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JOB SPECIFICATION
JOB TITLE:
DIVISION:
GRADE:
DURATION:
LOCATION:
Business Analyst
BBC Technology
7D
Continuing
London
Job Purpose
BBC Technology Delivery is responsible for the delivery of a wide range of projects across the whole
of the BBC. We oversee the management of projects which include:
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Initial feasibility, solution design, and business justification;
Advise on the implementation of strategy and identification of technical options within business
areas;
The delivery and rollout of hardware and software systems across the BBC.
We work closely with a variety of stakeholders and suppliers – both internal and external - to ensure
that the BBC’s investment benefits are realised through the delivery of a variety of projects and
programmes.
Role
This role is a Business Analyst (BA) with a focus on the project areas of definition, shaping and
implementation. The size and scope of projects will vary over time. This role is one of a team of
business analysts who are allocated to projects on a weekly or monthly basis, as required.
The successful applicant should be able to gather and articulate requirements and put together small
business cases to facilitate decisions that are in the BBC’s best interest. They should ideally also be
able to manage and deliver small projects successfully.
The successful applicant will be based in Broadcast Centre, London W12, and be expected to travel
and work both within London and to the BBC’s other centres (e.g. Salford) depending on the nature of
projects being worked on.
Key Responsibilities for a BA within a typical Project Lifecycle
Responsibilities are varied depending on the nature of assignments. They may start at the ‘definition
and shaping’ stage of the project lifecycle and extend through to business ‘handover’, as shown
below.
The following areas are likely to be covered over time:
Overall
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Most BA work takes place during the initial phases of a project, in particular the definition and
shaping phases. However the BA should ‘own’ the requirements throughout the project life
cycle working with stakeholders and a PM to identify any changes to requirements and the
implementation of a test plan.
Definition and Shaping stage
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Liaison with customers and stakeholders in various divisions
Identification, shaping & scoping of all appropriate analysis activities on a project, identifying
technical options aligned to the BBC’s strategic ambition along with any detailed output
documentation required.
Contribute to preparation of business cases and investment proposals
BBC Technology Distribution and Archive
Business Analyst JD
Planning stage
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Planning and management of own activities and agreement of approach to analysis with the
relevant Sponsor or Project Delivery Manager
Drive and challenge business units on their assumptions of how they will successfully execute
their plans
Collaborate with developers and subject matter experts to establish the technical vision and
analyse trade-offs between usability and performance needs.
Pro-actively communicate and collaborate with external and internal customers to analyze
information needs and functional requirements and deliver the following artefacts as needed:
Functional requirements (Business Requirements Document), Use Cases, GUI, Screen and
Interface designs.
Pro-actively drive the definition of change, taking ownership / accountability for ensuring that
end to end scope and impacts of change are understood by all affected parties.
Implementation stage
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Elicit requirements using interviews, document analysis, requirements workshops, surveys,
site visits, business process descriptions, use cases, scenarios, business analysis, task and
workflow analysis.
Critically evaluate information gathered from multiple sources, reconcile conflicts, decompose
high-level information into details, abstract up from low-level information to a general
understanding, and distinguish user requests from the underlying business needs.
Work independently with users to define concepts.
Develop requirements specifications according to standard templates, using natural language.
Serve as the conduit between the customer community (internal and external customers) and
the software development team through which requirements flow. Custodian of customer
requirements and customer proxy on delivery team.
Handover stage
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Help the Project/Delivery Manager to ensure project completion criteria are agreed and met
with the affected business areas, document and escalate any quality trade-offs.
Work with training and change management teams to ensure effective handover of project
deliverables to business users.
Required Skills and Experience
The successful applicant should demonstrate:
Skills
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Excellent verbal and written communication skills and the ability to interact professionally with
a diverse group including executives, managers, and subject matter experts
Successfully engage in multiple initiatives simultaneously
Strong decision-making ability and ability to identify practical trade off options
Can identify goals and objectives
Proven negotiation and conflict management skills with the ability to resolve issues at all levels
of management
Excellent inter-personal skills and experience of relationship management
Demonstrable skills in presenting information effectively
Able to produce high quality, effective and thorough documentation
Experience
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Substantial experience gained in a technology environment (ideally gained in the media sector
or broadcast environment)
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Worked on the full project lifecycle of 3+ projects
BBC Technology Distribution and Archive
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Competencies
The following competencies (behaviours and characteristics) have been identified as key to success in the
job. Successful candidates are expected to demonstrate these competencies.
Planning & Organising
 Able to juggle priorities and can concentrate on several areas of work at one time.
 Is able to think ahead in order to establish an efficient and appropriate course of action for self and
others.
 Prioritises and plans project / programmes taking into account the degree of uncertainty, resource
availability and inter project dependencies to ensure delivering within the time, cost and quality
constraints.
Leadership
 Demonstrates the ability to make things happen and is focused on the project / programme
delivery.
 Builds a climate of trust with project or programme teams and all other stakeholders.
 Ensures inter-project issues, conflicts and dependencies are fully identified and appropriately
resolved, escalating where required
Collaborative working & Managing Relationships
 Experience of developing successful working relationships with a wide range of individuals and
organisations, including contact at a senior / executive level.
 Recognises the importance of sharing and disseminating information and contacts.
 Takes care and time to maintain and develop existing relationships.
 Is aware of, and shows understanding and respect for, other people’s needs and actions. Values
individual differences. Actively provides opportunities for others to participate in group situations.
Has an ability to establish rapport quickly and effectively with new clients/ people.
Resilience
 High levels of self-motivation, with the ability to work on own initiative.
 Demonstrates an approach to work that is characterised by commitment, motivation and
enthusiasm. Maintains personal effectiveness by managing own emotions in the face of pressure,
set backs or when dealing with provocative situations.
Flexibility and adaptability
 A willingness to be flexible in meeting the challenge of working across a diverse range of delivery
teams.
 To manage uncertainty and adapt the programme, portfolio or project where required.
Communication
 The ability to get messages clearly understood by adopting a range of styles, tools and techniques
appropriate to the audience and the nature of the information.
 Makes communication timely and regular. Checks for understanding.
 Listens, encourages discussion and two-way communication.
Influencing, Persuading and Negotiating skills
 Proven negotiation skills.
 Ability to present sound and well-reasoned arguments to convince others.
 Demonstrates the ability to draw from a range of influencing strategies to persuade people to
achieve agreement or behavioural change.
 Listens to other points of view to gain understanding.
Strategic Thinking
 Demonstrates a good understanding of the strategic vision of the BBC and can correlate why the
project / programme is required with the BBC strategic direction.
 Keeps up-to-date with developments in the outside world and considers challenges in the wider
context.
BBC Technology Distribution and Archive
Business Analyst JD