About the Article:
This article series is dedicated to my profession of Business Analysis. Being a Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP), I feel it is my duty towards my profession to take it to the next level and help all the business analysts to perform their role better by sharing my knowledge. The article is based on my own experience and thought process.
In next 2 articles, I will be comparing an offshore Business Analyst with an onsite Business Analyst based on the BA knowledge areas and underlying competencies. Generally offshore BA’s are part of implementation of IT strategy / initiative which is being executed using onsite – offshore model. However whatever mentioned about onsite BA is applicable to all BA’s working onsite on various assignments like process improvement initiatives, strategy implementation initiatives. Also the BA in this article may be referred as a vendor to the client organization, but the article is applicable to internal BA’s as well.
There is a story in Mahabharata (one of the major epics of India) about a character who has the gift of divine vision (divya-drishti). His name was Sanjay and he was an advisor and charioteer of one of the kings. This king- King Dhritarashtra was blind and was a ruler for a place called as Hastinapur. During this epic's climatic end a war breaks between Dhritarashtra's sons and his brother's sons. At the time of war, due to his blindness he could neither take part in the war, nor witness it. That is when Sanjay plays a role of a narrator, and using his divya-drishti tells about the live events happening in battle field. The divine vision, instead of it being in the mind, is like seeing things in person. Also, the sounds are heard with the physical ear and not as a current of thought. Hence for Sanjay, it was like being present in the battle field physically. So basically, Sanjay was offshore analyst describing what's happening at onsite - the exact same role played by an offshore BA.
Obviously onsite BA gets more opportunities to learn and grow, however offshore BA needs to play Sanjay’s role to listen to onsite as if he / she is there. Now continuing reference from the above analogy, there are few more points to be remembered by an offshore BA:
1. Sanjaya not only tells every incident of the Kurukshetra war but he also gives various descriptions of: Earth, the other planets, and focuses on the Indian subcontinent and gives an elaborate list of hundreds of kingdoms, tribes, provinces, cities, towns, villages, rivers, mountains, and forests of the (ancient) Indian Subcontinent (Bharata Varsha).
Point to remember: In the subsequent articles, I have compared various knowledge areas of onsite and offshore BA. The knowledge area which is hardly exposed to offshore BA is – ‘Enterprise Analysis’. This knowledge area majorly helps one to understand the business needs in larger context through systems thinking. Similar to Sanjay, offshore BA should know about onsite situation but his knowledge should not be limited to project scope. He / she should be aware about various departments, operations within client organization and try to get complete picture of client’s business instead of looking through small key hole. This helps one to gain holistic picture. This way offshore BA can compensate for limited exposure to Enterprise Analysis knowledge area.
Tools that can be used:
- To Understand Business Landscape:
* Value Chain Analysis or
* Business Process Mapping
- To Understand System Landscape (from Business Analyst’s Perspective)
* Context Diagrams or
* Data Flow Diagrams
- To Understand Stakeholder Landscape
* The Stakeholder Wheel
* Power-Interest Grid
* RACI Matrix
Note: In all the above mentioned tools, one has to start from top to bottom. Hence high-level process diagram or context diagrams serve the purpose. If the project scope is limited to certain department, above extra work helps you to give better and right solutions. These solutions will long last and deliver more business value.
2. Sanjay also explains about the military formations adopted by each side on each day.
Point to remember: As per this line, offshore BA must know about the strategy of client organization and the external factors. This is very critical since onsite / offshore BA’s are not necessarily to be aware or exposed to the strategy and outside influencing factors for the client organization. This knowledge give a BA a sneak peek into the future – where does client want to be. This helps any BA to gain very important insights into the client organization and eventually help the project.
Tools that can be used:
* PESTAL Analysis or
* Porter’s Five Forces Analysis
Both the above points help a business analyst to rise to become a ‘Consultative Business Analyst’ than being just a ‘Business Analyst’. The tools also help offshore BA to maximize his / her exposure and acquire invaluable experience of holistic Business Analysis.
In the next article: My next article will compare various underlying competencies and knowledge areas exposed to onsite BA and offshore BA.
As a heads-up about next article, I would share following teasers:
Analysis of opportunity to display Underlying Competencies for Onsite BA and Offshore BA
Following rating indicates chances of displaying / gaining expertise in the mentioned competency at onsite or offshore – 0% being no possibility to 100% indicating most certainty. Please note that this is not the lack of competence at offshore, but it shows limited opportunity to display the competence.
Competency Group - Offshore BA v/s Onsite BA
Analytical Thinking & Problem Solving – 56% v/s 100%
Behavioral Characteristics – 100% v/s 100%
Business Knowledge – 80% v/s 100%
Communication Skills – 87% v/s 93%
Interaction Skills – 100% v/s 87%
Software Applications – 100% v/s 100%
Analysis of Knowledge Areas being exposed to Onsite BA and Offshore BA
Following rating indicates chances of task being performed at onsite or offshore – 0% being no possibility to 100% indicating most certainty. Please note that this is not the division of work for onsite – offshore model. Hence 0% indicate that it is not possible to perform the respective task at onsite / offshore and 100% indicate that it is only possible to perform the respective task at onsite / offshore.
Knowledge Area - Offshore BA v/s Onsite BA
Enterprise Analysis – 25% v/s 100%
Business Analysis Planning & Monitoring – 68% v/s 100%
Elicitation – 50% v/s 100%
Requirements Analysis – 88% v/s 93%
Requirements Management & Communication – 85% v/s 100%
Solution Assessment & Validation – 83% v/s 100%
In a nutshell, onsite BA and offshore BA should always work as a team to get the right solution implemented. Both onsite and offshore has their own unique characteristics and challenges, but being part of both of them, I personally can say that both are enriching experiences.
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