Project Planning

Project Planning
This article will teach you about project planning in detail and the steps to accomplish it. It will also cover the responsibilities of a business analyst and the development process managed by a business analyst. This article will also illustrate how the role of a business analyst and a project lifecycle intersect.

Introduction

A project manager organizes, plans, and executes projects while working within budget and timeline constraints. The key responsibility of the project manager is to ensure the project is completed on time and meets the desired quality standards. This is achieved by end-to-end planning specifications that a project manager is required to manage and oversee.

Project planning

Project planning is concerned with how to complete a project within a specific timeframe using the resources available. It entails developing a comprehensive project plan outlining the project's objectives, scope, timeline, budget, and deliverables. There is a process to plan a project successfully. It involves the following steps:

Developing a Project Charter

Project scope planning

Schedule and budget planning

Support planning

Sponsor's approval

Project planning process
Here is each step of project planning in detail.





The first step is to develop a Project Charter. A project charter is a document that formally authorizes the existence of a project. It provides an overview of the project's goals, objectives, scope, stakeholders, and key deliverables. It is created at the beginning of a project and must be completed and approved before project planning can begin. A requirement should not be planned if it is not documented in the Project Charter.

The second step is project scope planning. It defines the objective of the project and sets the project goals, roles, and responsibilities. Scope planning also facilitates the allocation of resources so that the project can be finished on time, within budget, and the stakeholder expectations.

After planning, the project’s scope, schedule, and budget planning are accomplished. Schedule and budget planning are critical for keeping the project on track and within the fixed budget. It must be ensured that sufficient time and funds are available to complete the project’s scope. If not, negotiation is done with the project sponsor to come up with a final settlement.

The fourth step is support planning. Support planning in a project involves identifying and planning for resources and activities that will be needed to support the project throughout its lifecycle. It includes the following important elements:

Resource planning

Communication planning

Risk management planning

Change management planning

Quality management planning

Procurements planning

Finally, the sponsor’s approval is taken. The Sponsor's consent must be obtained at the end of the project planning process. Prior to starting a project, a meeting must be planned, and stakeholder approval must be obtained.

Role of a business analyst

Business analysts work closely with stakeholders to identify opportunities for improvement and to develop solutions that align with the organization's goals and objectives. They conduct research and analysis in order to come up with solutions to business problems and introduce systems to improve performance.

They work together with the project manager to successfully complete a project. The role of a business analyst involves focusing on the analysis and documentation of the requirement, while a project manager focuses on deliverables and timelines.

Development process

A business analyst oversees the following step-by-step development process:

Need Assessment,

Stakeholder Engagement,

Elicitation,

Analysis,

Traceability and Monitoring, and

Solution evaluation.

Need Assessment
Business analysts closely collaborate with the executive team of the organization to find potential project opportunities. They evaluate the present state, determine the required future state, and produce potential solutions. When solutions are accepted, they provide suggestions and create roadmaps for development.

Stakeholder Engagement

The second role performed by a business analyst is stakeholder engagement. This includes communicating with stakeholders to ensure that their needs are understood and that they are kept informed about the progress of the project from the beginning to the desired result.

Elicitation

Elicitation refers to the process of gathering and documenting the requirements of a project from stakeholders. Eliciting requirements is one of the business analyst's primary responsibilities. They choose the most effective elicitation strategy, make a game plan, carry out the elicitation, and verify the outcomes.

Analysis

The next role performed by a business analyst is analysis. This includes reviewing and analyzing current business processes to identify inefficiencies and areas for improvement. The business analyst makes use of a variety of analysis tools to identify and rank requirements, create models, and establish project acceptance standards.

Traceability and Monitoring

Traceability and monitoring include managing change related to implementing new processes or systems, including communicating the change to stakeholders and ensuring that the change is adopted effectively. For this, the business analyst develops a Traceability Matrix. It is defined as “A grid that links Product requirements from their origin to the deliverables that satisfy them.”

Solution evaluation

Solution evaluation involves assessing the potential impact and value of a proposed solution for a business problem or opportunity. The business analyst also aids in getting solutions approved for release.

Business analysis and project management link

Here is a quick overview of where and how the business analyst’s duties relate to the project management lifecycle. As shown in the picture:

The project management Initiation Phase is followed by the Business Analysis activity.

The creation of the project charter is the last phase of the needs analysis.

Stakeholder analysis, elicitation, and engagement take place simultaneously with the needs assessment.

The Traceability Matrix is completed at the end of the Needs assessment and is used by the project manager to track development progress.

The business analyst participates in solution acceptance and testing and assists the project manager with project closeout, transition, and release.

Conclusion

Project planning is a crucial phase in project management that sets the foundation for the entire project. Effective project planning is critical for the success of any project. It helps to ensure that the project is well organized, that resources are allocated effectively, and that the project is completed within budget and on time. Business analysts play a critical role in project planning by helping to ensure that the project meets the needs of the business, stays on track, and delivers the intended outcomes.

Project Planning: Role of a Business Analyst Expanded
Product Roadmaps
The Business Analyst supports the development of Product Roadmaps. Product Roadmaps show high-level aspects of a product planned for delivery. The roadmap creates shared expectations on product deliverables and the order in which the client will receive them.

A well-defined roadmap contains multiple components shared with product owners and project managers.

It describes the product vision, how the product supports organizational objectives, required features, timelines, and a recommendation for the optimal project lifecycle that best supports product development.

This information is provided to product owners when the manager determines that an adaptive project lifecycle is best suited to product development. Or the manager may provide it to project managers if a predictive lifecycle is the best fit.

Tools and Techniques to Identify Requirements
A Business Analyst (BA) uses several tools and techniques to identify initial requirements that will lead to the development of project charters.

The BA conducts interviews, sends out surveys, facilitates workshops, and reviews lessons learned to determine potential problems the team can solve or opportunities to capture.

The BA develops user stories that determine what various organizational roles need and the value the product will deliver. They work closely with product owners and the development teams to define functionality and features that satisfy the customer’s needs.

The BA may develop use cases to drive product development. A use case describes how a customer or user interacts with a system or product. A use case may establish the success scenarios, failure scenarios, product key performance indicators that the team must meet, and any critical variations or exceptions. These use cases help the product owner or project manager determine the requirements the team must achieve by the project end.

The BA may develop a product traceability matrix. This tabular overview of product development phases maps out precisely how a product will be designed and developed and which stakeholders must be involved during each phase to ensure success.

Finally, a Business Analyst can work closely with stakeholders to define acceptance criteria that will allow the project team to know if a product is ready for release and delivery.

The Business Analyst ensures that the product requirements meet the organization’s needs. The product owner and project managers work to deliver the solution.

Conclusion
The Business Analyst plays a crucial role in supporting the development of Product Roadmaps, which outline the planned delivery of high-level product aspects. The Business Analyst also uses various tools and techniques such as interviews, surveys, workshops, user stories, use cases, and product traceability matrix to identify requirements and drive product development. The collaboration between the Business Analyst, product owner, and project managers leads to successful deliverables.