My Professional Journey

We once had a Senior Manager who introduced the concept of "domains" within the Business Analysis Practice.

My good friend was a Business Analyst then and I asked him what that meant in the context of his day-to-day job. He replied " A Business Analyst  is assigned to a  business units or conceptually , " A Domain " and we analyse IT projects which get allocated to that "Domain". I couldn't quite get the grasp of what he said then as this was about five years ago.

After reading about the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK) to gain more perspective into how a Business Analysis contributes to projects other than merely capturing requirements, The "domain" concept has become much clear It's more broadly , the concept of Enterprise Analysis.

The focus of these "domain" experts or Enterprise Analysts is not to work on initiatives in silos but, to map out the Business Process of the entire Business Unit eg Manufacturing. Manufacturing typically encapsulates Logistics, Supply Chain, Testing, Creating a Product and several others . When an Enterprise Analyst gets to work they understand the business process of each of these different streams of work in this Business Unit. They understand and map how these Units achieve synergy and congruence and how they work cohesively achieve a common goal - To get a Quality Product out of the door.

There could be an initiative to improve efficiency in one of these streams and the Enterprise Analyst here plays a paramount role in analyzing how this will affect the other stream of work. Although they may not influence the final outcome or the choice of solution, they would have played a valuable role in determining a key requirement or a future in-scope item for the other stream . Their analysis could even fuel the need or justify the organization's investment in a future project in the same Business Unit for another stream of work. An Enterprise Analyst can also develop a bank of reusable requirements which they can readily leverage on a different project within the same domain.

And If a new Project Manager is hired to deliver a project which belongs to the domain of work in which we have our experienced Enterprise Analyst, How much of a front foot the Project Manager already finds themselves in? The Business Process is largely mapped out, The scope is a lot clearer and the amount of work that a Project Manager needs to put forth a detailed business proposal or build a business case is already reduced.  In addition, the Enterprise Analyst is already aware of some of the Business or Project Risks in their domain of expertise. Then the Enterprise Analyst partners effectively with the Project Manager to deliver a well -scoped and well - planned Project.

Enterprise Analysts are the "big" picture people who can provide insight into how a new Project may fit into the Organizational context and can also assist in prioritizing projects and the Business Planning cycles of Organizations.

They are valuable assets to any Organization and a very good career choice or advancement option for bright Business Analysts.

What has been your experience in this regards?

(image courtesy :- dataversity.net)