Class 1: Introduction to Business Analysis

What are the 3 essential characteristics of tasks?

1. Accomplishes a result that *creates value for the organization* 2. Is complete - *outputs should be able to be performed by a different person or group* 3. An *essential part of the purpose of the knowledge area* with which it is associated.

Requirement

A condition or a capability needed by a stakeholder to solve a problem or achieve an objective. A condition or a capability that must be possessed by a solution, or a solution component to meet a contract, standards, specifications, or other formally imposed document.

Solution

A set of changes to the current state of an organization that are made in order to enable an organization to meet a business need, solve a problem, take advantage of an opportunity. Examples include a software application, business processes, outsourcing, changes to business rules, redefining job roles or any other way of creating a capability needed by an organization.

What is business analysis?

A set of tasks and techniques used to work as liaison among stakeholders in order to understand the structure, policies and operations of an organization and to recommend solutions to enable the organization to achieve its goals. It involves (IEAAM): • *Identification* of business problems • *Elicitation* of needs and constraints from stakeholders • *Analysis* of stakeholder needs to define requirements for a solution • *Assessment* and validation of potential and actual solutions • *Management* of the "product" or requirements scope The resulting projects and initiatives may focus on systems development, process improvement, organizational change, or some combination of the three.

What are business requirements?

Described the needs of the organization as a whole, not groups of stakeholders within it. They are the higher level statements of goals, objectives or needs of the enterprise. They describe why project is to be undertaken, what objectives the project will achieve and what metrics is to be used to measure the success of the project. They are developed and defined through business analysis.

What are business analysis knowledge areas?

Knowledge Areas: 1. Business Analysis Planning and Monitoring. 2. Elicitation. 3. Requirements Management And Communication. 4. Enterprise Analysis. 5. Requirements Analysis. 6. Solution Assessment and Validation 7. Underlying Competencies.

What are the essential skills of a BA?

Skills: Analytical thinking (see the big picture, but also being very detail oriented) People skills Strong technical Awareness Constant Improvement Creativity

What is the business analysts role?

Someone who *role* is to work as a liaison among stakeholders in order to understand the structure, policies, and operations of an organization, and to recommend solutions that enable the organization to achieve its goals.

An overview of "tasks" under the business analysis body of knowledge.

Tasks to accomplish the purpose of knowledge area. Under the business analysis body of knowledge, each task has a purpose, description, input, elements, techniques, stakeholders and outputs.

Synthesis

The combining of the constituent elements of separate material or abstract entities into a single or unified entity (put together)

Analysis

The separating of any material or abstract entity into its constituent elements (pull apart)

What are the functional requirements?

These *describe the capabilities that the system will be able to perform* in terms of behaviors or operations-specific information technology application actions or responses.

What a non-functional requirements?

These are also known as quality or supplementary requirements. These *do not directly relate to functionality or capability of the system but rather describe the environmental conditions under which the system must remain effective* or the qualities that the system should have. These can relate to requirements relating to capacity, speed, availability, security and presentation of user interface.

What a stakeholder requirements?

These are the requirements of a specific stakeholder or a group of stakeholders. These define how a stakeholder will interact with a solution or a solution component. These act as a bridge between the business requirements and the solution requirements. These are developed and refined through requirements analysis.

What are transition requirements?

These describe the capabilities that the solution must have in order to facilitate the *transition from the current state to the desired future state*, but will not be required after the transition is complete. They are differentiated from other requirements because they are temporary in nature and cannot be developed until both the existing solution and the new solution are defined. Examples include data conversion requirements, skill gaps that must be addressed. These are defined and developed through solution assessment and validation.

What are solution requirements?

These describe the characteristics of a solution that meets the business requirements and stakeholder requirements. These are frequently divided into subcategories, particularly when the requirements describe a software solution requirements: 1. Functional Requirements 2. Non-Functional Requirements These are defined and developed through requirements analysis.

What are some of the things that the business analyst must do?

Things business analyst must do: 1. Analyze and synthesize information provided by a large number of people who interact with the organization. 2. Eliciting the actual needs of the business users as opposed to their expressed desires. 3. Aligning business needs to the capabilities provided by information technology. 4. Serving as a translator between business and IT.

One of the key objectives of business analysis is to ensure that requirements are

Visible to and understood by all stakeholders.