What is Business Analysis?

And What Do Business Analysts Do?

Business Analyst Learnings

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According to IIBA, Business Analysis is:“The set of  tasks and techniques  used to work as a l ia ison among stakeholders to unde r s t a nd t h e s t r u c t u re , po l i c i e s , a nd o p e r a t i o n s o f a n o r g a n i z a t i o n , a n d t o r e c o m m e n d s o l u t i o n s t h a t e n a b l e t h e organization achieve its goals.”

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I’ll define it using the form:

X, Y & Z

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Business Analysis involves doing X

(What) by Y (How) to achieve Z (Why).

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The X

WHAT?

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Organizations are often faced with COMPLEX

Problems

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These Problems can be...

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Interwoven

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Contentious

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Multi-faceted

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Ambiguous

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Making it difficult to know EXACTLY what

the business needs

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The hardest single part of building a software system is deciding precisely what to build.

No other part of the conceptual work is as difficult as establishing the detailed technical requirements, including

all the interfaces to people, machines and to other software systems.

No other part of the work so cripples the resulting system if done wrong.

- Fred Brooks

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Business Analysts SOLVE business

problems

By Proffering Answers to 4 Key Questions...

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1Where are we?

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2Where do we want to

be?

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3What do we do to get to where we want to

be?

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4Are we there yet?

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The answers lead to the recommendation of

a SOLUTION

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Business Analysts SEEK Opportunities

And unique ways to exploit them...

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The Y

HOW?

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Learning How the Business Works

In the key areas of...

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• Stakeholders

• Regulations

• Competition

• Industry Trends

• Culture

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Discussing with stakeholders

to elicit their REAL needs.

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Defining the Business Case

to justify the investment.

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Analyzing Stakeholder

Requirementswhich involves prioritizing, specifying and

modelling requirements.

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Managing Scope & Requirements

to prevent scope creep & ensure traceability.

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Validating the Solution

to ensure that it fulfills the business need.

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The Z

WHY?

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Increased Customer

Satisfaction

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Improved Sales

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Improved Staff Morale

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Improved Safety

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What does Business Analysis

mean to you?

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Visit Business Analyst

Learnings for BA Tips & Resources

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