Business Analysis Essentials: A Comprehensive Guide for Professionals and Students
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Module
Business Informatics IIA (ICT2641)
Institution
University Of South Africa (Unisa)
Book
Business Analysis
In today's fiercely competitive global landscape, organizations must continually evolve to meet the ever-changing demands of the market. At the forefront of this transformative journey are business analysts, the unsung heroes who empower organizations to overcome challenges, craft innovative soluti...
Business Analysis (fourth edition), Debra Paul and James Cadle
BCS Foundation notes
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University of South Africa (Unisa)
Business Informatics IIA (ICT2641)
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Chapter 1: What is business analysis?
Business analysis is like being a detective for a company. Just like a detective looks for clues
to solve a mystery, a business analyst looks at all the different parts of a company and finds
ways to make it work better and make more money.
They look at things like how the company makes products, how they sell them, and how they
make a profit. Then they come up with solutions to any problems they find and help the
company make changes to improve.
The development of business analysis.
The impact of outsourcing.
Why outsource?
- Reduce costs
Competitive advantage using IT.
First, the needs of the business must drive the development of the IT systems;
second, the implementation of an IT system must be accompanied by the necessary business
changes;
and, third, the requirements for IT systems must be defined and understood.
The business change lifecycle.
The need to adopt a broader view of business change rather than focusing purely on the
IT element has been recognised by organisations for many years. The business change
lifecycle reflects this, highlighting the need to ensure that change programmes focus on
aligning with, and meeting, business needs.
The early part of the business change lifecycle is concerned with ensuring alignment of
business change initiatives with the external business environment and the Enterprise
Architecture and business strategy for the organization.
This provides a context for defining the change requirements that is based upon an analysis
of the business situation and requirements in order to determine new ways of working that
will improve the organization’s efficiency and effectiveness.
Later business change activities are concerned with change design and development,
business acceptance testing and, post implementation, benefits review and realization.
,Business analysts as internal consultants.
external consultants to provide expert advice throughout the business change lifecycle.
Pros.
- they can be employed to deal with a specific issue on an ‘as-needed basis’ and they
bring a broader business perspective and can provide a dispassionate, objective view
of the company.
Cons.
- The lack of accountability and the absence of any transfer of skills from the external
consultants to internal staff.
- Cost is also a key issue.
Reasons for using internal business analysts as consultants, apart from lower costs, include
speed (internal consultants do not have to spend time learning about the organization) and
the retention of knowledge within the organization.
,BUSINESS ANALYST ROLE DEVELOPMENT
The delivery of predicted business benefits promised from the use of technology and the
implementation of IT systems has proved to be extremely difficult.
The potential exists for organisations to deploy technology as a means of gaining
competitive advantage and yet this often appears to be just out of reach.
Limited budgets are often spent on technology and change initiatives that fail to deliver the
predicted benefits or, result in increasing levels of investment with little to show for it.
Software products are built or purchased that have the potential to meet business needs,
- may not be deemed successful because changes to the broader business system have
not been established,
- Could result in the emergence of further issues or a failure to address some of the
root causes of problems.
Organisations need to take a holistic view when addressing business problems.
A focus on technology without consideration of the broader business system is one of the key reasons
for dissatisfaction with IT projects.
Role clarity for business analysts
Clarity is extremely important for any role.
Without it, roles are misunderstood and there is a lack of awareness of what practitioners do and are able to
offer. This confusion can lead to dissatisfaction, an unwillingness to collaborate and disappointing outcomes.
- What do business analysts do?
- What skills do they require?
- How do they add value to organisations?
, BUSINESS ANALYSIS PRINCIPLES
The key principles that underlie business analysis define the priorities for conducting business analysis work :
Root causes not symptoms:
• To distinguish between the symptoms of problems and the root causes.
• To investigate and address the root causes of business problems.
• To consider the holistic view.
Business improvement not IT system change:
• To recognise that IT systems should enable business opportunity or problem resolution.
• To analyse opportunities for business improvement.
• To enable business innovation and customer experience enhancement.
Options not solutions:
• To challenge pre-determined solutions.
• To identify and evaluate options for meeting business needs.
Feasible, contributing requirements, not meeting all requests:
• To be aware of financial and timescale constraints.
• To identify requirements that are not feasible and do not contribute to business objectives.
• To evaluate stated requirements against business needs and constraints.
The entire business change lifecycle not just requirements definition:
• To analyse business situations.
• To support the effective development, testing, deployment and post-implementation review of
solutions.
• To support the management and realisation of business benefits.
Negotiation not avoidance:
• To recognise conflicting stakeholder views and requirements.
• To negotiate conflicts between stakeholders.
These principles clarify why business analysis is so relevant in today’s business world and set out the
responsibilities that business analysts should recognise and accept. The principles are underpinned by two key
approaches:
• the holistic approach
• the Agile philosophy.
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