Business Analysis

Best Practices for Success

Steven P. Blais

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781118161555
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Project Management
• Index: Business

The definitive guide on the roles and responsibilities of the business analyst

Business Analysis offers a complete description of the process of business analysis in solving business problems. Filled with tips, tricks, techniques, and guerilla tactics to help execute the process in the face of sometimes overwhelming political or social obstacles, this guide is also filled with real world stories from the author's more than thirty years of experience working as a business analyst.

• Provides techniques and tips to execute the at-times tricky job of business analyst
• Written by an industry expert with over thirty years of experience

Straightforward and insightful, Business Analysis is a valuable contribution to your ability to be successful in this role in today's business environment.

Part I

The Problem Solver

The business analyst solves business problems. The business analyst adds value to the organization. The business analyst does this not by defining a set of requirements so that a solution development team, at the behest of a technical project manager, can use them; nor does he run interference between the business wonks on one side and the technology geeks on the other. Being a business analyst means one is in the center of change in the organization, and that is a dangerous place to be without a map, or at least a good plan of action, or perhaps a better escape route.

The problems that face today's organizations and the fast pace of business change can seem overwhelming to one who is charged with solving those problems and keeping up with the pace. Being in the center can give the business analyst the uneasy feeling that BA stands for Blame Attractor.

The whole process of solving problems and implementing solutions, especially technological solutions, can be made easier by adopting a systematic approach, one that can be used each and every time and one that has gained credibility through successful use in the past. Thus we have the systems approach to solving business problems. And at the center of this approach is the business analyst.

Chapter 1

What Is a Business Analyst?

The job market is undergoing a shift in requirements from general computing knowledge and programming skills to those of interdisciplinary domain knowledge and integrated application development and problem-solving skills.

—Jiming Liu

What is a business analyst? Why is such a position necessary to organizations? Is the business analyst simply a middleman between the technologists and the businesspeople, acting as a go-between, translator, and conduit? Or is there some larger, more important role being played in the center of the organization? This chapter explores what makes a business analyst and what a business analyst does for the organization. It also takes a look at the potential of the position and the direction in which the business analyst role is evolving.

The Business Analyst in Context

There is a new position in the corporate hierarchy. A purebred technologist or an entirely business-oriented worker cannot fill this position. It is not management level and does not possess authority; however, it is a key contributor to most of the successful IT-related changes in an organization. Those occupying this position are fully versed in how to increase productivity, lower costs, and comply with regulations from both the business and technology perspectives. They can look at any problem from the perspective of the entire organization to determine the impacts, positive and negative, of any proposed change. They are adept at fashioning solutions to business problems, generally using computer technology. This position is the business analyst.

Since the first time a computer was used to support a business process, there has been a need for someone to talk to businesspeople. Until there is a time when businesspeople can solve their problems directly with the computer without needing a technologist to design the programs and change the code, there will be a need for someone to help businesspeople define the problem and describe the solution to the technical people who solve it.

“I've been a business analyst for twelve years. My new boss doesn't have a clue about business analysts. He thinks ‘business analyst’ is just a new term for requirements collector. Can you tell him the value of business analysts? He won't believe me.”

The business analyst position is relatively new in the organization. Many organizations do not have a defined business analyst position as yet. The reality is, though, that the business analyst is not a new role to the organization, but rather a role that has been played since the first business owner challenged his staff to come up with a more efficient way to produce wheels. While there may not have been an official position in most companies called business analyst, for years the role has been performed by other positions in the organization, such as project manager, systems analyst, and business manager.

What Is It All About?

“Can you tell me in a nutshell, like an elevator pitch, what it is that a business analyst does so I can tell my mother-in-law?”

In Version 1.6 of its Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK), the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) has the following definition of the role:

A business analyst works as a liaison among stakeholders in order to elicit, analyze, communicate and validate requirements for changes to business processes, policies, and information systems. The business analyst understands business problems and opportunities in the context of the requirements and recommends solutions that enable the organization to achieve its goals.¹

In 2009, the IIBA updated its definition to “A business analyst is any person who performs business analysis activities, no matter what their job title or organizational role may be.” Business analysis activities involve “understanding how organizations function to accomplish their purposes, and defining the capabilities an organization requires to provide products and services to external stakeholders. It includes the definition of organizational goals, how those goals connect to specific objectives, determining the courses of action that an organization has to undertake to achieve those goals and objectives, and defining how the various organizational units and stakeholders within and outside of that organization interact.”²

The British Computer Society proposes the following definition of a business analyst:

An internal consultancy role that has the responsibility for investigating business systems, identifying options for improving business systems, and bridging the needs of the business with the use of IT.³

These authorities have different slants on the business analyst job: analyst, liaison, communicator, internal consultant, improver of business systems, and business problem solver. Putting it all together, the business analyst is an agent for change in the business, summoning the forces of technology to make changes in the organization, solving problems, and improving processes, thereby increasing the value of the organization.

The Role of the Business Analyst

“I'm a p...