Business analyse samenvatting
BA1: INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS ANALYSIS
1.1 What is business Analysis
Business Analysis = the practice of enabling change in an enterprise by defining needs and
recommending solutions that deliver value to stakeholders.
BACCM = business analyst core concept model
Six core concepts: needs, change, context, solutions, value, stakeholders
BABOK = business analysis body of knowledge
→ A collection of concepts, activities, principles that is considered as a standard within BA
→ Not a methodology, not a instruction manual but more a summary of all possible methods,
knowledge areas that are important for business analysis. It is a sort of framework.
BABOK
knowledge
areas
1.2 Role of a business analyst
A business analyst needs to be the link between business and IT. They need to understand
and implement the needs of a business.
Roles of an analyst:
- Problem solver
- Facilitator
- Negotiator: mediate between stakeholders
- Architect: change a process so it more efficient, build infrastructure for solution
- Planner: plan a project horizon
- Communicator: interviews with users to fully understand process or needs
- Expert: master the knowledge necessary, know your industry and business
- Strategist: need for a long-term vision, goals, tactical plans
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,1.3 Competencies of a business analyst
A business analyst should have
- Business knowledge:
- Three external domains: knowledge about the industry (competitors,
regulations, best practices), solutions that have been
considered/implemented in other organizations = acumen, IT
- Two internal: business model + strategies (mission, how they create value),
organizational knowledge (departments, hierarchy, processes)
- Analytical thinking:
- Be able to think conceptual and creative to make a good decision
- Organizing things and time management
- Communication and interact with different types of people
- Know and apply a lot of tools & techniques e.x. BPMN
1.4 BABOK knowledge areas
BA Planning & monitoring
Planning parameters
- Objective: what is to be delivered
- Needs: what are the problems, needs, opportunities that we are going to investigate,
how is it affecting the business, what do we want from our solution
- Scope: determine the boundaries of the project, what to consider and what not
- Approach: how are we going to this, which methods to use, who to talk to
- Activities: what should we do when with which method and with who
- Complexity & risks: are there risks, what makes the project complex
- Approval: gain approval to start the project and require the resources
Elicitation = gather requirements from various stakeholders
Elicitation techniques
- Brainstorming
- Focus groups
- Interviewing
- Observation
- Prototyping
- Survey
Requirements management + requirement analysis → BA3
Requirement management = document & present all the requirements of stakeholders. The
requirements are what a solution needs to ensure a good working process and satisfy
stakeholders.
Requirement analysis = analyze requirements, identify gaps or contradictions, priority of
requirements and try to implement/model them.
→ Elicitation is a BIG part of requirement analysis
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,Enterprise analysis = strategy analysis
= understanding the big picture, define business goals and needs, integrating requirements
into larger business architecture.
Solution assessment & validation
= check whether the solution does what it is supposed to do, does the solution meet
stakeholders objectives, is it feasible and is it the best approach to tackle this problem?
1.5 Stakeholder engagement
Stakeholders = relevant people to the problem that will experience a change in value when
the solution is applied
Stakeholder engagement is important for
- Healthy and productive collaboration
- Efficient communication strategy
- Better stakeholder satisfaction
- Limiting Scope Creep
Step 1: identify stakeholders
- Business analyst
→ Responsible and accountable for the execution of these activities
- Customers
- Domain subject matter expert = SME
→ Often end users or indirect users, they have in depth knowledge of a topic relevant
to the business need
- End users
- Implementation subject matter experts = SME
→ Developers, software engineers, system architects,..
- Project manager
→ Manages the work load, ensures that the project’s objectives are met, resources
are not exceeded, quality is met
- Tester
→ Verify that the solution meets the requirements
- Regulator
→ Define and enforce standards that need to be met
- Sponsor
- Supplier
Step 2: stakeholder analysis
- Stakeholder matrix
→ Based on power of influence & interest in the improvement initiative
→ 4 types: Latents (high power, low interest), key players (high power, high interest),
laggards (low power, low interest), defenders(low power, high interest)
→ Actions: keep latents satisfied, closely manage key players, monitor laggards and
keep defenders informed
- Union diagram
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, - RACI matrix, sometimes RACIS
→ Based on the role that a stakeholder plays for delivering the solution
→ R=responsible, A=accountable, C=consulted, I=informed, S=support
→ E.x. Project manager accountable for every step, business analyst mostly
responsible, user end experts often consulted,...
Step 3: manage stakeholders = communication to stakeholders
- Why: keeping them satisfied, updated, motivated to keep supporting,...
- What: different stakeholders will be be interested in different information that is
communicated e.x. want to know what will change about the experience, project
manager about the changes and updates about how the project is progressing
- When: how frequent should you communicate
- How: via mail, meeting, workshops,...
BA2: CONTEXT ANALYSIS
2.1 Business strategy
Strategy = an integrated set of actions aimed at increasing long-term wellbeing and strength
of an enterprise (Porter)
→ Importance: aligning execution with the strategy is the foundation to success, we need to
to think about the internal and external environment
→ Business analyst should be aware of the strategic context to align his solution to it
What is current state, wat is desired target state, how move from one to the other
SWOT Analyse
= Analysis of the current state, by looking at our companies strengths & weaknesses
(internal) and the external environment for opportunities & threats (external)
2.2 External context analysis
→ Focused on threats and opportunities concerning economic growth, regulations,
competition, technologie,...
1) PESTLE → STEEPLE
= technique used to asses macro environment
Political: stability, policies, corruption, trade restrictions
Economic: growth, exchange rates, inflation, unemployment
Sociological: population, age distribution, lifestyles, cultural barries
Technological: innovation, trends, infrastructure, automation, R&D
Legal: employment laws, consumer protection laws, patents, antitrust
Environmental: policies, climate change, weather influence sales/production
Ethical: GDPR, AI regulations, ethical production
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