41. Different approaches to software development may result in these phases or activities being carried out in a different Introduction to Software Development
Enterprise analysis focuses on understanding the needs of the business as a whole, its strategic direction, and identifying initiatives that will allow a business to meet those strategic goals.Requirements planning and management involves planning the requirements development process, determining which requirements are the highest priority for implementation, and managing change.Requirements elicitation describes techniques for collecting requirements from stakeholders in a project.Requirements analysis describes how to develop and specify requirements in enough detail to allow them to be successfully implemented by a project team.Requirements communication describes techniques for ensuring that stakeholders have a shared understanding of the requirements and how they will be implemented.Solution assessment and validation describes how the business analyst can verify the correctness of a proposed solution, how to support the implementation of a solution, and how to assess possible shortcomings in the implementation.
Strategic Vision and Objectives - Board Level / CEOBusiness Case – Cost Benefit Market Opportunity, Increase profitability, Reduce Costs innovative efficient ways to deliver products and services.Differentiate
Three types of BAs.
1) Businesses are realising the value of Business AnalystsOrganisations are recognising the importance of the role of the Business Analysts to the success of software projects. Organisations are looking to employ skilled Business Analysts to retain business analysis and requirements specification as core competencies. The average growth rate of Business Analysts in Fortune 500 organisations surveyed by vokeStream was 32%pa. 2) Business analysis is becoming a professionBusiness Analysts are increasingly becoming certified. They are transitioning to more formal processes and tools to improve efficiency and effectiveness. Companies are increasingly looking to leverage and adopt best practice. The International Institute of Business Analysts (IIBA) a non-profit professional association for Business Analysts has recently published the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge BABOK .3) The role of the Business Analysts is changingThe role of the Business Analyst is changing. As well as dealing with the challenges of a distributed and outsourced supply chain, the distinction between the traditional business oriented analyst and the technical analysts is blurring. The Business Analyst is moving to a more technical role, than what analysts are doing today. They will require more business knowledge and technology expertise than most Business Analysts possess today. 4) Agility Organisations are moving from more traditional software development methodologies to agile, or agile blend development methodologies. This is to gain more agility and improve project success rates. Those companies using Agile in all new projects have doubled in the recent years to reach 17% and the total rate of various adoption levels is in the region of 35% - 50%.46%, Davidson (2008), 26% (Forrester) and 31% Methods and Tools (2008)
“IS staff, especially IS managers, business analysts, and developers, work with managers to innovate processes that can benefit from technological solutions.”
Simplified for illustrative purposesRequirements & Design (AKA Business Analysis)Articulating business need Project ManagementProject management is the discipline of planning, organising, and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives.Requirements ManagementRequirements management is the process of eliciting, documenting, analysing, prioritising, validating and agreeing on requirements and then controlling change and communicating to relevant stakeholders. The purpose of requirements management is to assure the project/solution meets the expectations of its customers and internal or external stakeholders.Detailed Design and SpecificationsDetailed Design and Specifications is the phase and activity where business requirements are translated to a software specification that clearly and accurately describes how the software needs to function in order to meet the business requirements. Software CodingSoftware coding is the activity and phase where a software solution is created from the software specifications.TestingTesting is activity and phase of verifying that a solution is fit for purpose and meets the business requirements.
Also may have working group.
Businesses of all types create and implement projects to drive strategy and innovation
The financial implications of such failure rates are substantial. No-one is certain of the real cost of failed software projects, but it’s big. Software errors cost the US economy US$59.5 billion annually. (National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)Research from British Computer Society suggests the Impact is upwards of US$75 billion a year in re-work costs and abandoned systems.
Market survey84 Individual Responses86% from New Zealand, remainder from Australia and EuropeResponses from non-management roles reflect a typical software development project team. InterviewsCEOs, Business Decision Makers, Project Managers, Business Analysts, Architects, Software Development Managers, and Testers. SeeAnalysis and review of industry publicationsPublications, reports, reviews, articles and statistics from, but not limited to Forrester Research, Gartner, Standish Group, IDC Group, IAG Group and vokeStream.
The top four ‘pains’ faced during the software development life-cycle, based on the frequency and their relative impact are
In this section respondents were asked to rate on a scale of 1 – 5, where 1 = Poor and 5 = Excellent a number of key project areas for their selected project. Figure shows differences between those projects that were delivered within budget and on schedule and those projects that were delivered over budget and over schedule.
Do more work upfront Spend more time eliciting, defining and specifyingDefects costs upwards of 100x times more to fix later in the Lifecycle Upfront work is rewarded 60% time and budget premium from poor requirements41.5% of software budget will be consumed by unnecessary or poorly specified requirements Average organisations spend 45% of time on requirements (27%) and on design (18%) Immature organisations effort upfront is increased.Make sure you understand the scope and the business domain Scope document from PM If there isn’t one define it and get it signed off Understand and map the business processesUnderstand and manage your stakeholders Know who you need to speak too Formalise a plan Create working groups / stakeholder groups Keep track of all communications Most people will not turn down a free coffee This includes internal project stakeholders such as developers and testersCreate a single source of project knowledge People need to know where to find information. Retains IP
Understand the technical and business domainsIf you don’t up skill or make sure you have the skills in your team.BA’s should be able to understand a Class Model, Entity Relationship Diagram, Key OO concepts, Usability, Limitations of technologies
ExistenceGot to make projects run betterReducing cost and risk
by helping them to capture, manage, analysis and communicate what they need to buildProcess of patenting