How can you create a Business Analysis Center of Excellence?

1 Assess the current state

Before you start designing and implementing a BACE, you need to understand the current state of business analysis in your organization. You can conduct a gap analysis to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of your existing business analysis processes, practices, tools, and skills. You can also survey or interview the key stakeholders, such as business analysts, project managers, sponsors, and customers, to get their feedback and expectations. This will help you define the scope, objectives, and value proposition of your BACE.

2 Define the vision and strategy

Next, you need to define the vision and strategy of your BACE. The vision should describe the desired future state of business analysis in your organization, and the strategy should outline the steps and actions to achieve it. You can use a framework such as the Balanced Scorecard or the Strategy Map to align your BACE vision and strategy with your organizational goals and priorities. You should also define the key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics to measure the success and impact of your BACE.

4 Develop the capabilities and resources

After that, you need to develop the capabilities and resources of your BACE. The capabilities should include the skills, knowledge, and competencies of the business analysts in your organization. You can use a framework such as the BABOK Guide or the IIBA Competency Model to assess and enhance the business analysis capabilities. The resources should include the tools, templates, and techniques for business analysis, such as the software, the documentation, and the best practices. You should also create a repository or a knowledge base to store and share the business analysis resources.

5 Implement and promote the BACE

Finally, you need to implement and promote your BACE. You can use a change management approach to plan and execute the transition from the current state to the future state of business analysis in your organization. You should also communicate and engage with the stakeholders, such as the senior management, the sponsors, the customers, and the business analysts, to gain their support and buy-in for your BACE. You should also showcase and celebrate the achievements and benefits of your BACE.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?