by Jenny Boronyak | Jun 9, 2014 | Business Analysis, Project Management, Uncategorized |
With the PMI’s recent release of the new Professional in Business Analysis (PBA) certification, business analysts (BAs) in the community are asking what is the difference between this new PMI-PBA and the IIBA’s existing Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP)? Also, if we’re looking into getting certified, which one should we go after? In their announcement to offer the new certification, the PMI quoted a statistic by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics that “business analysis jobs are predicted to increase 19 percent by 2022.” We agree that this is a good reason for more people to get certified in the field of business analysis. We’re looking at this new certification from the PMI as great news; business analysis as a profession needs to break through the lack of recognition and demand more respect from the global community so that we can all be more successful in our jobs. This certification is definitely a step in that direction. But before you go and sign up for the PMI-PBA pilot program, we recommend making sure it’s the right certification for you. After looking at the available literature, including the PMI-PBA Examination Content Outline (ECO), it is apparent that this particular certification is focused on a very specific area of business analysis, and is developed for a very specific subset of business analysts. According to the PMI’s literature on the new certification, “business analysis is a critical function that helps define business requirements in order to shape the output of projects and drive successful business outcomes. In order to ensure the quality of requirements and projects, it is crucial that individuals be...
by Jenny Boronyak | May 9, 2014 | Project Management, Uncategorized |
The common Program Management Office (PMO) is constantly challenged and called into question by senior management and the C-level. Without executive support, the PMO struggles to be successful in delivering program and project outcomes that effectively provide business value. Traditional PMOs have a tendency of becoming too bureaucratic and too focused on managing tasks instead of value, increasing project complexity and causing headaches across the enterprise. But recent research proves PMOs can still be effective at delivering business value if managed the right way—at the enterprise level. To deliver value with initiatives and reduce project complexity, the organization requires centralized coordination of processes and practices. In a traditional, departmentally-based PMO, it is very difficult to align projects with the strategic priorities of the organization. These types of PMOs may be successful on a departmental level but are often not taken seriously by the rest of the organization. When PMOs are departmentally-based, they tend to define value in different ways, skewing project results. Instead, the organization needs a PMO that provides a consistent mechanism to standardize practices and evaluate progress of initiatives across the organization, without creating unnecessary complexity. When the PMO is operating at an executive level, there is an increased likelihood that project outcomes align with organizational strategy because the PMO has the ability to affect the entire organization. According to a recent study, strategic PMOs that implemented an enterprise-wide approach in 2013 tended to have the most mature processes and practices, and were the most likely to achieve consistently successful project outcomes. The findings indicate that the traditional approach to Program Management Offices is transforming to an...
