The Project Management Institute (PMI) announced a new certification for Business Analysts.  Called the Professional in Business Analysis, the PMI-PBA is a program for business analysis, and many other professionals who perform business analysis activities.

Think of Business Analysis as what happens before a project, the Scope development and change management happening during a project, and the post-release RIO work that may happen after a projects.  

Before a large project concept is approved, a Business Analyst may be commissioned to perform a feasibility study, and assuming the concept is feasible, create a Business Case Analysis showing the most recommend option and a few lesser options.

Assuming the Business Case is approved by the proper authority, a project is created and the Business Analyst transfers their information to the new Project Manager and may or may not become part of the team.

If they become part of the team, they likely will manage the Scope baseline, while the Project Manager manages Schedule and Cost baselines. During this process they will also work closely with the Project Manager to implement change control.  They will also makea good 2nd witness for assessing how well the project team is working with other stakeholders.

When the project is complete, they will help evaluate the projects success criteria, which was put into the Project Charter from the Business Case they created. If the success criteria is met, the project can be Closed.  

Any post-solution deployment ROI work can be measured and calculated by the Business Analyst to determine if the target ROI was reached with the solution. This target ROI, and the pre-determined techniques to measure it are found in the Benefits Measurement Plan, also created by the Business Analyst to compliment the original Business Case. Multiple measuring points and a Statistical Process Control chart, and an efficiency frontier chart can be used to assess ROI.

Mike Berry Red Rock Research