by software tools, and business analysis is no exception. The key question is: ‘To what extent are business analysis activities and outputs improved and supported by the tools available?’ The answer to this varies greatly across different organisations and even across business analysts in a single organisation.
There is a significant variation in tools in use to support both the delivery of business analysis and the management of the BA Service. This chapter considers the use of support tools and covers the following areas:
• types of tools that can support business analysis;
• levels of maturity in using support tools;
• the need for a support tool strategy;
•reasons why tools may fail to realise expected benefits and how to address common issues.
SUPPORT TOOL CATEGORIES
Support tools will be used on a daily basis by business analysts during the performance of the services, and also by senior business analysts in the management and operation of the BA Service. The software tools required by the BA Service must be considered in terms of the features needed to support this work.
Although it is very difficult to find any consistency in support tool use, it is possible to understand the types of tools that may be used to support different elements of business analysis. There are six main categories of tools, shown in Figure 7.1, which business analysts use on a regular basis to successfully carry out the role (BA Manager Forum 2016).
Further details of the capabilities associated with each type of tool, and a description of how the tools support business analysts, are shown in Table 7.1.
Figure 7.1 Categories of support tool used when conducting business analysis
Table 7.1 Software tools and capabilities
Software tools can offer the opportunity to develop the sense of community across business analysts as they enable them to share information and work collaboratively to deliver their services.
Where more extensive tools are not available, it is still important to enable this sharing and collaboration. As a minimum this will require:
• an email distribution list for all business analysts working in the organisation;
•a shared area where standards, templates and guidance may be stored and accessed.
Requirements engineering and management
Requirements engineering, including requirements management, is a core competency of the BA Service, so this needs to be an area of tool support that is given specific consideration. Using office utilities (primarily documents and spreadsheets) for requirements is manageable up to a point, but for a large or complex area of work, ensuring that a vast number of interrelated requirements are captured and controlled becomes a challenging task.
A complex system development project requires specialist software to ensure that all relevant stakeholders are working with the current version of the requirements. Requirements engineering and requirements management software are not always popular with business analysts or other stakeholders, but do offer significant potential benefits to several stakeholder groups, as described in Table 7.2.
Requirements engineering and requirements management tools can overlap with Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE) tools and configuration management tools. The level of resource overhead, on the part of the business analyst and others, to keep requirements tools up to date can be considerable. To realise the benefits of a tool, it must become an integral part of the analysis and development process and be seen as an enabler of the project or development team work.
Table 7.2 Benefits of requirements management tools
Management tools
A range of tools are required to support the management of the BA Service. Depending on the size and business analysis maturity of the organisation, some of the functionality may be provided by enterprise-wide tools. However, in smaller or less mature organisations, local software solutions may need to be established by the BA Service. The functionality offered by these tools and the rationale for their use are described in Table 7.3.
The entire delivery portfolio offered by the BA Service is likely to encompass a mixture of corporate processes and systems (e.g. HR and Finance), and local systems, processes, documentation and spreadsheets. It may be a worthwhile exercise to use the functionality provided by support tools to define the systems in use, the relationships between systems and processes, and the flows of data between the systems. This should be augmented by information about the responsibilities of the BA Service regarding the systems and processes. This will provide the holistic picture of how the BA Service operates and interacts across the organisation and will offer opportunities to identify possible business improvements.
The features offered by support tools enable efficient business analysis activity. Therefore, the procurement and use of relevant support tools is key to the efficient operation of the BA Service.
SUPPORT TOOL MATURITY ASSESSMENT
The level of maturity a BA Service has reached regarding support tools is informed by the answers to these key questions:
• Do business analysts have access to the support tools that will help them to produce the required analysis outputs?
• Do business analysts know which support tools are available, and how and when to use them?
Figure 7.2 shows a 5-Level Maturity model analogous to the CMMI model discussed in more detail in Chapter 12.
Figure 7.2 BA Service support tool maturity levels
Increasing levels of maturity show that there is consistency in the use of support tools; this is guided by a strategy for deploying and using support tools, and the tools available meet the needs of the BA Service and its customers. The maturity levels relevant to the use of business analysis support tools are described in Table 7.4.
Table 7.4 BA Service support tool maturity levels
The aim of the support tool strategy is to set out the goals and objectives of the BA Service and show where these are, or could be, supported by appropriate tools and technology. It should consider the current business analysis capabilities that are enabled by support tools, and those that could be enhanced or enabled by tools in future. It will also contain any support tool policies or requirements that have been agreed at an organisational or enterprise architecture level. The strategy should also outline the approach to procure and deploy support tools. Over time, the strategy should be updated to reflect which tools have been selected for which purposes (see Appendix 6).
As new tools and technology emerge on a frequent basis, there must be a mechanism to assess new support tool options against the strategy and make updates when necessary.
SELECTING BUSINESS ANALYSIS SUPPORT TOOLS
It is important to consider providing support tools to business analysts beyond the standard office utilities and basic corporate software suite if they are to provide an efficient and effective BA Service. The high-level requirements to be delivered by business analysis support tools include the ability to:
• improve the consistency of business analysis deliverables;
• facilitate collaboration;
• ensure that outputs meet quality expectations and are usable by the intended audience;
• enable mechanisms for traceability;
• provide an efficient approach to creating deliverables;
• store and organise analysis artefacts;
• provide mechanisms for efficient re-use of artefacts;
• provide security, audit history and change control;
• generate information for tracking progress and quality measurement.
When considering the requirements for business analysis support tools, there is often an initial focus on the functionality, as demonstrated by the list above. However, it is also important to consider and define appropriate non-functional requirements, in particular regarding the following areas:
• security and access;
• usability;
• accessibility;
• availability;
• resilience;
• performance;
• capacity and scalability;
• backup and recovery;
• archiving and deletion.
The platform on which the tools will be run, and any other technical infrastructure requirements, will also need to be considered. Essentially, deciding on a support tool for the BA Service requires business analysts to undertake several of the services within the BASF to assess feasibility and relevance (see Chapter 2). This is further discussed later in the chapter.
Free versus commercial software
There are many software suppliers that provide free online tools or free (reduced functionality) versions of software that support some business analysis activities. The functionality provided by these versions may include support for mind mapping, process mapping, wireframes development, analytics, document sharing and collaboration. The use of these tools may help a small or developing BA Service to understand the value they offer.
There are advantages and disadvantages to free and commercially available support tools. These are discussed in Table 7.5.
Table 7.5 Advantages and disadvantages of free and paid-for tools
With both free and commercially available software, it is usually possible to try the tool before a final decision is made. In the case of a significant investment (of both time and money) it may be possible to do a ‘site-visit’, to see an organisation that uses the tool extensively and discover what the business analysts believe are the benefits and constraints of the tool.
Deploying support tools
Once a product has been selected, which should include testing the software for ‘fit’ with the business analysis requirements, it may also be necessary to undertake the business change deployment service. Therefore, procuring a support tool for the BA Service requires as much analysis as any other project. Many organisations have invested large amounts on purchasing tools for use within their business change and IT disciplines and these have not always been wise investments. Applying good business analysis and project management approaches to these purchases offers a much greater likelihood of success.
Using specific analysis software rather than generic office utilities software may require the BA Service to assume greater responsibility for the business analysis deliverables. Given that they are information assets of the organisation and projects, it is important to protect them to ensure that they don’t become unavailable, corrupted or compromised. This requires the business analysts to consider how this may be prevented, the impact if issues arise and who would be responsible for rectifying the issue.
Where a decision is taken to implement business analysis support tools, the specialist nature of the tools also places the responsibility on the business analysts to consider the following questions:
• How will software upgrades be managed?
• How will licences be managed?
• How will new business analysts be trained in the use of the tools?
• How will new business analysts gain access to the tools?
• How will staff departures be managed?
These questions need to be considered as part of the evaluation and deployment of the support tools.
Applying the business analysis process
Understanding the tools and technology needed to support the BA Service provides the perfect opportunity for business analysts to demonstrate good practice. Debates on which tool to use can be lengthy and applying a business analysis approach is likely to be beneficial. The following business analysis services will help to ensure that the desired outcome from adopting a support tool is achieved.
• Situation investigation and problem analysis: to determine why a support tool is needed, identify any issues that would need to be considered and analyse the stakeholder views regarding a proposal for a support tool.
• Feasibility assessment and business case development: to evaluate the feasibility of different products and define the costs, benefits, impacts and risks associated with each of them.
• Requirements definition: to elicit and analyse the requirements to be provided by a support tool, including both functional and non-functional requirements, as discussed above.
Therefore, before making a major investment of time and money, it is helpful to apply the relevant business analysis services. The business analysis process model (Paul, Cadle and Yeates, 2014) shown in Figure 7.3 offers a similar view, in this case with specific reference to the consideration of stakeholder perspectives.
Figure 7.3 Business analysis process model
Without the discipline of this approach, the BA Service runs the risk of making an unwise investment due to the following:
• viewing technology as the answer to all issues;
• progressing quickly without understanding the context or problem to be addressed;
• listening to whoever speaks loudest;
• believing that a support tool that worked in another area or organisation is a valid solution;
• buying something that seems to meet the need without understanding the business requirements;
• failing to consider ongoing costs;
• relying on implementation by osmosis;
• failing to realise the predicted benefits.
Adopting ‘free’ software also runs the risk of falling foul of hidden costs that may prove expensive in the longer term.
Table 7.6 shows a number of questions that need to be addressed at each stage of the business analysis process; the route to addressing each question may require one or more analysis techniques to be applied.
Two further business analysis services are likely to be required to ensure a successful adoption of a support tool:
• Business process improvement: to review the business analysis activities and identify where they might change following the adoption of a support tool.
• Business change deployment: to plan the transition towards the adoption of the new tool and revised processes.
Table 7.6 Business analysis stages applied to tool selection
This work requires a holistic approach that takes into account all of the POPITTM model elements. Questions to be considered during the delivery of the new support tool are as follows:
• Who will lead the delivery of the change?
• What is the process to purchase, deploy, build and configure the software?
• What training will be required for business analysts and others affected by the use of the support tool?
• How will current business analysis work be impacted?
• What documentation needs to be created or updated to support the use of the tool?
• How will usage be encouraged and embedded?
• How will benefits be tracked and realised?
•Who will have ongoing maintenance responsibility?
REASONS TOOLS CAN FAIL
Despite the benefits that may be achieved from investing time and money into implementing a standard support tool set, there are several issues that can arise. Table 7.7 shows a number of typical issues and possible ways to address them.
Table 7.7 Issues with use of support tools
The specific reasons business analysts suggest for the lack of adoption of tools provides a basis for identifying the root causes of problems and defining the specific actions required to address them.
When selecting and implementing support tools, it is important to keep in mind the main objective, which is to support the efficiency and effectiveness of the BA Service. This involves ensuring that the business analysis deliverables aid communication and meet the needs and expectations of stakeholders. It may be necessary in some situations to prioritise good working relationships and effective collaboration over the use of a specific support tool.
CONCLUSION
Business analysis cannot be conducted in isolation. The results from business analysis need to be recorded so that they can be communicated to stakeholders and reviewed for consistency. Support tools offer a range of features that can help business analysts to perform their roles effectively.
The tools used to support the delivery of business analysis services must align with the needs of the different customer categories, as well as the business analysts, and should provide features that are relevant to particular situations and services.
Support tools offer the opportunity to increase efficiency, bring clarity and enable collaboration. However, effort, planning and commitment are required to adopt and embed support tools successfully. Failure to ensure that sufficient time and resources are available when deploying tools risks undermining the investment and may limit the extent to which any benefits are realised.
CASE STUDY 5: REALISING BENEFITS FROM INVESTMENT IN SUPPORT TOOLS
Terri Lydiard, Teal Business Solutions
Having worked with a large number of organisations across a range of sectors, including finance and global consultancy, Terri Lydiard has had the opportunity to see a range of tools in use to support business analysis. Some organisations have had real success, and realised the benefits of their investment, others have wasted a huge amount of money.
The instances where requirements engineering and management tools work well are where there is a stable team of business analysts, ongoing training and an emphasis on knowledge sharing and collaboration. Where tools are also used by other disciplines, such as architecture, development and testing, this increases the usefulness of the tool and the potential benefits for the organisation. Terri has seen that some organisations spend a lot of time trying to get information out of tools, into documents, spreadsheets and reports for different audiences. Business stakeholders can be reluctant to change their processes (such as accessing information directly in the tool), or to accept information in new formats.
There can also be challenges from the business analysts; some seem to do everything possible to avoid using a tool. Tracking and workflow management tools are often more readily accepted by BAs, as they are typically easy to learn, have intuitive interfaces and don’t constrain the analysis approach. With a more complex tool there will be a significant training overhead, and if the BA workforce is subject to a lot of change, for example, through the use of large numbers of contractors, there is an ongoing need to train new members. For some BAs the training need may be twofold, learning how to use the tool, and how to use any standards or notation the tool supports, such as UML.
There may also be a level of internal politics surrounding the adoption or replacement of tools, in relation to which teams or senior stakeholders advocate for which tools, and this will influence decision making.
Reflecting on how organisations may successfully adopt support tools, Terri said: ‘Think about how the tool will be implemented, and don’t necessarily mandate it for every project; sometimes it’s not worth it. Create a set of criteria such as size, length and complexity of the project and number of people involved; only projects that meet the criteria are likely to get the benefits from the investment in tooling.’
The culture of the organisation has a huge impact on the effectiveness of any tools adopted. ‘The key to the success of a tool is the people; you have to show them it’s worth it. Make sure the tool is stable, that there are core people who are proficient, and make others want to use it!’