Strategic planning

Projects are initiated for very specific reasons, and those reasons can be traced back to an organization’s strategic plan. Strategic planning is an important activity for every enterprise. It is the development of a cohesive, long-term plan for the organization. Strategic planning may be performed for an entire organization or at a department/division level. In some large organizations, there are entire departments dedicated to strategic planning and measuring the organization’s adherence to the plan.

Most junior to mid-level BAs will not be involved in strategic planning, but it is an important activity for all BAs to understand. You need to be able to read and understand the plan because it sets the direction for the organization. BAs should always be making sure that project work is moving the organization toward its strategic goals.

Senior-level BAs often participate in strategic planning. If this is an area that interests you, working your way up through the BA ranks in your organization is one way to get involved in strategic plan development or be part of a strategic planning team.

Ideally, all employees understand why the organization has a strategic plan, what the plan entails, and then must make sure that their work aligns with the plan. This is one of the ways that BAs distinguish themselves. Executives look for individuals at all levels of the organization who are able to look at the big picture and understand how day-today work supports the big picture.

Figure 3.2 provides an overview of the relationship between strategic planning and individual projects. In large organizations, strategic planning leads to the identification of programs within which most projects operate. Many organizations also use the concept of a portfolio of projects that are managed similar to the management of a portfolio of assets.

Figure 3.2: Example of a Strategic Planning Structure

Portfolio and Program Management

A portfolio refers to a collection of projects and programs that an organization has identified and prioritized to support the strategic plans. A program is an ongoing strategic business initiative that supports multiple related projects. Programs and portfolios are two different ways to group projects together logically.

Portfolio management and program management are important terms that every business analysis professional should learn. These disciplines have grown out of the project management profession and represent higher level management of projects. Small to medium-size companies may not have formal portfolio and program management groups, but the ideas are still important. Projects in a program may be in various stages: some may just be ideas, some have been approved and funded, and some have been started and are in the process of being completed.

The goal of portfolio management is to review all of the projects on a regular basis to confirm that the organization is making the best use of its limited resources. Projects are prioritized, and higher priority projects are assigned more resources based on their needs.

It is important for the business analysis professional to know where his or her project falls in the portfolio priority list. If your project is a very-high-priority project, you will often be successful when requesting additional resources. Very-high-priority projects (with high expected benefits) may justify the purchase of requirements tools or new development tools.

If your project is a low priority relative to the rest of the portfolio, be aware that your resources may be decreased at any time. When a high-priority project needs more help, you or others on your team may be reassigned even though your current project is not done.