At the UW, how do various Business Analysis Methods fit together in a typical business analysis effort? In 2019, the BACoP collaborated to draft two lifecycles for different kinds of business analysis work. These reflect the current reality of business analysis work in teams across the UW.
Project based business analysis
This refers to efforts where there is significant business analysis work as part of a team making a change, such as designing for and implementing a new software product or business process. Often this work happens in the context of a formally defined project.
In July 2019 BACoP members shared how they organize this kind of work, summarized in the following lifecycle one-pager:
Note that some of the activities and deliverables shown here could also be associated with other team roles, such as Project Manager, Change Manager, Software Tester, or Trainer. As a community we see that business analysis work often overlaps with these roles and so the business analysis lifecycle is closely related to the project lifecycle and project deliverables.
Operational business analysis
This refers to efforts where there is repeated business analysis around smaller ongoing changes, such as report requests, configuration changes, break/fixes, or access requests.
In June 2019 BACoP members shared how they organize this kind of work, summarized in the following lifecycle one-pager:
As with the project-based lifecycle, this one includes design, implementation, and support activities that reflect that someone doing business analysis is often the same person on a team doing these other activities as well.