News and Knowledge (N&K) is the department within BBC Future Media responsible for the following BBC Online products: News, Sport, Weather, Knowledge & Learning, CBBC, CBeebies, BBC Homepage and Search. We manage and develop products on websites, mobile devices and interactive TV. We have a world-leading approach to content management and metadata, and we are also delivering the London 2012 Olympics across BBC Online.
The department consists of software developers, project managers, product managers, business support staff, and works closely with designers and editorial staff. We use our knowledge and application of audience research, new and emerging technologies, combined with creativity and collaboration across the BBC’s content divisions, to deliver world class digital products and services which deliver reach, quality, impact, and value for the BBC.
Aims of the Job
Our Business Analysts understand the goals and objectives of products within N&K, decipher and communicate requirements, and help devise effective solutions that are in line with the strategic aims of the department and the wider BBC. Our Business Analysts are responsible for interpreting consumer and audience research data, conducting market and competitor analysis, performing product analysis and definition, and other tasks contributing to the definition and implementation of products within the department. They collaborate with stakeholders and representatives of the BBC’s content divisions, as well as multi-disciplinary software delivery teams across Future Media.
Requirements
Key Responsibilities
• Understand & help to maintain vision across the whole team - be aware of the end goal for the solution and work towards it. Act as the customer advocate.
• Possess a detailed understanding of the business and technology strategy for the area of the business you work in.
• Facilitate decision making with stakeholders and the development team. This will include conversations about scope, about the detail of individual requirements and bigger picture approaches to the solution, and about providing clear options.
• Collaborate and interact with delivery teams contributing to the definition and delivery of the product and supporting processes/workflows to a high standard, within agreed timescales and within budget.
• Investigate and evaluate solutions using a range of approaches, including researching competitor products, commercially available solutions, other BBC products and services
• Gather, analyse, and report usage data or other such relevant data in support of measuring the performance of products.
• Perform stakeholder interviewing to gather requirements / Run requirements gathering/definition workshops
• Work closely with product manager to understand current processes
• Work closely with product manager to gather, understand and organize new requirements
• Act as product owner in the absence of the product manager
• Document business requirements (both functional and non-functional) for products, projects and features, translating these into written specifications and use cases
• Manage change in relation to the documented requirements, including assessment of impact, communication, and supporting planning and prioritisation as appropriate
• Identify, analyse and document business processes & workflows. Identify opportunities for streamlining and improvements
• Recommend new requirements to Product Manager
• Document business cases
• Communicate & present requirements to stakeholders and delivery team.
• Be comfortable communicating technical issues to the customer or development team in a way that makes the business impact clear.
• Communicate project issues so there is an understanding of the problem and the options for how it would be solved
• Produce PQQ/ITT/RFP documentation and evaluate submissions from tenderers
• Conduct tendering with third party software suppliers
• Make Recommendations for product features - Analyse options (i.e. feature implementation options) and make confident recommendations on the basis of analysis performed.
• Help prioritise highest value requirements by assisting stakeholders with process of prioritizing requirements and tasks
• Gain approval and sign-off on documents and solutions as appropriate
• Assist product manager in the completion of product management documentation
• Help complete run books (operational documentation) and Assist in the creation of training manuals for products
• Facilitate or execute acceptance tests, ensuring the delivered solution meets the business requirements and agreed quality criteria
• Line manage more junior BA's under the supervision of a Senior Business Analyst
• Offer guidance and mentoring to more junior BA's
• Help to align the requirements of various products to reduce duplication of work / aid product alignment.
• Sit on board in the recruitment of new business analysts into FM News and Knowledge
• Contribute to BA best practice in the department and the development of the business analysis discipline.
Essential Skills
- Quickly understands business issues and technical challenges on a project
- Takes input from supervisor and is able to then run with the task without much further guidance i.e. work autonomously
- Understand the Product Management Lifecycle / Process within FM
- Understands the role of the BA in supporting delivery of requirements from a technical and business perspective
- Understands the distinction between business, functional and non-functional requirements
- Requirements documenting for various audiences - both technical & non-technical
- Understanding of business analysis skills, techniques, and practices with an eye for detail.
- Understanding of Agile (particularly scrum) software development methodology
- Ability to simplify complex problems, processes or projects into component parts and be able to explore and evaluate them systematically
- Ability to work within a deadline driven environment with rapid release cycles
- Will work collaboratively with stakeholders and stay open to ideas/suggestions from others
- Understanding of relevant technologies, especially online application projects
- High degree of internet and computer literacy
- Able to effectively manage expectations of stakeholders.
- Ability to multi-task
- Can run a project definition workshop and resolve complex scoping issues and stakeholder conflicts
- Can perform project estimation for BA related tasks
- Can make recommendations for requirements approach for a specific project
- Can present findings of research to senior stakeholders - Can effectively present options and recommendations to stakeholders
- Can conduct tendering with third party software suppliers - Can manage relationships with third party suppliers
- Can work proactively to resolve project issues and mitigate project risks
- Has experience applying basic UML techniques
- Can execute a user acceptance or system test script
- Can interpret basic data models
Essential Experience
- Business analysis experience in a variety of sectors/products, with focus on requirements gathering and documentation, and business process analysis.
- Experience of deadline driven environment with rapid release cycles
- Demonstrable experience of using relevant documenting & diagramming techniques, such as Domain Models, Process Flow, Use Cases, User Stories, User Journeys.
- Experience working in a new media software delivery environment.
- Experience of presenting effectively to non technical stakeholders
- Experience communicating concepts and ideas to stakeholders at all levels within the organisation, including oral and written presentations, proposals, specifications and reports.
- Experience of working on online application projects and with relevant technologies.
- Experience to include a variety of customer facing, back-end systems and integration projects.
- Experience working within agile software development environments.
- Evidence of problem solving ability and providing creative solutions.
- Experience working in multidisciplinary teams
Desirable Skills and Experience
- A strong interest in BBC Online products and content output
- Experience in and knowledge of two to three of the following: transactional websites, data-driven web publishing, Web 2.0, social networking and community sites and technologies, audio and video streaming, mobile products and devices, content management systems, interactive TV and broadcast systems.
- Working knowledge of BBC output; editorial, compliance, and regulatory issues for the BBC.
- An understanding of the BBC’s Internet infrastructure would be an advantage.
- Understands how legacy and web-based systems interface with each other
- Can construct basic data models
- Has received training in Business Analysis - perhaps accredited to BCS/ISEB Business Analysis diploma level
- Understand OJEU procurement process
- Understands relevant typical BBC quality criteria and can perform quality assurance of business analysis deliverables
- Certified Scrum Master
- Experience line managing other - managing and coordinating the work and priorities of a team of Junior BA’s and BA’s
- Experience defining training courses for BA's
- Experience recruiting staff
Key Competencies
• Communication - able to get one’s message understood clearly by adopting a range of styles, tools and techniques appropriate to the audience and the nature of the information. Manages objections assertively. Delivers hard / difficult messages well.
• Influencing and persuading - able to present sound and well reasoned arguments to convince others. Adapts to the situation and can draw from a range of strategies to persuade people in a way that results in agreement or behaviour change.
• Analytical thinking - able to simplify complex problems, processes or projects into component parts explore and evaluate them systematically. Gathers data from a range of stakeholders, distils information quickly. Pushes boundaries in problem solving.
• Creative Thinking - able to transform creative ideas into practical reality. Can look at existing situations and problems in novel ways and come up with creative solutions.
• Orientation for Learning - Actively seeks feedback from multiple sources and contributes to wider community in the area of business analysis
• Managing relationships and team working - able to build and maintain effective working relationships with a range of people. Supports a collective effort to resolve problems. Valued mediator or diplomat who uses the strengths of the team to deliver increased value.
• Managing People and Developing Others – Sets clear expectations and provides regular feedback. Discusses potential career development and understands what motivates the team.
• Drive for results: Manages others performance to ensure delivery. Always focused on audience impact. Anticipates and tackles problems efficiently.
• Resilience and Flexibility - Proactively promotes change to others and finds out more about proposed changes. Has an ability to react and respond quickly to changes.
• Planning and organising – Sets clear challenges/targets for the team. Prioritises demand to make efficient use of resources and effectively deals with problems.
Expected outcomes and success factors
The role is expected to deliver:
1. Requirements specifications, proposals, statements of work, and other documentation which describes the products which fall within the remit of the department;
2. Acceptance criteria and other measurement criteria against which the product’s quality, value, and performance can be evaluated;
3. Change requests, impact assessments, and plans and prioritisation of these within the product roadmap;
4. Research summaries, competitor review and analysis, and other papers and presentations of data which contribute to the definition and evaluation of products;
5. Collaborative, professional, and successful relationships with FM&T teams and divisional editorial representatives;
6. Contribution to the shape, direction, and execution of the goals of the division, department, and team.
7. Act as product owner in the absence of the product manager
8. Run tendering with third parties
