When to Get it Involved in a Project

One of the steps in business analysis planning is to think about when it will be appropriate to involve the IT stakeholders in a project and which of them to involve first. As with most business analysis questions, the answer is “it depends.”

On a small, maintenance project where you anticipate only a minor change to an existing application, there may be no reason to get IT involved until you are prepared to provide a detailed description of the change. Examples of this type of change would be moving a field on a screen to a new position or changing the format of a report.

On large or brand new development projects, an IT architect should be involved from the very beginning of the project because there will be many decisions to be made. For example:

• On what platform will the new application be run?

• Which database management system will hold the data?

• What constraints will be faced from the interfacing applications?

• What type of technical architecture is needed?

On medium-size projects, involve IT as needed. The following guidelines may help in making this decision:

• When the solution will need new information (data) to be stored electronically—involve IT early (specifically data management people)

• When the business user community is large and their daily work will be changed—involve IT or help desk management early

• When you hope to automate complex business rules—involve IT early

• When large volumes of data are to be reported on or queried—involve IT early

Err on the side of caution and talk with the IT stakeholders as early as possible just to make sure there is not a major technology issue in your path. The earlier the IT architect knows a change is coming, the more time he or she will have to plan for it. The IT architect also may be aware of other related projects that are going on that need to be coordinated with yours.

In addition, asking IT for suggestions, confirmation, and buy-in early in the process improves relationships and will smooth the implementation process. No one wants to be surprised by a change at the last minute and no one wants to be told to make a change. People would rather be asked. Involving IT early means that you can ask for ideas before the requirements have been written and improve the quality and accuracy of the requirements.

It Corporate Culture

Every IT organization has a culture and a unique environment. It is important for BAs to be aware of this culture and environment to adapt work styles to fit the organization. Consultants have known this for years. When a consultant walks into a new organization, he or she immediately begins to get clues about the culture of the company. Most people automatically perform this type of assessment during an interview for a new job. What do the employees wear? Is the office generally quiet or noisy? Are people working calmly or is there a sense of panic and immediacy? These initial clues tell us a lot about how projects are going to be run in an organization.

Understanding the technical environment also involves awareness of how an enterprise views technology. Is technology a key driver for the organization, as in the case of a software vendor? Or is technology a support mechanism that allows the organization to fulfill its true mission, as in the case of a hospice company where patient care and personal service are the important products and technology is used to support the people providing the core service?