BAs for an Insurance Vendor’s Client Projects
Summary:
An insurance software vendor needed to incorporate a best practices requirements approach in order to engage their client early in the life cycle, with a goal to ensuring success at implementation.
Client Profile:
Independent software vendor of insurance solutions.
The Challenge:
A mid-sized software vendor, gaining momentum in the insurance industry, was faced with the “good problem” of having too many customers sign up at one time. The company had tried to grow organically – adding product modules to the mix as it acquired smaller vendors – but was finding it difficult to find good project managers and business analysts. They faced an additional issue in that the approach to requirements across different product teams was unique and undocumented. Each implementation that was delivered was like doing it the “first time” – and if a client wanted more than one product module, they often had to deal with different faces and different approaches. This was painful and time-consuming for clients and employees and exposed the company to the risk of either an incomplete or late implementation.
The company undertook to find the source of their problem and discovered they lost hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars for problems related to unclear or missing requirements. Not only did this mean missed deadlines, but also loss of opportunity since developers were tied up fixing problems instead of moving on to new work.
Challenges included an inconsistent process (developers didn’t know what to expect or even how to interpret the ‘requirements’ they received) and “Business Analysts” who were really product managers or product Subject Matter Experts (SME’s). While these individuals knew a lot about the product and the business, most did not know how to elicit and document accurate and thorough requirements.
The Solution:
- First, DEA provided business analysts to the vendor’s current projects. Since the DEA BAs brought skills in requirements, experience in productivity tools, and knowledge of the insurance industry to the table, the vendor was able to immediately fulfill more project needs.
- Second, DEA examined the vendor’s current ad-hoc processes and recommended a best practice requirements approach that would apply to all project teams. DEA documented the approach, mentored the vendor BAs, and provided education in techniques and tools.
- Finally, DEA captured the vendor’s product functionality. While documentation existed, it was technical in nature and not useful to clients. DEA devised a web interface that could be used by both clients and the vendor to see what functionality the product offered and understand the impact of configuration choices. The tool even captured metrics to support an improved estimation capability.
