TU/e 2023-GS2
1BM20 Summary
CREATED BY RUTGER VAN DOORSLAER
,1 MODULE IBA – INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS ANALYSIS
Business analysis origins from the 80s, with the proliferation of IT in business. It resembles the
communication between the business and the IT, which is essential for project success. Many IT
projects are still challenged, because of (1) lack of user involvement / input, (2) incomplete
requirements / specifications, (3) poorly defined (or no defined) outcome, (4) insufficient
communication, (5) lack of executive support and (6) unrealistic expectations.
So, what is business analysis? “The practice of enabling change in an enterprise by defining needs
and recommending solutions that deliver value (propositions) to stakeholders (in a particular
context).”
It is essential to handle issues early in the development lifecycle. If not, a lot of problems will arise
after the system goes live, which will highly increase maintenance costs.
Business analysts have important roles and require plethora of competencies. A business analyst:
1. Elicits and defines requirements (junior business analyst)
2. Addresses context and problems / needs (business analyst)
3. Handles portfolio of initiatives (senior business analyst)
1.1 THE MAIN COMPETENCIES OF A BUSINESS ANALYST ARE:
- Analytical thinking and problem solving
- Behavioral characteristics
- Business knowledge
- Communication and interaction
- Interaction
- Tools and techniques
1.2 BUSINESS ANALYSIS KNOWLEDGE AREAS (IIBA BABOK V3):
Business Analysis Core Concepts: Coherent set of activities that make up the BA field:
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, Business analysis Organizing and coordinating the efforts of business analysts and
planning and monitoring stakeholders.
Elicitation and Preparing and conducting elicitation activities and confirming the
collaboration results obtained. This includes the communication with stakeholders
once the business analysis information is assembled, and the ongoing
collaboration with them throughout the business analysis activities.
Strategy analysis Collaboration with stakeholders to identify the business need (that is
of strategic or tactical importance), enabling the enterprise to
address the need, aligning the resulting strategy for the change with
higher – and lower-level strategies, strategy analysis provides context
to requirements analysis and design definition for a given change.
Requirements analysis Structuring and organizing the requirements discovered during
and design definition elicitation activities (requirement analysis), specifying and modeling
of the requirements and designs, identification of solution options
that meet business needs, estimating the potential value that could
be realized for each solution option. Covers the incremental /
iterative activities ranging from initial concept and exploration of the
need and transformation of these needs into a recommended
solution.
Requirements life cycle Managing and maintaining requirements and design information
management from inception to retirement, this includes establishing meaningful
relationships (traceability) between related requirements and
designs, and assessing, analyzing and gaining consensus on proposed
changes to requirements and designs.
Solution Evaluation Assessing the performance of and value (proposition) offered by a
solution in use by the enterprise and recommending removal of
barriers or constraints that prevent the full realization of the value.
Figure 1: BABOK Knowledge Areas
1.3 BUSINESS ANALYSIS CORE CONCEPT MODEL (BACCM)
- Need: a problem or opportunity to be addressed
- Solution: a specific way of satisfying one or more needs in a context
- Context: the circumstances that influence, are influenced by, and provide understanding of
the change
- Value (proposition): the worth, importance, or usefulness of something to a stakeholder
within a context.
- Stakeholders: a group or individual with a relationship to the change, need or solution.
- Change: the act of transformation in response to a need.
Figure 2: Business analysis core concept model (BACCM)
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, The BACCM framework describes and defines the work of BA. As the core concepts are inter-
dependent, it follows that any significant change in any of the core concepts (within the scope of the
business analysis project) will influence other concepts. In such cases, the core concepts can assist in
securing that all relevant aspects are considered and re-evaluated.
2 MODULE BMD – BUSINESS MODEL DESIGN
2.1 SERVICE-DOMINANT LOGIC
Business has shifted rapidly from goods-dominant to service-dominant logic. The foundational
proposition of the service-dominant logic is that organizations / markets are fundamentally
concerned with exchanging service.
The focus is not on the production of a good, but on the value that it would bring when it is used in a
particular context. E.g., why would you buy a car? How would you use it? Commuting would be a
value proposition, and if not met, customers will go to a competitor.
2.2 BUSINESS ENGINEERING FRAMEWORK
An organization operating in service-dominant business should be structured in some (hierarchical)
conceptual layers:
1. Business strategy – mission and vision (e.g. “top 3 in NL within 3 years”) – Relatively Stable
2. Business models – value propositions (for particular customer segment) – Agile
3. Service compositions – Agile
4. Business services – capabilities wrapped as offerings to external parties / customers –
Relatively Stable
5. Internal processes / services – Relatively Stable
Figure 3: Business Engineering Framework
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