What’s In Your BA Toolkit? Nov 2010

What’s in Your BA Toolkit?

Marie Halsey

November 2010

Marie Halsey Consulting Inc.

November 2010 Marie Halsey Consulting Inc.

Learning Objectives

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� The different types of BA tools and when they are appropriate

� The key requirements to consider when selecting BA tools

�The process to follow when assembling your BA toolkit


Background

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One day …

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BA Role: Liaison Among Stakeholders …

Business Sponsors Clients

Operational Support

Suppliers

Business

Analyst

SolutionDelivery Team

ProjectManagers

EndUsers

Customer Reps

Regulators

- Solution Architect- Developer- DBA- Usability Specialist- Tester- Trainer- Change Manager


What Tools to Use?

It depends …

�Methodology

�Waterfall, iterative, agile

�Project type

�Custom software, COTS, infrastructure/hardware-only

�Artifacts produced

�Maturity of BA organization

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Types of Communication Tools…

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�Low-tech and hardware-based tools

�Collaboration tools

�Software-based tools, to produce:

�Documents

�Diagrams

�Other Artifacts


Low-Tech & Hardware-based Tools

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Collaboration Tools

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Software-based Communication Tools

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Software-based Tools

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Let’s look at:

� the various types of software-based communication tools

�which artifacts are best suited to each type

Refer to “Marie Halsey - Software Tool Categories.xls”


Issues with Office-type Tools?

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�No supporting database

�No support for meta-data

�No associations, traceability is difficult

�Re-use is difficult

�No integration between diagrams & elements

�Requirements management is very difficult

�Reporting is WYSIWYG, no automated ‘packaging’


How to choose? Follow the process!

Define BA Toolkit

Req’ts

Identify BA Toolkit

Needs

Assess Current State

Toolkit Needs

Toolkit Gaps

Select Product(s)

Identify Toolkit Gaps

Processes, Problems

Conduct Product

Assessment

Implement BA Toolkit

Detailed Toolkit Req’ts

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Document Your Requirements

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Functional Requirements – Usability

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�Easy to use; intuitive, consistent interface

�Easy to learn; online help, tutorials

�Supports fast data capture & diagramming

� ‘Drag and drop’ existing elements onto diagram


Functional Requirements

– Requirements Capture and Presentation

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�Tree view

�Parent-child hierarchy

�Expand/collapse

�Table/spreadsheet view

�List of attributes

�Parent-child structure maintained

�Traceability

�Matrix view

�Tree view


Functional Requirements – Traceability

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�Directional

�Hierarchical (‘Traces To’ and ‘Traces From’)

�Parent-child

�Non-directional (peer-to-peer)

�Cross-project (project segmentation, re-use)

�Flag missing traceability

�Flag ‘suspect’ relationships



– Views and Reports

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�Searching, filtering and sorting

�Tailoring and user-defined templates

�Report on text, tables, diagrams, meta-data

�Multiple formats (e.g., Word, Excel, HTML, XML)

�Metrics (e.g., how many changed req’ts?)

� Impact analysis

�Packaged output appeals to all stakeholders



– Useful Features

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�Spell checking

�Glossaries (e.g., highlight ambiguous terms)

�Bulk data selection

�Range (SHIFT-Click), non-contiguous (CTRL-click)

�Bulk processing

�Parent-child, re-parent

�Update attribute values

�Traceability


Functional Requirements – Use Cases

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�Full integration of use case with activity diagram

�Automatically maintains activity diagram

�Changes to activity diagram automatically reflected in use case, and vice versa

�Use case has different attributes than use case steps.

�Automatic numbering of steps, alternate paths

�Supports ‘extends’ and ‘includes’ use cases



– User Interface Prototyping

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�Sketches, mockups & wireframes (low fidelity)

�Simulations and prototypes (high fidelity)

�Templates and branding

� ‘Look and feel’ widgets, banners, controls

� Images and snapshots of current UI

�Site maps and screen transitions/flow

�User comments

�Associate data model elements



– Requirements Management

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�Change Management / Change control

�Revision history

�Compare versions; shows revision marks!

�Notification of changes

�Configuration Management

�Baselines and versioning

�Release management (multi-release support)

� ‘Living’ Master Requirements List

�Re-use


Functional Requirements - Integration

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�Associate diagram elements with meta-data

�Associate requirements artifacts with reference material (e.g., documents, images and diagrams, URLs)

� Import from Word and Excel

�Package requirements, using all formats of artifacts



– Associations and Interoperability

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Integration is critical!


Document Your Requirements

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Non-Functional Requirements

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�Work offline?

�Co-located or distributed team?

�Client-side or web-based?

�Team size?

�Concurrent or ‘named’ licenses?

�Multi-user support?

�Project size? How many requirements?

�Data security and user management?

�Scalable for future growth?


Non-Functional Requirements

– Tool Administration

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�User-defined requirement types

�Different attributes for each requirement type

�Attribute formats (text, $, date/time, URL, etc.)

�Attribute validation – single- and multi-valued lists, range of values

�Project templates


Keep following the process!

Define BA Toolkit

Req’ts

Identify BA Toolkit

Needs


Toolkit Needs

Toolkit Gaps

Select Product(s)


Processes, Problems

Conduct Product

Assessment



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Prepare for Product Assessment

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�Weight / prioritize requirements

�Prepare list of candidate vendors

�Check the internet, web reviews

�Talk to peers, professional associations

�Gartner reports, Forrester surveys

�Consider open source software

�Conduct survey based on high-level requirements, to short-list 3-5 vendors,

�Arrange for demos, training & support


And then … Caveat emptor !

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Known Toolkit Challenges

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�Baselining, versioning, release management

�Comparing versions

� Integration of requirements elements

�Packaging / reporting, esp. non-text and associated elements

�Ease of capturing and reporting traceability

�Support for re-use


Conduct Product Assessment

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�Assess product compliance against detailed requirements

�1 – Compliant, with ease

�2 – Compliant, with challenges

�3 – Partially compliant, with workaround

�4 – Partially compliant, no workaround

�5 – Non-compliant

�Write notes for items 2-5 (for later reference)

�Determine workarounds to tool gaps

�Are they worth the cost & effort?


Keep following the process!

Define BA Toolkit

Req’ts

Identify BA Toolkit

Needs


Toolkit Needs

Toolkit Gaps

Select Product(s)


Processes, Problems

Conduct Product

Assessment



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Select Product(s)

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Consider cost of ownership vs. functionality

�Migration and training

�Licensing, vendor support, maintenance

�BA support (e.g., tool administrator(s), in-house trainers, customized user documentation)

� Integration / interoperability of multi-vendor toolkit

�Hardware (e.g., server, database license)



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�Develop training, guidelines, best practices, pre-defined templates or reports

�Conduct pilot to test new toolkit, including testing of the training and documentation

�Consider phased deployment to reduce project impact, esp. with multi-vendor toolkit

�Provide toolkit support

� Implement feedback mechanism


One Final Thought …

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What You Learned …

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� The different types of BA tools and when they are appropriate

� The key requirements to consider when selecting BA tools

�The process to follow when assembling your BA toolkit


Questions?

Thank you!

Marie Halsey

[email protected]

Marie Halsey Consulting Inc.

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What’s In Your BA Toolkit? Nov 2010

Technology