Alliy Adewale Bello

Personal Statement I consider myself as a problem solver, collaborator, an analytical thinker with excellent communication and interpersonal relation skills. I believe that I possess the necessary knowledge, skills, and experience to be successful in this application. Firstly, I have a deep understanding of business analysis techniques and tools, which would enable me to perform my role effectively. I have enrolled in the International Diploma in Business Analysis through BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, and I have acquired various certifications, such as the Foundation Certificate in Business Analysis, Practitioner Certificate in Modeling Business Processes, and Practitioner Certificate in Business Analysis Practices and Practitioner Certificate in Requirement Engineering. These trainings have equipped me with various techniques in investigating business process problems, conducting gap analysis, stakeholder management, requirement gathering, lean sigma, business process improvement and re-engineering, among others. I am optimistic that these skills have prepared me to excel in my role. I have master’s degree in international business with Human Resources Management. In addition, my Bachelor degree is in Political Science. Over the past three years, I have used my skills and knowledge to provide recommended solutions for various business events, both internal and external. For instance, I have modeled business processes, conducted gap analysis, elicited requirements, investigated KPIs, and met performance targets. I have a proven track record of achievement, and I believe that the experience and skills I have gained over time are essential ingredients for success in your esteemed institution if you hire me. In addition, I consider myself a charismatic leader who strives to improve my professional development with strong interpersonal relations. My emotional intelligence and team player have helped me build rapport with team member, clients and senior stakeholders, aligning their needs and persuading them to reach a consensus. As such, I pride myself as a business analyst with humility and collaboration skills that fit in quickly with any team without struggling to relate to team members. Moreover, I have a rich experience in application of business analysis knowledge skills and technique in solving business needs and proffering recommended solutions. For instance, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the retail company I worked for faced declining sales and a high attrition rate, requiring urgent action. My team was tasked with two major objectives: modeling a business process to increase sales and meet KPIs and implementing a loyalty program to improve retention rates and offer value propositions. To achieve these goals, I managed a team that conducted a gap analysis and developed a new business process. I oversaw the following steps: 1. Investigated the current problem: This was done through organization chats, observation, and note-taking. The 5 Whys technique was deployed to determine the root cause of the problem and lean six sigma to eliminate waste and improve efficiency. 2. Conducted a feasibility study of the project objectives and business needs through document analysis and organization charts. 3. Investigated the AS-IS model to understand the current processes and reveal the reason for the failure of the current process. This was done to examine whether the current process could be improved or re-engineered. 4. My team and I created a TO-BE process, which outlined the desired solution and needs of the stakeholders. 5. After creating the TO-BE model, I conducted a gap analysis between the AS-IS and TO-BE models to identify any gaps and determine how they could be improved. 6. We then elicited requirements from the stakeholders to gain insight into the business and project needs. 7. Finally, I proposed a new business process and visualized it to the stakeholders using Business Process Models and Notation (BPMN). One of the challenges we faced was the stakeholders' inability to elicit their tacit knowledge. To solve this, I conducted interviews with stakeholders and asked them to tell stories about how they perform their jobs. I also used active observation and note-taking to uncover known unknowns, unknown knowns, and unknown unknowns from the employees, gaining insight into the working environment, culture, and how they executed their tasks. I identified gaps and omissions that were inhibiting the process and uncovered the business needs and requirements. I also used prototyping to allow stakeholders to identify problems, test the feasibility of requirements, and receive feedback from end-users. These techniques were effective in eliciting tacit knowledge, ensuring that the requirements aligned with business goals, were unambiguous, smart, and robust, and were crucial for moving the project forward. Furthermore, I understand that conflicting stakeholders requirements is one of the challenging factors in requirement gathering and could retard the development of project, sometimes due to their diversity and worldview. As such, in my experience I have been faced with challenges in such and I was able to get the stakeholders reach a consensus. For instance, At a time when my company needed to meet the KPI for "Customer Satisfaction" in the face of a high attrition rate, the Customer Service Executive aimed to provide excellent customer service by improving response times and query resolution, with the goal of improving the company's image and customer loyalty. The Operations Manager, on the other hand, was concerned with improving product quality, setting competitive prices, and reducing delivery times, believing that this would increase customer loyalty. As a Business Analyst, I needed to balance these competing demands by prioritizing the features and functionalities that had the most impact on both the business and the stakeholders. To do this, I conducted a thorough analysis of the requirements and objectives of the business and both departments, as well as the overall business goals. I used the power/interest grid to identify the level of influence and interest each stakeholder had, a cost-benefit analysis to identify the financial implications of the two requests, and a SWOT analysis to measure the company's strengths and weaknesses. After my analysis, I discovered that both stakeholders had the same worldview but different approaches. To improve customer loyalty, quality, price, and time (for delivery and query resolution) were crucial factors. To resolve these conflicting requirements, I scheduled a workshop aimed at reaching a consensus between the stakeholders. During the workshop, we agreed to merge the CSE's requirements under TIME (in different atomic requirements), visualized this using Use Case Diagram, BPMN and we defined the following non-functional requirements: 1. Customer queries must be responded to within 5 minutes. 2. Customer queries must be resolved within 15 minutes. 3. Customer orders must be processed within 5 minutes of payment confirmation. 4. Customers must receive their order within 3 days from the day of purchase. Exceptional Criteria: 3b) If a product is out of stock, the customer shall be notified immediately. At the workshop, we agreed that improving quality was essential to building trust with customers and increasing loyalty, satisfaction, and customer recommendations. At the end of the workshop, both stakeholders reached a consensus and agreed on the proposed solutions. A Time When You I Took Part in a Business Change Process The Front End of the Design It is imperative to succinctly define what business change implies. Business change is structural approach to change the organization structure or process to enhance its efficiency and productivity towards solving a problem or responding to an opportunity. I understand that one of the major roles of a Business Analyst is solving business problems and/or responding to opportunity. In my experience at a retail company, I work as part of a team that automate the business process to respond to an external event. The event was a low sale and as such, there was an urgent need to respond to this event. To resolve this problem, we investigated the problem to find out the root cause of the problem, knowing fully well this could only be the by-product of the problem itself. In a bid to do that, we investigated the company report to gain insight into the strengths, weakness, performance highlight and financial capability of the company. We also investigated the organization chart to understand the culture, processes, and organization structure. We also conducted anonymous customer survey to understand the reasons for their recent behaviors as well as market survey to be aware our competitors’ products and prices. In our investigation of the root cause, it was uncovered that there were two major factors causing these events: (i) Customers were unable to reach the company to make their purchases due to lockdown as this was during COVID19. Competitive price from the competitors hence, high purchasing power. (ii) To address this, we created a business case which contains the report of our investigations and recommendations to the senior management. This contain, the introduction, summary, current situation, recommended solution, cost-benefit analysis, impact and risk assessment and appendices. In our report, we recommended the following: (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) To automate the current process and review price. To introduce delivery service and improve customer query respond time. To retain current process, introduce call to order and delivery service. Do noting. The Management agreed to go with the first option to automate the process. Hence, introduced a Webpage Sales Platform. To do this, there is need to elicit requirement from the stakeholders, analyze, validate, document and manage the requirement to ensure traceability, change control and to ensure the deliverables meet the requirement. Some of the challenges we faced were stakeholders not able to elicit tacit knowledge, stakeholder conflict, conflicting requirement and unresponsive stakeholders and non-value-added requirement. However, these were effectively managed using different elicitation and management techniques. The BRD document was created after the requirement was considered SMART and done. This document contains all the requirements, both functional and non-functional. The SRS document was then created to serve as a guide for the software developers. Our deliverables were User stories, Use case Diagram and BPMN. The Delivery End Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) A Web-page sales platform designed and tested before the deployment to ensure the product meets the requirements. It is also important to establish that SDLC is a cost-effective and time-efficient process used by the project team to design a high-quality software. It emphasizes diligent process to design the software to meet the functional and non-functional requirements and meet customer expectations. The following steps were followed: Since the requirements have been elicited and analyze at the front end, we proceeded to Design: At this stage we design the best solution that meets the requirement. Then we proceeded to implementation which is concern with the actual coding of the web-page sales platform in view of the design specifications. After this, we conducted UAT. To conduct UAT, the following steps were followed: User acceptance attesting is the process of testing the system created, using UAT test cases to ensure it meets the requirements. This was performed in the users’ perspectives and entails all the scenarios the users will encounter while performing the testing. To ensure it is fit for purpose. The following steps were followed: (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) Designed the UAT Test Cases: We designed the UAT test cases to be tested. This captured all the scenarios the users would encounter to fulfill their orders: login/register user, product catalog, add to cart, checkout, make payment, order confirmation. Developed: We developed the UAT test cases to be tested and ensured it captures all the scenarios the users will encounter. Reviewed: The UAT Test Cases were reviewed by the end users and project team and approved by the project team. Identified the participants: This was done together with the stakeholders to identify who will take part in the testing and this represents this actual user. Scheduled Session: Time and location convenient for the participant were decided upon and we made sure it was convenient for the participants. (vi) Facilitated the UAT Session: I facilitated the testing and ensured the participants followed all the UAT Test Cases, recorded the results, the bugs, and the defects. (vii) Escalated the Issues: The recorded issues were escalated to the project team. The project team resolved the issues and fix bugs in view of the requirement specification. (viii) Documented the UAT Result and Signed off: I documented the results of UAT; these include, the issues, bugs, resolutions as well as feedback from the participant. I obtain sign off from the Stakeholders indicating the deliverables meet the requirement and fit – for – purpose. (ix) Deployed the Output: The deliverables were deployed to the production environment after they were built in the build environment. Before deployment, we analyzed and put some measures in place using POPIT and the deployment strategy employed was Direct Change Over (Big bang). (x) maintenance and Control: We then monitor the performance, fix issues, and respond to customer issues. In conclusion, I am optimistic that my knowledge, skills, and experience have prepared me for this role, and I believe I will be successful if you hire me into your highly reputable institution.