From Chaos to Clarity: Building a BA Service Definition

This article is a write up of a talk given at the IRM UK BA Conference Europe 2024 by Carys Hayler and Sinead Torley, based on their experience of creating a BA Service Definition for the Business Analysis Practice at the University of Cambridge.  

Why Define a BA Service?

Advancements in technology and changes to business working practices have caused business analysts to be under pressure to take on new tasks, adapt new approaches and even to provide rationale for why a business analysis team should exist.

BA teams face the challenges of not being engaged early on enough in projects and blurred boundaries of the BA role. If these issues are not addressed, it can limit recognition of the value business analysis can offer.

Without a BA Service Definition, stakeholders may not understand the BA role and how much BAs can offer. A BA Service Definition allows you to challenge stakeholders, to manage their expectations and to ‘push back’.  

The University of Cambridge BA team recognised that they were often excluded from pre-project work. They wanted to:

• make clear to their wider organisation that BAs are about more than just requirements and process maps
• acknowledge overlapping of services with other departments and adjacent roles, to begin discussions and to prevent ‘turf wars.’ 
• show new members of their BA team what was expected  
• showcase their offering and the value business analysts can add
• promote the benefits of involving BAs at an earlier stage of any initiative

What is a BA Service Definition?  

Business analysis is an internal service, providing skills and knowledge to the benefit of the wider organisation. The purpose of a BA Service Definition is to provide a relevant, understandable definition of business analysis and the business analyst role to share with the BA team, and with project partners and stakeholders in the wider organisation.  

In simple terms, a BA Service Definition is where you show what your BA Service can do.  

A BA Service Definition:

• Showcases the services what your BA team can deliver
• Elevates the visibility and status of the BA role  
• Improves clarity of the BA role within your organisation
• Establishes the boundaries and scope of what you do (and don’t do!)
• Is a way to orient new BAs
• As a ‘living document’, facilitates continuous improvement and consistency of output

Discovery Work  

The first element of the creation and implementation journey was discovery – a CoP health check and a team VMOST. Three areas of concern were identified: Clarity of team roles; BA team recognition; and team member needs.  

A Vision and Mission workshop validated team goals, providing a ‘guiding star’. And a first draft of the Vision and Mission.

A GAP analysis and discovery work was conducted to find out the ‘as-is’ service offering. The work being carried out was identified using the BASF model. The team came up with 6 services. The book ‘Delivering Business Analysis’ [ADD LINK] by Debra Paul and Christina Lovelock provided useful templates for this work.

Creation of a Service Catalogue

The next step was the creation of a Service Catalogue. The team started by producing one-page portfolio of the 6 services. They then produced a comprehensive inward facing document which included information, suggested tools and resources for internal use by the BAs in the team to promote best practice and consistency of standards.

The Team Launch

A two-hour face-to-face workshop was held with the entire BA team to discuss the draft definition and align it to goals and initiatives. The team were invited to ‘speed-date’ the service and to play ‘service bingo’. The output from this workshop was invaluable and brought the service definition to life.

A team skills audit was conducted, with a focus on the communication of these skills outside the BA team and in development plans. A communications plan was created.

Service Definition Launch

The Service Definition was sent out to all stakeholders, and the team started to use the Mission and Vision statement on email sign offs. It was decided to have a ‘soft launch’ without a huge fanfare to start with. The team has to fit into an ever-evolving environment, with ongoing change within the University.

Benefits, Learnings and Next Steps

The team has agreed that the Service Definition is a baseline which will define change going forward. At present the team conducts more situational analysis and requirement work, with less time spent on feasibility and business acceptance testing, so the BAs are less confident in these areas. Objectives have been set to remedy this.

Already, the Service Definition is building the confidence of the BAs in the team. They can refer to it to clarify their role and what they should and should not be doing. It is helping new starters to understand what outputs are expected.  

As BA Lead, Carys is finding the Service Definition useful as she is the ‘gatekeeper’ for the team. It is helping her to articulate to stakeholders where the team can add more value. The Service Definition is a living, evolving document.  

Lessons Learned

The support of leadership in the organisation is key to creating a Service Definition, make sure you have it. Allow for flexibility, do not be too prescriptive. Consider communications, do not over promise and under deliver, the Service Definition can always evolve. Manage your team’s expectations and reassure them. The Service Definition is a learning tool, you can fill the gaps as a team.

Dedicating that time outside project work to build your Service Definition more than pays off. It is an invaluable document for the team as a whole.  

Carys Hayler is Head of Business Analysis at the University of Cambridge. With a background in marketing operations (read: data, systems and processes for marketing teams), she joined University of Cambridge as a Business Analyst in 2017. She been leading the Business Analysis team since 2020. Having worked on a range of projects across student records, admissions, research operations, and identity and access management, it’s the complexity of a collegiate University that she finds fascinating.

Sinead Torley has over 20 years’ experience of working within IT and Business Change projects, predominately in the public sector and is experienced in designing and embedding BA Service Definitions for BA capability teams. Sinead provided consultancy via Herd Consulting and support to Carys and her team.  

Herd Consulting is an award-winning Product, Analysis, Change and Transformation consultancy with expertise in Discovery and Recovery. Herd Consulting works with some of the world’s leading universities, Central Government departments, FTSE 100 companies, and fast-growing technology businesses.