As a BSA, most of what we do on a day-to-day basis ends up in a deliverable that is consumed by others.  Whether it is a business requirements document, feasibility study, use case diagram, or process model the goal is to produce something that can be easily understood by those who look at it.  This level of consistency is not that hard on a small project where there may only be one or two BSAs.  The challenge increases within large projects/programs where there may be dozens of BSAs.  This challenge also exists for corporations where multiple projects are going on at once in the same line of business and they all have dependencies on each other.  One of the underlying competencies of a business analyst is to be able to communicate to a wide audience in a way that is easily understandable.  While it is important that each individual BSA has this skill there are things that an organization can do to help the BSA produce the best work possible.

If you are reading this blog, you more than likely have a history with the challenges a consultant faces surrounding the political and social environment of the client worksite. At one such client, I was thrust into a volatile situation that had grown from a failed bonus system that had inaccurately calculated payments to its union employees. By the time the miscalculation had been discovered, it was too late; some workers had received too little, while others too much. The union works were greatly upset by having their pay deducted to make up for the mistake caused by the client’s poor implementation of the system. The issue was not a defect in the system created; in actuality the system operated precisely as it was designed.