Date: 21 Apr 2015
Where: Leeds
Venue: Asda MCE
Old Carlsberg Bottling Plant
Crown Point Road
Leeds LS10 1JQ

Grow Your Own Business Analysts

The business analysis team within the Health and Social Care Information Centre grew from 5 to 20 people in less than 2 years. HSCIC were spending a huge amount of time on trying to recruit BAs with experience, and not attracting the right candidates, and decided that for the same level of effort, they could help people to become BAs.

Apprentices, graduate scheme and entry level positions - this presentation provides a case study which covers the challenges and benefits of having BAs at all stages of their career within the team, and getting the whole team involved in the process.

Key themes include:

  • Choosing to extend the field of candidates - and the routes to do this
  • Benefits to individuals, the team, projects and the organisation
  • Skills and aptitude vs. knowledge and experience
  • Understanding the training needs / knowledge gaps
  • Getting the whole team of BAs involved in learning and development

Christina Lovelock has worked in various public sector organisations at a local and national level. These include Local Authority social care, the National Programme for IT within the NHS and currently the Health and Social Care Information Centre. She runs a team of 20 business analysts at various levels, who are supporting 12 national IT projects. Projects range from small in-house developments to multi-million pound third party supplier contracts.

Christina holds the ISEB (BCS) Diploma in business analysis, She runs a number of internal development courses relating to BA skills and she promotes the understanding of the BA role within her organisation.


We don't need BAs... - the journey from denial to practice

Peter will take you on a sometimes bumpy, sometimes ‘pleasurely’ ride towards building the core of a Business Analysis Practice. Utilising principles of the Operational Excellence methodology adopted at Yorkshire Water and the collaboration technology in the business, the Business Analysis team at Yorkshire Water are moving to virtual visual management as the community / practice begins to become a reality.

With overseas and UK experience in Engineering, Software Houses, Public Sector, Consultancy, and the Utilities sector, Peter Neal has been undertaking Business Analysis in some guise or other most of his life. On this journey, he has experienced many technologies, learnt a few development methodologies and undertaken a wide variety of project, sales and customer roles. Peter has been part of the committee of IIBA UK Chapter North Branch since June 2012 and is based in the beautiful Pennines of West Yorkshire. He lives with his Irish wife, two rugby-mad boys and Olly the dog.


Next Generation BA: what new skills and behaviours do BAs need to develop in the next 5 years

The role of the BA may be relatively new but nevertheless it continues to evolve. Rob will provide an overview of the changing landscape in which BAs work, and identify some of the key competencies that BAs will require over the coming years.

Robert Moores has over 30 years' experience in IT, and currently leads several teams of Business Analysts at Asda. He is a Board member of the Business Architecture Society and a regular speaker at the BA Conference. Rob's interests include Communities of Practice, Agile an service orientation.