An Overview of
Modern Business Analysis
Sergey Korban, Aotea Studios, 2012
Background
The feedback we receive from our readers and customers indicates that the
business analysis framework described in the BABOK guide, while
comprehensive, can prove confusing to those who want to get into business
analysis or have been performing business analysis duties informally. This
paper aims to present a simplified overview of modern business analysis
for this audience.
Business Analysis Context
A good way to provide some clarity is to start with the context in which
business analysis is performed. The diagram on the next page shows that
business analysis is part of a bigger picture. It interacts with project
management where a project has been initiated to address either a business
need or poor performance of an IT solution that impacts business.
A BA works closely with an enterprise architect, technology and business
stakeholders to properly understand the problem, specify business
requirements and deliver the agreed business analysis documents. All
business analysis work is governed by organisational standards,
methodologies and approaches.
CONTEXT OF Integration Governance
BUSINESS ANALYSIS Enterprise
Roadmap
Enterprise Service
Business Service Demand
Goals
Architecture Strategy
Demand Planned
Standards
Services
Planned
Capabilities Service
Service Existing Service
Portfolio
External
Operation
Capabilities &
Design Environment
Business
Processes New
Services
Technical
Constraints Available
Options
Existing Vendor
Solutions Required
Capabilities Management
Performance
Poor Analysois
Performance
Engagement Vendor Expertise
Project Business Changes to Service
Technology Landscape
Management Analysis Transition
Transition
Deliverables Reqs
Analysis of
Demand New
Business Changes to Solution
Demand Business Org.
Governance & IT Governance
Processes (Communications)
Templates Standards
Support
Business Expertise
Business Processes Methodologies
Business Business Rules
Communication of Change
Business Analysis Practice
The bulk of BA activities can be considered to
cycle within the triangle on the right. The delivery
of a solution to the identified business need takes
place over several iterations of these activities.
Once the solution is built, the BA is also involved
in the facilitation of its deployment.
Each of these activities is described in more detail below.
Activity: Identify Business Need
A project is initiated where a problem has been identified by stakeholders.
The project manager engages a BA to carry out business analysis, specify
requirements and support the management of the project.
My practical advice to you is to read the project initiation document
carefully to get the initial understanding of the problem. Work closely with
the project manager to get as much project background information as
possible. Build a team with the PM and other stakeholders.
The next step should be to familiarise with the business domain and its
common terminology. This knowledge is required to successfully engage
business stakeholders and to use meeting time with stakeholders
effectively.
When these steps are complete, plan BA activities, estimate the duration of
each task and allocate sufficient time for peer and business reviews and the
final approval of the BA artifacts.
Conduct analysis of stakeholders, develop a communication plan, and
determine how requirements will be managed during the project. Align
your plans with project plans.
In the course of your work you will interact with enterprise architects, IT
infrastructure staff and business stakeholders to understand the real
problem, outline the current state and the existing capabilities.
When you’ve articulated business goals, conduct gap analysis to determine
what new capabilities are required to satisfy the identified business need.
The required capabilities define project scope, project approach and finally,
solution scope.
Activity: Specify Requirements
The required capabilities serve as a foundation for specifying requirements
(business, functional and non-functional). These requirements need to be
documented and communicated to all involved stakeholders. The artifacts
developed by the BA support both project management and solution
design. You may interact with vendors where either a solution or its
components are outsourced.
When specifying the requirements, you need to capture assumptions,
constraints (business and technical), dependencies with other solutions and
components, business and market rules relevant to the solution. At this
stage, you will refine your understanding of the business need as more
details surface from interactions with stakeholders. This information has to
be thoroughly documented to support project scope management and issue
resolution. Communication of the specified requirements should be a high
priority task for you.
Potential solutions have to be discussed and evaluated within the project
team to check whether they satisfy the identified business need.
Activity: Validate Solution
Once the selected solution has been developed and validated against
acceptance criteria determined by the business, you will evaluate the
readiness of the organisation for the changes associated with the new
solution.
My practical advice is to map the specified requirements to business
processes and solution components to create a map of changes within the
organisation. It helps a lot your interactions with business end-users and
decreases resistance to changes.
To introduce the new solution into the existing business context, you need
to specify the transition requirements to ensure that business activities will
be interrupted as little as possible and the business data will be transferred
into the new solution where required with minimal to zero losses.
The developed solution is tested before deployment to ensure its stability
and a minimum of defects. The performance of the solution (new business
processes and technology) is measured to confirm that business
requirements are satisfied. Any defects should be documented and
resolved prior to the final release of the solution into production.
Activity: Facilitate Deployment
The tested solution is released to the business in accordance with
organisational practice. Communication of the release supports the
deployment process and mitigates the risk of disruption to the normal
business activity. The BA facilitates the deployment by helping to train
business users and develop documentation on the delivered solution using
the BA documents produced during the project.
All the activities and the tasks they are comprised of are summarised in the
diagram below.
PRAGMATIC BUSINESS ANALYSIS FRAMEWORK
Define Gather & Evaluate
Model
Business Confirm Org.
Reqs
Demand Reqs Preparedness
Analyse Rank Control Map Reqs to Map Reqs to
Plan BA
Stakeholders Reqs Reqs Scope Processes Components
Plan Specify
Plan Reqs Produce BA Approve Evaluate
Communication Transition Train Users
Mgmt Artifacts Reqs Solution
Reqs
Specify Validate Facilitate
Identify
Requirements Selected Solution
Business Need
to Solution Solution Deployment
Define Conduct Document Produce
Communicate Communicate Document
Existing Gap Assumptions BA
Reqs Reqs Solution
Capabilities Analysis & Constraints Artifacts
Define Produce Communicate Facilitate
Solution Maintain Reqs
BA Changes to Acceptance
Scope Traceability
Artifacts Processes of Change
Assess
Solution
Performance
Technology Process
Performance Performance
Measure and Report on BA Performance
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Conclusion
The described way of doing business analysis is common in large
companies. The BA has great opportunities to facilitate improvements
within the organisation through clear articulation of the need and well-
specified requirements.
The iterative approach to business analysis improves collaboration with
stakeholders, helps specify requirements, avoid costly rework, and deliver
the required capabilities in a timely manner.
