Exercise Manual for Course 3507
BCS Foundation Certificate in Business
Analysis
3507/MA/B.2/203/B.1
by Peter Dillon-Parkin
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Exercise Manual Contents
Case Study: Rainbow Cloud................................................................................................ 1
The Rationale for Business Analysis ................................................................................... 9
The Responsibilities of a Business Analyst ....................................................................... 11
Case Study Exercise 1.1: BA Outsourcing ........................................................................ 13
Competencies of a Business Analyst ................................................................................ 15
Case Study Exercise 2.1: BA Competencies..................................................................... 17
Defining strategy* .............................................................................................................. 19
Comparing Internal and External Analyses: SWOT ........................................................... 21
Case Study Exercise 3.1: Internal and External Analysis and SWOT .............................. 23
Case Study Exercise 4.1: BASF Services Selection.......................................................... 25
Case Study Exercise 5.1: Investigation Techniques......................................................... 27
Case Study Exercise 6.1: Power and Influence Stakeholder Grid .................................... 29
Case Study Exercise 7.1: Business Process Model or Swimlane Diagram ...................... 31
Case Study Exercise 8.1: POPIT and Gap Analysis ........................................................ 33
Case Study Exercise 9.1: Developing the Business Case................................................. 35
Case Study Exercise 10.1: Developing Requirements (1)................................................ 37
Case Study Exercise 11.1: Developing Requirements (2)................................................ 39
Case Study Exercise 12.1: Class Model........................................................................... 41
Case Study Exercise 13.1: Determining the Delivery Lifecycle ......................................... 43
Case Study Exercise 14.1: Developing A Benefits Plan .................................................... 45
Suggested Solutions ......................................................................................................... 47
Case Study Exercise 1.1: Suggested Solution .................................................................. 49
Case Study Exercise 1.2: Suggested Solution .................................................................. 51
Case Study Exercise 2.1: Suggested Solution .................................................................. 53
Case Study Exercise 3.1: Suggested Solution .................................................................. 55
Case Study Exercise 4.1: Suggested Solution .................................................................. 59
Case study exercise 5.1: Suggested Solution ................................................................... 61
Case Study Exercise 6.1: Suggested Solution .................................................................. 63
Case Study Exercise 7.1: Suggested Solution .................................................................. 65
Case Study Exercise 8.1: Suggested Solution .................................................................. 67
Case Study Exercise 9.1: Suggested Solution .................................................................. 69
Case Study Exercise 10.1: Suggested Solution ................................................................ 71
Case Study Exercise 11.1: Suggested Solution ................................................................ 73
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Case Study Exercise 12.1: Suggested Solution ................................................................ 75
Case Study Exercise 13.1: Suggested Solution ................................................................ 77
Case Study Exercise 14.1: Suggested Solution ................................................................ 79
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Case Study:
Rainbow Cloud
Scenario: Rainbow Cloud Computing Company (R3C)
R3C is a company which provides environmentally friendly cloud computing
services to high-profile academic and research institutions. As part of their
expansion plans, they want to branch out and offer their multi-award-winning
cloud-based computing services to private individuals and businesses. They
have called this new offering the eCloudShare project. Whilst the company
has all the staff and skills needed to support the current business, R3C does
not have experience in expanding into new markets. They have many
decisions to make and so they hire you as a business consultant employed
by BAS to help them with this undertaking.
Background/history
R3C is a small company that started with an idea – would it be possible to
provide cloud computing services using entirely natural and/or sustainable
energy sources?
Over several years, the organisation has managed to achieve just that,
making it attractive to organisations who want to maintain their ‘green’
credentials. All R3C servers and infrastructure use energy sourced from wind
and wave–based energy generation systems.
R3C employs 25 people in their small headquarters based in the west of the
UK; they have been in business for five years and have managed to attain
four large contracts with organisations in the academic and education
sectors. Now R3C provides online file storage, but options to introduce data
analytics and compute power services may be provided in the future.
In a recent customer satisfaction survey, 95% of the customer base indicated
that they were ‘exceptionally happy ’ with the services R3C provide, and
that they would recommend R3C to others.
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Case Study:
Rainbow Cloud
(continued)
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Case Study:
Rainbow Cloud
(continued)
Under the leadership of its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and owner Jay
Mattao, R3C is organised within the following functional areas (in no order):
• The Director of Cloud oversees the IT architecture development and
engineering team, with eight skilled cloud development and support
engineers and two apprentices. This team support the systems and
infrastructure for the existing customer base. If, as predicted, cloud
contracts increase, another three engineers may be hired locally,
followed by others if growth warrants it.
• The sales team consists of two sales specialists and three business
relationship managers. Reporting to the Director of sales, the sales
specialists seek new sales opportunities while the relationship
managers are responsible for ensuring the health and continuity of the
contracts currently in place.
• The Director of internal IT leads a diverse team consisting of a customer
help desk specialist who answers customer phone calls and participates
in online chat sessions with customers, an IT specialist who handles
general IT support for R3C, and a documentation and training specialist
who documents R3C’s procedures and develops training material based
on any software or process needs.
• The Director of HR and accounting handles the corporate functions with
an HR/office manager focused on employee personnel issues and
accounts receivable/collections, and an accountant who performs
periodic financial book closes, files the company’s taxes, and performs
accounts payable functions.
Mission statement
R3C’s mission statement is to provide green cloud computing services to
customers who care about the environment. R3C believes that providing
these services using a scalable ‘green platform’ will best help fulfil this
mission.
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Case Study:
Rainbow Cloud
(continued)
Values
R3C prides itself in its strong company values, which it calls its CEC:
• Customer focus – realising that customer support exists long after the
sale, R3C provides frequent follow- up with its customer base via
customer calls and surveys to ensure customer satisfaction with the
services provided. R3C believes that today’s customer should be
tomorrow’s customer as well and is committed to repeat customer sales
through strong customer support.
• Ethical principles – this extends beyond its customer base to include fair
and respectable treatment of its employees, suppliers, and partners.
R3C’s ethics motto is: ‘Doing the right thing, all the time.’
• Community involvement – R3C cares about the health of the people in
the communities in which it operates and serves within its small
headquarters. Employees are encouraged to volunteer up to 10 hours
per year to serve in a variety of non-profit organisations within the local
community.
Strategic direction
In alignment with its mission statement, R3C believes that it can further the
reach of its services by offering them in an online 'packaged’ format (hereon
referred to as cloud packs) to conscientious individuals and businesses who
wish to improve their green credentials. The cloud pack provides a simple
online store for digital files, accessible from a range of devices
(laptop/mobile/tablet) including industry-standard security, backup, and
versioning facilities.
R3C wishes to continue supporting existing customers but seek to utilise the
scalability of their established ‘green platform’ to offer a range of cloud packs
on a monthly payment plan dependant on the amount of file space the
customer requires (10gb/100gb/1tb). This is the first part of a longer five-year
international strategic plan which also includes the following:
• Within the first two years: sell cloud packs via the internet and monitor
sales numbers and regions.
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Case Study:
Rainbow Cloud
(continued)
• Within the third year: based on the successful increase in sales,
research opening further green platforms closer to the global areas
served.
• Within the fourth year: based on the research, construct/refurbish
additional UK based green platform(s).
• Within the fifth year: based on continued international sales consider
new green energy sources in other global areas.
In a recent board meeting, R3C identified the following factors (both positive
and negative) as being important considerations for their future strategy:
1. Legal restrictions and properly fulfilling data handling regulations in
foreign countries could be tricky.
2. Varying bandwidth mobile data services around the world may limit
ability to use cloud packs effectively.
3. Increasing social expectation that companies behave in a ‘green’
manner could lessen R3C’s appeal in the longer term.
4. Problems retaining/recruiting enough skilled staff (particularly cloud
engineers) to support the growth anticipated.
5. Changing definitions of sustainable energy and obtaining sufficient
power from such sources (globally).
6. Larger global technology competitors may (in the future) offer green
services ‘as standard’.
7. Could be considered a luxury in a global economic down-turn, with
customers returning to local storage to save money.
8. An increase in the price of green energy could impact the cost of
providing services.
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Case Study:
Rainbow Cloud
(continued)
9. Increase in digital awareness (in undeveloped markets) likely to
increased demand for online file storage.
10.
Increased likelihood of governments imposing restrictions and
requiring access to private digital data holdings.
Key project
R3C believes that, to begin fulfilling this strategic direction, a website needs
to be designed and built to promote R3C internationally, accept orders from
new customers for cloud packs, fulfil orders and receive payments. They
have decided to call their site eCloudShare. R3C realises that they do not
have the in-house staff to achieve this, and decide that their first step is to
utilise the services of a business analyst with skills in gathering and
documenting requirements, developing a business case, building necessary
business process models etc. This realisation had led R3C to seek the
services of BAS.
Business Analysis Services (BAS)
BAS, or Business Analysis Services, is a software consulting services firm
that provides qualified business analysts and other IT consulting and support
personnel to clients to help them meet their staffing needs and achieve their
goals. Given their company motto ‘We’ve got your back’, BAS helps their
clients by providing temporary consulting and permanent business analysis
and other positions for both long-term and short-term needs. Having begun
as a business analysis consulting company 15 years ago, BAS has expanded
into other areas including project management, software development,
software testing and help desk support to better meet the software needs of
its large clientele base.
BAS has employed you as a consultant, specialising in business analysis,
and R3C is your current client.
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Case Study:
Rainbow Cloud
(continued)
After you and R3C have developed a vision statement concerning this
project, you both determine that you will need support to capture and
document the project’s requirements, develop the application, test the
product, deploy it, and maintain it going forward. One of those key roles will
be that of a business analyst. Given R3C’s organisation structure, there is no
one in-house who can assume this role.
Kira Amola
Kira Amola is a business analyst with seven years of experience in the field.
She is currently employed by BAS, and R3C will hire her for the eCloudShare
project. You will work very closely with Kira to develop important business
analysis tools, techniques, and artefacts such as a business process models,
class diagrams, use case models and a benefits plan.
The individual will help to develop and apply specific business analysis topics
covered in this course to this scenario.
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The Rationale for Business Analysis
► Business analysis ensures that the needs of the organisation are
prioritised when new IT systems are being designed.
► Business analysts tend to migrate from
• An IT systems background – and so are less comfortable with
business needs.
• A business background – and have a limited understanding of IT
and how computer systems are developed.
► The organisation needs these views to integrate, to ensure that IT
facilities support business needs.
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The Responsibilities of a Business Analyst
► Root causes, not symptoms
• Distinguish between, investigate, and address the root causes of
business problems, not the symptoms.
• Investigate business systems holistically
► Business improvement, not IT change
• Ensure IT enables business opportunity or problem resolution.
• Evaluate actions to improve operation of a business system.
• Agility, not perfection
► Options, not solutions
• Challenge predetermined solutions
• Identify and evaluate options for meeting business needs
► Negotiation, not avoidance
• Recognise conflict between stakeholders’ views
► Distinguish between feasible, contributing requirements and
‘requests’
• Be aware of financial and timescale constraints
• Identify unfeasible requirements that do not contribute to business
objectives
• Evaluate stated requirements against business needs and
constraints
► The entire business change lifecycle, not just requirements
definition
• Analyse business situations
• Support effective development, testing, deployment, and postimplementation review of solutions
• Support the management and realisation of business benefits
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Case Study Exercise 1.1: BA Outsourcing
Advantages and disadvantages of BA outsourcing
As a consultant for R3C, discuss both the pros and cons of outsourcing the
role of business analyst as well as the benefits and drawbacks of hiring an
internal business analyst.
Individual/team/class? Team
Duration
15 minutes
Deliverable
Flip chart of pros and cons
Review method
Review of pros and cons with the class for feedback
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Competencies of a Business Analyst
Communication
The most important skill a human possesses:
• Building rapport
• Listening
• Influencing and building empathy
IT staff are often more analytical than emotional: the conflict between a
logical approach and the way most people work can lead to frustration.
Business analysts should communicate with colleagues in a language and
style colleagues are comfortable with. Take time to understand the
communications norms of your colleagues and adjust your own
communication to align with them. Colleagues often possess different views,
interests, and language from each other.
Finance and the economy
BAs need a working knowledge of the economy and the basics of business
finance. This includes knowledge of:
• The balance sheet, profit-and-loss account etc. (financial reports)
• Ratio analysis, costing principles etc. (financial analysis tools)
Business case development
BAs need a view on the financial impact of the project – the business case is
essential to secure project funding
Domain knowledge
Understanding the business domain or sector of your organization will help
communication with the business people in the project by ensuring you use
familiar language. Gathering more specific domain knowledge about your
industry sector will enhance this expertise.
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Competencies of a Business Analyst
(continued)
Organisation structures
Business analysis projects often involve restructuring divisions or teams to
remove hand-offs, centralise tasks, and improve customer service. BAs must
understand the organisational structures involved – functional, project, matrix,
and so on – and their relative strengths and weaknesses.
Supplier management
BAs may be involved in selecting and contracting suppliers, so a broad
understanding of procurement and supplier management processes will be
useful to them.
Subject matter expertise
Understanding sector-specific terminology, processes, and constraints can be
important for building credibility and enabling easier communication with
businesses. BAs can be specialists – subject matter experts (SMEs) – with a
strong understanding of specific business domains. This expertise also can
help identify potential areas for change or further analysis.
Principles of information technology
Business analysis takes a ‘bridging’ role, enabling communication between
the business and IT staff. Understanding IT and software development
approaches is necessary so that BAs can communicate with IT professionals.
Business architecture
Business architecture is the knowledge and understanding of how
organisations behave, and has a particular emphasis on the systems,
processes, management structures, culture, and people.
This insight can help with understanding and defining the overall strategic
context and vision within which business and IT change projects operate.
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Case Study Exercise 2.1:
BA Competencies
Building on the business analyst job description you have defined in case
study Exercise 1.2, create a ‘competencies’ section.
• Choose four of the thirteen personal qualities and note why they are
important for the candidate.
• Likewise, include three of the eight knowledge areas, and four of the
eleven professional techniques as requirements for this position.
Exercise objective
This exercise helps students apply necessary business analyst competencies
via a job description for a potential business analyst candidate.
Individual/team/class?
Individual exercise
Duration
15 minutes
Deliverable
Student documentation of the competency section of a business analyst job
description.
Review method
Student information shared with the class.
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Defining strategy*
► How management approaches the
• Direction of the organisation
• Process that sets in motion the actions necessary to achieve that
direction
• Definition of what the organisation should be doing
• The long-term direction of an organisation
• The scope of an organisation’s activities
• Advantage for the organisation over competition
• Strategic fit with the business environment
• The organisation’s resources and competences
• The values and expectations of powerful actors
Corporate strategy
• Monitors and analyses the purpose and scope of the business
• Investors, governments, global competition, and the strategic
context influence strategies
• Corporate strategy is the basis for all strategies and strategic
decisions
Business unit strategy
• Below the corporate level are Strategic Business Units (SBUs)
• An SBU is a distinct unit of a business that develops its own
strategic vision and direction
◦ Each SBU has a distinct external market
• SBU strategies address choice of products, pricing, customer
satisfaction, and competitive advantage
Operational strategy
• Focuses on delivering corporate and SBU strategies through the
organisation and the development of resources, people, and
processes
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Comparing Internal and External Analyses: SWOT
► Strengths and weaknesses are internal and current
• Qualities possessed by your team that give you an
advantage within your industry
◦ A strength: your track record in bringing
products to market
• Characteristics placing your firm at a disadvantage
within your industry
◦ A weakness: poor internal communication
► Opportunities and threats are external and futurefocused
• Chances to increase your sales or profits in the
marketplace
◦ An opportunity: a change in customer
lifestyle that makes a new product viable
• Elements in the external environment that could
cause trouble for your organisation
◦ A threat: a change in technologies making
existing products potentially obsolete
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Case Study Exercise 3.1:
Internal and External Analysis and SWOT
While the search for a business analyst is underway, you ask R3C if they
could share their organisational SWOT analysis with you so you can better
understand their strategic direction regarding eCloudShare.
They sheepishly admit that they have not done one, so you decide to help
them with this, working initially with the information presented in this
document.
You know that, before developing a SWOT analysis, they need to understand
both their internal and external influences. To do this, develop a PESTLE and
a VMOST and then go on to develop a SWOT analysis.
Individual/team/class? Team exercise
Duration
20 minutes
Deliverable
SWOT grid on a flip chart
Review method
Sharing student team answers with the class. The outcome of the analysis
will help the student teams to recommend a course of action.
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Case Study Exercise 4.1:
BASF Services Selection
Your search for a business analyst has culminated in the hiring of a business
analyst.
Her name is Kira, and she has solid experience, and much potential.
To help her settle in, produce a short plan to outline the work likely to be
required to support the eCloudShare website project by selecting services
from the BASF.
List up to three services you think are important in the early stage of this
project and provide a simple explanation for your choice.
Exercise objective
This exercise helps students learn how to identify appropriate services from
the BASF and to apply them to a business situation.
Individual/team/class? Team exercise.
Duration
15 minutes
Deliverable
Student’s notes
Review method
Review selected services with the class.
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Case Study Exercise 5.1:
Investigation Techniques
R3C management has asked that you partner with the new business analyst
Kira Amola to design an appropriate BA approach to the new eCloudShare
website.
Select up to four investigation techniques and explain when and why you
might apply them during the R3C project.
Create three personas for potential customers of the eCloudShare product.
Feel free to use your imagination, but be sure to consider their
characteristics, their profile, and their individual needs. Feel free to provide a
drawing if you like to bring your persona to life.
Exercise objective
This exercise helps students experience applying investigation techniques to
a business situation.
Individual/team/class? Team exercise.
Duration
20 minutes
Deliverable
Student’s notes
Review method
Review chosen investigation techniques with the class for feedback.
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Case Study Exercise 6.1:
Power and Influence Stakeholder Grid
R3C management has asked that you and Kira jointly develop a
power/interest grid pertaining to the new eCloudShare website project.
Choose three stakeholder categories from the stakeholder wheel (e.g.,
customer) and map them on the grid in one of the nine cells. Also, provide a
short explanation as to why each stakeholder category appears as such in
the grid.
Exercise objective
This exercise helps students understand and apply the Power/interest grid.
Individual/team/class? Team exercise.
Duration
15 minutes
Deliverable
Power influence grid.
Review method
Students to share with the class for feedback.
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Case Study Exercise 7.1:
Business Process Model or Swimlane Diagram
R3C management has asked that you collaborate with the new business
analyst Kira Amola on developing a business process model or swim lane
diagram to inform the design of the eCloudShare website.
Please consider the following as-is process description:
• ‘A customer requests a cloud pack from customer services, and
customer services then check to see if it is available. If it is available,
they send the customer an order confirmation email; if it is not available,
they send the customer an order rejection email’.
To keep it simple, please identify no more than two actors and include
approximately four to six tasks with a triggering event, a decision diamond,
and an end-of-process symbol.
Exercise objective
This exercise helps students develop a simple swim lane diagram for one
‘Place Order’ process of the eCloudShare project.
Individual/team/class? Team exercise.
Duration
15 minutes
Deliverable
Business process diagram
Review method
Share diagram(s) with the class.
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Case Study Exercise 8.1:
POPIT and Gap Analysis
As part of the gap analysis process, use the POPIT framework to identify
areas for consideration when planning the move from the current state to the
new one proposed by the eCloudShare project.
Exercise objective
This exercise gives students experience of using POPIT as a memory aid for
considering the ‘gap’ between the
• Current state and
• Desired future state.
Individual/team/class? Team exercise.
Duration
15 minutes.
Deliverable
Gap analysis.
Review method
Students to share their gap analysis with the class.
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Case Study Exercise 9.1:
Developing the Business Case
R3C management has asked you to work with Kira to develop a brief, outline
business case for the eCloudShare project.
Ensure that all the necessary elements of the business case are included:
• Management (or executive) summary
• Description of the current situation
• Option description
• Analysis of costs and benefits
• Impact assessment
• Risk assessment
Exercise objective
This exercise provides students with an opportunity to develop a business
case.
Individual/team/class? Team exercise where each team member can do a
small number of sections.
Duration
30 minutes
Deliverable
Draft business case for R3C to pursue internet sales/eCloudShare
Review method
Student teams can briefly share highlights from their business cases with the
class.
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Case Study Exercise 10.1:
Developing Requirements (1)
Working with Kira and based on your understanding of the eCloudShare
system so far, develop an initial set of requirements.
Use a simple ‘the system shall….’
Propose:
• 3 x general requirements.
• 3 x function requirements.
• 4 x non-functional requirements.
Feel free to use your imagination but be mindful of the requirement quality
filters introduced in the slide pack.
If you have time, give some thought to how these requirements might be
prioritised using the MoSCoW technique.
Exercise objective
This exercise helps students develop simple textual requirements for a
project.
Individual/team/class? Team exercise
Duration
15 minutes
Deliverable
A list of requirements.
Review method
Record requirements and share with the class.
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Case Study Exercise 11.1:
Developing Requirements (2)
Part 1 – User Stories
Create three brief user stories (describing functional requirements) for the
eCloudShare project from the perspective a variety of actors. Consider the
customer perspective, but also actors inside R3C (e.g., the director of sales,
the accountant etc.) Keep them brief, but ensure you use the format
‘As a {user role} I want {feature} so that I can {reason}.’
Part 2 – Use Case Diagram
Develop a simple use case diagram using the user stories you identified in
part one.
Remember to include the actors, the system boundary, the use cases, and
the associations.
Exercise objective
This exercise helps students write user stories and produce a simple use
case diagram.
Individual/team/class? Team exercise
Duration
20 minutes
Deliverable
User stories and a use case diagram
Review method
Share with the class and discuss.
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Case Study Exercise 12.1:
Class Model
Working with Kira, develop a class model for the eCloudShare system. Start
by selecting three meaningful classes (customer, order, CloudPack) for this
project, identifying at least two attributes and one method/operation per class,
if you have time, consider their associations.
Exercise objective
This exercise helps students understand how to build a class diagram.
Individual/team/class? Team exercise
Duration
15 minutes
Deliverable
Flip chart of a class diagram.
Review method
Review class diagrams on a flip chart with the class for feedback
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Case Study Exercise 13.1:
Determining the Delivery Lifecycle
R3C has asked you and Kira to provide a view on the delivery lifecycle you
think would work best for the eCloudShare project.
Provide a short paragraph that provides the rationale for your decision.
Exercise objective
This is an exercise to get students to consider different project lifecycles and
select one.
Individual/team/class? Team exercise
Duration
10 minutes
Deliverable
Discussion on lifecycles and pros and cons of such.
Review method
Selected shared student responses with the class.
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Case Study Exercise 14.1:
Developing A Benefits Plan
R3C has asked you and Kira Amola to develop a benefit related to the
eCloudShare project and create a benefits plan to help with benefits
realisation after the project has completed.
Remember to include all the necessary elements in the plan. Instead of
developing a benefits dependency network, simply state how the benefits
contribute to the project’s business objectives.
• Context/vision
• Benefits profiles
• Benefits dependency network
• Responsibilities
• Tracking procedures
Exercise objective
This exercise helps students understand how to consider project benefits and
document them.
Individual/team/class? Individual exercise
Duration
10 minutes
Deliverable
Discussion on benefits
Review method
Selected shared student responses with the class.
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Suggested Solutions
Please Note: These are suggested solutions.
Your solutions may differ from these and this does not mean that they are
incorrect, but simply that you have conceptualized the example situation on
the basis of your own experience
Compare your solution to these and contemplate if adopting any of the
techniques or concepts would be useful to you. At the least it they give you
a different perception to your own to consider.
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Case Study Exercise 1.1:
Suggested Solution
Since you see this role growing as well as the need to maintain and enhance
the new eCloudShare website, you determine that the benefits of an internal
business analyst outweigh the drawbacks.
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Case Study Exercise 1.2:
Suggested Solution
As part of an exciting expansion of our business, we are seeking an
experienced business analyst to lead:
• The creation and iteration of viable specifications and acceptance
criteria in preparation for the deployment of new business systems.
• Holistic investigation, analysis, review, and documentation of our
business processes.
• The definition of requirements for improving our processes and
systems.
Using your extensive technical awareness, excellent communication, and
strategic thinking skills, you will support R3C in creating a bright new future…
This job description includes elements of the following three variants of the
BA role.
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Case Study Exercise 2.1:
Suggested Solution
Personal qualities
Leadership; team-working; relationship-building; communication.
All the personal qualities are important. However, R3C believes that a
business analyst who can build and become part of the team quickly is key
(leadership and team-working). This will also involve building strong working
relationships (relationship-building). To do this effectively, R3C wants
someone with strong communication skills, both written and oral
(communication).
Business knowledge
Digital technology; domain knowledge; subject matter expertise.
These knowledge areas are important to handle the business case
development. Also, since this project is a software project, the business
analyst should have strong IT skills and domain knowledge and subject
matter expertise in website commerce systems.
Professional techniques
Investigation techniques; project management; business process modelling;
data modelling.
Given the nature of the project R3C wants a business analyst who has
worked using a wide range of investigation techniques, has some
understanding and appreciation of project management, and is able model
processes and data.
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Case Study Exercise 3.1:
Suggested Solution
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Case Study Exercise 3.1:
Suggested Solution
(continued)
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Case Study Exercise 3.1:
Suggested Solution
(continued)
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Case Study Exercise 4.1:
Suggested Solution
Please note other answers may be acceptable – but at this early stage of the
project Situation investigation and problem analysis and Feasibility
assessment and business case development are considered essential.
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Case study exercise 5.1:
Suggested Solution
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Case study exercise 5.1:
Suggested Solution
(continued)
Personas
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Case Study Exercise 6.1:
Suggested Solution
The following is one of many Suggested Solutions:
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Case Study Exercise 6.1:
Suggested Solution
(continued)
Partners
Likely to be high interest, but low power, so keep
informed.
Suppliers
Likely to be high interest and have some power
(especially if involved in provisioning for the
eCloudShare service) so keep onside.
Regulators
Likely to be low interest but are very high-power if there
is a regulatory issue, so watch.
Employees
Likely to be interested and have a degree of power in
terms of support and enabling the change so keep
onside.
Managers
Likely to be interested and have a high degree of power
in terms of support and enabling the change so keep
onside.
Owners
Likely to be both high interest and high power (they
could stop it or be big supporters of it) so constant
active management.
Competitors
Likely to be extremely interested, and have the power to
disrupt, so constant active management.
Customers
Will hopefully have at least some interest (!) and are
high power in terms of ensuring the success of the
project, so keep satisfied.
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Case Study Exercise 7.1:
Suggested Solution
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Case Study Exercise 8.1:
Suggested Solution
Using the POPIT model for gap analysis
POPIT
Element
Possible Gap for exploration
Organisation
• Will the current organisational structure be optimal after the
change? (more staff in the current structure, or a whole new
design?)
• Is the change likely to chime with the culture of R3C?
• Will R3C’s values (CEC) be challenged by this change?
Processes
• Will the customer support processes be adequate to deal with the
new type of customers introduced through eCloudShare?
• Will extended support coverage be needed to cater for different
time zones; will multiple currencies need to be supported?
• Can the existing payments process cope with an increase in
customers?
People
• Will there be enough adequately skilled staff to support this
change?
• Are existing staff motivated by the change?
• How will we ensure we retain the skills we need for the future?
Information
• What new information holdings might be Information required by
the system? (E.g., international regulation, data protection etc.).
Technology
• Although the technology is described as scalable, is it scalable
enough to deal with the anticipated demand? (Do we have any
idea what they demand could be?).
• Which of the process changes identified above will need
technology to support them?
• Does the extension of the platform to new services present any
technology challenges in terms of architecture and security
procedures?
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Case Study Exercise 9.1:
Suggested Solution
Developing the business case
Introduction
This section would describe why the eCloudShare is important to
the company (e.g., to fulfil the strategic direction of the company).
This section would provide a pithy summary of the entire proposal.
Management (or
executive) summary
Description of the
current situation
This section would explain where R3C is now, and then make the
case for the expansion. It would include a summary concerning the
opportunity the eCloudShare project – and make the case to move
ahead.
Options considered
Brief information on the options not being recommended and why
they were rejected. It is OK to simply include the ‘do nothing’
option. Other options could include partnering with another
organisation or paying for the entire system to be managed and
operated by a supplier – in a full business case all such options
would be fully costed and compared using appraisal methods.
Analysis of costs
and benefits
Focus on the additional staffing costs, software, and hosting/
infrastructure, all of which will have both initial and on-going costs.
The benefits would primarily focus on the increase in sales revenue
the project should deliver, but they could also include intangible
elements such as an enhanced reputation and the ability to gain
new market share for future initiatives.
Impact assessment
There are likely to be many impacts including Staff training and
process changes as well potential disruption to the existing
customer base.
Risk assessment
Such a project comes with several risks (many can be inferred from
the output of earlier exercises – e.g., the SWOT/PESTLE/ VMOST
and POPIT gap analysis).
•
•
•
•
•
Inability to cope with the (undefined) demand of the new system
could be considered a major risk.
Competition in the marketplace could impact profits.
A loss of key staff (e.g., cloud engineers) could mean that R3C
can no longer support the needs of new customers.
A loss of a green energy supplier could put the USP of the project
under threat.
A problem with the technical design of the system or a security
breach could result in data loss and reputational damage.
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Case Study Exercise 10.1:
Suggested Solution
Developing Requirements (1)
Please note: The requirements listed here are presented for simplicity, some
would require further elaboration, and depend on a glossary of terms.
General requirements
1. The system shall be conformant with all R3C corporate branding.
2. The system shall be available in the Spanish language.
3. The system shall be conformant with GDPR.
Functional requirements
4. The system shall record the details of a new customer.
5. The system shall allow a customer to share their files with another
registered user.
6. The system shall allow a customer to place an order.
Non-functional requirements
7. The system shall support up to 1000 concurrent visitors.
8. The system shall be available to users 365 days a year.
9. The system shall respond to user requests in no more than five
seconds.
MoSCoW
It is likely that
• Requirement 1 is likely to be a ‘should’
• Requirement 2 is probably a ‘could’ (assuming there is a requirement to
present the system in English!).
• Requirement 3 would be a ‘must’ (this is a legal requirement in the UK),
• Requirement 5 might be more of a ‘could’ or a ‘want to have but won’t
have this time’.
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Case Study Exercise 11.1:
Suggested Solution
Developing Requirements (2)
Part 1 – User Stories
‘As a customer I want to purchase a cloud pack to store all my treasured
photographs.’
‘As the Director of Sales, I want to be able to determine how many cloud
packs customers are purchasing so that I can make financial forecasts.’
‘As a Cloud Engineer, I want to monitor cloud pack purchases so that I
can manage and maintain the infrastructure in place to support them’
‘As the Sales Specialist, I want to be able to monitor visits to determine
which advertising campaigns are proving to be the most effective.’
‘As the Accountant, I want to be able to access payment information
from the system to collect payments from customers.’
Part 2 – Use Case Diagram
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Case Study Exercise 12.1:
Suggested Solution
Creating a Class Diagram
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Case Study Exercise 13.1:
Suggested Solution
Determining the delivery lifecycle
An agile approach may be optimal, it is both iterative and incremental, is
widely used, and offers flexibility, allows early and frequent increments of the
solution and does not require all requirements to be understood from the
outset.
The other models may not be flexible enough to accommodate the
uncertainly inherent in the project. The nature of the project may mean that
‘small steps and revalidate’ is the best approach.
It is worth noting that the agile approach will not incorporate the control
provided by waterfall and the v model, and the eCloudShare could disrupt the
existing customer base so would be worth ensuring that R3C management
are comfortable with these risks.
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Case Study Exercise 14.1:
Suggested Solution
Developing a benefits plan
Context / vision
R3C aims to sell cloud packs through a new eCloudShare site.
The purpose of this site is to create a new sales channel to
increase revenue.
Benefits profiles
Benefit description - an increase in revenue by 10% cent for
the first year after the eCloudShare site has been launched.
•
•
•
•
Benefit owner – Director of Sales.
Identifier - B-001.
Benefit name – Revenue increase by 10%
Benefit stakeholders –Director of Cloud and Jay Mattao
(CEO).
• Measures – Revenue will be measured before the
launch of the eCloudShare website. 10% revenue
increase will need to be considered in line with the costs
of the introduction of the initiative.
• Dependencies - this benefit is dependent on the
successful deployment of a quality eCloudShare site.
Benefits
dependency
The benefit of increasing sales through the offering of cloud
packs contributes to the overall network business objective to
increase revenue.
Responsibilities
Director of Sales is the benefit owner and is responsible for
checking on sales periodically and making any necessary
changes to help achieve this benefit.
Tracking
procedures
Internet sales of cloud packs will be tracked every month
beginning the month of project deployment.
These monthly sales will be presented to senior leadership at
monthly business meetings.
Worth noting that sales (benefits) will have to be factored
against the costs of the project (as described in the investment
appraisal to correctly determine the point at which the project
can be said to have ‘broken even’. Only after this point can
benefits be truly ‘claimed’, as they are then beyond the cost
incurred to achieve them.
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