Use a BA Assessment as Your GPS Navigator: Actions = Results

by Kitty Hass

At some point, we’ve all experienced the situation, “If you don’t know where you are going, how will you know when you get there?” However, with BA practice improvement, we all know where we want to go; it’s the “how we get there” that is critical. Not many people plan to drive from New York to Florida by way of California, unless that was your intended route. You would use at least twice as much budget and duration, and your customers (passengers) may become a little unruly. Unfortunately, when you have a faulty BA improvement roadmap, this scenario could happen; thus, the value of a world-class organizational maturity assessment.

According to the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) at Carnegie Mellon University, world class organizational maturity assessments are based on the following appraisal principles: 

• Start with an appraisal reference model
• Use a formalized appraisal process
• Involve senior management as the assessment sponsor
• Focus the assessment on the sponsor’s business objectives
• Observe strict confidentiality and non-attribution of data
• Approach the assessment collaboratively and positively
• Focus on follow-on and decision-making activities by producing actionable, measureable business results.

Following these appraisal principles will act as your GPS Navigator to help you develop the most efficient route to your desired BA improvement goals: One that meets all stakeholders’ needs and fits within the overall culture of the organization. This is not to say you won’t have a few minor construction detours and speed bumps along the way.

How are Capabilities Baselined?

The gold standard of assessments has been developed and used globally for decades by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) at Carnegie Mellon University. A world-class maturity assessment uses a staged reference model similar to the SEI CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integrated) to baseline capabilities. The reference model must be continuously validated to ensure it truly represents the varying state of BA practices in organizations. The power of a staged BA Practice Maturity Model lies in its ability to:

• Provide a proven sequence of improvements, beginning with basic BA practices and progressing through a predefined and proven path of successive levels, each serving as a foundation for the next
• Each succeeding level involves more complex projects, therefore requiring more sophisticated BA practices
• Permit benchmark comparisons across and among organizations by the use of maturity levels
• Provide a single rating (maturity level) that summarizes appraisal results.

(Check out an example of a staged BA Practice MaturityModel.)

How can we Measure Improvement Results?

Regardless of the type of trip or improvement effort you undertake, it is important to evaluate the results of your effort. Did you choose the best route, get great gas mileage, spend too much money, or have enough fun? BE sure to establish measures to evaluate the value of your investment prior to the start of your BA practice assessment.

The SEI reports that after investing in an assessment and implementing the process improvement recommendations, 30 different organizations have achieved a percentage change in one or more of six categories of performance measured below (See the table to the right). You can’t argue the value of these results!

If you are looking for true practice improvement, a small investment upfront could payoff big down the road. Remember, don’t skimp on your assessment investments. It’s much easier and more efficient to travel on a well-marked road to practice improvement versus having to turn left after the third tree on the right next to the fifth mailbox on the left after the second fork in the road. You better hope that all those trees are still standing.