Business Incorporation

Business Analyst skills are important to any project team, and a great skill set for a Project Manager to have! The same holds trues for Business Analysts, where some Project Managment skills will serve the Business Analyst well.  In either case, the business analysis function is one that needs to be managed with care, perspective, and the wisdom of experience.

Here are some of the roles that business analysts typically play: requirements analysis, systems analysis, requirements management, or consulting. It is most important to recognize that the business analysis process does not just happen once. It is more than just a matter of completing a task in the Work Breakdown Schedule! It is a critical function that starts at a high level near the beginning of the project, progressively elaborates, takes continuous monitoring, and is never really finsihed until the project itself is nearly finished.

Here are some key timeframes within the life of a project where business analysis makes an appearance:

1. Enterprise Analysis and Developing a Business Case
Each project must fit into the plans of the organization as a whole. In depth familiarity with that plan, and understanding where the subject project fits into that is a key step in building the business case. The business case must align with the strategic objectives of the organization.

2. Requirements Planning
Developing requirements is a challenge in part because of the time dimension. Requirements planning needs to describe a phased approach that forecasts and schedules how the requirements will unfold. It thus should have, as an output, a schedule for various time-based requirements gathering and documenting tasks.

3. Requirements Management
Managing requirements as they evolve is an important task. In some organizations there is a formal Configuration Management function. There also is a plethora of business applications out there that focus on Configuration Management for requirements. It is important to understand the degree of complexity, the expected level of change or evolution over the course of the project, and the risks involved related to requirements change developments.

4. Eliciting Requirements
Drawing requirements out of various stakeholders is as much an art as a science. The science part provides a framework, usually in the form of ways the structure questions, common pitfalls, and how to document. However, it is an art to develop rapport with varying stakeholders and probe deeply to uncover the core needs.

5. Requirements Analysis and Models
The documentation of requirements is important to assuring that everyone is moving toward the same goals. Often this requires developing sophisticated architectures, drawings, mathematical models, and prototypes that consolidate requirements input and reflect back to stakeholders the proposed solution. This provides further subject matter for conversations around the continuously unfolding requirements.

6. Communicating and Implementing Requirements
With a given set of requirements, the business analysis function must assure stakeholder buy-in, but also must ensure that those who will implement the requirements are equally “plugged in”. One challenge is to ensure that the stakeholders are in clear and in agreement with what will be implemented, and the implementers are clear on what they need to do. Due to the detailed and often technical nature of the work, work packages at the implementation level are well removed from the stakeholder, so the business analyst servers to bridge that gap and “broker” that relationship.

While distinctly different in many ways, Project Management and Business Analysis functions overlap in many areas. The Business Analyst ensures that the product of the project meets the targeted business needs and is well-defined. This job is a project lifecycle function and does not end until the stakeholders verify that the product meets their requirements. The Project Manager, on the other hand, is concerned with project, as opposed to product, such as with ensuring progress against schedule, risk management and mitigation, and delivering of the product of the project on time, within budget, and to specified quality standards. Skill in both areas is very valuable, and only serves to benefit the project, program, and organization – as well as the professionals in their careers. 

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John Reiling, PMP, MBA is experienced Project Manager and analyst. John’s web site Project Management Training Online, provides numerous courses for PDUs and certification training for both Project Management Professional (PMP) and Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP). John’s Project Management blog is PMcrunch.

Small Business Advice business analysis, Eliciting Requirements, Project Management, Requirements Analysis, requirements management

When starting a business, having a good business plan is necessary. A big business usually have a more comprehensive business plan than a small business but all businesses need business plans. It is not safe to start a business unless you have a good plan.

There are many reasons for having a good business plan. Not only is it for the business owner to decide whether the business will be successful but it is also needed by lenders if you ever want to get a a loan for your business. The financial forecast part of the business plan is, by far, the most important one when you need to get a loan. The lender or bank will need you to prove to them that your business is going to be a successful business. They need to see for themselves how and when your business will profit so that you can repay the loan. For a business to profit, the plan has to show how it is going to make money when subtracting all the costs associated with starting the business as well as investment costs. It needs to spell out all the income and expenses of the business each and every year up to the time that all the loans will be paid off.

Many small businesses take a long time to write a business plan because it can be complicated to project all the aspects of the business upfront. Not only the business needs to be clear on what services and products the business will have but there are a substantial number of important analyses to be included in the business plan. The industry analysis is one that might take a long time but it can be done at the same time as market analysis. In each market, there are many competing businesses and they must be analyzed and part of the competitive analysis section of the business plan.

One other important section of a business plan is the sales and marketing strategy section. Each business must find ways to market its services and products to find as many customers as possible. These days, there are plenty of online marketing techniques as well as off line marketing techniques. It is necessary to use all the various marketing channels that can be used to help the business grow.

Small Business Advice business analysis, business loan, business plan, Small Business, successful business, writing a business plan