Overcome “Analysis Paralysis” In Salesforce With BACCM Model

Business Analysis in Salesforce has received a lot more attention in recent years. The official Business Analysis certification was launched in 2022 and according to Salesforce, business analyst jobs have risen significantly over the last five years.

Business Analysts help Salesforce project teams untangle complexity so that they can build the right solution and deliver value to the business. In this article, I’ll discuss how the industry standard Business Analysis Core Concept Model can be applied to Salesforce projects to help Business Analysts manage complexity with elegance.

The Business Analysis Core Concept Model

The Business Analysis Core Concept Model (BACCM) is an industry-standard model, initially introduced in 2011 in the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK) guide. 

The model was intended to help Business Analysts successfully navigate the full landscape of complexity that their roles present. After a few iterations, the present-day model introduces six interconnected concepts: 

1. Need: Articulates the business problem to be solved. Importantly, needs are requirements, not solutions. The needs of stakeholders drive the organizational change process forward.  
2. Context: Sets the stage for change. Context articulates the underlying assumptions, attitudes, scope, and constraints that frame a project and defines how change can happen in practice. 
3. Stakeholders: Drives needs. Stakeholders will generally be influenced by, or influence changes. To get the full context, all relevant stakeholders should be taken into consideration. 
4. Change: Occurs to realize needs. Changes are complete when a solution has been developed, deployed, and adopted by stakeholders. 
5. Value: Initiates stakeholders through positive change, within the business context. Value can also decrease during a project due to risks and unforeseen costs. 
6. Solutions: Spurs value creation and speak to the needs of stakeholders. Effective solutions are mindful of the organizational context and effectively balance trade-offs.

Applying BACCM for Salesforce

The BACCM is technology- and sector-agnostic. It can be applied by Business Analysts working on any type of business and on top of any platform or product. 

Leveraging the BACCM for Salesforce implementations means analyzing the full spectrum of variables that could impact your project’s success while remaining responsive to the implications of working within the Salesforce ecosystem. 

As a Business Analyst, how might you apply the BACCM on a Salesforce project?

Need 

Salesforce offers industry-specific features and functionality that support best practices for a wide variety of use cases. When analyzing needs, the Salesforce Business Analyst should consider how certain requirements may be supported by out-of-the-box Salesforce (or AppExchange) products wherever possible. 

Performing a requirements “gap analysis” against what Salesforce provides can help: 

• Clients see the value of the platform.
• Support both technical and business stakeholders in balancing the pros and cons of introducing custom functionality.
• Support the Solutions Architect in focusing on the most critical and value-adding work. 

Context 

Operating within the Salesforce ecosystem changes the landscape of a project. As a Business Analyst, you may consider how the following points change your implementation strategy:

• Users and admins have access to Salesforce’s free online training materials and documentation to support training and adoption.
• The platform will undergo three major releases per year, meaning that certain out-of-the-box requirements may be met, or supported, with later releases.
• The platform exists in a multi-tenant environment where resources must be shared and used effectively within certain limits.
• The platform provides a baseline layer of trust and security.
• The platform provides numerous out-of-the-box features and tools to boost productivity and may offer “quick wins” to boost value delivered to the client that doesn’t need to be custom-built. 

Stakeholders 

When analyzing people on a Salesforce project, Business Analysts will need to decide which stakeholders will become Salesforce users and how these users will interact with the system. 

These conversations will not only help manage and prioritize requirements appropriately, but will also help to inform technical decisions regarding features, data visibility, and required license types. 

Consider exploring the following topics early on in your discovery process:

• Who are the decision-makers in the organization? 
• Which stakeholders’ needs are currently driving the effort towards change?
• Which stakeholders will and won’t be licensed Salesforce users?
• Do any stakeholders from outside of your organization require access to your Salesforce data? If so, what data and when?
• Will unlicensed users require access to any data? If so, what data and when?
• Who will own and manage key data?
• What data is sensitive and needs to be protected from certain users?

Change

Great solutions don’t always mean great adoption. Thinking through change management is a crucial part of your implementation strategy.  Salesforce offers a number of tools to support various stakeholders in navigating change. 

Consider how the following tools may support stakeholders in getting comfortable with new or enhanced Salesforce functionality:

• Use sandbox environments to train users in a “safe” environment. 
• Leverage in-app guidance to support the adoption of new features.
• Encourage stakeholders to work on Trailhead to increase their knowledge of the platform.

Value 

Salesforce provides customers with value through robust functionality, excellent flexibility, and industry-validated features. However, working with a strong platform doesn’t provide value alone. 

To help generate value for clients, consider:

• If the organization is ready for digital transformation and has the capacity to take on the change required to meet its business needs.
• “Right-sizing” solutions against the stakeholder’s needs, capacity, timeline, and budget (the best technical solution may not always be the best business solution).
• Developing a coherent and well-documented roadmap to help key stakeholders understand the long-term Salesforce vision. 

Solution

There’s often (almost always) more than one viable Salesforce solution to a business problem. Developing quality solutions that drive value to the business is about balancing trade-offs and empowering stakeholders to understand how the solution meets their current needs within constraints. 

When communicating solutions, try to:

• Attach each solution to a clear requirement(s).
• Outline the pros and cons of each possible solution to a problem.
• Select solutions collaboratively with stakeholders so they develop a sense of ownership over their system.
• Document the decision-making process, including who was responsible for making decisions, why the decision was taken, when the decision was taken, and suggest future enhancements and limitations of the solution. 

Summary

The BACCM provides a holistic view of the landscape that Business Analysts operate in during digital transformation. 

By considering needs, context, stakeholders, change, value delivery, and appropriate solutions, Business Analysts can support project teams in the successful delivery of high-quality systems on Salesforce and beyond.