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Business Analysis and ITSM: Debra Paul, Ivor Macfarlane and Peter Brooks
Business Analysis and ITSM: Debra Paul, Ivor Macfarlane and Peter Brooks
AXELOS.com
White Paper
April 2016
Contents
Introduction 3
Definitions and descriptions 3
IT service management 4
Dependencies and collaboration opportunities between ITSM and BA 5
Mutual alignment of ITSM and BA 6
Appendix A: Business analysis and the business change lifecycle 11
Appendix B: History and maturity of SM, ITSM and ITIL 13
About AXELOS 14
Trade marks and statements 14
Business analysis and ITSM 3
1 Introduction
This White Paper sets out to identify and illustrate the benefits of collaboration between the disciplines
of business analysis (BA) and IT service management (ITSM).
We have used the ITIL® framework as our main reference for ITSM, but the principles are generically
applicable to all those practising ITSM, whether following an established framework such as ITIL,
COBIT® or ISO/IEC20000®, or applying an empirical approach based upon experience and
good judgement.
This paper has three purposes:
To give those working in ITSM an awareness of the rationale for BA and the standards adopted in
conducting this work
To give a reciprocal view for those carrying out BA that clarifies the value offered by ITSM, the range
of ITSM activities, and the importance of communication between ITSM and BA practitioners
To facilitate communication channels between BA and ITSM in order to generate mutual support,
relevant information exchange and symbiosis, thus delivering more effective and economic services
and increasing the value for the realization of business value.
Initially, BA was focused on the definition of requirements, with a particular emphasis on ensuring the
linkage between the business requirements and the delivered IT solution. However, as the discipline
matured, a broader focus evolved to include wider business improvements that encompassed business
process, organizational structure and IT systems changes.
The broad, cross-functional view led business analysts to question why a proposed change initiative
was needed, the nature and root cause of the problem to be resolved, and the feasibility of the proposed
investment in addressing the issue. Having established this, the business analysts could define
alternative options for meeting the business needs. Without this ‘pre-project’ work business analysts
often felt that they were expected to investigate and document requirements for ill-conceived ‘solutions’
that would not address underlying problems, were not scoped accurately and which would waste
investment funds. The development of BA has resulted in business analysts conducting pre-project
analysis more often and has raised the profile of this activity.
Business analysts are now employed at different levels within organizations, with varying degrees of
authority. The business analyst has become a key actor in helping the organization adopt a
strategically focused, commercially aware approach to business change and BA is used to address the
following areas:
Investigate and evaluate proposed changes
Establish and analyze root causes
Consider the views of stakeholders
Take a holistic view
Ensure that all changes to the business services are made within the context of the business mission,
objectives and strategy.
In order to perform these activities, business analysts require extensive knowledge and skills in three
areas of competency:
Professional techniques to conduct business analysis work
Personal skills to enable and foster stakeholder engagement
Business and commercial awareness to ensure the viability of proposals.
If performed well, business analysis provides the opportunity to discover the underlying cause of
business issues and evaluate a range of potential solutions to address the situation. This helps ensure
that limited investment funds are spent wisely. The application of BA techniques also results in clear,
well-formed requirements that are aligned with stakeholder views and business needs.
3 IT service management
Service management in the broadest sense has been around for over 3000 years, illustrated by the
successful development of engineering artefacts that have endured and still deliver service to their
users. As services became IT-based, pervasive and faster, formal processes became essential to their
successful delivery. The ITIL initiative, started in the 1980s, documented these formalized processes.
The processes within ITSM ensure that IT services are provided in a focused, client-friendly and cost-
optimized manner. When ITSM is applied, IT services are clearly defined, success is measured with
regards to the service provision, and targeted improvement measures can be introduced
where necessary.
Business analysis and ITSM 5
ITIL 2011 sets out a broad perspective across a wide range of ITSM, based on a five-phase
lifecycle structure:
Service strategy: developing and maintaining a service management strategy, ensuring services are,
and remain relevant to the business need.
Service design: ensuring services are designed holistically, with all relevant considerations designed
in to them.
Service transition: addressing the tasks and controls necessary to ensure the timely and accurate
introduction of new or changed services, and the retirement of those that are no longer relevant.
Service operation: ensuring the live services deliver the required business value and dealing with any
issues that arise.
Continual service improvement (CSI): ongoing improvement of all aspects of services, and all
processes, functions and considerations upon which those services rely.
ITIL covers this lifecycle in five books, one for each lifecycle phase. Each publication provides guidance
to service providers on the provision of quality IT services, and on the processes, functions and other
competencies needed to support them.
Understanding the inter-dependencies between ITSM and BA and the potential impact on business
outcomes is essential to achieve a collaborative approach between the two disciplines and deliver
increased business value.
6 Business analysis and ITSM
Service design is better placed to build relevant services to address business needs when the ITSM
community is armed with the knowledge of the requirements. The business analysts are able to define
the requirements in varying levels of detail, depending upon the needs of other disciplines, and the
requirements document may include narrative and diagrammatic definitions in order to ensure clarity
and rigour.
Effective collaboration between ITSM and BA during service design has the potential to drive effective
and innovative design by enabling a deeper understanding of what constitutes business value and how
this may be measured and delivered.
Full and final evaluation of a new or changed service, including how it meets the business requirements,
requires an extensive understanding of the organization and the business domain. This is another aspect
of service transition where support from business analysts is invaluable.
Business analysis and ITSM 9
5.3 CONCLUSIONS
Too often IS solutions fail to meet business needs despite the best efforts of the professionals involved.
This will continue if we ‘do things right, rather than do the right thing’. To ensure that we are doing the
right thing, IS professionals need to be aware of their colleagues in other disciplines who can provide
insights and guidance, and require information in order to conduct their work effectively.
Improved collaboration between ITSM and BA has the potential to enable greater efficiency in delivering
services that meet business needs and improve business performance. While the ITSM and BA
communities may have different perspectives on the business improvement process, they both aim to
deliver success for organizations and value for customers. Integration of these communities is essential
to define the business requirements, and achieve these business goals by ensuring the right services
are delivered.
End Notes
1
Paul et al. (2014) Paul et al.Business Analysis (3rd Edition), Paul, Cadle and Yeates (Eds.), BCS.
2
AXELOS (2011).ITIL Service Operation,TSO. Norwich p.13
Business analysis and ITSM 11
In fact, the concern was that although the UK government successfully built software, its operation was
not so successful and so benefits were not being realized. The UK government had developed a widely-
adopted framework for software development (SSADM) and the intention was to develop an equivalent
for operating IT.
They took the approach of identifying organizations that performed certain tasks well, documenting
how they did it, and releasing the documentation as guidance in order to provide other organizations
with a framework by which they could improve their own work practices. The result was a set of
documented Best Practices, initially aimed at the UK government. They were soon adopted by
private sector organizations, which, it transpired, had exactly the same shortcomings and issues as
public sector organizations.
This set of Best Practices was called ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library, as this was years before the term IT
Service Management was used). The first volumes were published with an initial launch of five titles in
1989 and were completed with over 40 books in the late 1990s. ITIL has since evolved and matured
through versions 2 and 3, changing the initial focus from a function-based framework (version 1), to a
process-focus in version 2 and finally achieving a service-focused approach to service management with
version 3 (V3) in 2007.
The current ITIL version, ITIL 2011, takes a lifecycle approach. The ITIL processes are identified and
described across five books. Each book sets out to address a lifecycle stage. That should not be taken to
mean that each process can be mapped into a single lifecycle stage. In practice the majority of the ITSM
processes apply across multiple lifecycle stages. Many, for example change management, configuration
management and knowledge management, are whole lifecycle processes.
14 Business analysis and ITSM
6 About AXELOS
AXELOS is a joint venture company, created by the Cabinet Office on behalf of Her Majesty’s
Government (HMG) in the United Kingdom and Capita plc to run the Global Best Practice portfolio.
It boasts an already enviable track record and an unmatched portfolio of products, including ITIL®,
PRINCE2® and RESILIA™. RESILIA is the new Cyber Resilience Best Practice portfolio.
Used in the private, public and voluntary sectors in more than 180 countries worldwide, the Global
Best Practice products have long been associated with achievement, heightened standards and truly
measurable improved quality.
AXELOS has an ambitious programme of investment for developing innovative solutions and stimulating
the growth of a vibrant, open international ecosystem of training, consultancy and examination
organizations. Developments to the portfolio also include the launch of PRINCE2 Agile®, the ITIL
Practitioner qualification and a professional development programme for practitioners, fully aligned with
AXELOS Global Best Practice.