Benefits of Business Analysis

Business Analysis is the practice of enabling change in an organizational context, by defining needs and recommending solutions that deliver value to stakeholders. The set of tasks and techniques that are used to perform business analysis are defined in A Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® (BABOK®Guide).

Business analysis is all about knowing how to help the business achieve its goals.  It’s about knowing who your stakeholders are and helping them get to the right solution by understanding their structure, processes, policies and operations.  It’s about helping produce a quality solution that provides value while still falling within the constraints of time, money and resources.

Gathering both business and technical requirements using proven methodologies can reduce rework and result in business partner confidence in your IT workforce.  In depth understanding of the business needs enables the business analyst to translate those needs into solution options.

Do Not Source the Business Analyst Work. The IT department needs to anticipate business needs by understanding the complex business challenges and the impact technology advances can have on the company’s ability to deliver products or services. Without the business analysis capability, IT must depend on external service providers to bridge the gap between the technology domain and the business domain.

Depending upon the market sector the enterprise sits within, different business analysis techniques will be applied. Different techniques may also be applied at project level. There are a number of generic business techniques that a Business Analyst will use when facilitating business change. Some of the most common of these techniques are:
  1. PESTLE - (Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological, Legal and Environmental) - PESTLE is a technique which is suitable for evaluating external factors and the effects they have upon the business.
    • Political (Current and potential influences from political pressures)
    • Economic (The local, national and world economy impact)
    • Sociological (The ways in which a society can affect an organization)
    • Technological (The effect of new and emerging technology)
    • Legal (The effect of national and world legislation)
    • Environmental (The local, national and world environmental issues) 
  2. SWOT - (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) - SWOT is used to identify possible opportunities and any threats to the business by evaluating its strengths and weaknesses.
    • Strengths - What are the advantages? What is currently done well? (e.g. key area of best-performing activities of your company)
    • Weaknesses - What could be improved? What is done badly? (e.g. key area where you are performing poorly)
    • Opportunities - What good opportunities face the organization? (e.g. key area where your competitors are performing poorly)
    • Threats - What obstacles does the organization face? (e.g. key area where your competitor will perform well)
  3. MOST - (Mission, Objectives, Strategies and Tactics) - MOST enables the organization to perform internal analysis and identify the best way to achieve its goals.
    • Mission (where the business intends to go)
    • Objectives (the key goals which will help achieve the mission)
    • Strategies (options for moving forward)
    • Tactics (how strategies are put into action)
  4. CATWOE - (Customers, Actors, Transformation Process, World View, Owner and Environmental Constraints) - CATWOE is used to identify the main processes and entities which may be affected by any changes the business makes.
    • Customers - Who are the beneficiaries of the highest level business process and how does the issue affect them?
    • Actors - Who is involved in the situation, who will be involved in implementing solutions and what will impact their success?
    • Transformation Process - What processes or systems are affected by the issue?
    • World View - What is the big picture and what are the wider impacts of the issue?
    • Owner - Who owns the process or situation being investigated and what role will they play in the solution?
    • Environmental Constraints - What are the constraints and limitations that will impact the solution and its success?
  5. MoSCoW - (Must or Should, Could or Would) - MoSCoW is used to prioritize both proposed changes and business goals.
    • Must have - or else delivery will be a failure
    • Should have - otherwise will have to adopt a workaround
    • Could have - to increase delivery satisfaction
    • Would like to have in the future - but won't have now
  6. VPEC-T - This technique is used when analyzing the expectations of multiple parties having different views of a system in which they all have an interest in common, but have different priorities and different responsibilities.
    • Values - constitute the objectives, beliefs and concerns of all parties participating. They may be financial, social, tangible and intangible
    • Policies - constraints that govern what may be done and the manner in which it may be done
    • Events - real-world proceedings that stimulate activity
    • Content - the meaningful portion of the documents, conversations, messages, etc. that are produced and used by all aspects of business activity
    • Trust - between users of the system and their right to access and change information within it
     
What Does a Business Analyst Do?
  • Identify, analyze, and solve business problems and opportunities
  • Determine the feasibility of a solution
  • Define the solution scope and develop the business case
  • Continue to assess, refine, and validate the business need and solution
  • Evaluate the business benefits brought about by a solution

The business analyst profile actually encompasses different roles like that of a process analyst, system analyst, project manager, application support, data analyst and tester. Gaining all round knowledge in all these different role types will definitely give the Business Analyst an edge and will enable him to overview the project from all angles.

Skills of Business Analyst:

 

Business Analysis, in summary, is the art of managing the requirements and the business needs and synchronizing them in line with the strategic objectives of the organization. In order to implement this management methodology, one needs to understand that Business Analysis forms the base of the successful implementation of any business process or software management event in an organization.

References Site: theiiba.org

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