EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Bussines have trouble finding problems
Table of Contents
3. Description of existing system 7
4. Definition of key objectives, tasks and outputs 9
5. Diagnosis of efficiency needs 10
6. Diagnosis of job satisfaction needs 10
8. Specifying and weighting of efficiency and job satisfaction needs and objectives 11
9. Organization and technical design of the system 12
3.2. Stage 3: Formulating Root Definitions 15
Perspective 1: Manufacturing Equipment (Salvy) 16
Perspective 2: Investments in new information systems (IS) (Sam) 17
3.3. Stage 4: Building Conceptual Models 18
Perspective 1: Manufacturing Equipment (Salvy) 18
Perspective 2: Investments in new information systems (IS) (Sam) 19
3.4. Stage 5: Comparing models with ‘reality’ 20
3.5. Stage 6 and 7: Defining changes and Taking action 21
4.1. BA as an important tool 23
4.2. Common issue in System development cycle: 23
4.5. Responsibilities of BA 24
4.6. Identified Problems in Kinky Feet 24
4.7.1 Reduce Complexity by BA. 25
4.7.5 BA as a Process Improver 28
5. 4. Comparison of agile an SSM methodologies 29
3. Blais, S. P. (2012). Business Analysis: Best Practices for Success. John Wiley & Sons. 30
Table of Figures
Figure 1. Production Department Input and Output 6
Figure 2 Reach Picture 13
Figure 3 Conceptual Model Equipment 17
Figure 4 Conceptual Model IS Solution 18
Businesses are dramatically changed through time, nowadays companies need to be flexible to changes when needed, generating ideas for creating business engagement and customer satisfaction to get the most value product. Businesses experience difficulties finding the right solution for problems that they are facing, Kynky Feet is the company chosen to this case of study. Small companies like this one struggle on innovating ways to grow, not because of the lack of knowledge of the company, but mainly because is difficult to manage the information within. In some cases, technology can help to reduce the impact of this problems. In terms of technology, every SDLC has issues at different stages which can impact the business and the associated processes. Choosing the right tools and techniques at the right stage is very much important for any business. In this report is going to apply various methodologies for problem finding at Kynky Feet.
To go deeply in the situation of Kinky feet, and assess requirement of the system, we applied ETHICS methodology. This approach can measure the job satisfaction of their employees, and find whether future changes can affect their job in positives and negatives ways. These to finally achieve better balance between technology and people working in the system (Mumford,1985).
This addresses the current problems and opportunities for the company to grow. As it was evaluated before (Assignment 1), Kinky feet has shown as a major concern the lack of knowledge of the internal procedures, for example the low integration of customer orders with production and payments. This to an extended consequence of generating reduced cash flow that resulted in low trust from the banks to deliver loans that therefore has increased the capacity of the company to purchase new machinery. This lack of knowledge management is affecting the business in several ways. A change in the system would give the opportunity to gain the trust from its customers, and also be aware of the current position of the company in the market to be able to grow.
Identification of boundaries and assessment of business factors that can be affected.
To generate a clear picture of the current system, it is necessary that all the stakeholders of Kynky feet understand the importance of their role within the organization and how this is articulated with the rest of the departments. As an example a Input/output analysis of the production activity has been developed
This diagram represents the input and output analysis for the production department one of the main activities at Kynky feet
Figure 1. Production Department Input and Output
As is shown in the diagram activities in the production department at Kynky feet are related with other departments like finance, sales as well as suppliers’ system. These are some of the main task for the company to run.
To generate a diagnosis of the company job satisfaction, members of the production department were asked about their perception of their job and the company. See the table of job satisfaction at Production department in Kynky feet
Since the new management of Kynky Shoes, the employees in the production department have been challenged by the new design. Pushing them towards innovation for the new products that has been adopted in a positive manner. However, the planning of the production has not been taken as a problem to fix promptly which has led to overnight work and insecurity at work due its unpredictability.
As it was evaluated in the last diagnosis one of the needed solutions is a specific planning of the production, so that raw materials and employees can be programmed with anticipation. This will improve the job satisfaction within employees improve the confidence in the security job. Also is recommended that Kynky invest in a system information solution for the company that follow at least these requirements:
Production technologies need to be improved to make more efficient the production line. This will involve training, and involving production in the design face of the shoes.
Once the analysis of job satisfaction and efficiency objectives were evaluated the employees can generate new ideas for To-Be system to be implemented. As is it exposed in the case of study two of the main solutions expressed were: the purchasing of new machinery to increase the production capacity of the company, or implement an automated information system that can organize the information in the company and make it accessible. These solutions can be evaluated by the stakeholders and compare which is more adequate for the company to follow. This methodology of decision making will help Salvy with selecting the best option for the company to follow to meet their future goals. This will also change the perspective to focusing only in one alternative.
Define measure target
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Figure 2 Reach Picture
Stage 3 moves the analysis from the Real World to the System Thinking. At this stage different perspectives are still considered, however for this report, two main actors in its perspectives from the reach picture will be analyzed in the following stages.
The two more relevant purposeful perspectives that can describe some possible problem at Kindy Shoes and provide separate value base by which to evaluate the situation. Those are:
Their perspectives are perfectly valid, although they may consider their personal benefit over the general organization or not recognized how relevant are other intervention that are also affected. For instance, the production manager wants to make sure to have enough material to keep production running, while the Financial Manager is worried about inventory and wastage of material that ended up being money that is sitting in the warehouse.
The basis of SSM is that trying to address all these perspectives as a whole is too complex an endeavor. Clarity is gained by addressing key perspectives separately, understanding their implications and then using those understandings when seeking to reintegrate these perspectives into a set of evaluative conclusions and suggestions for future action.
The two particular perspectives selected are put through CATWOE analysis. This analysis includes:
The starting point to define is the T (Transformation) from an Input to an expected output, followed by Ws, what gives the transformation some meaning.
Root Definitions (Description of a Possible System)
CATWOE Analysis
| Customer | Buyers, retailers |
| Actor | The manager needs to be involved, the Production manager to define the necessities to improve the equipment, the financial manager to define the investment available for this purpose. |
| Transformation process | From old equipment to new manufacturing equipment. |
| Wltanschahouung | Increase the range of styles and new trims, and also increase our production and get more stock out into the market place.From missing dealings to on-time delivering, it would influence the company reputation, customers and retailers retention. |
| Owners | Banks and economical supporters,Managers. |
| Environmental | Environment constraints that impinge upon system could be: ran out of the necessary materials, difficulties in define orders priority and missing dealings in the production lines. |
Root Definitions (Description of a Possible System)
CATWOE Analysis
| Customer | Managers, Internal Employees, retailer and suppliers |
| Actor | Marketing Strategy, Manager Director, Financial Manager, New BA |
| Transformation process | From old production system to new information system. |
| Wltanschahouung | It will help keep staff informed of current stock levels, of production schedules, and shipping and delivery dates. Creating more effective and efficient orders which are prioritised will decrease inventory and material wastage. |
| Owners | Banks and economical supporters,Managers. |
| Environmental | Environment constraints that impinge upon system could be: Complexity in the orders. Integration with different process (required material,production lines, sales) |
Should be considered that the following Conceptual Models are the initial model, as part of the SSM process is expected to debate, learn and improve the initial solution in future cycles of discussion to produce the most closely “ideal” solution.
Figure 3 Conceptual Model Equipment
Figure 4 Conceptual Model IS Solution
Now the model will be compared with reality, insights drawn from that comparison, and ideas for improvements will be determined. This is the real powerhouse of the methodology.
For Kinky Shoes, the above model will be looked and the basis of that model (ie CATWOE and the root definition) and will be consider to define what actually does happen in the real world, what is present, and what is missing, what behaves similarly and what does not. See the summary in the following table.
Kinky Feet is becoming a big business because its high demand in the market, it is growing rapidly and is facing many pressures for changes, however the business is complex and it is important to identifying culturally feasible and systemically desirable changes.
For Kinky Feet we have considered two perspectives if they should invest in new equipment or apply new automation techniques, or using both. Here is shown by comparing those two possible solutions with the reality that the system has reveals areas of contradiction but also some synergy that suggest possible common strategies.
At Kinky Feet some of the changes suggested include clear definition of the process, the input and the output expected, the responsible at its functions. The need to acquire equipment or invest in automation techniques should wherever possible be identified as early as possible and a statement of specification of requirement prepared. It can stand the best chance of securing the funding required.
In both possible changes (acquire equipment or invest in automation), it needs to accomplish the Kinky Feet strategic and set out the following:
Good research depends on the right choice of equipment and IS solution. A well-drafted specification of requirement not only sets the quality and performance standards for the equipment/IS system, but also provides the greatest scope for maximizing value for money (VFM), considering that Kinky Feet does business with relentless competitive pressure and the need for profitability. The changes at Kinky Feet carry implications for every aspect of business, employees, community, local and global industry, the implementation solutions should include:
To ensure the changes are suitable for a really soft analysis, it is necessary to include social system and political analyses these analyses are run parallel to the entire investigation, involving each step. International trade and competitiveness will be considered to reduce the continuous pressure of globalization, technological innovation and various facets of the drive for sustainability.
Comparing those two approach creates a large range of possibilities, but to break the analysis is necessary to identify the owner, social and political adoption and test the feasibility of the ideas, the following will be specified:
The SSM is not meant to be exclusive, depending on the particular situation surrounding the Kinky Feet situation and a variety systems based approaches could be used. But in both cases the main changes are focused on identifying the current situation, what needs to be improve, prioritize them according the business strategy, define budget required and available to then implement the feasible changes considering the internal and external beneficiaries, their training and the impact on their responsibilities. Alongside within those changes different modules should be implemented to record order transactions, inventory report and production performances. Resulting in inventory and production delivery available to be visualized on real time. At this stage comes full cycle, but also define the start for a new iteration cycle.
BA is primarily a person who is responsible for performing the business analysis and process functions for the projects including analyzing business needs, facilitating the elicitation of user requirements documenting and prioritizing the business requirements, verifying the major project deliverables, business reengineering opportunities and workflow from business perspective and facilitating effective communication between business and IT perspective. BA at strategic level aims to formulate the best business strategies, select projects to achieve those strategies and increase the value of project deliverables that brings value to business.
It is mostly observed that in any IT system development cycle there are few issue that exists such as communication gap between IT team and business end users due to underlying differences in knowledge, skills, background and orientation. Users ideally feel difficulty in understanding IT terminology and technical solutions, on the other end, IT staff find challenging in understanding the business terminology, functions, processes and environment, which leads to difficulties in drafting the real business needs and understanding of requirements. (Govt of Honkong 2015).
BA is important and crucial to be acknowledged and established in the organization to improve the association and better understanding between the users and IT staff throughout the System development life cycle.
BA can assist in exploring opportunities of current state by developing business case to justify the investment of it project and produce a clear project scope and estimation. BA role is especially needed in scoping and planning the projects. (Govt of Honkong 2015).
BA serves as the bridge between the business users and the technical IT people. Its presence will contribute significantly to the success of IT projects. The anticipated benefits of having a dedicated BA are
The responsibilities of a business analyst span several knowledge areas, those knowledge areas ARE areas are listed below and are fully described in the business Analysis Body of knowledge.
A BA needs to consider the responsibilities described by these knowledge areas when following a more change driven approach as well as when following a more plan driven Approach. (B Henderson, 2013)
The following are the problems identified in Kinky Feet as per the case study provided.
The business analyst can play different roles in addressing problems and can face different issues and challenges while the problem is analyzed and effort to solve them. By doing extensive research we have found some of the roles that BA can play in system development cycle and will face challenges keeping in mind the real-time scenarios.
As Business Analyst, my observation is that computer systems are highly complex. In addition, with the arrival of new technologies and the ease of adding new functions and features, it can further lead to the complexity. My role is to specifically evaluate new business proposals also known as Capital Investment Proposals against each of the architectural principal checkpoints and then provide a review whether it will actually deliver value in terms of business objectives, costs so on and so forth.
According to (Blais, 2012), reducing complexity can provide the following benefits to an organization:
For the purpose of reducing the complexity of systems, (Wade & Heydari, 2014) suggest the following techniques can be utilized:
As a business analyst donning the role of a diplomat, he or she is in constant negotiation with other stakeholders related to the organization. At the place where I work, I had to attend a meeting with Project manager and Associate technology architect wherein we discussed the implications of adopting a Cloud Management Platform for our organization. There were three stakeholders with different point of views. In such situations, as (Blais, 2012) suggest it is crucial to keep all the parties aligned with the main aim of the project and we came up with a solution of going ahead one of the vendors after getting all the parties on-board with their approval. It was a long process of negotiation and arbitration.
According to BABOK (International Institute of Business Analysis, 2015), states that the success of a project depends highly in bringing together stakeholders from diverse backgrounds though appropriate use of techniques in elicitation and collaboration. One of the crucial attribute here is managing stakeholder which means working with stakeholders to engage them in the overall business analysis process and to ensure that the business analyst can deliver the outcomes needed. (Blais, 2012) further adds that a business analyst is at the center when it comes to information management and the stakeholders look up to them when it comes to negotiating with other parties. In terms of negotiation, the following techniques can be adopted (Blais, 2012):
As a diplomat, (Blais, 2012) states that a BA can come with the following issues:
To overcome these challenges, the skills required by a BA are adopting effective elicitation, arbitration and collaboration techniques highlighted by (International Institute of Business Analysis, 2015).
Working as a BA in a company, it is common to see the role of an intermediary on action. As a startup, many new requirements comes through the sales group, asking for new features that the customers and the stakeholders propose. However, the development team and other stakeholders have another direction of what is needed to be implemented. According to (Blais, 2012) a BA working as an intermediary has to understand different parties, prioritize the requirements according to the startup’s objectives and perspectives. Moreover, a BA has to negotiate and communicate with team members, investors, stakeholder the most suitable decision for the parties. As an Intermediary, a Business Analyst would identify problems in business communication and work to resolve problem, misunderstandings and/or differences in personal interests.
As an Intermediary, a BA would use different tools and techniques in order to manage his role, for example:
The main challenges for a BA playing the role of Intermediary is the conflict resolution, Vender & Hash (2008) state that it is not always a disagreement that causes conflict, but often a misunderstanding or miscommunication. In order to avoid the Risk related with miscommunication and misunderstanding, some other challenges could be:
Business analysts are considered as agents of change in the organizations (Barret, K 2016). As per many research outcomes, business Analysis is considered as a disciplined approach for introducing and managing change to an organization by identifying and articulating the need for change, and facilitating its implementation. Business Analysts identify the problems and advocates the solutions that will maximize the value delivered by an organization to its stakeholders (Barret, K 2016). As a change agent, business analyst work across all levels of an organization and may be involved in everything from defining strategy, business processes, creating the enterprise architecture, to taking a leadership (Barret, K 2016).
Business analyst have the specialized knowledge to act as a guide and lead the business through unknown or unmapped territory, to get it to its desired solution and manage change. One of the change agent responsibility of BA in the organization I worked with was addressing the challenge of migrating the project from waterfall to agile methodologies (Barret, K 2016). BAs needs to stay involved in the business process to understand how they can leverage these changes to support the organization performance (Barret, K 2016). They also need to discuss the problems with business stakeholders so that they can collaboratively come up with a solutions and address the problems (Barret, K 2016).
A change agent role would be critical in the context of the underperforming business process wherein as a change agent he needs to be an effective communicator of the risks involved in addressing the change and also assess the readiness for the change (HASS & FULMER 2015). There should be sufficient organizational support from executives, managers, project teams or business partners in terms of reacting during the phase of change for a successful transition (HASS & FULMER 2015). Some of the critical tools that BA would be employing as a change agent includes:
Every individual, group, project and organization are particularly different in many ways based on knowledge, skills or abilities (Chakabuda et al. 2014). In order to improve the performance is necessary to adapt process according with the set of skills, the necessity and the expected outcome. In the team where I work, we started using Scrum as a development strategy, however, the task was not finished at the end of the iteration, not because bad planning it was because each member was responsible for a set of task that are grouped by themes that are longer that a single iteration. The BA as a Process Improver proposes and develops a new strategy that was implemented for what we need to accomplish with products is drafted by the technical leadership team (VP of Product, VP of Engineering, CTO). The strategy contains themes that need to be accomplished instead of detailed task.
As a Process Improver, a Business Analyst would identify problems in business process and work to resolve and improve them. Some of the task that a BA as a process improver is the responsibility of assess existed process solution, determine organizational readiness and define transition requirements for process improvement, along with validate the solution proposed, define a breakdown of the implementation and evaluate the new performance reported (BABOK, 2008). This role entail to have a holistic overview business process thinking and the ability to understand how one change in a process will impact another process, as well as mathematical and statistical competencies will be required for analyzing performance metrics or using process improvement methodologies such as Six Sigma and Lean (Chakabuda et al. 2014, p2). Furthermore, a BA as a Process Improver should be able to manage techniques such as Defect and Issue Reporting, Structured Walkthrough and User Acceptance Testing among others in order to accomplish an improvement of an underperforming process.
A Process Improver role would be critical in the context of underperforming business process, in order to improve the performance and the outcome of a company is important to build a solid project team that achieve high-performing requirements, a business analyst can help the project manager to build and enhance team effectiveness (Ziemski, 2008). In fact, Chakabuda et al. (2014) assert that in business world, it’s important to lead and manage process in order to form and develop high-performing project teams that can deliver project outcomes quickly and efficiently. Thus, BA plays a fundamental role to reduced project cost and improved product quality by performing the various requirements analysis activities and a good practice outcome (Rajiv 2012, p.32)
The skills required to perform the activities as a process improver are excellent ability to identify process vulnerabilities and failures that can be improved within an organizational context, taking into account the interconnectedness between process, individuals and tools. It includes all the participants, internal engineering perspective, market dynamics, and the business execution among others.
The main challenges for a BA playing the role of Process improver is to perform, observe as well as assess roles, techniques and competencies that are involved in every particular process (Rajiv, 2012). Among those challenges, a business analysis requires to understand the business perspectives, users and staff on the knowledge, skills, attitudes, methods, and tools that may be required working in a process improvement.
Please refer to the video attached with this document.
<https://www.iiba.org/Careers/Becoming-a-Business-Analyst/BaBA/Driving-Your-BA-Career-Roles.aspx>.
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