This instalment of the Beachcamp series touches on the subject of solution assessment and validation, and includes a visual map of the relevant section of the BABOK.

Beachcamp: Day 7

Solution assessment and validation has several objectives:

  • Evaluate organisational preparedness to the proposed change
  • Evaluate performance of existing solutions to support enterprise analysis
  • Assess the proposed solution prior to its selection
  • Validate the designed solution to ensure that it meets the requirements
  • Determine transition requirements for moving from the current state (“as is”) into the target state (“to be”).

Assessment of organisational readiness to changes plays a critical role in a project’s success. The results of the assessment determine the scope of the project in terms of actions to be taken to train personnel, modify business processes, change certain activities and reporting, not to mention changes to behaviour and beliefs. These results also support a definition of transition requirements which describe how the solution should be implemented and released into production with minimal disruption to the existing solutions and processes.

A business analyst performs assessment of the designed solution to ensure that the solution meets the acceptance and evaluation criteria and meets the approved requirements.

When the solution has been constructed, the business analyst validates the solution to ensure that defects are identified, their causes are known and the defects are communicated to the responsible stakeholders.

The business analyst carries out an evaluation of solution performance multiple times within the project. Firstly, an evaluation of performance of the existing solution helps identify weaknesses of the solution and supports the investigation of causes of poor performance. This information feeds into gap analysis conducted within enterprise analysis. Secondly, the business analyst evaluates performance of the solution once it’s ready for deployment in order to ensure that the solution delivers the expected value to the business.

In practice, the business analyst works closely with solution architects, vendors, software developers, testers, technical personnel and change managers, acting a bit like a conductor of a big orchestra to ensure the satisfaction of the listeners.

Click on the image below to download the visual map of the solution assessment and validation section of the BABOK:


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