Business Analysis Careers

6/28/2019
Business Analysis
Business Analysis Careers

Business analysis job profiles can be organized into:
Generalists, Specialists or Hybrids
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Generalists
• Competent across all areas of business analysis
• Uses a variety of techniques in initiatives of varying
scope and circumstances
• Found at various levels in the organization

Generalists
• Competent across all areas of business analysis
• Uses a variety of techniques in initiatives of varying
scope and circumstances
• Found at various levels in the organization
Specialists
• Possesses solid or advanced subject matter
expertise in specific areas
• Applies a more focused set of techniques
with greater levels of expertise to potentially
resolve extremely complex business
problems
• May be at any level of experience
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Hybrids
• Demonstrates some degree of competency across a
more limited set of knowledge areas or tasks
• Requires a % of competency in business analysis and
some other % of a specific business discipline
• Performs multiple roles: a “jack of all trades”
PMI and IIBA for the Business Analyst
• PBA started 2015 • CBAP, CCBA

• Business Analysis for • Business Analysis
Practitioners: A Body of Knowledge
Practice Guide (BABOK)
• PMBOK
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Compare Knowledge Areas/Domains

PMI – Practice Guide IIBA - BABOK
Needs Assessment Business Analysis Planning &
Monitoring
Planning Elicitation & Collaboration
Requirement Life Cycle

Elicitation & Analysis Management
Strategy Analysis
Traceability & Monitoring
Requirements Analysis & Design
Definition
Evaluation
Solution Evaluation
The Issue
• BA and PM serve in critical leadership roles
• When these roles work in partnership and collaborate effectively together,
a project will have a much higher chance of being successful
• Relationship between the two is not always optimally aligned and,
consequently a division between the roles performing these activities
occurs.
• Instead of building a close partnership, the roles work independently and at
times at odds with one another.
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Why It Matters
#6 Stop churn
#5 Promote teamwork
#4 Better scope & change management
#3 Ensure work efforts are not duplicated
#2 Project success & organizational success
#1 Personal success & career advancement
Contributing Factors
• Shared Methodologies / Framework
• Organization Roles and Titles
• Common Competencies / Skills
• Body of Knowledge Overlap
• Competing Professional Associations
• Project and Product Requirements Mix
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Common Tools
RACI Traceability Matrix Functional Decomposition
Item Tracking for Issues, Defects, Decisions, etc.
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Common Competencies
• Analytical & Problem Solving
• Behavioral Characteristics
• Business Knowledge
• Communication Skills
• Interaction Skills
• Tools and Technology
• Organization & Ethics
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Triple Bonus
Technical
Time
People Skills
Cost Scope Strategic Leadership
•EQ
•Communication
•Leadership
Data Skills Time Skills

•Excel •Meeting
•Pivot •Agenda/Minutes
•SQL •Timebox (e.g. Agile)
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Needs Assessment
• Stakeholder Identification
• Item Tracking (Issue, Risk, Assumptions, etc.)
• Estimating Benefits and Costs
• Build the Business Case / Charter
• Stakeholder Analysis
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Business Drivers
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IT as a enabler to unlock biz value

To become global powerhouses, Organization Biz value created Technology
companies invest in Driver/enabler
• Global e-business DELL Greater organization Internet based value chain

flexibility
• E-commerce
GE Inter enterprise cost Marketplace
• Other IT initiatives rationalization
Business managers and professionals need Capital One Innovation (new Data warehousing and
to understand to manage this vital products) mining
organizational function Walmart Process flexibility Multi-tier EDI, Data
warehouse
• Global Biz drivers SKF Increase of scope Remote sensing
• Competitive or environmental forces drive and service
business requirements
AT & T Increased employee VPN
• Examples of global drivers: productivity
• Customers
Pfizer Improved partner Knowledge management
• Products
productivity tools
• Operations
• Resources NHS Improved quality Knowledge management
service tools
• Collaboration
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Business/IT Planning
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Case Study # 1: Transformation of Supply Chain with E-Business Technologies

• Organization - The European subsidiary of a leading global manufacturer of food-
grain and agricultural chemicals
• The Challenge
• Need to reduce supply chain costs
• Reduce the costs “hidden” in the extended supply chain
• Integrate business with technology to improve effectiveness of supply
chain
• Benchmark against “best-of-breed” in industry
• Need to achieve maximum impact from limited e-Business budget
• Identify Quick Wins with short payback
• Leverage latest technologies for communication and e-Business to achieve
greater integration with vendors, customers and logistics & transportation
partners
• Better integration among internal systems to support and streamline supply
chain processes
• Build internal consensus regarding future direction
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Define & prioritize initiatives to streamline the supply chain processes

and create an implementation roadmap
The Approach
Diagnosis Analysis Synthesis
Identify Quick Wins
Review ‘As Assess SCM

Identify and Define
Is’ Supply Pain/ eBusiness
Prioritize
Chain and Opportunity roadmap
Initiatives
Initiatives Points
• ‘As-Is’ state for key High Level IT Architecture • Business case analysis
supply chain processes
& payback calculations
• Inventory and • SCM “pain points” and value • Phased implementation
description of identified creation opportunities roadmap including
initiatives
• Key SCM trends & B2B focus areas time, cost and resource
• Benchmarking of budgets
supply chain e-maturity • Prioritized initiatives and Quick Wins
against industry peers • High level IT architecture
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Implement prioritized initiatives and build supporting architecture in

phases
eSupply Chain Within the eSupply Chain With Business
The Response Organization Partners
• Lay the foundations of future
• Reduce supply chain costs
growth
• Attain supply chain excellence
Enterprise Production Finished Goods B2B with B2B with
Application Scheduling Movement Suppliers Transporters
Integration
Demand Supply
Salesman Client Client
Demand
Applications
Extranet Transport
Territory Planner
Forecast
& Plan B2B
EAI B2B
Transport Order to Order to

Production cash cash
Plan
Scheduling
Application
Suppliers Transporters
Producti
on Plan
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Case Study # 2 : IT effectiveness in a large Telco
Insights
• Based on the data available and
stakeholder interviews, Telco was •$1,000
assessed between Levels 1 and 2 on the •$900
CMM Maturity scale •$800
•$700
•Million AUD
• Telco spent £300-400M1 due to poor IT •$600
effectiveness •$500
• Telco IT effectiveness was •$400
conservatively equated to “Average in •$300
Class” on the Capers-Jones productivity •$200
benchmarks scale •$100
•$0
• Capers-Jones Productivity benchmarks Telco •Best
for the “Best in Class” were used to
arrive at the extra spend ( based on •Development •Maintenance
current IT Delivery & Maintenance
Budget2 ) • These estimates of expected overspend are based on IT
1 Does not include Operations, Infrastructure, Internal IT staff costs
Effectiveness and not on any unit cost differentials
2 Current IT Delivery & Maintenance Budget excluding spend on
Redundant applications $891 M
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Case Study # 2 : IT effectiveness in a large Telco
… And faced the risk of being caught in a vicious circle of poor IT

effectiveness due to continued business pressures
Implication: Lower IT Effectiveness
Likely Telco response • Lesser money to invest in application

rationalization
Reduction in
investment spend • Lower investment in crucial infrastructure
Cut in projects (without immediate benefits)
discretionary
IT Expenditure • Cutting back existing implementation plans
Arbitrary cuts in will have cascading effect on IT efficiency
budgeted
expenditure • Compromise on lifecycle activities that will
reduce delivery reliability
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Case Study # 3 : Flawless Execution To Install Complex Financial System
Flawless Execution of Oracle Financials

• Replace outdated financial system and build a
foundation for future growth.
- Increase flexibility & back-office efficiencies
One Of USA’s Leading Fashion
- Foundation for better controls and rules
Specialty Retailer
- More manageable chart of accounts
• Over 100 years in business
- Greater reporting flexibility
• 132 US Stores, located in 25 states
• 23 International Boutiques,
• A key milestone in Client’s business transformation
primarily in Europe
- Foundation for integration with Retail Inventory
• Online presence and direct mail
and Merchandising systems
catalogs
• Relying on knowledge and expertise from 10-year
old relationship to minimize business impact of the
program.
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Stages of Information systems development

Preliminary
Investigation
Initiation • Scope of study
• Reasons • Conducting investigation –
• Planning Methodologies review org. documents &
• Sources of project requests – conducting interviews
department managers, senior • Project feasibility –
executives, systems analysts, operational, technical,
outside groups economic,
Project Review and Selecting development

Selection Strategy
• Steering Committee method • End-user approach
• Information systems • Institutional approach
committee method
• User-group Committee
• Portfolio direction
• Integrating application
portfolio
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Initiation - Reasons for IT Projects

• Capability
• Greater processing speed – calculate, sort, and retrieve data and information
• Increased volume –process a greater amount of activity; advantage of new biz
opportunities;
• Faster Information retrieval – locating and retrieving information from storage.
Complex searches
• Control
• Improved accuracy and consistency – computing steps – arithmetic correctly and
consistently
• Better security – safeguard sensitive information; authorization; access
• Communication
• Enhance communication – flow of information;
• Integrate business areas – coordinate business areas
• Cost
• Cost monitoring –track the cost against plan
• Cost reduction – computing capability to process data at a lower cost
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Initiation - Reasons for IT Projects contd.

• Competitive advantage
• Lock-in customers – changing the relationship with and services
provided in such a way that customers do not change suppliers
• Lock-out competition – use usage of information systems creates
better value-proposition and competitors cannot replicate
• Improve arrangements with suppliers – changing price, service, or
delivery arrangements or relationships between suppliers and
organizations to benefit the firm
• New product development – introduce new products with
characteristics that use or are influenced by IT.
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Initiation - Strategic business requirements

• Establishes the overall set of strategic business requirements (business
case) that translate into high level information requirements
• Forms the basis for scoping the programme
• Strategic business vision
• Strategic critical success factors (CSFs)
• Strategic key performance indicators (KPIs)
• Strategic success measures
• Strategic change drivers
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Initiation - Strategic business vision

• Defines what organization wishes to achieve in the Future-State
• Done by interviewing executives via scripts to capture
• Business objectives
• Competitive forces of concern
• Differentiation and positioning statements
• Major customers, buying habits and cycles
• Major suppliers and incentives
• Major competitors, substitutes and discriminators
• Industry and historical supply chains
• Success factors
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Initiation - Business blueprint

• Final strategic analysis and synthesis of business assessment work
• Completes and formalises the business vision
• Completion of business blueprint results in
• Prioritized requirements
• Programme plan
• Business case
• Programme blueprint
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Initiation – Planning information systems

2. Computer architecture strategic
1. Business Systems planning (IBM) planning
• Organization modelling • Development of strong technical
• Value proposition analysis architecture
• Value chain analysis 3. Critical success factors
• Organization diagrams • Identify areas that are key to an
• Business process analysis organization’s survival
• Business event analysis • Ensure these areas are
• Business process modelling incorporated into IS.
• Business rules analysis
• Determining requirements -
Decision tables and decision trees
• Business change identification
• Gap analysis
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Organization Modelling
• Value proposition
• Consider customers, owners, and partners
• Categories are timing, financial, and quality
• Total value and cost of a release
• Balancing different requirement types; (requirement
cost; value dependencies between requirements)
• Trade-off between market pull and technology push
(technical dependency and value dependencies
between requirements)
• Value chain analysis
• Porter’s value chain
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Organization Modelling contd.
Organisation diagram • Alignment of internal processes

• Political, Economic, Social, and external process
Technology, Environment, and • Examine biz processes
Legal • Understand biz events, biz
• Technological suppliers processes and process hierarchy
• Resources – People, capital, • Assists analysts in setting out
material area of work, basis for process
• Owners related areas and supporting
prioritization of process
• Partners improvement efforts
• Customers
• Competitors
• Internal process
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Biz process analysis - Biz process modelling
• Also known as process maps or

swim-lane diagrams
• Process maps contain business
events, tasks, actors, flow of tasks,
decisions, outcomes, timeline for the
process
• Used for
• As-is process
• Understand the process and
identify the problems
• Basis for process improvements.
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Biz process analysis - Biz process modelling contd.

Process performance measures
• Measures to contribute to the customer’s value
proposition
• Identifying value proposition – Total value and cost of
release
• define performance measures for each task
• Define performance measure for the entire process
• Ensure that individual tasks collectively meet the
performance measure of the process.
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Biz process – Biz rules analysis
• Legal and regulatory constraints

• Organizational policy constraints
• Operational parameters
• Biz rules and modelling data
• Biz rules govern aspects such as items of data that can be grouped
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Requirements Stages
Requirements Planning
• Stakeholder Analysis,
Complexity, Engagement Requirements
• Business Analysis Estimating & Traceability & Requirements
Planning
• Requirement and Change
Monitoring Evaluation
Management • Traceability Matrix • Consistent/Complementary
• Lesson Learned • Traceability (Deliverables) Testing/Evaluation
• Traceability • Traceability • Track Metrics
• Communication Plan (Code/Environment) • Signoff
• Identifying Resources (SME) • Change Management • Prioritize Long-Term
(RACI) Change Impact Analysis Performance Monitoring
Requirements Requirements
Determination Verification/Validation
• Anticipation • Reviews
• Elicitation (investigation) • Prototype
• Analysis • Model validation
• Specification • Acceptance tests
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Biz Analysis framework

What
Plan
Initiate Execute
Formulate
AS Understand the biz
Gather information
OR
requirements
Ensure shared Formulate how Ensure operational TO
Plan the requirements OR
needs and strategic understanding of requirements will be acceptance of
IS direction
development process Requirements
investigation or
Requirements
analysis &
requirements implemented implementation
BE
elicitation
specification
Manage
Requirements determination – Close
• anticipation (foresee based on exp),
Change
• investigation (elicitation),
• analysis( or structured analysis – DFD),
• specification – identify and specify Execute
systems requirements (incomplete
specifications, ambiguity in processes or
areas where controls are weak or missing)
Where
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Biz Analysis
Needs hierarchy Explanation of hierarchy Relevant method
component
Project Understanding of ‘AS IS’ situation and the desire or
need to ‘TO BE’ situation
Project definition
High Idea
level Objective – establish the goals that change needs to
Drivers
What OBJ achieve (measurable) Stakeholders
Who Commitment
Why Initial Scope – sets the boundaries to change to ensure ‘AS IS’ situation
When Scope that objectives will be addressed – what’s in and what’s ‘TO BE’ situation
out Boundaries
Where
Time
Deliv Time objective

Deliverables – what is expected to be achieved by implementing
erable the change. Biz processes & procedures to support XYZ
Budget
s
Low Requirements – statements that define what needs to be provided by a Requirements

solution to achieve the deliverables
level REQ Specific; Measurable;
Refined scope – review the validation of the ‘initial scope’ as a result
what of formulating requirements classifiable
Low Functional requirements – describe the behavior of the requirements that Functional Requirements
level FUNC solution needs to manage Detailed; Process;
REQ Performance criteria – what is to be used to judge solution
how Biz rules – Describe the governance that must be applied
Governance; outcome
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What
Plan
Initiate Execute
Formulate
Gather information
OR
requirements
IS direction
investigation or
Requirements
analysis &
BE
elicitation
specification
Manage
Close
Change
Execute
Where
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What
Plan
Initiate Execute
Formulate
Gather information
OR
requirements
IS direction
investigation or
Requirements
analysis &
BE
elicitation
specification
Manage
Change
Where
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What
Plan
Initiate Execute
Formulate
Gather information
OR
requirements
IS direction
investigation or
Requirements
analysis &
BE
elicitation
specification
Manage
Change
• Analysis (or structured analysis – DFD),
Where
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Requirements elicitation or gathering

• Fact finding techniques
• Interviewing techniques
• Questionnaire
• Record review
• Observation
• Documenting procedures and decisions
• Decision trees
• Decision tables
• Structured English
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What
Plan
Initiate Execute
Formulate
Gather information
OR
requirements
IS direction
investigation or
Requirements
analysis &
BE
elicitation
specification
Manage
Change
areas where controls are weak or
missing)
Where
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Requirements analysis
Structured analysis
• Data flow analysis
Context diagram (defines system, process, and boundaries); Define Process chart (activities in the
process); Develop 1st level physical DFD; Detail the DFD
• Data flow diagrams – concentrate on data moving in the system not on devices or equipment
• Physical data flow diagrams (How part) – actual implementation and movement of data between people, departments,
and workstations
• Logical data flow diagrams (what part) – business events and the data required for each event
HR department biz events – write JD, job posting, advertise, receive applications, alert hiring managers, update files, track
process changes and so forth.
Different software platforms vary based in different versions of the physical DFD helping to reveal the best solution
• Data dictionary – logical characteristics of current systems data stores, including name,
description, aliases, contents, and organization.
• Data Structure diagram – pictorial description of relationship between entities. Relationships
are sequence, selection, iteration and optional.
• Structure charts – relationships between program modules.
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Modeling approaches
• Scenario-based: user interaction
with system
• Use-case: descriptions of the
interaction
• Data-based: data objects in system
• ER (entity-relation) Diagrams
• Class-based: data+methods
• OO, Class diagrams, implied by
scenarios
• Behavioral-based: how external
events change system
• State, sequence diagram
• Flow-based: information
transforms
• Data flow, control flow diagrams
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Modeling for WebApps
Content Analysis. the content is identified, including

text, graphics and images, video, and audio data.
Interaction Analysis. The manner in which the user
interacts with the WebApp is described in detail.
Functional Analysis. The usage scenarios (use-cases)
created as part of interaction analysis define the
operations that will be applied to WebApp content and
imply other processing functions.
Configuration Analysis. The environment and
infrastructure in which the WebApp resides are
described in detail. Server-client side.
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Quality Function Deployment

A technique of translating customer needs into Function deployment: determines the
technical system requirements: “value” (as perceived by the customer) of
• Normal requirements: reflect stated customer each function required of the system
goals and objectives
• Expected requirements: implicit to the Information deployment: identifies data
product or system; their absence will cause
significant customer dissatisfaction objects and events, ties them to functions
• Exciting requirements: featured going
beyond customer expectations, causing Task deployment: examines the behavior
customer euphoria (;-) of the system
• concentrate on maximizing customer
satisfaction Value analysis: determines the relative
priority of requirements
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Requirements specification
Software Requirements Specification
• All necessary requirements (both functional and NFR) required for project
development
• Include use cases of how user will interact with the software system
• SRS details interactions with internal modules, hardware, communication with other
programs, human user interactions with wide variety of real life scenarios.
• SRS used to create Test Plan.
• Specifying application requirements – perception of requirements analysis of facts
(capacity, control, information accessibility, complexity); identification of
requirements; selection of requirements
• Objectives in designing Information system – specify logical design elements, support
biz activities, meet user requirements, easy to use, provide software applications,
design standards.
• What features must be designed – elements of design (data flows, data stores,
processes, procedures, controls, roles); Design of output, design of files; design of
database interactions; design of input
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Requirements Management
• involves managing change:

• Feature traceability: how requirements relate to observable system/product
features
• Source traceability: identifies source of each requirement
• Dependency traceability: how requirements are related to each other
• Subsystem traceability: categorizes requirements by the sub system (s) they
govern
• Interface traceability: how requirements relate to both external and internal
system interfaces
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In which phase of the whole process?
Phase 2
Phase
Phase 1
Design Phase 3 Phase 4
Develop
Information- Realization Implementation
blueprint
system
Needs Feasibilty- Functional Technical

Steps
for system study Design Design

Document
Functional Technical
Definition Feasibility Specification Specification
Requirements
Analysis
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Requirements and risks

• Requirements for complex systems – contain ambiguities; inconsistencies, fail to anticipate changes
(during and after development) – causes risks
• Risks – wrong requirements that cause
• Product failure – risk that there will be bug reports or change requests
• Abandoned development – risk that the implementation of a change request will be abandoned before
completion
• Late development – risk that the implementation will not be completed on time
• Removed feature – risk that the implementation of a change request will have to be removed from the product
• Rejection reversal – risk that a decision to reject a change request is premature and will have to be reversed.
• Early warnings of risks associated to new change requests.
• Accuracy of early warnings
• Traditionally requirements viewed as documentation – early warnings is limited
• Importance to risk mitigation tools and develop the techniques that teat them as such.
• Automatically analyze all data and meta-data associated with request management systems, requirements
artifacts (epics, themes, stories, and so forth)
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6/28/2019