The document discusses the challenges of the previous business analyst (BA) structure, which lacked a unified BA practice. BAs had little identity or community, often performed non-BA roles, and had no professional development. A new BA practice was created with initiatives to develop BA skills, provide career progression, ensure high quality BA work, and build an industry-leading practice through defined processes, tools, and community involvement. The new structure aims to overcome the issues of the past and maximize the potential of the BA team.

2. Leading & Running
a
BA Practice
David Baskerville
Richard Patrick

3. Leading & Running a BA Practice
 A walkthrough of our old BA structure and the
challenges it created
 How the creation of a BA practice helped us to
overcome these challenges
 Success stories and ideas to takeaway
 An opportunity to share your own experiences and
ideas

4. Rich to complete…..
What Is The Role of a BA &
What Tasks Should They Undertake?
 Main focus is on Business Requirements
 Business Requirements & Designs
 Business Requirements, Designs & Testing…..
 Absolutely anything and everything the Project Manager wants us to do!
The next few slides will show why it felt that way for us…
Across different teams / companies, there are often conflicting views on what a BA is
responsible for………

5. What Was Life Like Before
The BA Practice ?…

6. Life Before The BA Practice… Structure
• Head of Business Analysts
• Lead Business Analysts
• Senior Business Analysts
• Junior Business Analysts
Grade
Director
Vice President
Assistant Vice President
BA4
During the presentation we will refer to 4 main roles with the BA practice…..

7. Programme
Manager
Project
Manager
Project
Manager
Project
Manager
Lead BA
Senior BA
Junior BA
Senior BA
Senior BA
Senior BA
Programme
Manager
Project
Manager
Project
Manager
Lead BA
Senior BA
Senior BA
Junior BA
Life Before The BA practice… Structure
• Before we had a BA practice we had 3 roles……
• Competition rather than
communication…………
• Approximately 10 individual change teams……

8. Programme
Manager
Project
Manager
Project
Manager
Project
Manager
Lead BA
Senior BA
Junior BA
Senior BA
Senior BA
Senior BA
Programme
Manager
Project
Manager
Project
Manager
Lead BA
Senior BA
Senior BA
Junior BA
Life Before The BA Practice… Structure
Only about 10 - Performing general support duties on project across
design / build and test
• Approximately 145 BAs in the old structure
Approximately 120 – Performing BA tasks across the bulk of the projects
for the Retail Bank. A mix of permanent and contractor resource
Approximately 15 – Generally running the larger / transformational
projects, either on their own, or with teams of BA’s
Senior BA
Lead BA

9. What Challenges Did This
Structure Give Us ?

10. Recruitment - How it used to work
Who Owned Recruitment for BA’s?
There was no specific owner… Recruitment completed by different Project staff all
with different ideas on what they needed.
Interviewing / acceptance criteria ?
With different people interviewing with different BA criteria there was no consistency
Who managed the overall BA numbers?
There was no specific management of BA numbers / demand – Recruitment was reacting
to demand in their own area. No Core locations for the BA team – people were spread over
approximately 15 sites
Was recruitment Internal or External?
Large Numbers of Contractors recruited, as this was often quicker / easier.
No investment in junior roles so little opportunity for career progression

11. Contractor / Permanent Ratio
Contractors
• 50-60% of total BA population – recruitment of contract resource was not controlled
• High numbers remaining in place for 2-5 years – we retained a number of contractors
and rolled them on to the next project when their existing projects ended
• Key man dependency created - a number of BA’s were recruited for specific areas of
knowledge expertise
• No / little knowledge transfer on exit.

12. Assigning Work & Managing Performance
Who Assigned the BA’s work ?
Programme Manager responsibility – they decided who would work on which project.
Opportunities to try new areas of work?
Whilst the structure created areas of specialism, It also became a very ‘stove piped’
culture – it created areas of specialism with little opportunity to experience new areas.
What type of work was undertaken?
Assignment based on your teams priorities rather than what you wanted to work on /
develop - large numbers of BA’s involved in project management work / testing etc. as
dictated by the Project / Programme manager
Who decided on your annual performance rating / bonus / Pay rise?
Ultimately the Programme manager / project managers decided on these areas , as they
were the leads on each of the projects.

13. BA Development & Career Progression
Who developed the BA’s as a team?
Any activities to develop the community of BA’s was run off the side of the desk – limited
motivation for people to be involved
What about reward and recognition?
Generally managed at team level. BA performance was never consistency checked with
other BA’s from other teams
What about Professional Development?
There was no sponsorship to follow the ISEB / BCS style accreditations – it was up to you
to pursue this on your own. Training budgets generally used for project management
style courses such as Prince 2
What about career development & progression?
Little investment at the junior levels to create the flow through the BA grades. Hard to
find experienced BA’s internally as no investment in the junior BA levels – as such
recruitment was generally external. Limited internal progression.

14. Summary ……
• In general, the BA’s had a lack of identity – very little community / practice
activity or motivation to be involved
• A general perception that there were never enough BA’s – in part because they
were often performing non BA activities
• There was no sponsorship / investment to develop the BA community
professionally
• No sense of working together – stove piped structure created competition
which was not always productive
• People other than BA’s were dictating the work we did / how we did it – We did
what the Project Manager told us to!
• Performance ratings did not reflect how good we were at being a BA

15. So What Did We Learn and
What Did We Change?

16. The Business Analyst Structure
x 1
x 20
x 150
x 40
Head of
BAs
Lead BA
Senior BA
Junior BA
Lead BA
Senior BASenior BA Senior BASenior BASenior BA
Junior BA Junior BA Junior BA
211 Total number of BAs within the Practice
(By the end of the year, 15% of these will be Contractors)

17. The Business Analyst Structure
Old Structure
Programme
Manager
Project
Manager
Project
Manager
Project
Manager
Lead BA
Senior BA
Junior BA
Senior BA
Senior BA
Senior BA
Programme
Manager
Project
Manager
Project
Manager
Lead BA
Senior BA
Senior BA
Junior BA
Lead BA
Senior BA
Junior BA
Senior BA
Lead BA Lead BA
Senior BA
Junior BA
Senior BA
Junior BA
Senior BA
Senior BA
Junior BA
Senior BA
Senior BA
Senior BA
Head Of
BAs
Junior BA

18. BA Practice Vision
rocess
Clearly defined
processes to
ensure adherence
to Governance
eople
To develop &
support BAs so
they perform at
their highest
potential
ractice
To build a industry
leading BA Practice
with effective tools and
framework
roject
To provide high
quality Business
Analysis and
design for change
Our BA Leadership team
have been working on
refining a new BA Practice.
Our work has been focused
around four ‘P’s….

19. People
eople
To develop &
support BAs so
they perform at
their highest
potential
rocess
Clearly defined
processes to
ensure adherence
to Governance
ractice
To build a industry
leading BA Practice
with effective tools and
framework
roject
To provide high
quality Business
Analysis and
design for change

20. People
eople
To develop &
support BAs so
they perform at
their highest
potential
The quality of our output is directly impacted by the standard of
our people.
This initiative about making sure that our people are the best they can
be.
We play to their strengths and actively support development.
Blueworks Live 1
Rational Composer 2
Etc.
Agile 2
LEAN 1
Waterfall 2
Etc,
Plan - Detailed Operational Design 3
Plan - User stories 2
Plan - Use Cases 2
Plan - User interface design 2
Plan - Data Analysis 3
Plan - Data Modelling 3
Etc,
Online Banking 2
Retail Network 2
Telephony Channel 3
Mortgage Services 0
Etc,
Applications
Project Methodologies
Business Analyst Deliverables
Business Area Knowledge
 Recruitment completed by specific accredited BAs and
onboarding activity has been assigned to a specific Lead BA
- Welcome Pack
- Aide Memoire for Line Managers
- Site visits
- Mentoring & Buddy
 Creation of a Skills Matrix
- 148 competencies for 170 BAs
- Common development areas
- Assign staff to help with development needs

21. People
Blueworks Live 1
Rational Composer 2
Etc.
Agile 2
LEAN 1
Waterfall 2
Etc,
Plan - Detailed Operational Design 3
Plan - User stories 2
Plan - Use Cases 2
Plan - User interface design 2
Plan - Data Analysis 3
Plan - Data Modelling 3
Etc,
Online Banking 2
Retail Network 2
Telephony Channel 3
Mortgage Services 0
Etc,
Applications
Project Methodologies
Business Analyst Deliverables
Business Area Knowledge
Key Definition
No knowledge 0 For individuals with no prior knowledge or experience ofthe subject area, application or system
Beginner 1 For individuals with limited knowledge or experience ofthe subject area, application or system
Intermediate 2 For individuals with knowledge and experience ofthe subject area, application or system
Advanced 3 For individuals with greatly developed knowledge and experience in the subject area, or ofthe application or system

22. People
eople
To develop &
support BAs so
they perform at
their highest
potential
The quality of our output is directly impacted by the standard of
our people.
This initiative about making sure that our people are the best they can
be.
We play to their strengths and actively support development.
Blueworks Live 1
Rational Composer 2
Etc.
Agile 2
LEAN 1
Waterfall 2
Etc,
Plan - Detailed Operational Design 3
Plan - User stories 2
Plan - Use Cases 2
Plan - User interface design 2
Plan - Data Analysis 3
Plan - Data Modelling 3
Etc,
Online Banking 2
Retail Network 2
Telephony Channel 3
Mortgage Services 0
Etc,
Applications
Project Methodologies
Business Analyst Deliverables
Business Area Knowledge
 Recruitment completed by specific accredited BA Project staff and
onboarding activity has been assigned to a specific Lead BA
- Welcome Pack
- Aide Memoire for Line Managers
- Site visits
- Mentoring & Buddy
 Creation of a Skills Matrix
- 148 competencies for 170 BAs
- Common development areas / help identify development needs
 Reward & Recognition – instant and annual
 Professional Accreditation
 Publish Role Model qualities of BAs

23. Project
roject
To provide high
quality Business
Analysis and
design for changerocess
Clearly defined
processes to
ensure adherence
to Governance
eople
To develop &
support BAs so
they perform at
their highest
potential
ractice
To build a industry
leading BA Practice
with effective tools and
framework

24. Project
roject
To provide high
quality Business
Analysis and
design for change
Once we have the foundations in place we need to ensure that BA
deliverables are working!
 Introduced a new BA Operating Model
- Use of the Skills Matrix to assign the correct resource to Projects
- Confirmed the boundaries of the BA role to our Project Management colleagues
 Assignment of resource is managed by a nominate Lead BA
 Projects are split into Continuous Improvement and Strategic Change
- Staff are assigned to one area or the other, but not on a permanent basis
 Waterfall, Agile etc. and…! BAs are ready!
 All BAs are made aware at an earlier stage Project Governance requirements
 Lessons learned reviews - completed at regular stages throughout and at the end of the Project
 Provision of a common set of guides and templates (KISS, Visual, Quality V Quantity etc.)

25. Practice
roject
To provide high
quality Business
Analysis and
design for changerocess
Clearly defined
processes to
ensure adherence
to Governance
eople
To develop &
support BAs so
they perform at
their highest
potential
ractice
To build a industry
leading BA Practice
with effective tools and
framework

26. Practice
ractice
To build a industry
leading BA Practice
with effective tools and
framework
This is about having the right foundations in place to provide a great
place to work – job satisfaction, support to develop and innovate.
The ability for our to exceed depend on these foundations
Charities, Schools, Staff and the Practice are all winners!
 New BA role – to attract, new recruits who have a passion for Business Analysis
 Proactively support IIBA Events – 3 this year
 Support our Citizenship Agenda
 Practice Performance is dependent on the performance of individuals within it

27. Practice
ractice
To build a industry
leading BA Practice
with effective tools and
framework
Contacts
Documents
Leadership
Members
Team Calendars
Help!

28. Process
By having these processes for
our People, Practice and
Project initiatives, we ensure
that BA staff always adhere to
Governance & Control.
It is robust, documented processes
that underpin the other three Ps
rocess
Clearly defined
processes to
ensure adherence
to Governance
roject
To provide high
quality Business
Analysis and
design for change
eople
To develop &
support BAs so
they perform at
their highest
potential
ractice
To build a industry
leading BA Practice
with effective tools and
framework
A great example…

29. Process
rocess
Clearly defined
processes to
ensure adherence
to Governance
roject
To provide high
quality Business
Analysis and
design for change
eople
To develop &
support BAs so
they perform at
their highest
potential
ractice
To build a industry
leading BA Practice
with effective tools and
framework

30. Process
rocess
Clearly defined
processes to
ensure adherence
to Governance
RACI Code Definitions:
Responsibility Role is responsible for actually doing or completing the item
Accountable Role is accountable for ensuring that the item is completed.
Consulted Role whose subject matter expertise is required in order to complete the item
Informed Role that needs to be kept informed of the status of item completion
… we do make good use of a Project tool to ensure every body
know the Roles & Responsibilities of a BA (and other staff
associated with a Project) …
Business
Analyst
Project
Manager
Test
Manager
Business Requirements R C C
Operational Design A C C
Training Approach / Delivery C R I
UAT I C R
a RACI matrix

31. BA Practice Vision
Lead Business Analysts are responsible for driving forward BA Practice initiatives
The success of the BA Practice relies on the whole community getting involved.
People Practice Project
Starters &
Leavers
Recruitment
Roles &
Responsibility
Training
& Quals
Personal
Development
Plans
Recognition
& Reward
Tools &
Framework
Practice
Performance
BA
Intranet
Knowledge
Library
Creativity &
Innovation
tools
Communication
BA Operating
Model
Citizenship
Project
Methodology
Strategic &
Small Change
BA
Compliance
Methodologies
Processes
BEST
skills
organisation
improvement
consistency
success
customers
PRACTICE
technique
optimal
results
solutionsgreat
quality
standard
analysis
development

32. BA Practice Vision
Initiative Activity
Starters & Leavers & Onboarding
Ensure people have the right kit / induction /
training / buddies / mentors etc.
Training & Qualifications
How to we accredit and train our BAs – BCS,
Skills matrix
Recruitment & Resourcing
How to attract quality BA’s – close work with
HR, and what projects do we align our people
to?
Roles & Responsibility / BA Operating
Model
What do we do? What are we responsible for ?
Personal Development Plans
Ensure performance measurement is fair and
consistent across the practice
Recognition & Reward
How do we reward and recognise excellent
performance
Tools & Framework
What tools / templates do we use – Req. Pro /
Composer etc. Ensures consistency of
deliverables

33. BA Practice Vision
Initiative Activity
Practice Performance
How do we measure and track our
performance – how do we know if we are
successful
BA Intranet Development & Maintenance of our intranet
Communication
Developing a communication strategy for the
practice
Creativity & Innovation tools Over to David for this one…..
Knowledge Library Building a library of knowledge for our people
Citizenship
Community days . Money skills, life skills,
fundraising
Strategic & Small Change /
Methodologies
Looking at the governance and change
processes across the large and small pieces of
work
BA Compliance Ensuring compliance in all we do

34. • In general, the BAs had a lack of
identity – very little community /
practice activity
• A general perception that there were
never enough BAs – in part because
they were often performing non BA
activities
• There was no sponsorship /
investment to develop the BA
community professionally
• No sense of working together – stove
piped structure created competition
which was not always productive.
• People other than BAs were dictating
the work we did / how we did it
• Performance ratings did not reflect
how good we were at being a BA
Before the Practice The situation now
• Over 200 BAs working on &
leading 18 practice initiatives
So How Have Things Changed – A Summary?
• All BAs work exclusively on BA activities
– helped by clear roles / responsibilities
(RACI matrix)
• New Head of BA role gives us a voice at
senior level. Budget approved to get our
BA’s BCS accredited
• All BAs working together as a
community in the new BA practice
structure
• Work is now agreed and allocated
exclusively by Lead / Senior BAs
• Ratings are now all about being a great
BA and supporting the practice

35. Your Thoughts? Your Ideas?
BEST
skills
organisation
improvement
consistency
success
customers
PRACTICE
technique
optimal
results
solutionsgreat
quality
standard
analysis
development

36. Leading and Running a BA Practice
 A walkthrough of our old BA structure and the
challenges it created
 How the creation of a BA practice helped us to
overcome these challenges
 Success stories and ideas to takeaway
 An opportunity to share your own experiences and
ideas

37. (Building), Running & Leading a BA Practice

38. Questions?

39. Leading & Running
a
BA Practice
David Baskerville
Richard Patrick