BABOK V3 CBAP Study Guide: Techniques
Vendor Assessment
Purpose: Assess the ability of a potential vendor to meet commitments regarding a product or service. Description: Request for Information (RFI), Request for Tender (RFT), Request for Proposal (RFP). Elements: 1) Knowledge and Expertise 2) Licensing and Pricing Models 3) Vendor Market Position 4) Terms and Conditions 5) Vendor Experience, Reputation, and Stability Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Increase chances to develop productive and fair working relationship 2) Limitations - May be time-consuming to perform, does not prevent the risk of failure, subjectivity can bias process
Risk Analysis and Management
Purpose: Identify the areas of uncertainty that could impact value, analyze/evaluate uncertainties, and develop & manage ways of dealing with the risks. Description: On-going activity. Elements: 1) Risk Identification 2) Analysis 3) Evaluation 4) Treatment (avoid, transfer, mitigate, accept, increase [take on more risk to gain an opportunity]) Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - can be applied to strategic, tactical, or operational risks; can be leveraged across projects; on-going risk management captures changes in risk levels 2) Limitations - Can get unmanageable, false sense of security that all risks are known
Document Analysis
Purpose: Used to elicit BA information, including contextual understanding & requirements. Description: Goals include gathering background information or researching existing solutions. Elements: 1) Preparation - Is the content relevant, current, credible, understandable 2) Document Review & Analysis - Notes should include summary, conflicts, additional needs 3) Record Findings Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Can use existing content, results can be used to validate other elicitation techniques 2) Limitations - May be out of date, authors may be unavailable for questions, helpful primarily only for current state, potential for information overload
Estimation
Purpose: Used to forecast cost & effort. Description: Attributes like cost/effort to pursue a course of action, expected benefits, creation/operating costs, business performance, risk. Elements: 1) Methods - Top-down, bottom-up, parametric, rough order of magnitude (ROM), rolling wave, Delphi, PERT 2) Accuracy 3) Source of Information - Analogous situations, organization history, expert judgement 4) Precision & Reliability of Estimates 5) Contributors Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Provides rationale, sets expectations, updating over time improves accuracy 2) Limitations - Only as accurate as level of knowledge about what is being estimated
Root Cause Analysis
Purpose: Used to identify & evaluate underlying causes of a problem. Description: Can be used for reactive or proactive analysis. Activities - problem statement definition, data collection, cause identification, action identification. Elements: 1) Fishbone Diagram 2) Five Whys Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Helps to develop solutions 2) Limitations - Training needed, can be difficult with complex problems
Process Analysis
Purpose: Assess processes for efficiency and effectiveness. Description: Can be used to recommend process improvements, determine gaps between current/future state, understand factors to be included in a contract negotiation, understand how data/technology is used, analyze the impact of a change. Frameworks include Six Sigma & Lean; methods include value stream mapping, statistical analysis & control, process simulation, benchmarking, and process frameworks. Elements: 1) Identify Gaps & Areas to Improve 2) Identify Root Cause 3) Generate & Evaluate Options 3) Common Methods - SIPOC (Six Sigma-based - Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs, Customers), VSM (Value Stream Mapping - lean-based) Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Ensures solutions address the right issues, flexibility in approach 2) Limitations - Time-consuming, many techniques to select from, can be ineffective in knowledge or decision-intensive processes
SWOT Analysis
Purpose: Assess the overall state of an organization internally and externally. Description: Evaluate current environment, share information learned with stakeholders, identify best options to meet organization's needs, identify potential barriers, adjust plans throughout a project, identify areas of strength to leverage, develop criteria for evaluating success, identify areas of weakness that could undermine goals, develop strategies to deal with threats. Elements: 1) Strengths 2) Weaknesses 3) Opportunities 4) Threats Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Directs stakeholders' focus 2) Limitations - High-level view, usually requires more analysis
Stakeholder List, Map, or Personas
Purpose: Assist in analyzing stakeholders and their characteristics. Description: Types to include - level of authority, attitudes /interest in project, attitudes towards BA work, level of decision-making authority. Elements: 1) Stakeholder Lists 2) Stakeholder Map - Common forms are stakeholder matrix, onion diagram. 3) Responsibility (RACI) Matrix 4) Personas Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Identifies necessary specific people, helps plan activities, useful to understand how changes will impact individuals/groups 2) Limitations - Assessing some of the information (influence, interest) can be difficult
Decision Modelling
Purpose: Shows how repeatable business decisions are made. Description: Shows how data and knowledge are combined to make a specific decision. Elements: 1) Types of Models & Notations - 3 elements (decision, information, knowledge). Tables, trees, diagrams (decisions - rectangles, input data - ovals, business knowledge models - rectangle with rounded corner, knowledge source - document) Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Easy to read, can include multiple perspectives, simplifies decision making, facilitates managing large sets of rules, enables re-use, can help rules-based automation/data mining/predictive analytics 2) Limitations - Can lead to overhead if the decision is easy to make, may overlook a lack of current decision-making abilities, need to standardize on business terminology to avoid data quality issues
Workshops
Purpose: Bring stakeholders together to collaborate on achieving a predefined goal. Description: Include a group of stakeholders, goal, interactive & collaborative work, a defined work product, a facilitator. Elements: 1) Prepare - Define purpose/outcomes, identify stakeholders, identify facilitator & scribe, create agenda, determine how to capture outputs, schedule/invite, arrange logistics, send out agenda and material, conduct pre-workshop interviews if needed. 2) Workshop Roles - Sponsor, facilitator, scribe, timekeeper, participants 3) Conduct the Workshop - Establish ground-rules 4) Post Workshop Wrap-Up Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Gain agreement in a short period of time, collaboration, costs lower than multiple interviews, immediate feedback. 2) Limitations - Stakeholder availability, facilitator expertise and stakeholder knowledge critical to success, too many participants can slow things down
Prototyping
Purpose: Can be used to optimize user experience, evaluate design options, and as a basis of the final business solution. Description: Can be non-working models, working representations, or digital depictions. Elements: 1) Prototyping Approach - Throw-away or Evolutionary/Functional 2) Prototyping Examples - Proof of Principle, Proof of Concept, Form Study Prototype (used to determine ergonomic & visual factors), Usability Prototype, Visual Prototype, Functional Prototype (aka working model) 3) Prototyping Methods - Storyboarding, Paper Prototyping, Workflow Modelling, Simulation Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Visual representation, allows for early feedback, can determine technical feasibility, can uncover process gaps 2) Limitations - Can get bogged down, stakeholders can develop unrealistic expectations, can draw focus away from requirements to design
Mind Mapping
Purpose: Capture thoughts, ideas, and information. Description: Note-taking in a non-linear diagram. Uses images, words, color, and connected relationships. No standardized format. Elements: 1) Main Topic 2) Topics 3) Sub-Topics 4) Branches 5) Keywords 6) Color - Categorize, prioritize, and analyze topics, sub-topics, and associations 7) Images Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Effective collaboration & communication tool, summarizes complex topics, enables creative problem solving, helpful in preparing for & delivering presentations 2) Limitations - Shared understanding of a mind map can be difficult to communicate
Lessons Learned
Purpose: Compile & document successes, opportunities for improvement, failures, & recommendations for improving future project performance. Description: Also known as retrospective. Elements: 1) Review of project items (examples BA deliverables, final solution, technology, impact to processes, performance expectations/results, variances, root causes impacting performance results, behavioral approach recommendations. Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Leads to performance improvement, increase team morale, reduce future risk, provides tangible value/metrics, recognizes strengths or shortcomings in project structure, methodology, or tools 2) Limitations - Can degrade into blame game, equal participation across team can be difficult, may require proactive facilitation
Benchmarking and Market Analysis
Purpose: Conducted to improve organizational operations, increase customer satisfaction, and increase stakeholder value. Description: Compare organizational practices against the best-in-class practices. Elements: 1) Bechmarking - Identify areas to be studied, identify enterprises that are leaders, conduct survey, use a RFI to gather information about capabilities, arrange visits to best-in-class organizations, determine gaps, develop proposal to implement 2) Market Analysis - Identify customers and understand their preferences, identify opportunities to increase value, identify competitors & investigate their operations, look for trends in the market/anticipated growth rate/estimated potential profitability, define appropriate business strategies, gather market data, apply existing resources/information to the questions at hand, review data to draw conclusions Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Supplies new ways of looking at things, identify best practices, identifies why other companies are successful, can expose weaknesses, identify differences in product offerings/services from competitors 2) Limitations - Time-consuming, may lack expertise in doing bench-marking, need to consider market segmentation
Glossary
Purpose: Defines key terms relevant to a business domain. Description: Provides common understanding. Elements: 1) Term 2) Acronym 3) Definition Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Common understanding, single reference, encourages consistency, simplifies writing & maintenance of other BA information 2) Limitations - Requires updating, can be challenging to agree to a single definition
Roles and Permissions Matrix
Purpose: Denotes responsibility, identify roles, discover missing roles, & communicate results of a planned change. Description: Elements: 1) Identify Roles 2) Identify Activities 3) Identify Authorities - Actions that identified roles are permitted to perform 4) Refinements - Delegations (what can be delegated on a short-term or permanent basis), Inheritances (assignment at organizational hierarchy level that pertains to the org level and any subsidiary org unit levels) Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Provides procedural checks & balances, promotes improved review of transaction history, documentation of roles 2) Limitations - Too much detail can be time-consuming, too little detail can exclude necessary roles or responsibilities
Data Modelling
Purpose: Describes entities, classes, or data objects; the attributes; and relationships between them, providing a common set of semantics for analysis & implementation. Description: Includes conceptual data model, logical data model (incorporates rules of normalization - involves design), physical data model. Elements: 1) Entity/Class - Physical (warehouse), organizational (sales area), abstract (product line), or event (appointment). 2) Attribute 3) Relationship/Association 4) Diagrams - ERD (data model) or Class Diagram (class model) 5) Metadata Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Drive consistent vocabulary, reviewing helps validate correctness, consistent approach, flexibility in supporting different levels of detail 2) Limitations - Stakeholders may find diagrams difficult to read
Organizational Modelling
Purpose: Used to describe roles, responsibilities, and reporting structures. Description: Visual representation showing boundaries of the group, formal relationships, functional role, interfaces between units or stakeholders. Elements: 1) Types of Organizational Models - Functionally oriented (based on shared skills), market-oriented, matrix. 2) Roles 3) Interfaces 4) Organizational Charts - No formal standard (generally box = organizational unit, roles, or people, line = lines of reporting) 5) Influencers - Informal relationships Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - common, lets team know whom they can get support from 2) Limitations - can get out of date quickly, informal lines more difficult to identify and track
Business Model Canvas
Purpose: Describes how an enterprise creates, delivers, and captures value. Description: Building blocks - key partnerships, key activities, key resources, value proposition, customer relationships, channels, customer segments, cost structure, & revenue streams. Can be used as a diagnostic & planning tool regarding strategy & initiatives. Elements: 1) Key Partnerships - Benefits include optimization & economy, reduction of risk & uncertainty, acquisition of particular resources & activities, and lack of internal capabilities 2) Key Activities - Value add, non-value add, and business non-value add. 3) Key Resources - Physical, financial, intellectual, and human 4) Value Proposition - Represents what a customer is willing to exchange for having their needs met 5) Customer Relationships - Acquisition & retention 6) Channels - Used to raise awareness of offerings, help customers evaluate their value proposition, allow customers to make purchases, help the enterprise deliver on the value proposition, and provide support 7) Customer Segments - Base on needs, profitability, distribution channels, formation & maintenance of customer relationships 8) Revenue Streams - Examples: licensing or subscription feeds, transaction or usage fees, sales, leasing/renting Usage Consideration: 1) Strengths - Effective, widely used, simple to use 2) Limitations - Does not account for alternative measures (e.g. social or environmental impacts), does not provide for a holistic insight for business strategy, does not include strategic purpose of the enterprise
Survey or Questionnaire
Purpose: Elicit information from a group of people in a structured manner and short period of time Description: Closed-end or open-ended questions. Elements: 1) Prepare - Define objective, define the target survey group, choose the survey or questionnaire type, select the sample group, select the distribution and collection methods, set the target level and timeline for response, determine if individual interview support needed, write the survey questions, test 2) Distribute the Survey or Questionnaire 3) Document the Results Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Quick & inexpensive, easy to collect information from a large group of people, does not need a lot of time from participants, with closed-ended questions can gain data for statistical analysis, with closed-ended questions can get insights/opinions other approaches may not yield 2) Limitations - Response rate may be low, need statistical sampling skills when surveying a subset of people, ambiguous questions may yield bad data
Collaborative Games
Purpose: Encourage participants in an elicitation activity to collaborate in building a joint understanding of a problem or solution. Description: Benefit from a neutral facilitator. They usually involve strong visual or tactile elements. Elements: 1) Game Purpose 2) Process - Typically 3 steps (opening, exploration, closing) 3) Outcome Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Can reveal hidden assumptions or differences of opinion; encourages creative thinking; challenges reserved people to take a more active role; can expose business needs that are not being met 2) Limitations - Can make some people uncomfortable ("silly game"); can be time-consuming; can lead to a false sense of confidence in conclusions
Interviews
Purpose: Establish relationships and building trust between BA and stakeholders in order to increase involvement. Description: Systematic approach designed to elicit BA information by taking to interviewees, asking relevant questions, and documenting the responses. Can be structured or unstructured. Success criteria include domain understanding on part of the interviewer, interviewing experience, documentation skills, interviewee involvement, degree of clarity of the interview goal(s), interviewer/interviewee rapport. Elements: 1) Interview Goal 2) Potential Interviewees 3) Interview Questions 4) Interview Logistics - location, recording, questions in advance or not, whether results are confidential or not 5) Interview Flow - Opening (purpose, why time is needed, confirming roles, addressing initial concerns, explain information capture and sharing), During (maintain focus on goals, adapt based on verbal/non-verbal responses, consider whether multiple sessions needed, manage concerns, use active listening, take notes), Closing (ask for areas that were missed, provide follow-up method, summarize, outline how results will be used, thanks) 6) Interview Follow-Up Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Encourages participation, relatively simple, allows for full discussions, can see non-verbal responses, can get opinions in addition to facts 2) Limitations - Necessary time, takes commitment & involvement, training need to be effective, can lead the interviewee
Reviews
Purpose: Evaluate the content of a work product. Description: Can include an overview of work product & review objectives, checklists/reference material, reviewing & documenting, verifying re-work. Elements: 1) Objectives - Includes removal of defects, ensure compliance, verify completeness & correctness, establish consensus, explore alternatives, educate reviewers, measure work product quality. 2) Techniques - Inspection, Formal Walkthrough (Team Review), Single Issues Review (Technical Review), Informal Walkthrough, Desk Check, Pass Around, Ad Hoc 3) Participants - Roles can include author, reviewer, facilitator, scribe Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Identify defects early, encourage participation 2) Limitations - Takes time/effort, informal techniques may not uncover all problems
Prioritization
Purpose: Facilitate stakeholder decisions Description: Approaches - grouping, ranking, time boxing/budgeting, negotiation Elements: 1) Grouping - For example high, medium, or low. 2) Ranking - Ordered 3) Time Boxing/Budgeting - Based on the allocation of a fixed resource 4) Negotiation - Used to form a consensus Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Consensus building, can identify trade-offs 2) Limitations - Some stakeholders may fail to recognize the need for trade-offs, solution team can game process by over-estimating costs, facts may not be available to help stakeholders make objective decisions
Brainstorming
Purpose: Foster creative thinking. Description: Focus on a topic or problem and then coming up with many possible solutions. Elements: 1) Preparation - Define the area of interest, determine time limit, identify facilitator & participants, set expectations, establish evaluation criteria 2) Session - Share ideas without discussion, criticism, or evaluation; visibly record all ideas; encourage participation; don't limit the number of ideas 3) Wrap-up - Once the time limit is reached - discuss & evaluate ideas using predetermined evaluation criteria, consolidate list & remove duplicates, rate ideas Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Ability to elicit many ideas in a short time period, non-judgmental environment enables creative thinking, can reduce tension between participants 2) Limitations - Dependent on individual creativity, organizational/interpersonal politics may limit participation, hard to avoid debate during session
Functional Decomposition
Purpose: Helps manage complexity and reduce uncertainty. Description: The breakdown of processes, systems, functional areas, or deliverables into their simpler constituent parts. Allows scaling, tracking, and measuring for each individual part. Elements: 1) Decomposition Objectives - Includes measuring/managing, designing, analyzing, estimating/forecasting, reusing, optimization, substitution, encapsulation. 2) Subjects of Decomposition - Includes business outcomes, work to be done, business processes, function, business unit, solution component, activity, products/services, decisions. 3) Levels of Decomposition 4) Representation of Decomposition Results - Includes tree diagrams, nested diagrams, use case diagrams, flow diagrams, state transition diagrams, cause-effect diagrams, decision trees, mind maps, component diagram, decision model/notation. Usage Consideration: 1) Strengths - Helps reduce complexity so it is manageable, provides a structured approach for understanding, simplifies measurement & estimation 2) Limitations - Missing/incorrect data may necessitate re-doing organization, some systems don't allow for hierarchical representation, multiple alternate decomposition approaches, requires deep knowledge/extensive collaboration.
Decision Analysis
Purpose: Helps to determine the value of alternate outcomes under uncertain conditions. Description: Activities 1) Define Problem Statement 2) Define Alternatives 3) Evaluate Alternatives - tools include pro vs. cons, force field analysis, decision tables/trees, analytical hierarchy process (AHP), totally-partially-not (TPN), multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA), computer-based simulations/algorithms, comparison analysis 4) Choose Alternative to Implement 5) Implement Choice Elements: 1) Components of Decision Analysis - decision to be made/problem statement, decision maker, alternative, decision criteria 2) Decision Matrices 3) Decision Trees - Includes decision nodes (different strategies), chance nodes (uncertain outcomes), terminator/end nodes 4) Trade-Offs - Methods include elimination of dominated alternatives and ranking objectives on a similar scale Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Prescriptive approach, eliminate emotions, identify false assumptions 2) Limitations - Data may not be available, may take too long, decision maker needs to understand assumptions, analysis paralysis, may require specialized knowledge
Use Cases and Scenarios
Purpose: How a person or system interacts with the solution. Description: Use case (can be business or system), diagrams, or scenarios (specific path through to a goal). No uniform format. Elements: 1) Use Case Diagram - Relationships are Extend and Include. 2) Use Case Description - Name, Goal, Actors, Preconditions, Trigger, Flow of Events, Post Conditions (Guarantees) Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Can clarify scope, high-level understanding of requirements, easy to understand, business goal is included 2) Limitations - Flexibility allows other information to creep in (business rules, NFRs, UI interactions), can get bogged down in detail
Focus Groups
Purpose: Method to elicit ideas/opinions about a product, service, or opportunity. Description: Form of qualitative research (similar to brainstorming). Elements: 1) Focus Group Objective 2) Focus Group Plan - Purpose, location, logistics, participants, budget, timelines, outcomes 3) Participants - Typically 6 to 12 4) Discussion Guide - Script of questions/topics for discussion 5) Assign Moderator and Recorder 6) Conduct Focus Group 7) After - Transcribe, analyze, create a report Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - More efficient than individual interviewing, discussion, can be recorded for playback 2) Limitations - Participants may have trust issues, what people say may not translate to what they do, could be too homogeneous, skilled moderator required, chance that one or more participants may dominant
Business Capability Analysis
Purpose: Provides a framework for scoping/planning by generating a shared understanding of outcomes, identifying alignment with strategy, and providing a scope & prioritization filter. Description: Describes what an enterprise can do. Assess for performance and associated risks to identify performance gaps and prioritize investments. Elements: 1) Capabilities - Describe the purpose or outcome of the performance or transformation (but not how it is done) 2) Using Capabilities - Impact value through increase/preserve revenue, reduce/prevent cost, improve service, achieve compliance, or position the company for the future 3) Performance Expectations - Identify performance expectations and gap 4) Risk Model - Business, technology, organizational, market 5) Strategic Planning - Determine where enterprise needs to go 6) Capability Maps - Graphical view of elements involved Usage Considerations: 1) Strength - Shared articulation of outcomes, strategy, and performance; helps align business initiatives; useful to assess organizational's ability to offer new products & services 2) Limitations - Requires broad, cross-functional collaboration
Business Cases
Purpose: Provides a justification for a course of action based on the benefits to be realized by using the proposed solution. Description: Captures the rationale for undertaking a change. Used to define the need; determine the desired outcomes; assess constraints, assumptions, and risks; recommend a solution. Elements: 1) Need Assessment - Relevant business goal or objective. 2) Desired Outcomes - The state that should result if the need is fulfilled. 3) Assess Alternatives - May include different technologies, processes, or business models. The "do-nothing" option should also be assessed. Assess each alternative in terms of: scope; feasibility; assumptions, risks, and constraints; financial analysis & value assessment. 4) Recommended Solution Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Provides an integrated picture of complex facts, issues, and analysis; provides details on cost & benefits; provides guidance for decision making 2) Limitations - May be subject to biases; frequently not updated once done; assumptions may be invalid
User Stories
Purpose: Represents a small, concise statement of functionality or quality needed to deliver value to a specific stakeholder. Description: Used to capture needs, prioritize development of solutions, estimation, planning solution delivery, generating acceptance tests, metrics for measuring the delivery of value, tracing requirements, basis for additional analysis, reporting. Elements: 1) Title 2) Statement of Value (who, what, why) 3) Conversation 4) Acceptance Criteria Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Easily understood, can be captured through a variety of elicitation techniques, focus on value, promotes shared understanding, rapid delivery, frequent/quick feedback 2) Limitations - Not good for long-term knowledge retention or detailed analysis, can be challenging to team used to detailed specifications up-front, may not provide enough documentation
Process Modelling
Purpose: Shows how work is carried out and is foundational for process analysis. Description: Can be business, system, or program (program statement within software). Can be used to describe the context, activities in the process, sequence, visual representation, based for process analysis. Includes participants, triggers, steps, flows, results. Elements: 1) Types of Process Models and Notations - Flowcharts and Value Stream Mapping (VSM), Data Flow diagrams & UML, BPMN, Integrated Definition (IDEF) and Input, Guide, Output, Enabler (IGOE) diagrams, SIPOC and Value Stream Analysis. Usually includes the following elements: activity, event, directional flow, decision point, link, role Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Basic human understanding of sequential activities, stakeholders are familiar with approach, different perspectives can be captured, can show parallel branches, help identify missing stakeholders, identify pain points, can be used for training, can use for continuous improvement, provides transparency 2) Limitations - Many in IT think it is document heavy, can get unwieldy if business rules combined in process, can get overly complex, can get obsolete, requires updating
Data Flow Diagrams
Purpose: Shows where data comes from, which activities process the data, and if the output results are stored/utilized by another activity or external activity. Description: Useful for documenting a transaction-based system and showing boundaries. Notations: Gane-Sarson, Yourdon. Elements: 1) Externals (Entity, Source, Sink) - Rectangle 2) Data Store - 2 parallel lines or an open-ended rectangle with a label) 3) Process - Circle or rectangle with rounded corners 4) Data Flow - Line with an arrow Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Good discovery technique, excellent to define scope, easy to understand, helps identify duplicated or misapplied data elements, explains the logic, shows connections to other systems 2) Limitations - For large-scale systems can be overly complex, different notation methods, processes don't have much detail behind them (e.g. who are the stakeholders)
Non-Functional Requirements Analysis
Purpose: Specifies criteria that be used to judge the operation of a system rather than specific behaviors. Description: Quality attributes or quality of service requirements. Augment functional requirements, identify constraints, or describe quality attributes that a solution must exhibit. Elements: 1) Categories (e.g. availability, portability, reliability) 2) Measurement 3) Context (e.g. regulation, internationalization needed due to global growth) Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Defines constraints, provides measurable expressions, influence acceptance of the solution. 2) Limitations - Usefulness based on stakeholders understanding of their needs, gaining consensus can be difficult, may have internal conflicts across requirements, can get expensive to implement, difficulty in measuring some qualitative needs.
Observation
Purpose: Used as a basis for identifying needs & opportunities, understanding a business process, setting performance standards, evaluating solution performance, or supporting training & development. Description: Eliciting information by viewing & understanding activities and their context. Two types - active/noticeable or passive/unnoticeable. Elements: 1) Observation Objectives 2) Prepare for Observation - planning 3) Conduct the Observation Session - Before, explain why, reassure personal performance is not being judged, inform participant can stop observation, recommend sharing of concerns. During, watch, note typical/atypical tasks/steps, tools used, information used, time, concerns, ask probing questions. 4) Confirm and Present Observation Results - Follow up on action items, validate notes, analyze, & summarize findings. Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Gain realistic/practical insight, informally performed tasks can be identified, real-life productivity can be viewed, gain recommendations for improvement. 2) Limitations - May be disruptive, can be threatening, may not see the real performance, needs a lot of time to plan/conduct, not suitable for knowledge-based activities.
Item Tracking
Purpose: Used to capture & assign responsibility for issues and stakeholder concerns. Description: Tracks from when concern is first raised, assessed for viability, along with degree of impact based on the closure. Elements: 1) Item Record - Identifier, summary, category, type, date, identified by, impact, priority, resolution date, owner, resolver/owner, agree strategy, status, resolution updates, escalation matrix 2) Item Management 3) Metrics Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Ensures concerns are tracked, allows for ranking 2) Limitations - Overhead can get heavy, can take time away from more important tasks
Scope Modelling
Purpose: Used to define boundaries. Description: Includes in-scope, out-of-scope, and both (e.g. Venn diagram). Helps define boundaries for the scope of control, the scope of need, the scope of a solution, and scope of change. Elements: 1) Objectives 2) Scope of Change and Context - Includes processes, business functions, capabilities, internal/external events, use cases, technologies, informational assets, stakeholders, organizational roles, org units, systems 3) Level of Detail 4) Relationships - Parent-Child/Composition-Subject, Function-Responsibility, Supplier-Consumer, Cause-Effect, Emergent 5) Assumptions 6) Scope Modelling Results - Textual descriptions, diagrams, matrixes Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Define contractual obligations, justify decisions in requirements analysis, assess completeness and impact of solutions 2) Limitations - Can be too high-level, changing once defined can be difficult, complex boundaries difficult to model
Acceptance and Evaluation Criteria
Purpose: Used to define requirements, outcomes, or conditions necessary for solution to be acceptable. Description: Measurable and testable - can apply from high-level to more detailed level. Elements: 1) Value Attributes - Characteristics of a solution that determine value. 2) Assessment - Testability & measures Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Important for Agile, contractual obligations, agreed-upon criteria, defining priorities. 2) Limitations - May be difficult to change due to legal/political reasons, can be difficult to get agreement across a diverse stakeholder group
State Modelling
Purpose: Used to describe & analyze different states of entities within a system Description: Elements: 1) State 2) State Transition 3) State Diagram 4) State Tables Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Captures the business rules, shows activities that apply at different states, more effective than plain text for documentation 2) Limitations - Simple entities don't need this level of documentation detail, can be time-consuming to gain consensus, requires high precision of detail
Interface Analysis
Purpose: Used to identify where, what, why, when, how, and for whom information is exchanged between solutions or solution components. Description: Types include user interfaces, external people, business processes, data, APIs, hardware. Elements: 1) Preparing for Identification - Other techniques like document analysis, scope modeling, interviewing. 2) Conduct Interface Identification - For each, function, frequency, type of interface, initial details 3) Define Interfaces - For each, name, span, exchange method, format, frequency. Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Increased functional coverage, structured approach, avoids over analysis of fine detail 2) Limitations - Does not assess internal components (so therefore, not sufficient by itself)
Business Rules Analysis
Purpose: Used to identify, express, validate, refine, and organize the rules that shape day-to-day business behavioral Description: Policy is a directive concerned with broadly controlling, influencing, or regulating actions. A rule is a specific, testable directive that serves as a criterion for guiding behavior, shaping judgments, or making decisions. Principles for rules: based on standard business vocabulary; expressed separately from how they will be enforced/implementation technology; defined at an atomic level in a declarative language; separated from processes they support or constrain; mapped to decisions the rule supports; maintained to enable monitoring and adaptability. Elements: 1) Definitional Rules - Shape concepts or produce knowledge/information. Cannot be violated but can be misapplied. 2) Behavioral Rules - People rules (even if automated). Can be violated directly. Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Changes can be implemented quickly (if enforced/managed by a single enterprise-wide engine); can be reused across an organization; provide structure; can make changes without altering processes or systems. 2) Limitations - Combinations of rules can contradict each other; if the language is not used well, results can be inaccurate or contradictory
Data Mining
Purpose: Used to improve decision making by finding useful patterns/insight from data. Description: Outputs are generally mathematical models or equations that describe underlying patterns & relationships. Can take the form of visual dashboards, reports, or automated decision-making systems. Techniques: 1) Descriptive - Clustering to make it easier to see patterns. 2) Diagnostic - Decision trees or segmentation can show why patterns exist 3) Predictive - Regression or neural networks can show likelihood of something happening in the future Elements: 1) Requirements Elicitation 2) Data Preparation: Analytical Data-set 3) Data Analysis 4) Modelling Techniques - Examples: classification and regression trees (CART), linear/logistic regression, neural networks, support sector machines, predictive/additive scorecards 5) Deployment Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Can reveal hidden patterns, can be integrated into a system design to increase data accuracy, can reduce human bias 2) Limitations - Need good understanding of techniques to avoid making mistakes, can lead to misuse, stakeholders may not be able to grasp math/analytics
Balanced Scorecard
Purpose: Used to manage performance in a business model, organization structure, or business process. Description: Strategic planning & management tool - moves beyond traditional finance measures. Contains tangible objectives, specific measures, and targeted outcomes derived from an organization's vision & strategy. Elements: 1) Learning and Growth Dimension - Employee training/learning, product/service innovation, and corporate culture; guide use of training funds, mentoring, knowledge sharing, and technology improvements. 2) Business Process Dimension - How well the enterprise is operating and if products meet customer needs. 3) Customer Dimension - Metrics on customer focus, satisfaction, and delivery of value. 4) Financial Dimension - Profitability, revenue growth, and added economic value. 5) Measures or Indicators - Lagging and leading indicators. Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Holistic and planning/thinking; different length goals can be harmonized into programs with incremental success measures; strategic, tactical, & operational teams are more easily aligned; encourages forward thinking 2) Limitations - Lack of clear strategy makes aligning the dimensions difficult; can focus too much attention on just this one tool; can be misinterpreted as a replacement for strategic planning, execution, and measurement
Metrics and Key Performance Indicators
Purpose: Used to measure performance Description: Metric = quantifiable level of an indicator used to measure progress. Indicator = a specific numerical measurement that represents the degree of progress toward achieving a goal, objective, output, activity, or further input. KPI = indicator that measures progress towards a strategic goal or objective. Elements: 1) Indicators - 6 characteristics: clear, relevant, economical (available at a reasonable cost), adequate, quantifiable, credible 2) Metrics 3) Structure - Procedures to collect data, analysis data, report, and collection of baseline data. 4) Reporting Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Visible, facilitates alignment 2) Limitations - Can be expensive, too much data & not enough actionable information, can lead to focus on metrics rather than actual goals
Sequence Diagrams
Purpose: Used to model the logic of usage scenarios by showing the information passed between objects in the system. Description: Standard notation is UML. Elements: 1) Lifeline - Lifespan of an object, shown as dashed line. 2) Activation Box - Period during which an operation is executed. Call to activate is shown by an arrow with a solid arrowhead; terminated by an X. 3) Message - Interaction between two objects. The name is placed on top of the arrow line. Synchronous call (transfers call to the receiving object) or asynchronous call (allows the object to continue with its own processing after sending the signal). Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Shows interaction in the chronological order, easy to validate logic since it is visual, use cases can be refined into one or more sequence diagrams to provide more detail. 2) Limitations - May not be worth the time, usually used for system flows so may be too technical in other situations.
Concept Modelling
Purpose: Used to organize the business vocabulary needed to communicate domain knowledge. Description: Starts with a glossary - design-independent definitions. Effective where core knowledge needs to be managed, there are a large number of business rules, resistance from stakeholders about data models/class diagrams, regulatory or compliance challenges. Elements: 1) Noun Concepts - "Givens" for the domain. 2) Verb Concepts - Provide structural connections between noun concepts. 3) Other Connections - Categorizations, classifications, partitive (whole-part) connections, and roles Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Business friendly, independent of data design biases, useful for knowledge-rich/decision-laden business processes, help reduce ambiguity for a large number of business rules 2) Limitations - Requires specialized skill set to develop, may be foreign to stakeholders
Backlog Management
Purpose: Used to record, track, and prioritize remaining work items Description: Refers to the planned approach to determine: 1) what work items are included, 2) how to describe items, 3) how items are tracked, 4) how items are periodically reviewed, 5) how items are selected to work on, 6) how items are removed Elements: 1) Items in backlog 2) Prioritization 3) Estimation 4) Managing changes in the backlog Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Effective in responding to changing needs, focuses effort on only items at the top, helps communication 2) Limitations - Large ones can be difficult to manage, need experience to break items down into enough level of detail, lack of details in items can result in lost information over time
Data Dictionary
Purpose: Used to standardize a definition of a data element, meanings, and allowable values. Description: Also referred to as a metadata repositories - frequently used in conjunction with an ERD. Elements: 1) Data Elements 2) Primitive Data Elements - Name, aliases, values/meanings, description 3) Composite Elements - Sequences (ordering of elements), repetitions (can values be repeated?), optional elements Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Shared understanding of relevant information, single repository promotes use of data across organization consistently 2) Limitations - Needs regular maintenance (time & effort), unless considered up-front it may be difficult to apply across the enterprise
Financial Analysis
Purpose: Used to understand financial aspects. Description: Assessment of expected financial viability, stability, and benefit realization. Elements: 1) Cost of the Change 2) Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) 3) Value Realization - Over time 4) Cost Benefit Analysis 5) Financial Calculations - ROI, Discount Rate, Present Value, Net Present Value, IRR, Payback Period Usage Considerations: 1) Strengths - Enables objective comparison of options, assumptions are documented, reduces uncertainty 2) Limitations - Some costs/benefits are difficult to quantify financially, always some degree of uncertainty, may not include all information needed to understand situation