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Version 2: A Brief Overview
July 24, 2007 |
We know people have been waiting eagerly for the release of version 2.0 of the BABOK.
Last month, a few of us gathered in Hartford, CT to integrate the BABOK. The team took all of the information we’ve gathered, including the feedback from our expert and practitioner reviewers, and evaluated the structure of each of the knowledge areas. We worked to define how each of the KAs fits into the larger picture of business analysis. The goal was to define the BABOK in terms of the “essentials” of business analysis. We also had to ensure that each KA was coherent, complete, and that it contained enough tasks to be a psychometrically cohesive unit for the purposes of certification.
We made the decision to define each of the KAs in terms of business analysis, not the role of the business analyst. The reason for that was that the particular role filled by a BA may vary greatly between companies, industries, and so forth. By defining business analysis, we can determine the content of the BABOK by looking at what tasks are necessary to perform that role.
While the final wording of the definition still needs to be refined, the conclusion we reached was that business analysis entails all the tasks, techniques, skills, and abilities required to clearly define a problem faced by the business and then to determine the scope of a solution to that problem. Business analysts may not fully define that scope themselves; other specialists will likely be required to be involved, depending on the nature of the solution—but as BAs, we possess the skills necessary to determine that a solution will fit the needs of the business. Business analysts are ultimately responsible for defining and managing the scope of the solution (as opposed to project managers, who are responsible for the scope of work necessary to implement a solution).
In version 2 of the BABOK, there are still 6 KAs, but their names and relationships have changed. We’re still in the process of validating this revised structure and so some changes can be expected before the formal publication of the framework towards the end of August.
The old Requirements Planning and Management KA has been split into two KAs with this edition. We did that because we realized that there really were two unrelated topics lumped into that KA. One was planning of BA activities; the other was requirements management.
Business Analysis Planning is the KA that covers how we determine which activities are necessary to perform in order to complete a business analysis effort. It covers identification of stakeholders, selection of business analysis techniques, the process we will use to manage our requirements, and how we assess the progress of the work in order to make necessary changes. Business analysis planning is a key input to the project plan, and the project manager is responsible for organizing and coordinating business analysis activities with the needs of the rest of the project team.
Enterprise Analysis describes how we take a business need, refine and clarify the definition of that need, and define a solution scope that can feasibly be implemented by the business. Here we will talk about problem definition and analysis, business case development, feasibility studies, and the definition of a solution scope.
Elicitation has been renamed in order to make it clearer that elicitation techniques are used for more than defining requirements. Elicitation describes how we work with stakeholders to find out what their needs are and ensure that we have correctly and completely understood their needs. The task structure of Elicitaton has been broken down into greater detail since the release of version 1.6 of the BABOK, but the scope of the KA remains much the same
Requirements Analysis describes how we progressively elaborate the solution definition in order to enable the project team to design and build a solution that will meet the needs of the business and stakeholders. In order to do that, we have to analyze the stated requirements of our stakeholders to ensure that they are correct, assess the current state of the business to identify and recommend improvements, and ultimately verify and validate the results.
Solution Assessment and Validation covers the role of business analysis once the project team is ready to propose a solution. It describes how we assess proposed solutions to determine which solution best fits the business need, identify gaps and shortcomings in solutions, and determine necessary workarounds or changes to the solution. It also describes how we assess deployed solutions to see how well they met the original need in order to enable businesses to assess the performance and effectiveness of projects.
Requirements Management and Communication is our final KA. It describes how we manage conflicts, issues and changes and ensure that stakeholders and the project team remain in agreement on the solution scope. Depending on the complexity and methodology of the project, this may require that we manage formal approvals, baseline and track different versions of requirements documents, and trace requirements from origination to implementation.
Over the next couple of months, we will be working with our expert advisors and conducting surveys to validate this revised structure. Once that is complete, we will be publishing a detailed description of the new structure as well as a document that maps the content from 1.6 into version 2. We will then revise existing material and draft new sections to cover the gaps, and put those drafts through a careful review process. Our goal remains to complete and “freeze” the BABOK by the end of 2007 or early 2008.
During this time, the Certification team will be planning the work necessary to revise the CBAP™ exam to incorporate this new structure. The exam will continue to be based on version 1.6 until that work is complete and a new edition is published. While we can’t announce a date for that just yet, it will not occur until some time in 2008. We will announce a date in plenty of time for prospective CBAPs to ensure that they study the correct edition of the BABOK. If you’re currently planning on taking one of the scheduled exams, version 1.6 is the only version you need to be concerned with.
It’s been a slower process than we originally planned, but version 2 of the BABOK will be a much stronger and more robust document than 1.6. We can promise that it will be worth the wait, and that it will be a solid basis for building the business analysis profession in the years to come
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