Are you new to Business Analysis? Don’t worry. These steps can be used as a guideline to help you conduct effective analysis. Each organisation has a different role for a business analyst. Most organisations define Business Analysis as simply gathering requirements. Although that is the ultimate outcome that a business analyst must deliver, many fail to realize the number of steps required to get there. The following steps are part of a general Business Analysis process model as defined by the BCS (Chartered Institute of IT).
Investigate Situation
Take a look at the bigger picture
Analyze your needs
Evaluate Your Options
Define your requirements
Delivering the requirements
Investigate the Situation: This step is crucial in business analysis because it allows for the identification of problems. Business analysts must have a holistic view of the business and be able to consider the business objectives. A business analyst can use a variety of techniques to determine whether there is a problem. A high-level overview of the situation can help identify the problem.
Take into account all perspectives: Different people may have different ideas and views about a problem. It is important to identify all stakeholders and take into consideration all their perspectives. There may be differences in their views. A business analyst should be able identify them and make recommendations that are business-oriented. The Business Analyst must develop a consensus Business Activity Model. This is a conceptual model that has been endorsed by all stakeholders and it is built from all perspectives.
Analyze needs: This stage compares the current situation with the desired situation. The differences need to be analysed. The current business situation can be represented by a business activity model. This model can then be compared to the consensus Business Activity model. This is often called GAP analysis. This allows you to identify areas that can be improved.
Evaluate Options: Here the improvements are evaluated for their feasibility. There are many ways to do this, including Impact Analysis and Risk Analysis. This will create a business case that identifies the business recommendations that must be made.
Define Requirements. This is the final step, and it is the responsibility of the Business Analyst. These requirements are validated to ensure that they are unique, unambiguous, and without conflicts. When necessary, requirements should be structured in a way that allows for both forward and backward traceability.
Deliver Changes: Although the business analyst is involved in a few of these steps, it is not the entire responsibility. In most cases, a business analyst would be involved with user acceptance testing, client training, and benefits realization review. This would happen after the project has been live for a few months.
We can see that Defining Requirements is the final stage of the Business Analysis process model. All the previous steps are equally important before the requirements are elicited.
Each of the steps has detailed techniques and tools that can all be used to effectively elicit requirements. This article will provide a basic understanding about Business Analysis and the role of an analyst in each step.
The above mentioned steps were taken from the book “Business Analysis”, published in part by the BCS institute. They also offer internationally recognised certifications in the field of business analysis.
