In most organizations, the costs associated with poor processes, poor communications, and unnecessary development due to poor requirements is staggeringly high. Many of these problems can be traced back to ineffective business analysis practices. A number of studies have shown that 40% or more of defects in a typical software development project stem from inaccurate, unclear, or incomplete requirements. These poor requirements not only cause costly rework but also result in the late delivery of projects, as well as delays in obtaining planned cost savings or additional revenues. Not only do you lose the revenue or cost savings that would have been generated in that time, you also lose the opportunity to implement other benefits your team could have delivered for other needed projects in that period.
Poor business analysis also leads to poor estimation because critical elements of the problem are overlooked or the solution ends up being more complex than it really needs to be. Poor business analysis skills also mean that it’s less likely that you will be able to capture the value projects were intended to deliver in the first place. Without effective enterprise analysis, project requirements can devolve into a wish list from various stakeholders. Yes, your stakeholders may individually be happy if they get what they want but there’s no guarantee that what they want is what the organization needs. Uncoordinated changes made without analysis can make one unit’s work easier and another group’s harder. It’s the Business Analyst’s job to make sure that the bigger picture is understood and that requirements are in line with that larger objective.
The founders of Enfocus Solutions Inc. have had significant experience on resolving problems with large, complex challenged projects. We developed the Enfocus Requirements Suite™ to provide project teams the tools to perform