The CIO of the FinTech company Credit Exchange Group, indicated that the IT department produced products for the new credit management system that were not meeting the operational standards. The process of software development and the phase of information analysis, proved to be a bottleneck. These were underexposed and not formalised. There was a need for an information analyst to build the bridge between business and IT. Over the course of time, there were other bottlenecks in addition to information analysis. Namely a lack of coordination, prioritisation and adequate implementation of the new software. For this reason, the scope of the project was broadened to the entire software development process a few months later. From idea to implementation.
Role of Information Analyst
Consultant Manon den Hertog started as an information analyst with the aim of improving communication between business and IT in defining the functional requirements of the new credit management system. For this purpose, she established a vision and brought together ideas from the various stakeholders in workflow diagrams. These served as a sounding board and fixation of the requirements. By facilitating collaboration and communication between business and IT, challenging various stakeholders, giving context and acting as the source of information, continuous coordination between business and IT was arranged. This made it possible for IT to build products that better suited the needs of the business. After this, a clear formulation of the requirements was available for each sprint in the form of user stories.
“As an information specialist I was the linking pin between business and IT.“
Widening the scope
During the next months, there were also other improvement possibilities. For example, coordination over the whole process could be better. Consultant Madelon Snel quickly created a first-hand insight into the work in progress and then worked out and set up the desired process. In particular, roles and responsibilities within the process were clarified. These include:
- The business analyst, together with the client, determines the prioritisation of the software to be built and works on the ‘what’, ‘why’ and ‘where to’.
- The information analyst describes the requirements and user stories.
- To ensure that the software meets the needs of the business, there will be continuous alignment with a team of content experts.
- Only after a formal agreement, there is a ‘hand over’ to the next process step and the business formally agrees upon delivery.
- Strategic issues are presented to a steering committee.
- The Senior Project Manager is process director, retains the overview and monitors the progress of software development.
Strong foundation
The software development process was strengthened in its foundation, roles and responsibilities within the process were clarified and formal hand over moments between the process steps were arranged. This allows the credit Exchange group to further build a modern and future-proof credit management system.
