Nearly 40 analysts, one way of working.
An academic medical center’s laboratory division had nearly 40 people acting as business analysts, most with little formal training, and its history of weak project results tracked back to that gap. Digineer built on the work already underway and stood up a business analysis center of practice run by dedicated mentors. The analysts now share one requirements process and one language, and the engagement came in under budget.
At a glance
- Client
- An academic medical center’s laboratory division
- Program
- Business analysis center of practice
- Scale
- Nearly 40 people in analyst or liaison roles, reporting to many managers
- Engagement
- Business analysis practice development, three phases
- Capability
- Organizational Effectiveness & Change Readiness · Transformation & Value Management
The situation
A junior team on a high-visibility project
Thirty-six people, including liaisons, were acting as business analysts, and they reported to multiple levels and areas of management. A self-assessment put more than 80% of them at apprentice level. Many had come from the labs with little formal training.
Past reviews tied a lack of project success directly to the maturity of the analyst function. Work to set standards and tools had started, and leaders thought it had merit, but it missed the skills that go beyond deliverables. There was also concern that tooling had come before the behaviors and processes it was meant to support.
Warning signs
- Analysts reporting to many different managers
- Most of the team at apprentice level
- Little formal business analysis training
- Inconsistent, incomplete documentation
- Tools bought before the process was ready
What we did
Keep what worked, then mentor to adoption
Digineer respected the work already done and folded the successful parts into the result. The focus was adoption: dedicated mentors reporting to a new internal center of practice, working alongside the analysts on real projects.
A baseline to build from
Digineer interviewed analysts and business users against BABOK-based questions, scored the answers and mapped them in a heat map. That current-state view set the mission, goals and skills scorecard for the center of practice.
Standards people can reuse
The team wrote standard operating practices, templates and job descriptions, recommended organization structure changes and ran training in two parts: general analyst skills, then the new templates and procedures.
Mentoring through real projects
Each analyst was mentored through two complete SDLC cycles, leads first and then apprentices. A peer group took ideas from anyone to keep improving the process before the practice passed to the client.
The outcome
Analysts the business seeks out
One process, one language
Analysts apply a common, consistent requirements process across all project types and the whole project life cycle, and share a vocabulary with business users.
In the room earlier
The business actively seeks out the analysts to shape solutions, and they are involved at the earliest phases of projects.
Better input on what to fund
Analysts give the business solid information for judging the value of projects and help select initiatives that fit the strategy.
Delivered under budget
The last status report showed the engagement under budget, and the standard operating practices stay in place for future hires.
Business analysis
Are your analysts working from different playbooks?
Digineer builds business analysis practices that stick, with standards, training and mentors who work alongside your team.
Client name withheld for confidentiality.