📋 Project Overview
Understanding the business context and scope
The Business Situation
Company: CloudSync, a mid-size SaaS company (150 employees) that provides project management software.
Problem: Customers must contact support for basic account functions (password resets, billing info, upgrade plans). This creates 200+ support tickets monthly, costing ~$5,000/month in support labor.
Opportunity: Build a customer self-service portal where customers can manage their accounts, view billing, and upgrade plans independently.
Business Goals:
- Reduce support tickets by 60%
- Increase upsells through easier upgrades
- Improve customer satisfaction (NPS +5 points)
- Launch within 6 months
Stakeholders & RACI
Key Stakeholders:
| Task | Product | Engineering | Support | Finance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project Approval | A | C | C | A |
| Requirements | R/A | C | C | I |
| Development | I | R/A | I | I |
| UAT | C | I | R/A | I |
Project Stats
- Duration: 6 months (Sept - Feb)
- Budget: $150,000
- Team Size: 1 BA, 4 Developers, 1 Designer, 1 QA
- Methodology: Hybrid (Waterfall for planning, Agile for delivery - 2 week sprints)
- Key Milestones: Requirements complete (Month 1), MVP ready (Month 3), Full UAT (Month 5), Launch (Month 6)
🔍 Discovery & Planning Phase (Waterfall Approach)
Understanding needs and laying the foundation - Weeks 1-4
BA Discovery Activities
- Conducted 15+ interviews: Support team, Product team, Finance, Sample customers
- Analyzed support tickets to identify top 10 customer requests
- Reviewed competitor customer portals (3 competitors studied)
- Researched security requirements (data protection, compliance)
During support interviews, the BA found conflicting opinions:
- Support wants customers to handle password resets (reduce tickets)
- Finance wants to track usage for upselling (need detailed activity logs)
- Product worried about complexity (wants MVP first)
Created a phased roadmap: Phase 1 (MVP) = password resets + basic account info. Phase 2 = billing & upgrades. Phase 3 = analytics & reporting. This addressed all concerns while keeping MVP scope manageable.
Business Rules Documented
BR-002: Account owners can manage team members (add/remove)
BR-003: Billing info visible only to account owner and Finance role
BR-004: Users see upgrade recommendations based on usage
BR-005: After 3 failed login attempts, account locked for 15 minutes
Stakeholder Analysis
| Stakeholder | Interest | Influence | BA Strategy |
|---|---|---|---|
| VP Support | Reduce tickets | High | Weekly status updates; show ticket reduction projections |
| CFO | ROI & cost savings | Critical | Track cost savings; monthly business case updates |
| Customers | Easy self-service | Medium | Early testing group; feedback incorporated |
| Engineering Lead | Technical feasibility | High | Architecture discussions; realistic scope |
📋 Requirements & Design Phase (End of Waterfall)
Creating specifications and artifacts - Weeks 3-5
Requirements Document Excerpt
Requirements:
• Users log in with email + password
• System validates credentials against user database
• Failed login attempts tracked (max 3 before lockout)
• Lockout duration: 15 minutes
• Forgot password workflow available
Security: All credentials transmitted over HTTPS; passwords hashed with bcrypt
Wireframe (Account Dashboard)
- Account
- Billing
- Team
- Settings
Plan: [Current Plan] | [Upgrade Button]
Usage: 45% of monthly limit
BA Annotations: Users can click tabs to view different sections. Upgrade button leads to pricing page with one-click purchase option. Usage bar shows visual progress toward plan limits.
Key Use Case: Password Reset
Preconditions: User has account; user locked out
Main Flow:
1. User clicks "Forgot Password" on login page
2. System displays email entry field
3. User enters registered email
4. System generates reset link (valid for 1 hour)
5. System sends email with reset link
6. User clicks link in email
7. System displays password reset form
8. User enters new password (must meet requirements)
9. System validates password
10. Password updated; user redirected to login
Alternative Flow (Invalid Email):
At step 3: If email not in system, system displays "Email not found" but says nothing else (security)
Does not reveal if email exists in system
Process Flow: Team Member Management
Current State (What Support Does):
↓
Support adds user in admin system
↓
Support emails customer with new login
↓
Manual, error-prone, takes 1-2 days
Future State (What Portal Does):
↓
Enters email & assigns role
↓
System sends invite to new user
↓
User accepts invite & creates login
↓
Instant, self-service, no support needed
🚀 Agile Execution Phase (2-Week Sprints)
Building and iterating - Weeks 6-20 (5 Sprints)
Sprint 1 Example: User Stories
I want to log in to the portal
So that I can access my account information
Acceptance Criteria:
✓ Login page displays email & password fields
✓ Valid credentials grant access to dashboard
✓ Invalid credentials show error message
✓ After 3 failed attempts, account locked for 15 min
✓ "Forgot Password" link available
Estimated Story Points: 5
Sprint: Sprint 1
Sprint Structure
- Monday AM (Day 1): Sprint Planning - BA walks team through user stories, clarifies requirements
- Mon-Fri (Days 1-5): Development - Developers build features; BA available for questions
- Daily Stand-ups: 15-min meetings - "What I did, what I'm doing, blockers?"
- Thursday (Day 9): Code Review & QA Testing begins
- Friday (Day 10): Sprint Review (demo to stakeholders) + Sprint Retrospective
Sprint Backlog Example (Sprint 2)
| User Story | Points | Status | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|
| View account overview | 3 | Done | Dev 1 |
| View subscription details | 5 | In Progress | Dev 2 |
| Password reset flow | 5 | In Progress | Dev 3 |
| Update profile info | 3 | Testing | Dev 1 |
| Team member management | 8 | Not Started | Dev 4 |
Sample Sprint Retrospective Notes
- User stories were clear - minimal back-and-forth questions
- QA testing caught issues early in sprint
- Team communicated blockers immediately
- Design handoff was late - impacted Dev 1's start
- Some requirements weren't complete - needed clarification mid-sprint
- Database performance issues discovered late (needed earlier consideration)
- BA to complete all requirement details before sprint planning
- Design & Dev to have sync meeting before sprint starts
- Early performance testing on new features
⚡ Challenges & How the BA Navigated Them
Real problems and real solutions - Throughout the project
Challenge: Scope Creep
Finance asks: "Can we add analytics dashboard to show customer usage trends?" Product wants: "What about billing history?" Support needs: "We should let customers submit tickets from portal too."
Suddenly the scope has tripled. Launch timeline now at risk.
1. Validate Impact: BA calculated: +6 weeks of work, +3 developers needed = $75K additional cost.
2. Stakeholder Meeting: BA brought CFO and VP Support together. Showed: "MVP solves the core problem (60% ticket reduction) in budget. These features nice-to-have."
3. Create Roadmap: BA proposed Phase 2 (6 weeks post-launch) for analytics. Phase 3 for ticket submission. Got everyone aligned on phasing.
4. Document Decision: BA recorded in project wiki: "Why Phase 1 scope is X. What we deferred and why. Expected Phase 2 timeline."
Result: Scope protected. Timeline kept. Stakeholders understand roadmap. Everyone knows what's coming.
Challenge: Conflicting Requirements
Support team says: "Customers should be able to instantly upgrade their plan." Finance says: "We need approval process for upgrades > $500/month to prevent fraud."
These are mutually exclusive. The BA must find compromise or escalate.
1. Dig Deeper: BA asked Finance: "Why >$500? What's the actual risk?" Answer: They'd seen 3 fraudulent upgrades last year.
2. Ask Questions: BA asked Support: "What percentage of upgrades are >$500?" Answer: Only 15%.
3. Propose Solution: "Customers can instantly upgrade to <$500/month. Anything higher goes to Finance for 24-hour approval. Still 85% instant."
4. Implement: BA updated requirements to include this hybrid approach. Finance accepted (fraud prevented), Support happy (most upgrades instant).
Result: Conflict resolved. Both sides get something. Solution is documented in business rules.
Challenge: Technical Discovery
During Sprint 1, developers discover: "We can't easily connect the portal to the existing billing system. They use completely different data formats. This will take 2x longer than estimated."
This is a technical blocker affecting timeline.
1. Root Cause Analysis: BA asked: "Why wasn't this discovered in planning?" Answer: Technical architecture review was skipped due to rushed timeline.
2. Get Technical Details: BA worked with Tech Lead to understand: What's the actual integration approach? Any workarounds? Timeline realistic?
3. Impact Assessment: BA calculated: If we delay billing features by 2 weeks, does it hit launch date? Answer: Yes, but only by 1 week.
4. Replan & Communicate: BA reprioritzed: Show billing info (read-only) in MVP. Full upgrade functionality in follow-up sprint. Presented new timeline to Finance & VP Support.
Result: Realistic scope. Technical debt addressed. Stakeholders prepared for adjusted timeline.
✅ Testing & Launch Phase
Validation and go-live preparation - Weeks 18-24
BA's Test Plan
• Functional testing: All features work as designed
• Security testing: Authentication, authorization, data protection
• Performance testing: Portal loads in < 2 seconds
• User acceptance testing: Real customers validate workflows
Test Phases:
• Phase 1 (Dev testing): QA tests in dev environment (Weeks 18-19)
• Phase 2 (UAT): 10 customer volunteers test in staging (Week 20)
• Phase 3 (Production validation): Post-launch sanity checks (Week 21)
Success Criteria:
• 100% of critical functionality working
• <5% of test cases failing
• No security vulnerabilities found
• Average customer rating on ease-of-use: 4/5 or higher
Sample Test Cases
| Test ID | Scenario | Steps | Expected | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TC-001 | Valid Login | Enter correct email/password; click Login | Dashboard displays | ✓ Pass |
| TC-002 | Wrong Password | Enter email; wrong password; click Login | Error shown; 1 of 3 attempts logged | ✓ Pass |
| TC-003 | Account Lockout | Fail login 3x in quick succession | Account locked for 15 min; message displayed | ✓ Pass |
| TC-004 | Upgrade Plan | Click upgrade; select new plan; complete payment | Plan changes; confirmation email sent | ✓ Pass |
| TC-005 | Add Team Member | Enter team member email; select role; click Add | Invite sent; member visible in list | ✓ Pass |
User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
- Recruit 10 beta customers representing different user types
- Train them on how to test (send documentation)
- Provide test scenarios and tasks to complete
- Collect feedback via survey and interviews
- Prioritize issues: Critical (blocks launch) vs. Nice-to-have
- Work with dev team to fix critical issues before launch
Minor Issue: "Button text says 'Confirm' but I expected 'Apply'" - Minor UX confusion. Will monitor post-launch.
Feature Request: "I want to download my billing statements as PDFs" - Out of scope for v1. Added to backlog for Phase 2.
Go-Live Activities
- ✓ Final production data validation (test accounts migrated correctly)
- ✓ Communication sent to all customers: "Portal is live, here's how to use it"
- ✓ Help documentation live (FAQ, tutorials)
- ✓ Support team trained and standing by
- ✓ Monitor first hour: Check for critical issues
- ✓ Daily syncs with support for first week to catch issues
💡 Key Lessons Learned
What the BA learned and what this means for future projects
BA Lessons & Skills Applied
- Data & Databases: Understood billing data structure to design portal queries
- Security: Worked with security team on authentication, encryption, GDPR compliance
- APIs: Documented requirements for portal-to-billing-system integration
- Requirements Gathering: 15+ interviews revealed actual customer needs (different from what was assumed)
- Root Cause Analysis: When "scope creep" hit, BA traced back to "rushed planning"
- Systems Thinking: Understood how portal impacts Support workflows, Finance processes, customer experience
- Clear Writing: Requirements docs were so clear that dev questions dropped 30% vs. other projects
- Presentation: Monthly executive briefings showing progress, ROI, and timeline kept stakeholders engaged
- Facilitation: Conflict resolution meetings between Finance, Support, and Product resulted in creative solutions
- Stakeholder Management: Regular 1:1s with Finance, Support, Product kept everyone feeling heard
- Conflict Resolution: Resolved 3 major conflicts (scope, requirements, technical) without escalation
- Change Management: Helped support team prepare for reduced tickets; trained them on monitoring portal metrics
Project Outcomes
| Goal | Target | Actual | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reduce support tickets | 60% reduction | 58% reduction (Month 1 post-launch) | ✓ Met |
| Increase upsells | +15% upgrades | +22% upgrades (Quarter 1) | ✓ Exceeded |
| Improve NPS | +5 points | +7 points | ✓ Exceeded |
| Launch timeline | 6 months | 6 months 1 week | ✓ Met |
| Budget | $150,000 | $147,000 | ✓ Under budget |
Key Takeaways for Future BAs
- ❌❌ Hybrid Agile/Waterfall approach worked: Rigorous planning up front, flexible execution during builds
- Strong stakeholder management prevented major conflicts from escalating
- Phased approach solved scope creep: "Phase 1, 2, 3" roadmap gave everyone clarity
- BA availability during development (quick questions answered = faster progress)
- Do technical architecture review DURING planning (not discovery)
- Create test plan at same time as requirements (not during UAT)
- Involve database team earlier (integration challenges discovered late)
- More frequent customer feedback during development (not just UAT)
- 🏆 Resolving Finance vs. Support conflict → Everyone got something
- 🏆 Creating phased roadmap → Scope creep eliminated
- 🏆 Catching technical debt early → Timeline risk identified and managed
- 🏆 Translating support pain into business case → Executives bought in
What's Next for the BA?
• Daily monitoring of support tickets and portal usage
• Gathering customer feedback for Phase 2
• Documenting lessons learned
• Planning Phase 2 features based on actual usage data
• Supporting your team members who'll maintain the portal
Career Impact: This project demonstrated the BA can:
• Lead cross-functional projects without formal authority
• Manage complex stakeholder dynamics
• Deliver on time and on budget
• Drive real business outcomes
Result: Promotion to Senior BA, expanded responsibilities, higher credibility with leadership.