Over the past 8 or 9 years, I've spent a significant time learning about and understanding the role of the business analyst and how the requirements gathering process is critical to the success of a project. I've functioned as both a project manager and a business analyst many times and only am I truly understanding the positive impact a project manager and a business analyst can have if they focus on their true responsibilities.
The project manager is responsible for the successful completion of the project and task management. Success can be defined as meeting the approved timeline and budget and even the scope which means that each of the deliverables agreed to are delivered to the customer's satisfaction. The business analyst is responsible for ensuring that the project deliverables will ACTUALLY meet the expectations of the client.
These two roles are very different and it took me a while to really understand and to separate these into distinct deliverables.
Delivering to project scope as it is defined in the PMBOK® Guide states:
The work that must be performed to deliver a product, service, or result with the specified features and functions. If a project is defined correctly the defined features and functions SHOULD enable the product of the project to achieve the objectives defined by the project.
What happens if assumptions change in the course of the project execution that impacts the product of the project to where the overall project objectives may not be met? Or maybe as part of the discovery efforts of the project, the team realizes that the scope that has been defined doesn't allow the project to attain the objectives of the project. What do you do now? This is where traceability comes in.
If the business analyst and the project team documented every requirement and its association to the stated objectives of the project, it is much easier to assess the achievement of objectives. But to do this takes time and requires analysis to determine to what extent a particular requirement contributes to or is expected to contribute to the achievement of an objective. This is where the business analyst is invaluable. Now that I do understand this, I am a huge advocate of having an analyst that actually can take a requirement and understand its contribution and develop ways in which to measure progress and validate the potential for meeting the overall project objectives.
The project manager isn't responsible for validating nor confirming the achievement of the project objectives. They are responsible for leadership and ensuring the deliverables are delivered with the assumption that these deliverables will provide the expected outcomes to the client.
The project management process allows for an iterative approach that can respond to the results of the business analyst's validation efforts. A great partnership between a project manager and a strong analyst that understands how traceability will ensure that the project itself will deliver on the expectations it was set out to provide.
What are your thoughts?
Diane Altwies, MBA, PMP
Diane Altwies has a proven track record of delivering completed projects to the marketplace through effective leadership of multi-disciplinary teams with a strong customer focus. She has more than 21 years managing software development projects, and over 14 years experience in the insurance, financial services, mortgage lending, and healthcare industries.
Janice Y. Preston, MBA, CPA, PMP
Janice Preston has been managing projects for more than 20 years in industries as diverse as real estate, financial services and the PC industry. Ms. Preston has been a principal with Vista Performance Group since 1991, consulting in project management for information services, health care, financial services, pharmaceuticals, and automotive. Some of her clients include Boeing, Countrywide, Nissan, Balboa Insurance, Allergan, Computer Sciences Corporation, Capital Group Companies, and Southern California Edison.
