Using business analysis techniques have the following benefits: Techniques can be applied with no/little reliance on business knowledge as it provides a structure to follow and provides guidance on the questions to be asked. Cross transferable across companies and industries. Usually internationally recognised standardised formats and notation. Saves time as same technique can be re-used each time without… Read More »
With the Business Analysis Conference Europe 2017 being hosted in London on the 25-27 September this article sets out the reasons why attending a conference might be of benefit. It can be used to decide whether attending a conference is right for you and pointers for building a business case if you need your company to pay for… Read More »
One of the benefits of having a business analyst on the team is that they can ensure what has been discussed and agreed is written down to ensure a common consensus and understanding. They can also ensure there is no ambiguity or gaps by elicitation from all impacted stakeholders, other sources of information and conducting analysis. However, all… Read More »
When is the technique applicable Mind maps are a visual picture for capturing information that relates to a central topic. Examples of situations where mind maps can be useful are: New to the subject area and wish to understand more about it Have some gaps in knowledge of the subject area To help with identifying scenarios / concepts… Read More »
Key performance indicators are a method for setting out criteria for measuring performance and understanding success. When is the technique applicable They can be defined for a number of reasons: To assess performance of current state To determine whether future state has been achieved or whether further action required To identify whether business objectives have been achieved To… Read More »
Purpose of Business analysis approach The purpose of the business analysis approach document is to set out the business analysis involvement for the work concerned to set expectations, to feed into a wider plan and gain agreement on the deliverables. When to put together a Business Analysis approach document This could be put together as part of the… Read More »
During the early stages of a project or change assessment one of the challenges is getting the time and information you need from stakeholders so you can elicit, document and gain consensus of the processes and requirements from them. Reasons why this can be difficult is: You might not be their manager and they don’t have to report… Read More »
In a previous article A comprehensive guide to the major Business Analyst deliverables one of the first deliverables in a project or before a project is agreed is known as a business case. Other names that are used with similar content to a business case are Vision document or Feasibility study. The latter tends to have more detail in… Read More »
You have the vision of what the project is about and some high-level objectives. If not refer to the article around how to identify scope. The correct stakeholders have been identified and have turned up for the meeting with you to discuss their requirements. However in the meeting you aren’t getting much information and nothing has been written… Read More »
It is important to ensure traceability throughout the lifecycle of the project. See diagram below for some of the main reasons for this. Traceability has several lenses that occur throughout the project lifecycle. Here is a list of some of lenses to be considered for ensuring traceability: Business Requirements trace back to the scope, objectives, problem statement and… Read More »