Bite sized training sessions:
Fundamentals of
Business Analysis
Objectives
• Analyse the reasons why the fundamental
components of all Business Analysis tools
and methods must be the same
• Examine fundamental components of
Business Analysis
Setting the scene: scope of the Business Analyst role
There is a chain of reasoning that leads from the statement of a problem to the implementation of solutions…
…involving up to
10 groups of people…
Owners
defines measures of success and $targets
…Business Analysts confirm & document
$Money!
Strategists
Sponsors
establish a Programme that delivers the strategy
…Business Analysts document Programme TOR
and help build the Business Case
determine the strategy to hit the targets
…Business Analysts help do market research, create strategy, challenge &
document
Programme Managers
Institute Projects that implement the programme
…Business Analysts document the Project TOR
Project Stakeholders
…Business Analysts specify requirements for
Projects (in the Business Model)
Solution Builders
build solution
…Business Analysts protect requirements & document compromises
Project managers
Implement solution
…Business Analysts help with
-Process and data migration
-Cutover planning
-Rollout
Design Analysts
design solution that satisfies the requirements
…Business Analysts write functional specifications, protect
requirements & document compromises
Solution Builders & Business
test solution
…Business Analysts ensure tested against requirements
Users
Accept solution
…Business Analysts help with
-$MEASURING $BENEFITS $REALISATION
POST-IMPLEMENTATION
Business Analysts feed back to the Owner how well their
measure of success has been achieved
Chain Of Reasoning:
Drivers
Drivers
Stakeholders
Drivers
Drivers
Objectives Objectives Objectives Objectives
Objectives
Change
Requirements
Stakeholders
Change
Requirements
Change
Requirements
Change
Requirements
Change
Requirements
Change Requirements must be assumed to be wrong until they are proved to be
right
Scope of analysis of change
requirements
• Change requirements can be for
(amongst others)
– Processes
– Organisation units
– Locations
– Channel
– Data
– Applications
– Technologies
– Non-functionals
…oh – and the valid intersections!!!
Change Requirements Scope Example
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
We need to change how we take orders (process)…
…by the tele-orders team (organisation unit)…
…at our Leeds contact centre (location)…
…by phone or email (channel)
…to capture alternate delivery addresses (data)…
…on the Chordiant system (application)…
…running on the intranet (technology)…
…and make it available 24/7/365 (non-functional).
Fundamental Components of
Business Analysis
All the Links in the Chain Of Reasoning
Description
The problems / opportunities that
the business face
Driver
Addressed as
measured by
The measures and targets that will
enable us to declare the change
project has been successful
Project
Objective
Delivered by
Definitions of what changes are required
that will affect the measures of success
(objectives) sufficiently for the project to
be declared successful
Change
Requirement
Enforces
What rules must be implemented
by the changes specified in the Business
requirements
Rule
How to forge links in the Chain Of Reasoning
Analysis products
Problem / opportunity analysis
Driver
Addressed as
measured by
SMART objectives
Project
Objective
Specific – there is a precise definition of the objective
Measurable – there are units that the objective will be measured in
Achievable – the measures can be achieved ‘in the real world’
Relevant –this project will actually affect this objective
To-die-for – the project has failed if it does not achieve the
objective
Delivered by
Business…
Functional…
Non-functional…
Change
Requirement
…high level
…mid level
Enforces
Process model
Process specification
Non-functional specifications
Data model
Attribute specification
Business Rule
…low level
All methods and all approaches HAVE to cover all links in the Chain Of
Reasoning
AKA…
Driver
Addressed as
measured by
Vision
Benefit
Target
Problems
Opportunities
Threats
Constraints
Project
Objective
Delivered by
Agile “product backlog”
Change
7 types of ISEB requirements
Requirement 6 types if IIBA requirements
Enforces
Agile “product backlog”
More process and data modelling Business Rule
than you can shake a stick at
EXAMPLE way of documenting…
Problem / opportunity analysis
Driver
EXAMPLE way of documenting…
Problem / opportunity analysis
Driver
Addressed as
measured by
SMART objectives
Project
Objective
EXAMPLE way of documenting…
Problem / opportunity analysis
Driver
Addressed as
measured by
SMART objectives
Project
Objective
Delivered by
Business…
Functional…
Non-functional…
Change
Requirement
…high level
…mid level
EXAMPLE way of documenting…
Problem / opportunity analysis
Driver
Addressed as
measured by
SMART objectives
Project
Objective
Delivered by
Business…
Functional…
Non-functional…
Change
Requirement
…high level
…mid level
Enforces
Process model
Process specification
Non-functional specifications
Data model
Attribute specification
Business Rule
…low level
EXAMPLE PROCESS RULES
A BA can request one of 4 types of support:
1. Phone or email based query about a specific point
2. Informal review of a project deliverable
3. Formal review of full set of project deliverables
4. Facilitated workshop of how to apply analysis to a specific project
Process execution rules
1. In the case of phone or email query about a specific point
the BA poses the question and the training provider will provide guidance for how the technicalities of Business Analysis apply to
the problem
Informal reviews of project deliverables will be done by email and will only discuss the technicalities of Business Analysis in relation to
the document
Formal reviews will involve the BA sending the full set of Analysis deliverables to the training provider who will critique them from a
technical perspective and then deliver the feedback in a one-to-one structured feedback session on the client site
Facilitated workshops will be initiated by the BA - the training provider will supply workshop agenda and prerequisites which the BA
will use to organise the workshop. The training provider will then facilitate the workshop for the project.
Time to start
Training course
BA requests
support
Provide
BA support
Conduct
Training
Analysis Phase
Of Project
concludes
Process dependency rules
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Who is interacts with process
Where they are
Availability of process
Volumetrics
Performance of process
Security & Authorisation levels
Non-functional Rules
Monitor
Analysis
quality
EXAMPLE DATA RULES
Non-Functional Rules
1.
2.
3.
Who is allowed access to the data?
How long must this data be kept?
How many instances of it must be supported?
Course
Data content rules
Course.Start Date
Definition: the date/time the course is scheduled to start
Data type: Numeric
Size: 12
Domain: Datetime
Data rules:
•
Format is DD/MM/YYYY HH:MM
•
When created must be in the future
•
Cannot be a Saturday or Sunday or Bank Holiday
Attributes
1. Name
2. Start Date
3. Course duration
Attends
Attributes
1. Name
2. Contact details
Delegate
receives
Support Type
Attributes
1. Name
2. Description
Supplies
Analysis
Deliverable
Attributes
Data
1. Name
2. Content
3. Review feedback
relationship rules
Conclusions
• There is a chain of reasoning that leads from the statement of a problem to
implemented solutions
• It doesn’t matter how you get from problem to solution – what method or
approach – but you will HAVE to…
• Define the problem being fixed (drivers)
• Define how you will know they have been fixed (objectives)
• Define what has to change to achieve objectives (high level requirements)
• Define how big the changes have to be to achieve objectives (scope)
• Define what process changes are required (process requirements)
• Define what data changes are required (data requirements)
BA Q&A (I) - TOR
what factors caused this project to come in to being?
Driver analysis
how will you know the project has been successful?
smart Objectives
how big is the solution?
scope
what applications and technologies will the solution
impact
scope
what data will be migrated?
scope
where will it be able to do it?
scope
where will the solution impact?
scope
who is impacted by the solution?
scope
What changes will the project make that will deliver the
objectives?
high level functional requirements
what processes does the solution cover?
scope & high level functional
requirements
what will the solution be able to do?
high level functional requirements
BA Q&A (II) – Process & Data Models
what is the process sequence of the solution?
process models
who is involved with each process
process models & process nonfunctional
what are the rules that each process executes?
process logic
what data does each process need to be able to
execute?
process logic
how fast will each process be?
process non-functional
how many transactions must each be able to perform?
process non-functional
where will each process be used?
process non-functional
who is allowed to use each process?
process non-functional
how are all the different sets of data related to each
other?
data model
what needs to be known about each set of data?
data attributes
how long will data be kept?
data non-functional
how much data will be kept?
data non-functional
who can access what data?
data non-functional
Questions?