Introduction to Business Analysis

1. Introduction to Business Analysis Twin Cities Business Analyst Community May 17th, 2005

2. Outline • Definition of Business Analysis • Types of Business Analysis Projects/Activities • Business Analysis Products and Deliverables • The Role of the Business Analyst • BA Competencies • BA Responsibilities • BA Skills • BA Tools and Techniques • Business Analyst Training Modules

3. Definition of Business Analysis • Business analysis is a structured approach that helps the business understand what they do and how this contributes to fulfilling their mission. • Business analysis focuses on the “what”, not the “how” • Business analysis: • Demonstrates to the organization how what they do impacts other departments • Enables quick fixes that work the first time • Focuses on the interaction across organizational boundaries • Makes the impact of proposed changes visible to all involved parties • Establishes a baseline of how things work today • Creates a picture of how things should work in the future

4. Types of Business Analysis Projects/Activities • Process Improvement • Current Process Documentation • Business Problem Analysis • Systems Development: • Requirements Definition • Conceptual Systems Design • User Acceptance Testing • User Training

5. Business Analysis Products/Deliverables • Process models and supporting documentation • Cross functional process maps • Problem definition, analysis and resolution • Requirements specifications • Data models and supporting documentation • Business level use cases

6. The Role of the Business Analyst • A BA leverages prior experience to frame business problems, analyze alternatives and design business and technology solutions. • The BA acts as a liaison between the business people who have a business problem and technology people who know how to create automated solutions. • A BA needs the ability to read, interpret, understand and apply cross-functional knowledge. • The BA is an change agent – helping the business to implement strategies aligned with their business goals.

7. BA Competencies • Ability to identify what is truly important amid a sea of extraneous information • Ability to process dissimilar information from multiple sources • Ability to synthesize and categorize information that is meaningful to the business and IT • Ability to reformulate a business problem into a common language for technical and non-technical audiences • Ability to identify and specify functional business requirements • Ability to set goals and deliver on time/on budget

8. BA Responsibilities • Participate in business process and technology initiatives to improve business performance • Serve as a liaison between multiple cross-functional areas • Build relationships with internal and external clients, leveraging communication and presentation skills • Conduct analysis of business issues and challenges • Define business problems and drive solution prioritization • Define business requirements, objectives and priorities

9. BA Responsibilities - continued • Identify new areas of opportunity and recommend potential solutions • Develop recommendations to client stakeholders to make key business decisions • Participate in defining solutions to solve complex, multidisciplinary business problems with long term implications

10. BA Skills • Lead a project team to consensus on the business/project scope • Graphically represent the activities the business performs • Identify areas for improvement and create a vision for the future • Identify and gather requirements that are critical to the business mission • Interview business/subject matter experts (SMEs) asking detailed questions

11. BA Skills - continued • Gather requirements in a group setting by preparing an agenda and managing the group discussion • Develop an approach for documenting, categorizing and packaging requirements • Understand process improvement and application development methodologies

12. BA Tools and Techniques • Context diagramming • Process modeling • Data modeling • Problem definition • Requirements definition • Information gathering • Facilitation • Communications • Presentations • Project management • Documentation