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Iain: Hey – Look at this press release.
Karen: What about it?
Iain: Wyyzzk, Inc. and Procuit Inc. are announcing the release of a new website for the professional development of Business Analysts.
Karen: Ho hum. Not another one.
Raj: Wyyzzk – isn’t that Geri’s site? You know, the one where we get all those great tips?
Iain: Yes. And this new site is really different.
Karen: How so?
Iain: Well, they are planning to use Lean Startup and Agile software techniques to let users plan the features and development.
Karen: Really? They are letting us plan the site?
Iain: That is what it looks like.
Raj: I see there is an audio interview of Geri telling her vision for the new site. Let’s listen.

Press Release

Wyyzzk, Inc. and Procuit Inc. Bring Professional Development Services to Business Analysts in Information Technology
Interview with Dr. Michael Hudson
The Big Idea Guru

3 minute interview on new site

There will be a lot more information over the next few weeks. For now, see this press release that announces the product:

Wyyzzk, Inc. and Procuit Inc. Bring Professional Development Services to Business Analysts in Information Technology

I am REALLY excited about this!!

Geri

Geri,

My comment had to do with Agile programming. The problem I see is
getting a customer to pay for something without knowing what the final
cost will be and what final functionality will be included. 

For example, we are an application service provider (ASP).  We create
the software apps and provide the servers and data stores for our
customers who log in remotely. We are in the transportation management
industry.  We manage rail and truckload (multimodal) shipments for
railroads.

They pay hundreds of thousands of dollars up front and a per transaction
fee that amounts to millions over the life of their contracts (multi
year).  We become a core business process for our customers. 

I don't see how a new customer will sign up for our services with all
the TBDs of Agile.  They won't be able to sell, "trust me", to their
boards.

I like the idea of building small parts and letting the users try it
out.  We are bringing a new way of doing business to our customers.  But
there still needs to be a fairly detailed plan with costs, time lines,
and a good idea of functionality to be delivered.

Thanks,

Steve O

What feedback would you like to offer Steve? Who has experiences with Agile they would like to share?

Geri

I want to be more effective at providing you the information you need.

Because I want to help out more people, I’m asking you to help me by answering a couple of questions.

Please post your answers as comments to this post. You will see a comment link in the header of this post. Click that link to find the comment box.

Thank you!

Geri

• Assuming you are working as a Business Analyst, what kind of information do you need in your job? Where do you go to look for that information?

• If you are not working as a Business Analyst, but want to be, what kind of information do you need to prepare to be a Business Analyst? Where do you go to look for that information?

For clarification, imagine that there is somewhere a database of information you could access to do your job. What would you put in that database?  While domain specific knowledge (insurance, finance) would be useful, I am more interested in finding out more basic information that any Business Analyst would need to know.

I thought today I’d provide an example of the summary of one such description. I wrote this about 13-years-ago for an exercise in teaching how to write such a document. We looked at the fast-food restaurant McDonalds as an example, and I took as my focus the restaurant operations. (as opposed to delivery chain, backend operations, etc…)

Without further ado, here’s an example of how to write a business description summary in clear, and understandable English fit for executive sponsors.

Andrew Midkiff, Guest Blogger

The Encoding of Gastronomic Utopias in America:  The Construction of an (Arch)typical Kroc.

Our investigation of the structures of significance within the context of a late 20th c. McDonalds begins by presenting a perspective of the physical environment wherein the geometric and topologic economies operate as grids of certainties: networks of predictability and predication for the staging of behavioral routines, and episodic frameworks for inter-nutritional contact and avoidance.  In this sense we will see the restaurant as a matrix of ideological instruments for creating and sustaining an edible complex.

We shall see that the inner space is delimited by the panoptic locus of the counter from which perspective the customer and employee, the eater and the eaten can participate in their dialectic of consumption.  We will investigate the ubiquitous sign of the “golden arches” which serve to encompass Ray Kroc’s own regime of legibility within which fast food and its imagery (which is to say its ideologies) can be reckoned with, in the dual sense of that phrase — simultaneously _coped_ with and _thought_ with.

Dominating the view of this locus of commercial volubility is the menu, a given but dynamically changing matrix of food choices.  The menu is never neutral.  The surfaces and boundaries of dietetic dogma, the visibilities and occlusions of taste serve to track, measure, control and predict behaviors over space and time.  The realities it fabricates and maintains are invariably fictive — an ideologically-invested perspective on the proper gastronomic realities of individuals, groups and classes. In this sense, there is no menu which is not in some way a utopic fiction — or, more accurately, a matrix of varied and often conflicting fictions.

Thus the menu actively participates in this simulcrum of cuisine by establishing and maintaining a particular form of subjectivity — a perspective from which given, eaten meals cohere and appear ordered, legitimate and nutritious.

Enjoy! And for more hints on how to write this way, let me suggest the works of Donald Preziosi.

Andrew

I would love your feedback on it.

You can find the document here: What Are Requirements

Geri

In spite of serious security breaches in 2008, Mr. Kelleher states that organizations will continue to view security as an afterthought rather than a critical business consideration.  I agree that a business that does not see the value proposition in security investments is less likely to make such investments.  In order to raise information security as an agenda item to a board of directors, we must make a business case for it.

In “A common sense way to make the business case for software assurance”, several models for the communication of security investments are presented.  Among them is the balanced scorecard.  This model examines the organization through the use of four metric perspectives:

• Financial
• Internal Business Processes
• Learning and Growth
• Customer

The Financial metric requires accurate and timely information about the fiscal health of the company.  This includes data on assets, liabilities, and risks.  All investments boil down to an analysis of this metric.  Thus, the financial impact of a security solution must be communicated appropriately.

The Business Process metric allows executives to ensure that processes are meeting business requirements.  This metric is a powerful driver for change in business strategy.  Rather than struggle with existing processes and culture, security professionals must strive to design solutions that leverage these elements.  While change is sometime required, this change must be fostered by the leadership in order to be successful.

The Learning and Growth metric examines attitudes towards corporate and self improvement.  Learning extends beyond the immediate enhancement of knowledge.  If inculcated into the business, it can change the way the business competes for the better.  Given the value of intellectual capital, security proposals must highlight the educational enrichment they have to offer.  A workforce that understands how to counter the risks faced by the organization adds greater value to the bottom line.

Lastly, the Customer metric is an indicator of market satisfaction in the products and services offered by the business.  This metric includes the reputation of the organization.  Security professionals must show how their proposals will enhance customer satisfaction.  The must also show how the business can enhance its value proposition via security investments.

If information security professionals discuss security within this framework, they can communicate the business value of a given set of solutions.  By speaking the language of business they can get the attention of those in control of the budget.

I welcome discussion from my readers on how to sell security to business people.

Jason and I are spending the holidays with my family, and enjoying the warmth and love of the family circle, and the loving thoughts we have received in email and text message today.

I hope your celebrations with family and friends are cheerful and loving.

Happy Holidays!

Geri

I recently received email from OMG (Object Management Group) that they now have a certification for Business Process Modeling. Alert reader Igor Nedeljkovic wrote to ask about it, so I thought this would be a good topic for an article.

The OMG has release three standards in this area of business processes:

1. Business Process Maturity Model
2. Business Motivation Model
3. Business Process Modeling Notation

The Business Process Maturity Model is intended to be a business version of CMM for software. The BPMM is guidelines to help a company determine if they have good business processes. Presumably there will be a way for a company to become certified at the various BPMM levels, just as software development can be certified at the various CMM levels.

The Business Motivation Model describes how to develop business plans, from the point of view of ends, means, and influencers. It is meant to help a company identify and develop the desired results, courses of action, business policies, and business rules for the corporation. It talks about strategies, tactics, goals, objectives, and what influences a company.

Business Process Modeling Notation describes the notation and semantics for a Business Process Diagram. It is meant to be a standard that a person can read and that also can read by tools that execute business processes. It maps to BPEL4WS, but not to UML. It is meant to consolidate existing business process notations, much as UML was meant to consolidate existing software notations.

Is any of this new? No. This kind of information has been around for a very long time. There are many methodologies that business people have used for a long time to do this kind of work. The OMG is defining frameworks within which all these business methodologies fit in, and setting up certification programs to support those frameworks.

What I am not seeing at this time, is a description of how all these things are supposed to relate to software methodologies and notations. We have been using use cases and activity diagrams for a long time to describe business processes, and there was a clear relationship between those artifacts and the models used by software developers. I’ll have to read more carefully, but right now it looks like OMG has not addressed the gap between business definition and the implementation of that business in software.

If you expect to be involved with standards and compliance of business processes, then you will want to be familiar with the Business Process Maturity Model. Otherwise, it may not be of much interest in your work.

You should review the Business Motivation Model document. This looks like something that management will expect their Business Analysts to know about, and to understand the terms as they are defined in this document. One of the things defined in there is Business Rule, for example, which is clearly something a BA should know.

You will definitely want to get familiar with the Business Process Modeling Notation. If it becomes common or standard in the industry, the expectation is that business analysts and development teams will be able to read this notation.

I am skeptical about the usefulness of the Business Process Modeling Notation because there is a very large gap between what is described in this notation and what a development team would need to know in order to implement it. This is a problem with the current BPM notations and processes, and OMG has not solved it with this new consolidated notation. But I will get familiar with the notation so I can read it when I see it.

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Now it is your turn.

Download the OMG documents from here and start to get familiar with the business process descriptions and notation.

http://www.omg.org/oceb/coveragemap-fund.htm

Scroll down to the Resources section and look for OMG Specifications.

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* Article used with permission from Wyyzzk, Inc.’s Resources for Business Analysts site at http://www.writingusecases.com This website of reports and tips contains information to help you succeed as a Business Analyst in IT.

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If you are a US citizen and registered to vote, I encourage you to do so.

You might think, my one vote does not matter. But of course it does!! Polls are predicting that 65% of registered voters will vote today. It is sad that only two-thirds of the registered voters will vote. Especially when you consider how many people are not even registered to vote! I’m guessing that less than half the people who could vote are making the decisions for the whole country.

So go and vote! Make your voice heard. Be part of the decision.

Geri