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Foundations of Business AnalysisModule 1 - Introduction
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A Walk through the course outline
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Welcome Introductions
Outline of the Course Content
Week 1 Introduction to Business Analysis Week 2 - BA Underlying Competencies
Week 3 BA Strategic / Fact Finding /
Information Knowledge Techniques
Week 4 BA Process Knowledge / SolutionKnowledge Techniques
Week 5 Enterprise Analysis
Week 6 Mid Term Examination
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Welcome
Outline of the Course Content (contd)
Week 7 BA Planning & Monitoring Week 8 - Requirements Elicitation
Week 9 Requirements Analysis
Week 10 Requirements Mgmt.& Communication
Week 11 Solution Assessment & Validation Week 12 - Final Examination
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Case Study Work Due Week 8
Teams of 5-6
Create a BA requirements andcommunication plan for small start up
business
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BA Tools & Techniques
Strategic
AnalysisFact Finding
Information
Knowledge
Solution
Knowledge
Process
Knowledge
Benchmarking
Brainstorming Decision Analysis SWOT Analysis
Focus Groups Interviews Observation Requirement Workshops Root Cause Analysis Structured Walkthrough Surveys/Questionnaires
Acceptance Criteria
Estimating Lessons Learned Process Metrics & KPIs Non-functional Requirements Problem Tracking Prototyping Risk Analysis Scope Modeling Vendor Assessment
Data Dictionary/Glossary Data Flow Diagram Data Modeling Organization Modeling
Document Analysis Business Rules Functional Decomposition Interface Analysis Process Modeling Scenarios & Use Cases Sequence & State Diagrams
User Stories
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Discussion Board Assignment
Identify subject, and lead a discussion forum
with 4-5 others
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Introduction to Business Analysis
Learning Outcomes:
1. What is a Business Analysis?
2. The Business Analysts responsibilities
3. How does the BA relate to the PM?
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Business Analysts Why are they growing in importance?
Delivery of business solutions in an orderly, cost
effective manner NEEDS trained Business Analysts
to succeed Cost overruns, poor performance of business solutions are
usually caused by poorly understood and loosely managed
requirements
With outsourcing there is a greater need to effectively
document requirements that are universally understood
The formation of the BABOK is proof that the profession has
come into its own
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What is a Business Analyst?
BAs come with many titles.
Business Systems Analyst
Systems Analyst Requirements
Engineer
Process Analyst
Product Mgr.Enterprise
Analyst
Business
Architect
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Where do they fit?
BAs act as a bridge between the business
and the delivery team to ensure usability of
the product
Business
Analyst
Domain
SMEs Project
Manager
TestingGroup Information
Architect
Quality
Assurance
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What does a BA do? Works within the business domain (the business
area undergoing analysis) to produce solutions(create capability for the business) from business
requirements within the constraints of time, cost andregulations
The goals of the Organization are sometimesdocumented in a Business Case The BA musttransform those goals into detailed requirements
Wait a minute doesnt that sound like what a projectmanagement does?
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The Big Picture
Time Cost
Scope / Performance
Quality
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What does a BA do?
The Big Difference:
The Business Analyst elicits, analyzes,
validates and documents requirements
The Business Analyst focuses on the solution
(Product or Service) to ensure that it meetsthe needs of the organization
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What is Business Analysis?The set of tasks, knowledge, & techniques required to identify business needs& determine solutions to business problems. Solutions often include a systemsdevelopment component, but may also consist of process improvement ororganizational change.
Source: Business Analysis Body of Knowledge
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How does the BA relate to the PM?
Throughout the life cycle of a project theBusiness Analyst and the Project Manager
will work closely to deliver the project underthe constraints of time and cost. The ProjectManager will rely heavily on the Business
Analyst in relation to the scope
(Requirements) of the project since theBusiness Analyst must ensure that thestakeholders of the solution are satisfied
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Comparison ofCertifications
Project Manager
PMI Proj. Mgmt. Inst.
PMP + CAPM
designation
Thousands of PMPs
PMBoK version 4
Experience Reqd
Professional Dev. Reqd
Certification Exam
Maintain standing
Business Analyst
IIBA Intl. Inst. of Business
Analysis
CBAP designation
Hundreds of CBAPs
BABoK version 2
Experience Reqd
Professional Dev. Reqd
Certification Exam
Maintain standing
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Comparison of Knowledge Topics
Project Manager
Integration Mgmt
Scope Mgmt
Time Mgmt
Cost Mgmt
Quality Mgmt
Human Res. Mgmt Communications Mgmt
Risk Mgmt
Procurement Mgmt
Business Analyst
BA Planning + Monitoring
Elicitation
Req. Mgmt. + Comm.
Enterprise Analysis
Requirements Analysis
Solution Assessment +Validation
Underlying Competencies
Techniques
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PM/BA Interactions Integration Mgmt.
Project Manager
Develop the Project
Charter
Develop PM Plan Direct/Manage Exec.
Monitor/Control Work
Perform Change
Control Close Project
Business Analyst
Involved in Strategy
Involved in Business Case
Involved in Feasibility Activities are usually on the
critical path
Evaluates the impact of
change requests recommends alternatives
Involved with lessons
learned
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PM/BA Interactions Scope Mgmt.
Project Manager
Collect Requirements
Define Scope
Create WBS
Verify Scope
Control Scope
Business Analyst
Elicits Requirements
Manages Requirements
Analyzes Requirements
Involved in Defn of Scope
Involved in trade-off
analysis for change requests
Develop WBS for BA
activities
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PM/BA Interactions Time Mgmt.
Project Manager
Define Activities
Sequence Activities
Est. Activity Resources
Est. Activity Durations
Develop Schedule
Control Schedule
Business Analyst
Develops the BA Approach
Defines BA Activities
Sequences BA Activities
Estimates BA Activities
Reports status of BA
Activities
Identifies time impacts of
change requests
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PM/BA Interactions C
ost Mgmt.Project Manager
Estimate Costs
Determine Budget
Control Costs
Business Analyst
Involved in initial
cost/benefit analysis
Provides BA costs
Involved in costs impacts of
change requests
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PM/BA Interactions Quality Mgmt.
Project Manager
Plan Quality
Perform Quality
Assurance Perform Quality Control
Business Analyst
Establishes performance
criteria (user advocate)
Establishes acceptancecriteria
Monitors product/service
adherence to criteria
throughout the project
Identifies impact of change
requests
Leads testing activities
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PM/BA Interactions HR Mgmt.
Project Manager
Develop HR Plan
Acquire Project Team
Develop Project Team
Manage Project Team
Business Analyst
Identify key resources
(Stakeholders, SMEs)
Ensure that project
performance and
acceptance criteria is
understood
Lead information sessionsregarding interactions with
other business processes
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PM/BA Interactions - Communications
Project Manager
Identify Stakeholders
Plan Communications
Distribute Information
Manage Stakeholder
Expectations
Report Performance
Business Analyst
First to deal with
Stakeholders
Prepares and
communicates requirements
Addresses Stakeholder
concerns and requests
Develops product/serviceperformance reports for PM
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PM/BA Interactions Risk Mgmt.Project Manager
Plan Risk Mgmt.
Identify Risks
Perform Qualitative
Risk Analysis
Perform Quantitative
Risk Analysis
Plan Risk Responses
Monitor + Control Risks
Business Analyst
Identifies internal and
external risks
Participates in Qualitative
and Quantitative Risk
Analysis
Identifies alternative Risk
mitigation scenarios Participates in Risk
monitoring
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PM/BA Interactions Procurement Mgmt.Project Manager
Plan Procurements
Conduct Procurements
Administer
Procurements
Close Procurements
Business Analyst
Identifies Procurement
requirements
Evaluates alternative
sources
Evaluates performance of
product/service vs
acceptance criteria
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PM/BA Attributes and Abilities
Project Manager
Organized
Problem Solving
Leadership
Decision Making
Open Communicator
Thorough Methodical
Walk the Talk
Business Analyst
Analytical Thinking
Problem Solving
Behavioral Understanding
Business Acumen
Trusted Advisor
Methodical Analyzer
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Data Dictionary and GlossaryData Flow Diagrams
Document AnalysisEstimation
Business Rule Analysis
BrainstormingBenchmarking
Data Modeling
Focus Groups
Decision Analysis
Acceptance and Evaluation Criteria Definition
Metrics + Key Performance Indicators
Non-functional Requirements Analysis
Lessons Learned Process
Risk Analysis
Interviews
Root Cause Analysis
Interface Analysis
Observation
Prototyping
BA Techniques Tools of the Trade
Functional Decomposition
Organizational Modeling
Problem Tracking
Process Modeling
Requirements Workshops
Scenarios and Use Cases
Scope Modeling Sequence Diagrams
State Diagrams
Structured Walkthrough
Survey/Questionnaire
SWOT Analysis
User Stories
Vendor Assessment
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BA Techniques Acceptance and Evaluation Criteria Definition:
To define the requirements that must be met in order for a solution to be
considered acceptable to key stakeholders.
Benchmarking
Benchmark studies are performed to compare the strengths and
weaknesses of an organization against peers and competitors
Brainstorming
Brainstorming is an excellent way to foster creative thinking about a
problem. The aim of brainstorming is to produce numerous new ideas, and
to derive from them themes for further analysis.
Business Rules Analysis
To define the rules that govern decisions in an organization and that
define, constrain or enable organizational operations.
Data Dictionary and Glossary
A data dictionary or glossary defines key terms and data relevant to a
business domain.
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BA - Techniques Data Flow Diagrams
To show how information is input, processed, stored, and output from asystem.
Data Modeling
The purpose of a data model is to describe the concepts relevant to adomain, the relationships between those concepts, and information
associated to them.
Decision Analysis
To support decision-making when dealing with complex, difficult, oruncertain situations
Document Analysis
Document analysis is a means to elicit requirements by studying available
documentation on existing and comparable solutions and identifyingrelevant information.
Estimation
Estimating techniques forecast the cost and effort involved in pursuing acourse of action
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BA - Techniques Focus Groups
A focus group is a means to elicit ideas and attitudes about a specific product, service
or opportunity in an interactive group environment. The participants share their
impressions, preferences and needs, guided by a moderator.
Functional Decomposition
To decompose processes, functional areas, or deliverables into their component parts
and allow each part to be analyzed independently.
Interface Analysis
To identify interfaces between solutions and/or solution components and define
requirements that describe how they will interact.
Interviews
An interview is a systematic approach designed to elicit information from a person or
group of people in an informal or formal setting by talking to an interviewee, asking
relevant questions and documenting the responses.
Lessons Learned Process
The purpose of the lessons learned process is to compile and document successes,
opportunities for improvement, failures, and recommendations for improving the
performance of future projects or project phases
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BA - Techniques Metrics and Key Performance Indicators
The purpose of metrics and key performance indicators are to measure theperformance of solutions, solution components, and other matters of interest tostakeholders.
Non-functional Requirements Analysis The purpose of non-functional requirements is to describe the required qualities of a
system, such as its usability and performance characteristics. These supplement thedocumentation of functional requirements, which describe the behavior of the system.
Observation Observation is a means of eliciting requirements by conducting an assessment of the
stakeholders work environment. This technique is appropriate when documentingdetails about current processes or if the project in intended to enhance or change acurrent process.
Organizational Modeling Organizational Modeling is used to describe the roles, responsibilities, and reporting
structures that exist within an organization and to align those structures with the
organizations goals. Problem Tracking
Problem tracking provides an organized approach to tracking, management, andresolution of defects, issues, problems, and risks throughout business analysisactivities. Management of issues is important so they can be resolved in a timelymanner to ensure success.
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BA - Techniques Process Modeling
To understand how work that involves multiple roles and departments is performed
Prototyping
Prototyping details user interfaces requirements and integrates them with otherrequirements such as use cases, scenarios, data and business rules. Stakeholdersoften find prototyping to be a concrete means of identifying, describing and validatingtheir interface needs.
Requirements Workshops A requirements workshop is a structured way to capture requirements. A workshop
may be used to scope, discover, define, prioritize and reach closure on requirementsfor the target system. Well-run workshops are considered one of the most effectiveways to deliver high quality requirements quickly. They promote trust, mutualunderstanding, and strong communications among the project stakeholders andproject team and produce deliverables that structure and guide future analysis
Risk Analysis To identify and manage areas of uncertainty that can impact an initiative, solution, or
organization
Root Cause Analysis
The purpose of root cause analysis is to determine the underlying source of aproblem.
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BA - Techniques
Scenarios and Use Cases
Scenarios and use cases are written to describe how an actor interactswith a solution to accomplish one or more of the actors goals, or torespond to an event.
Scope Modeling
Scope models are used to describe the scope of analysis or the scope of
the solution.
Sequence Diagrams
Sequence diagrams are used to model the logic of usage scenarios, byshowing the information passed between objects in the system through theexecution of the scenario.
State Diagrams
A state diagram shows how the behavior of a concept, entity, or objectchanges in response to events.
Structured Walkthrough
Structured walkthroughs are performed to communicate, verify andvalidate requirements.
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BA - Techniques
Survey/Questionnaires
A survey is a means of eliciting information from many people, sometimes
anonymously, in a relatively short period of time. A survey can collect
information about customers, products, work practices and attitudes. A
survey may also be referred to as a questionnaire.
SWOT Analysis A SWOT analysis is valuable tool to quickly analyze various aspects of the
current state of the business process undergoing change.
User Stories
User Stories are a brief description of functionality that users need from a
solution to meet a business objective.
Vendor Assessment To assess the ability of a potential vendor to meet commitments regarding
a product or service.
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What is a requirement?
Definition:
A condition or capability needed by astakeholder to solve a problem or achieve an
objective
(Source IIBA BABOK)
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Who do BAs Support? The BA works with a number of different
stakeholders:
BACustomer Domain
SMEsEnd
UserImplementation
SMEs
Developers,Systems Arch.
Change Agents,
Trainers,
Usability Pros
Project
Manager
Tester Sponsor
Supplier Regulator
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Definitions and Roles
The Requirements describe WHAT needs to be
delivered (Provided by the BA)
The Requirements are then handed over to a technical deliverygroup in order for them to develop technical specifications
The Specifications describe HOW it will be delivered
(Provided by the Technical Solution Team)
The BA must then confirm that all of the requirementshave been included in the Specifications
(This is called Allocation)
(This is the first step in Requirements Traceability)
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What is a requirement?
Requirements come in many forms: Business Requirement a higher-level statements of
goals, objectives or needs of the organization
Stakeholder Requirement statements of needs forparticular stakeholders or classes of stakeholders
Solution Requirements describes the characteristics of asolution that meets business and stakeholder requirements. Functional describes the behavior and information that the
solution must manage
Non-Functional describes the environmental conditionsunder which the solution must remain effective and qualities
that the systems must have Transitional Requirements describes the capabilitiesneeded to get from the current state of the enterprise to thefuture state that will not be needed once the transition iscomplete
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The BAs Role (Master of Requirements)
To act as the intermediary between the
business unit(s) (clients), stakeholders and
the solution delivery team
Solutions usually are focused on:
Improving efficiency
Addressing customer expectations Delivering necessary capability
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The BAs Responsibilities - Needs Understands the business capability that the
organization needs to develop in order to achieve itsgoals (what is needed) (Enterprise Analysis)
Understands the stakeholders who need toparticipate in the development of this capability
Participates in Business Case Development
Gathers, analyzes, documents requirements andpresents them in a meaningful form to allstakeholders to ensure completeness (Elicitation,
Analysis)
Prepares the formal Business RequirementsDocument
Tailor the documents so they are understood by theresources who are charged with developing anddelivering the solution
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The BAs Responsibilities - Delivery
Determines the Solution approach to be followed(Requirements Mgmt.)
Facilitates the development of the solution with thesolution delivery team
Ensures that the solution remains consistent with theformal Business Requirements Document(Traceability)
Participates actively in solution risk assessment,
prototyping, testing and change management Monitors the solution to ensure that it achieves the
desired performance characteristics (Validation)
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The BAs Responsibilities - Deliverables
Business Case development
Sourcing Activities RFPs
BAs Activity planning - Estimating
Requirements documents - BRD
Modeling Data Flow
Charting Process Flow (As is, To Be)
Ensure Requirements are satisfied thrutesting
Acceptance of the solution
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Requirements Management
Composed of 8 Activities: Enterprise Analysis Week 5
Requirements Planning Week 7
Requirements Elicitation Week 8
Requirements Analysis Week 9
Requirements Documentation Week 10
Requirements Communication Week 10 Requirements Implementation Week 11
Requirements Management Week 11
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Enterprise Analysis
Look at the Big Picture
Analyze what the business needs to satisfyits goals
Look into potential options and evaluate
them for profitability and do-ability
Provide the initial scope statement to directfuture activities
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Requirements Planning
Stipulate the deliverables that the BA will be
responsible to produce
Identifies the time and cost elements for the
project plan
Outlines how the requirements will be
tracked and managed after the initial scopehas been approved
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Requirements Elicitation
Identifies the types of elicitation activities to
be performed
Gathers requirements by executing against
the elicitation plan
May require many repeat activities to ensure
that all stakeholders are interviewed
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Requirements Analysis
Review the requirements to ensure that they
are complete and comprehensive
Ensure that any conflicting requirements are
resolved between the stakeholders
Organize the requirements into logical
groupings and prioritize the requirements intoacceptable phases for delivery
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Requirements Documentation
Produce understandable requirements informats relevant to each type of stakeholder
Breakdown a large topic into building blocksshowing relationships and dependencies
Produce diagrams and charts wherenecessary to convey complex information
Process models, Activity diagrams, Use cases,
Data Flow Diagrams, Entity RelationshipDiagrams
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Requirements Communication
Inform the stakeholders using
demonstrations, presentations and any other
means necessary to ensure that they each
commonly understand the requirements
Ensure that sign-off is achieved prior to
commencing the next stage of work
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Requirements Implementation
Ensure that outsourced functionality is
verified
Ensure that adequate testing is performed
Ensure that risk assessment is performed
Provide support for data conversion and
other transition activities
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Requirements Management
Conduct traceability activities to ensure thatthe all requirements are delivered throughout
the project phases Ensure that no extra functionality is allowed to be
included in the scope without going through thechange management process
Engage in Trade-off assessment whenmultiple options for delivery of a solution areavailable
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Recap:
What is a BA
How the BAs role is compared to the PM role
What knowledge a PM is required to possess
Where the BA fits in the project environment
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