Article 4: Log-On(site) vs. Log-Off(shore)

Similar to logs maintained by the travelers during a voyage, offshore and onsite BA’s work is captured under various knowledge areas during project’s lifecycle. Hence in continuation of my previous articles, in this closing article about onsite vs. offshore BA, I will compare their exposure to various knowledge areas as mentioned in the BABOK. 

Previous articles:

Article 2: Offshore Business Analyst - 'Sanjaya' from Mahabhrata

Article 3: Underlying Competency Comparison for Onsite & Offshore Business Analyst

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.

Highlights of the finding are:

• As you can see in the image, the least exposed knowledge area for offshore BA is ‘Enterprise Analysis’. 
• Also, probability of tasks performed under Elicitation and BA planning and monitoring is less. Please note that elicitation tasks are related with the actual elicitation and not the documentation of requirements. And the planning and monitoring is limited to business analysis tasks and activities.

Let’s go through each knowledge are one by one. I have mentioned my rationale behind the rating in the comments.

1. Knowledge Area: Enterprise Analysis

Tasks                                       Offshore BA    Onsite BA

Define Business Need                      25%               100%

Assess Capability Gaps                    25%               100%

Determine Solution Approach          25%               100%

Define Solution Scope                     25%               100%

Define Business Case                      25%                100%

Comments: It is very rare that enterprise analysis is done from offshore. These tasks require high level of interaction with various business stakeholders. Only thing that can be done from offshore in this case is secondary research, artifact analysis and documentation of analysis shared by onsite BA. However instead of helping, offshoring this task might waste lot of time explaining things to offshore and reviewing their work. Hence the higher probability rating is given to the onsite BA.

2. Knowledge Area: Business Analysis Planning & Monitoring

Tasks                                                       Offshore BA            Onsite BA

Plan Business Analysis Approach                      50%                       100%

Conduct Stakeholder Analysis                          10%                       100%

Plan Business Analysis Activities                      75%                       100%

Plan Business Analysis Communication             75%                       100%

Plan Requirements Management Process          100%                     100%

Manage Business Analysis Performance            100%                      100%

Comments: At onsite – this knowledge areas deals with planning of Business Analysis as a whole (end to end). Business Analysis Planning and Monitoring activities at the offshore, focus on the implementation side of the requirements i.e. w.r.t. development and testing of the solution and BA tasks related with them. Chances of conducting stakeholder analysis (majorly business stakeholders) happens only at onsite. Offshore might get involved in case of analyzing implementation stakeholders. There is fairly good amount of probability that an offshore analyst gets an opportunity to work on this knowledge areas from offshore. This is due to this knowledge areas doesn’t require high level of client interactions

3. Knowledge Area: Elicitation

Tasks                                      Offshore BA            Onsite BA

Prepare for Elicitation                   50%                        100%

Conduct Elicitation Activity           50%                        100%

Document Elicitation Results         50%                        100%

Confirm Elicitation Results            50%                        100%

Comments: There are very few and rare occasions when the requirements are being elicited from offshore. In those cases, offshore BA has to resort to options like telephonic interviews or video conferencing or desktop sharing. Only in those cases the chances of performing these activities offshore are there. In most of the cases, tasks under this knowledge area are performed at onsite. However due to indirect involvements, probability of this knowledge area being carried out at offshore is less (50-50)

4. Knowledge Area: Requirements Analysis

Tasks                                                  Offshore BA    Onsite BA

Prioritize Requirements                              75%                100%

Organize Requirements                              75%                 100%

Specify and Model Requirements                100%               100%

Define Assumptions and Constraints           100%               100%

Verify Requirements                                  100%               100%

Validate Requirements                               75%                100%

Comments: Both offshore and onsite BA's get exposure to these tasks. However advantage to the onsite BA is that he mostly gets to work on Business requirements and Stakeholder requirements along with Solution requirements. Offshore BA mostly gets to work on Solution requirements. Onsite transition requirements mostly cover process / people related transition requirements while offshore one's might cover the technical aspects of transition requirements. At offshore the prioritization is mostly for already selected work items / requirements. Hence it is most of the time prioritization in terms of implementation (time and effort-wise).  Onsite prioritization happens mostly for business value delivered as a whole. Probability of other tasks happening at offshore is also on a higher side as the work can be carried out internally. Since validation checks that all requirements support the delivery of value to the business, fulfill its goals and objectives, and meet a stakeholder need; it happens intensely at the onsite. However validation is sort of quality check, the major focus lies at offshore.

5. Knowledge Area: Requirements Management and Communication

Tasks                                                    Offshore BA    Onsite BA

Manage Solution Scope & Requirements       100%               100%

Manage Requirements Traceability               100%               100%

Maintain Requirements for Re-use                100%               100%

Prepare Requirements Package                     75%                100%

Communicate Requirements                         50%                100%

Comments: Generally tasks under this knowledge area, can be carried out both at onsite and offshore. Tasks related to Requirement management can happen at offshore, however communication of requirement mostly happens from onsite. The communication package can be created onsite, however majorly the main communication happens through onsite BA. The offshore requirement management focuses from implementation side, where the development and testing team has traceability matrix to link requirements with implemented features. So the main solution scoping (from business / stakeholder requirement perspective) happens onsite and implementation related scoping happens from offshore in collaboration with onsite.

6. Knowledge Area: Solution Assessment and Validation

Tasks                                           Offshore BA    Onsite BA

Assess Proposed Solution                  100%                100%

Allocate Requirements                     100%                100%

Assess Organizational Readiness        25%                 100%

Define Transition Requirements        100%                100%

Validate Solution                              75%                 100%

Evaluate Solution Performance         100%                100%

Comments: Except the task of assessing organizational readiness, all the tasks can be carried out at offshore. This is because it requires knowledge about the client organizations, stakeholders and As-is state of the business. Other than that many tasks of this knowledge area can happen at offshore as well. Also, the transition requirements related with technology can be driven from offshore. Since validation checks that solution from delivered business value perspective, it happens intensely at the onsite.

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Notes:
Types of Requirements:

As per BABOK 2.0, there are four types of requirements as follows:

Business Requirements- ‘Statements of goals, objectives, and outcomes that describe why a change has been initiated. They can apply to the whole of an enterprise, a business area, or a specific initiative.’ These are very high level requirements generally originated from CEO / top management. Their triggers are external factors like competition, expansion or launch of new product etc. E.g. if a banking CEO wants to increase customer servicing channels to improve customer loyalty.

Stakeholder Requirements: ‘(They) describe the needs of stakeholders that must be met in order to achieve the business requirements.’ These are specific to stakeholders. E.g. in above case, the mobile CoE head (stakeholder) can have a requirement to launch a banking app that can provide customers with self servicing options. This becomes a stakeholder requirement

Solution Requirements: ‘Describe the capabilities and qualities of a solution that meets the stakeholder requirements. They provide the appropriate level of detail to allow for the development and implementation of the solution.’ These are basically Functional and Non-Functional requirements. E.g. in above example features of the mobile app will become functional requirements like login feature, check bank balance feature etc. Security or performance features of the mobile app will become non-functional requirements.

Transition Requirements: ‘Describe the capabilities that the solution must have and the conditions the solution must meet to facilitate transition from the current state to the future state, but which are not needed once the change is complete. They are differentiated from other requirements types because they are of a temporary nature.’ These requirements mostly cover anything that to be done to make the change happen from As-is state to To-be state. E.g. in above case, data migration for mobile app or trainings for the mobile app will become transition requirements

Article 3: Underlying Competency Comparison for Onsite & Offshore Business Analyst

In continuation from my previous article, I would like to compare the exposure for onsite BA against the offshore BA w.r.t. required underlying competencies.

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. 

Each of the following competency group consists of few competencies and I have tried to rate these based on my knowledge.

Highlights of the finding are:

* As you can see in the image, the two competencies which are less utilized at offshore are Analytical Thinking & Problem Solving and Business Knowledge.

* However being an offshore BA, one needs to display Interaction Skills a bit more than that of onsite BA.

Let’s go through each competency one by one. I have mentioned my rationale behind the rating in the comments.

Summary:

• Competency Group - Offshore BA v/s Onsite BA
• Analytical Thinking & Problem Solving – 56% v/s 100%
• Behavioral Characteristics – 100% vs. 100%
• Business Knowledge – 80% vs. 100%
• Communication Skills – 87% vs. 93%
• Interaction Skills – 100% vs. 87%
• Software Applications – 100% vs. 100%

1.  Analytical Thinking & Problem Solving – Overall Rating Offshore 56% vs. Onsite 100%

1a. Creative Thinking

Offshore 80% vs. Onsite 100%   

Since the solution is generally decided onsite, offshore BA gets limited opportunity to display this competency

1b. Decision Making

Offshore 60% vs. Onsite 100%   

Offshore BA can only take decisions related with offshore implementation team’s (development and testing teams) queries or confusions. However opportunity to use this competency at offshore is very limited

1c. Learning

Offshore 60% vs. Onsite 100%

Since one is very close to client, client’s business and stakeholders at onsite, learning grows thousand folds.

1d. Problem Solving

Offshore 60% vs. Onsite 100%

Since the main solutioning happens at onsite, problem solving skills are very frequently used onsite. However offshore problem solving focuses majorly w.r.t. implementation teams’ problems.

1e. Systems Thinking

Offshore 20% vs. Onsite 100%

Offshore BA misses on the big picture. Onsite BA gets to know the complete picture and gets to know the patterns and relations to understand the problem better and suggest a complete / holistic solution.

2. Behavioral Characteristics – Overall Rating Offshore 100% vs. Onsite 100%

2a. Ethics            

Offshore 100% vs. Onsite 100%

There is no doubt that every professional should have strong ethical system and should know what is right and what is wrong

2b. Personal Organization

Offshore 100% vs. Onsite 100%

Be at onsite or offshore BA must have work ethics and personal organization.

2c. Trustworthiness

Offshore 100% vs. Onsite 100%

Onsite BA majorly works to gain trust of client, and Offshore BA works majorly to gain trust of onsite BA and offshore implementation team

3. Business Knowledge – Overall Rating Offshore 80% vs. Onsite 100%

3a. Business Principles & Practices

Offshore 100% vs. Onsite 100%

These characteristics are common to all organizations across industries and hence having their knowledge helps a BA to understand the problem better and to find appropriate solution

3b. Industry Knowledge

Offshore 80% vs. Onsite 100%   

This is the understanding of the industry that their client’s organization is in. Offshore BA, might not necessarily have detailed industry knowledge as the holistic solutions are generally provided by onsite BA and then the solution is passed on to the offshore

3c. Organization Knowledge

Offshore 60% vs. Onsite 100%   

Being at client’s site, onsite BA must have detailed client organization knowledge i.e. business architecture, business model, stakeholder influences etc. Offshore BA need not have that much knowledge about organization

3d. Solution Knowledge

Offshore 80% vs. Onsite 100%   

Solution knowledge is majorly required to identify the most effective means of implementing a change. Since onsite BA is closer to business, solution knowledge is critical for him / her

4. Communication Skills – Overall Rating Offshore 87% vs. Onsite 93%

4a. Oral Communications

Offshore 60% vs. Onsite 100%   

Offshore BA majorly interacts with onsite BA and not the actual business owners. But the onsite BA interacts with multiple stakeholders on multiple fronts, hence the score is higher for onsite BA

4b. Teaching

Offshore 100% vs. Onsite 80%   

Generally offshore BA has to play a critical role explaining the requirements and solutions to the implementation team (development and QA team). Onsite BA has to have this competency to manage change instigated by the solution implementation

4c. Written Communication

Offshore 100% vs. Onsite 100%

Written communication is critical for every BA because eventually the major deliverables by a BA are nothing by artifacts like BRD (business requirements document), user stories, use cases etc.

5. Interaction Skills – Overall Rating Offshore 100% vs. Onsite 87%

5a. Facilitation and Negotiation

Offshore 100% vs. Onsite 100%

For onsite BA this competency focuses on assisting business to elicit or extract real business requirements. Also the negotiation skills are required to arrive at the right business solution. For offshore BA, majorly these skills come handy while discussing the implementation with project managers, development and testing teams because many times they want to implement an easier solution than implementing the right solution"

5b. Leadership and Influencing

Offshore 100% vs. Onsite 100%

There is no doubt that onsite or offshore BA’s have to display these competencies to get things done the right way. Consultative business analysis requires thought leadership and influencing skills

5c. Teamwork

Offshore 100% vs. Onsite 60%   

Since offshore BA has to work closely with the implementation team, this competency is majorly required for him / her. Even though onsite BA might work with onsite teams, his role is more of a individual contributor

6. Software Applications – Overall Rating Offshore 100% vs. Onsite 100%

6a. General-Purpose Applications

Offshore 100% vs. Onsite 100%

Since these tools are used to document and track requirements, onsite and offshore BA’s need to be proficient with these

6b. Specialized Applications

Offshore 100% vs. Onsite 100%

Since these tools are used to support the development of formal models, their validation and implementation onsite and offshore BA’s need to be proficient with these specialized applications

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Notes:

Types of Requirements: As per BABOK 2.0, there are four types of requirements as follows:

Business Requirements:

‘Statements of goals, objectives, and outcomes that describe why a change has been initiated. They can apply to the whole of an enterprise, a business area, or a specific initiative.’ These are very high level requirements generally originated from CEO / top management. Their triggers are external factors like competition, expansion or launch of new product etc. E.g. if a banking CEO wants to increase customer servicing channels to improve customer loyalty.

Stakeholder Requirements:

‘(They) describe the needs of stakeholders that must be met in order to achieve the business requirements.’ These are specific to stakeholders. E.g. in above case, the mobile CoE head (stakeholder) can have a requirement to launch a banking app that can provide customers with self servicing options. This becomes a stakeholder requirement

Solution Requirements:

‘Describe the capabilities and qualities of a solution that meets the stakeholder requirements. They provide the appropriate level of detail to allow for the development and implementation of the solution.’ These are basically Functional and Non-Functional requirements. E.g. in above example features of the mobile app will become functional requirements like login feature, check bank balance feature etc. Security or performance features of the mobile app will become non-functional requirements.

Transition Requirements:

‘Describe the capabilities that the solution must have and the conditions the solution must meet to facilitate transition from the current state to the future state, but which are not needed once the change is complete. They are differentiated from other requirements types because they are of a temporary nature.’ These requirements mostly cover anything that to be done to make the change happen from As-is state to To-be state. E.g. in above case, data migration for mobile app or trainings for the mobile app will become transition requirements