Business Analysis

Business: <whatever>

Analysis:“the process of breaking a concept down into more simple parts, so that its logical structure is displayed” (OED)

a : an examination of a complex, its elements, and their relations b : a statement of such an analysis (Merriam Webster)

Definition of terms for Business Analysis

ANALYSIS of change requirements◦ Process◦ Organisation◦ Location◦ Data ◦ Application◦ Technology◦ Non-functional

Scope of analysis of change

Best practice techniques

Pragmatic advice

Additional references

Our aim To support professionalism in Business Analysis by providing:

Introduction to the basics of Business Analysis Who is a business analyst Impact of Business analysis What are our expectations

Agenda

What is 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

Business Analysts have emerge to fill thegap between Business and IT

Who is a Business Analyst?

Information Technology GAP Business

Business impact analysis (BIA) is an essential component of an organization's business continuance plan

It includes an exploratory component to reveal any vulnerabilities, and a planning component to develop strategies for minimizing risk. The result of analysis is a business impact analysis report, which describes the potential risks specific to the organization studied.

One of the basic assumptions behind BIA is that every component of the organization is reliant upon the continued functioning of every other component, but that some are more crucial than others and require a greater allocation of funds in the wake of a disaster. For example, a business may be able to continue more or less normally if the cafeteria has to close, but would come to a complete halt if the information system crashes.

What is Business Impact Analysis?

Advantages of Business analysis

Identifies needs and wants of consumers Determines demand for product Aids in design of products that fulfill consumers needs outlines measures for generating the cash for daily operation,

to repay debts and to turn a profit Identifies competitors and analyzes your product's or firm's

competitive advantage Identifies new product areas Identifies new and/or potential customers Allows for test to see if strategies are giving the desired

results

Identifies weaknesses in your business skills leads to faulty marketing decisions based on

improperly analyzed data Creates unrealistic financial projections if

information is interpreted incorrectly Identifies weaknesses in your overall business plan

Dis-Advantages of Business analysis

Responsibilities being a Business Analyst

Understanding Business Needs alone will not be enough, it is essential to spend time to gain knowledge about the constraints. Knowledge of constraints will help a Business Analyst define how the solution can be designed to fulfill the business needs.

As Business Analysts we spend a lot of efforts to better understand the business needs and requirements. We use a lot of tools, techniques and methodologies to better elicit the requirements but in the rush of all this excitement we might forget to correctly capture the constraints. I have seen the instances where the constraints were defined at the start of the project but were never refined, confirmed and validated. As the project progresses, the constraints may become redundant or change, just like the requirements evolve with time. Hence it is vital that we keep track of the constraints, just like we keep track of the requirements.

The Business Analyst is an agent of change. Business Analysis is a disciplined approach for introducing and managing change to organizations, whether they are for-profit businesses, governments, or non-profits

The value of business analysis is in realization of benefits, avoidance of cost, identification of new opportunities, understanding of required capabilities and modeling the organization. Through the effective use of business analysis, we can ensure an organization realizes these benefits, ultimately improving the way they do business.

Our Expectations