Business Analysis
Definition
"Analyse a part or the entirety of a business, define its needs, and recommend solutions to address these needs and/or solve a business problem."
The practice requires organizations to:
- Establish and continually improve organization-wide business analysis approaches ensuring consistency and effectiveness
- Ensure current and future organizational needs are understood, analyzed, and supported with timely solution proposals
Key Terms
Utility: "the functionality offered by a product or service to meet a particular need" (fitness for purpose).
Warranty: "assurance that a product or service will meet agreed requirements" (fitness for use).
Experience: The sum of functional and emotional interactions with a service as perceived by stakeholders.
Processes
Design and Maintenance of a Business Analysis Approach
- Analyse the organization and requirements
- Develop and agree a business analysis approach
- Communicate and adopt the business analysis approach
- Review the business analysis approach
Business Analysis and Solution Identification
- Elicit and analyse information from stakeholders
- Define solution options and identify the recommended solution
- Support solution implementation and delivery
- Assess solution performance and value
Key Activities
| Activity | Description |
|---|---|
| Requirements elicitation | Gathering and documenting stakeholder needs through interviews, workshops, and observation |
| Business process modelling | Mapping current and future business processes to identify improvements |
| Gap analysis | Comparing current state to desired state to identify required changes |
| Solution evaluation | Assessing proposed solutions against requirements and constraints |
| Stakeholder management | Engaging and managing expectations of all affected parties |
Key Metrics
| Metric | What it measures |
|---|---|
| Satisfaction with needs understanding and solution relevance | Analysis quality |
| Deviations from strategy | Strategic alignment |
| Cost and risk of business analysis approach | Efficiency |
| Satisfaction with proposed solutions | Solution quality |
| Value realized from implemented solutions | Value delivery |
| Timeliness of analysis and solution proposals | Responsiveness |
| Number/impact of identified and proposed solutions | Output volume |
Key Roles
- Business analyst
Recommendations for Success
- Engage with internal and external stakeholders
- Maintain ownership of requirements and solutions
- Use analysis to support product/service changes
- Reuse requirements and solutions when suitable
- Integrate requirements and development tools
- Align analysis with strategy, goals, and culture
- Conduct continuous business analysis
- Assess solutions based on actual business results
Software Tools
- Workflow and task management tools
- Solution design and development tools
- Service catalogue tools
- Knowledge and document management tools
- Collaboration and communication tools
- Architecture management tools
- Analysis and reporting tools