Business Analysis Planning

A Business Analysis Planning is a kind of approach to plan the activities flow in a Project to achieve the desired output. There is a misconception that Business Analysis Planning is not the role of a B.A and it would look after by the Project Lead. Many times a Senior B.A will be asked to prepare the Business analysis plan. If not, he would be playing a key role in preparing Business Plan. This role involves the understanding of Goals and objectives of the Project, Desired outcome of every level of activity etc. It is very difficult to complete the Business Plan without proper clarity on outcomes. There is no standard format for a Business Analysis. It varies from Project to Project depends on the objectives a Project possess. In a broader view, The Business Analysis Plan is a Framework that defines how the activities in a Project should go.

Business Analysis Planning: A B.A plans Requirements Elicitation approach, Stakeholders’ involvement, Review and Approval process, Change management and communicate the same to all the stakeholders.

Plan the Business Planning Analysis Activities: Every project has a series of activities and each activity has a definite deliverable. During this phase outcome or the deliverables must be clear and the efforts required to achieve those deliverables are identified. This aids to define the scope and to find appropriate information to have a better understanding of every activity. For Example, if A group of people are planned to go a picnic, it involves various activities with a specific outcome which must be accomplished to attain ultimate goal. From this example, Picnic success is a Goal. To achieve that Goal the activates involved in that project are like Where to go, willingness of all the participants, available transportation facilities, the most sophisticated transportation mode,  Lodging details etc. Like this, we need appropriate information of these activities involved in it and desired outcome of every activity to successfully complete the Picnic. Similarly, a Project is also a Goal orient act with different objects and activities. Unless the deliverables are clear it will be difficult to find the scope and may cause ambiguity in accomplishing the objectives.

Planning Factors:

There always be different alternatives to complete every activity with a diverse quantum of efforts. There are different factors which influence the Planning like

• The Approach of The B.A
• Organization Standards
• Type of Project
• Stakeholders’ Location

Business Communication Scheduling:

Communication plays a key role in every project. This defines the flow of information communicated to various levels of stakeholders. This flow also depends on various factors like type of data, authorized Stakeholders to access particular data, the location of the stakeholders etc.

Performance Monitoring:

The Performance Monitoring criteria is also planned and carefully observed throughout the project. Here the performance monitoring is not just restricted to the B.A or the people involved in the project, it also tracks the work to make sure the project is under the predefined path without any deviations. Even if any deviation takes place necessary corrective actions are planned to set them right. Different Techniques are used to assess the performance like

• Stakeholders Interview
• Customer Satisfaction
• Process Analysis

Estimation:

Estimation is a part of Business analysis plan where the B.A forecast the aspects related to the required resources, cost, alternative sources and future enhancements. These Estimations are done through a proper methodology to avoid further ambiguity. These estimations are further supervised by the Project Leads who are competent enough for resource allocations.

Conclusion: Business Analysis Planning is a process of preparing a Framework or an Approach of all activities (Requirement Elicitation, Stakeholders’ involvement, Review and Approval process, Change management and communication with the stakeholders) with its best suitable alternative way associated with respective deliverables to avoid obstructions during the project to the maximum extent and achieve the goal of the project.