ESI-BAGlobalSurveyReport-WhyGoodIsntGoodEnough

8/3/2019 ESI-BAGlobalSurveyReport-WhyGoodIsntGoodEnough

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The Global State of Business Analysis


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Business Analysis Global Survey Report 2011

EXECUTIVESUMMARYOrganizations around the globe are using

business analysis (BA) to dene requirements

and determine courses of action and solutionsto help them achieve their goals. BA activities

are critical to projects and organizational

success, but success requires standards of

practice and adherence to the BA discipline.

How good are organizations at practicing BA?

Are they realizing its full potential?

In September 2011, ESI International

conducted a survey of more than 1,600

respondents with varying titles within

organizations worldwide to ask about their

experiences and perceptions of BA.

This global study seeks to determine the

actual business impact that BA has on

organizations, and examines its current

state by inquiring into BA practices, trends,

challenges and applications of the BA

discipline.

Respondents represent a broad spectrum

of industries, including the public sector,

when answering questions about theirorganizations, including the following:

How do they rate the prociency of their

overall BA function?

How do they rate the prociency of their

individual BA activities?

What are the key success factors for their

projects?

We found that prociency in BA can vary

among activities and among organizations,

but respondents are essentially satised

with their BA practices and outcomes. While

people believe their organizations BA

practices are good, analysis shows there is

room for improvement, indicating that good

isnt necessarily good enough.

Gaps exist in certain BA areas, such as:

Prociency in BA activities

The practice of BA at the enterprise level

Levels of experience

Achieving certication in BA

2


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SURVEY RESULTS

THE SURVEY REVEALED SOME KEY FINDINGS: Respondents view BA as crucial to successful projects and in fact, the overall rating of BA functions is highly related to project

success rates.

100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

CHART 1. PROJECT SUCCESS AND BA PROFICIENCY ARE POSITIVELY CORRELATED

BA Overall Rating Poor

BA Overall Rating Fair

BA Overall Rating Good

BA Overall Rating Very Good

BA Overall Rating Excellent

% Projects Successful

Lessth

an25%

25%

-50%

51%

-74%

75%

-99%

100%

Contradicting external evidence of ndings of project results, more than 90 percent of respondents consider more than half

their projects to have been successful over the last three years. 68 percent of respondents consider 75 percent or more of their

projects to have been successful.

Middle management is more critical of the BA function than senior management, yet business analysts themselves also see

room for improvement.


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100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

CHART 2. RATING OF BA PROFICIENCY BY ORGANIZATIONAL TITLE

Poor

Fair

Good

Very Good

Excellent

C-Level

Execut

iveManag

er/Vice

Presid

ent

Senior

Manager

Projec

tManage

r

Busin

essAnalys

tOrganizational Titles

Respondents at all levels of the organization rated the most important success factors of their projects as

customer satisfaction: 81 percent

on time completion: 62 percent

on budget delivery: 52 percent

product quality: 46 percent

Survey results indicated that BA is not viewed as being impactful to business results. Only 22 percent of respondents said prot

impact is an important success factor for BA. Just 15 percent said acquisition and retention of customers, and 4 percent said

market share are important success criteria for BA.

Just under 20 percent of total respondents said that they are responsible for enterprise analysis, and only 7 percent said that

they spent most of their time on enterprise analysis. Among BAs, only 26.3 percent are responsible for enterprise analysis and

6.5 percent said that they spent most of their time on enterprise analysis.

Nearly half of BA practitioners have ve years or less of BA experience; of them, 15 percent have less than two years ofexperience. 21 percent have six to nine years experience and 30 percent have 10 years or more.

37 percent of organizations have increased their number of BA positions in the last two years, and 27 percent expect to increase

them over the next two years.

The key challenges faced in BA are communication (47 percent) and cross-functional collaboration (46 percent).

BA certication is not widespread in organizations, with only 2.5 percent of total respondents who said they have their CBAP

certication, and 6.4 percent of BA respondents who have their CBAP certication. 1.8 percent of total respondents and 1.0

percent of BA respondents said they have a SCRUM Master certication.


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CONCLUSIONS

ORGANIZATIONS ARE USING BUSINESS ANALYSIS TO WIN THE BATTLE, BUT THEY MAY NOTWIN THE WARThe survey shows respondents make the connection between BA prociency and project success, but that a disconnect still exists

in recognizing the impact of BA and successful projects on business value and results. This could likely be the result of individuals

granular focus on projects without seeing the Big Picture. In addition, BAs do not always understand their impact on the

organization from a nancial or business perspective since they often conduct task-oriented work with stakeholders who may also

lack an overall perspective.

Both business analysts and project managers need to become more involved at the enterprise level. Not surprisingly, enterprise

analysis ranks lowest in prociency among business analysis activities. Without an enterprise analysis perspective, BAs lack the

connection between what they are doing and why they are doing it. So while they may be winning the project battle, they dont

have the enterprise-wide perspective to win the war.

MOST BELIEVE GOOD IS GOOD ENOUGHThe majority of respondents believe that their BA competencies are good to excellent, and that 75 percent or more of their projects

over the last three years were successful. However, since real-world evidence indicates otherwise, organizations may be in need of a

reality check.

BA IN DEMAND DESPITE INEXPERIENCE AND IMMATURITY OF THE PROFESSIONThe survey shows a relatively large population of less experienced practitioners of BA, with nearly half reporting ve years or less

of experience. The still maturing nature of BA has numerous implications for organizations since it impacts performance, including

the potential for business analysts to work from an enterprise perspective, handle challenges within their discipline and theirorganizations, and achieve a level of prociency and success equated with more seasoned professionals.

Despite this, organizations recognize the critical importance of requirements management and BA, with survey results showing an

increase in the number of business analyst positions in the last two years, and an increased number of business analyst positions

projected over the next two years.

CERTIFICATION, TOOLS LACKING TO SUPPORT THE BA DISCIPLINE IN ORGANIZATIONSEstablishing BA as an organizational discipline may be undermined by a lack of the supporting elements of the profession. The

survey results show that BA certications are held by a very small percentage of those practicing the discipline, unlike its project

management counterpart, the Project Management Professional (PMP) certication. Just as surprising may be the smallpercentage of SCRUM Master certications, given the importance of Agile as an explosive development methodology. In addition,

BA tools are not as prevalent as might be expected given their potential enhancement to the business analysts output, with more

than one-third of respondents reporting using no dedicated tools at all.

SUMMARYIn a competitive and economically challenging environment, there is always room for improvementin BA, as well as in other

areas. Organizations that allow themselves to stand still will be left behind. Raising expectations for and the prociency of BA in

organizations is key to helping organizations realize the full potential of the discipline and maximize BAs business impact.


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SURVEY RESULTS

PROJECT PARTICIPANTS MISSING THE BIG PICTUREThe ultimate impact that projects have on decreasing costs and increasing revenues is directly related to protability; protability

is the reason that organizations do projects at all. In our questioning of respondents about the state of BA, we believe the most

signicant nding is that project participants are failing to make the connection between their tasks and activities and their impact

on business protability.

Organizational prot impact ranked 5th among the top criteria for successful projects when survey respondents were asked which

were most important to both them and the organization.

1400

1200

1000

800

600

400

200

CHART 3. THE TOP CRITERIA YOU CONSIDER KE Y TO THE SUCCESS OF PROJECTS ARE RA NK THE TOP THREE

Custo

merSatis

factio

n

On-Time

Comple

tion

On-Bu

dgetCom

pletio

n

Quality

oftheProd

uct

Organiza

tionalProt

Impact

Reten

tiono

fCurr

entClie

nts/Cu

stome

rs(Ext

ernal/Inter

nal)

Numb

erofDe

fects

Acquisitio

nofN

ewClients/

Custo

mers(

External/In

ternal)

Numb

erofCh

angesR

equests

Impacto

nMarke

tSha

re

Being

Firstto

Mark

etOth

er

While the larger business issue of protability could be understandably overlooked at the task-oriented level, organizationsshould be aware that such inattention could be a root cause of related and unrecognized project deciencies. Given these results,

organizations have the responsibility to establish the training and communication needed to point out these links at the project

level.

BAs LACK ENTERPRISE PERSPECTIVEThe project activities for which most survey respondents said they are responsible are project management (69 percent),

requirements analysis (69 percent) and requirements management (68 percent). Among the activities for which the least number of

respondents were responsible are portfolio management and enterprise analysis (both cited by 20 percent).

1188

905

756680

315

123 100 93 90 65 53 27


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70%

60%50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

CHART 4. SURVEY RESPONDENTS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE FOLLOWING PROJECT ACTIVITIES SELECT ALL THAT APPLY

Portfolio

Manage

ment

Enter

priseAn

alysis

ProgramMa

nageme

nt

Syst

emsA

nalys

is

Requirem

entsE

licitat

ion

Proje

ctEval

uatio

n

Solut

ionAsses

smentandV

alidatio

ns

Requirem

entsM

onito

ring

Requireme

ntsPlannin

g

Require

mentsC

ommu

nicati

ons

Requiremen

tsMan

agem

ent

Requirem

entsA

nalys

is

Looking at the time spent on project activities, 44 percent of survey respondents said that project management takes up the greatest

amount of their time, followed by requirements analysis (39 percent) and requirements management (37 percent).

7

80%

ProjectM

anagem

ent

20% 20%

32%

40%

47% 49%52%

59%

63% 63%68%

69% 69%

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

CHART 5. WHICH ACTIVITI ES TAKE UP THE GREATEST AMOUNT OF YOUR TIME? SELECT THE TOP 3

PortfolioM

anageme

nt

Enter

priseAnaly

sis

Portfoli

oManageme

nt

System

sAnalysis

Require

ments

Elicitat

ion

Projec

tEvaluat

ion

Solut

ionAsses

smenta

ndValidatio

ns

Require

ments

Monitor

ing

Require

ments

Planning

Require

ments

Comm

unication

Require

ments

Man

agement

Require

ments

Analysis

800

Projec

tMan

agement

722640

610

383348 339

327 323 307274

150 120

353

Given the focus on project management, it is likely that not enough BA muscle is being exed, and organizations are relying on

project management to steer the right course.


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Since PM focuses on what is urgent while BA focuses on what is important, the results indicate that a more balanced portfolio of

project activities between the two disciplines will prevent the urgent taking precedence over the important.

REPORTED BA PROFICIENC Y, PROJECT SUCCESS IN QUESTIONSurvey respondents reported high rates of prociency of overall BA and individual BA activities, although later in this report, we will

see that a lack of experience and professional certication call these ratings into question.

35 percent rated the overall prociency of their BA function as very good or excellent, while 39 percent rated it good.

5.5% Excellent

30% Very Good

39.3% Good

20.5% Fair

4.7% Poor

Respondents also rated their organizations prociency as good to excellent in

Business analysis, planning and monitoring (70 percent)

Elicitation (62 percent)

Requirements management and communication (68 percent)

Enterprise analysis (52 percent)

Requirements analysis (73 percent)

Solution assessment and validation (69 percent)

CHART 6. RATE THE OVERALL PROFICIENCY OF THE BUSINESS ANALYSIS FUNCTION WITHIN YOUR ORGANIZATION


9/17


1600

14001200

1000

800

600

400

200

CHART 7. RATE THE PROFICIENCY OF EACH OF THE FOLLOWING BA ACTIVITIES IN YOUR ORGANIZATION

Dont KnowPoor

Fair

Good

Very Good

Elici

tation

Busin

essAnalysis

Plan

ning

andMoni

toring

Enterprise

Analy

sis

Require

ments

Managem

ent

andC

ommuni

cation

Excellent

As noted in the executive summary, organizations should be aware of contradictions between reported project success and BA

prociency rates, compared with the known realities of projects and failure rates.

Require

mentsA

nalys

is

Solut

ionAssess

ment

and

Validatio

n

11.9% 100%

56.3% 75-99%

23.4% 51%-74%

2.3% Less than 25%

6.1% 25%-50%

If current BA prociencies are so highly rated and a large majority of projects considered successful, then the challenge remains for

organizations to establish and achieve higher standards of excellence.

CHART 8. WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE PROJECTS THAT YOU HAVE BEEN IN VOLVED IN OVER THE LAST 3 YEARS DO YOU CONSIDER TO HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFUL


10/17


BUSINESS ANALYST CERTIFICATIONS LAGGINGPart of the challenge in achieving higher standards of excellence may be due to the relatively small numbers of certied business

analysts. Survey results show that business analyst certications are currently lagging behind PMP certication among those

practicing BA. 32 percent of respondents have their PMP, although this is not surprising given it has been available far longer than

other project professional certications.

Only 7 percent of respondents said they have a business analyst certication. However, 9 percent said they are planning to earn a

business analyst certication within the next six months and 18 percent are planning to in the next two years.

25 percent of overall respondents and 24 percent of business analyst respondents said they are not planning on obtaining any

certication.

35%

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

CHART 9. WHICH BEST DES CRIBES YOUR CERTIFICATION STATUS CHECK ALL THAT APPLY

PortfolioM

anagem

ent

System

sAnalys

is

Require

ments

Elicitati

on

Solut

ionAsses

smenta

ndValida

tions

Require

ments

Monitori

ng

Require

ments

Plannin

g

Require

ments

Comm

unicati

on

Require

ments

Managem

ent

Require

mentsAna

lysis

Projec

tManagem

ent

32.4%

25.2%

20.918.3

2.5% 1.9% 1.8% 0.6% 0.6%

8.9

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE SHOWS BA STILL MATURINGResponses regarding the amount of time spent actively performing BA activities provide indications of experience levels as well as

insight into why a relatively low number of CBAP certications has been earned. Nearly half of respondents (49 percent) have only

ve years or less of experience, while the CBAP requires seven years or more years of experience. 21 percent have six to nine years

while 30 percent have 10 or more years of experience.

The years of BA experience reported by respondents is also an indication of the immaturity of the profession.


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15% Less than 2 years

21% 6-9 years

34% 2-5 years

CHART 10. AMOUNT OF TIME SPENT ACTIVELY PERFORMING THE BUSINESS ANALYSIS/REQUIREMENTS MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES FOR WHICH YOU

ARE RESPONSIBLE

30%10 years or more

ORGANIZATIONAL CHALLENGES FACING BUSINESS ANALYSTSSurvey results showing the challenges business analysts face in the organization oer few surprises. Communication and cross-

functional collaboration lead among top challenges with 47 percent and 46 percent of respondents, respectively, citing them. These

diculties underscore the importance of training and professional development to reduce impediments to better performance and

improved project and organizational results.

35%

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

Commu

nicati

onwith

Execut

ives,P

roject

Mana

gersa

ndBusin

essUnitH

eads

None

oftheAbo

ve

Certi

cation

Unde

rstandin

gofC

areerPat

hProg

ressio

n

Stakeh

olderMa

nageme

nt

Involv

ementw

ithQuality

Assura

nce

practices

(testin

g)

Traini

ng/Pr

ofession

alDevelop

ment

Purch

aseandA

dopti

onofRequire

ments

Manage

mentToo

ls

Comm

unica

tions

with

IT

Execut

iveSupp

ort

Involv

ementa

ttheIn

itialP

roject

Stages

Cross-Fu

nction

alCollab

oratio

n

40%

Balan

ceofT

echnic

aland

SoftS

kills

47.3% 46.1%

34.1% 33.7% 33.1%29.2%

27.4%

24.3% 24%

20%

15.2%

4.1%

33.4%

CHART 11. WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING POSE CHALLENGES IN YOUR ORGANIZATION AS THEY RELATE TO BUSINESS ANALYSIS/REQUIREMENTS

MANAGEMENT? SE LECT ALL THAT APPLY

45%50%


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FEWER PROJECTS OF LONGER LENGTHThe majority of respondents said that they work on a fewer number of projects of longer length; 33 percent said they have worked

on one project lasting 18 months or more in the last three years. When considering years of experience respondents reported, it can

be inferred that there is a relatively inexperienced population of people working on mission-critical, long-term projects.

2000

1500

1000

500

CHART 12. NUMBER OF PROJEC TS YOU HAVE BEEN INVOLVED WITH IN THE LAST 3 YEARS THAT LASTED

18 Months or more

One Year to 18 months

6 Months to one year

3-6 months

Less than 3 months

2Proj

ect

4Proj

ect

5Proj

ect

2500

3Proj

ect

1Proj

ect

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

As mentioned previously, business analysts have a surprising lack of dedicated tools at their disposal. 15 percent said they do not useany tools, 14 percent are using basic Microsoft Oce software and 5 percent are using homegrown, in-house developed solutions.

While this is a likely a reection of the lack of maturity of BA in the marketplace, it is foreseeable that ve years on, these results will

be signicantly dierent.


13/17


35%

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

Other

40%34.6%

46.1%

14.6%13.6%

5.1% 4.9%4.6% 4.4% 2.7% 2.3% 1.6% 1.3%

5.4%

CHART 13. WHICH TOOLS DO YOU USE REGULARLY IN BUSINESS ANALYSIS ACTIVITIE S? SELECT ALL THAT APPLY

IBMRationals

oftwa

resuite

Rational

Requisit

ePro No

ne

Micro

softO

ce

Case

Complet

e

Noneofth

eAbo

ve

Homegrow

n/In-H

ouse

Develop

edTools

BorlandCal

iberRM

BlueprintR

equireme

ntsCente

r

iRiseSuite

ofProd

uct

RallyS

oftwa

re

Raven

ow

InteGRE

ATeDev

Techn

ologie

s

A GROWING POPULATION OF BUSINESS ANALYSTSDespite the challenges and immaturity of the profession, the BA community has grown and organizations are continuing to invest

in their BA competency. 37 percent of respondents said their organizations had increased the number of business analysts in the

last two years, and 27 percent of respondents said their organizations plan to increase their number of business analysts in the

next two years. While the survey results did not indicate whether these positions would be lled in house or outsourced, these

robust employment ndings are a testament to the importance of the BA function amidst economic uncertainty and lingeringunemployment.

21% Less than 10

3% 40-49

CHART 14. HOW MANY BUSINE SS ANALYSTS ARE EMPLOYED BY THE DIVISION OR OR GANIZATION YOU WORK FOR?

24.5% 50 or more

5.7% 30-39

8.7% 20-29

14.1% 10-19


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36.8% Increased

26.5% Stayed the same

CHART 15. HOW MANY BUSINE SS ANALYSTS ARE EMPLOYED BY THE DIVISION OR OR GANIZATION YOU WORK FOR?

24.5% Dont know

17% Decreased

SOCIAL MEDIA TAKING A KEY ROLE IN INFORMATION EXCHANGE FOR BAIn a sign of the times, social media has taken on an integral role in training and career development in business analysis, as it is has

in most other professions. People are using some social media channels, including LinkedIn (35 percent) and YouTube (13 percent),

more than traditional BA communities of practice.

CHART 16. WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING HAVE YOU USED FOR TRAINING OR CAREER DEVELOPMENT? SELECT ALL THAT APPLY

35%

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

40% 38.9%34.9%

20.4%17.2%

12.5%8.6% 8.3%

7.7%5.7%

4.2% 2.1%

13.1%

None

oftheAbov

e

LinkedIn

IIBA

Comm

unity

ofPractic

e

YouTube

Mode

rnAnalys

t

BACente

rofEx

cellence

Faceboo

k

BAMento

r

Twitter

Busin

essAnaly

stTimes

RQNG


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SURVEY METHODOLOGYIn September 2011, ESI International sent an email survey of 24 close-ended questions to organizational professionals from the

executive to project level who are responsible for project activities in public and private organizations in the Americas, EMEA and

Asia/Pacic regions.

1,632 respondents participated in the survey, but not all respondents answered every survey question. The survey was anonymous

unless respondents wanted to receive the results, in which case they had to complete their details.

SURVEY DEMOGRAPHICS

15

CHART 17.

RESPONDENTS BY ORGANIZATIONAL TITLE

1.6% C-Level

7.6% Senior Manager

3% Executive Manager/Vice President

4.4% Business Unit Manager

6.1% Consultant

17.9% Other - Please Specify Below

11.3% Program Manager

25% Project Manager0.9% Head of PMO

22.3% Business Analyst


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CHART 18. RESPONDENTS BY INDUSTRY

CHART 19. ORGANIZATION SIZE BY NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES

12% Information Technology

21% Government

19% Financial Services

23% Other

7% Pharmaceuticaland Healthcare

5% Energy/Utilities

5% Manufacturing4% Telecommunications

4% Aerospace/Defense

10.8% 0-100

15.7% 101-500

13.7% 501-1,500

13.9% 50,001- or more

22.9% 1,501-6,000

7.1% 6,001-10,000

9.2% 10,001-25,000

6.6% 25,001-50,000


17/17


CHART 20. ORGANIZATION SIZE BY NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES

73% North/South America

23% Asia Pacic

4% EMEA

ESI-BAGlobalSurveyReport-WhyGoodIsntGoodEnough

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