TOPIC 1 Business Analysis
FOUNDATIONAL CONCEPTS
Overview
Many people are unaware of the business
analysis discipline; many individuals become
business analysts or almost unintentionally start
doing business analysis, and have never thought
of it as a disciplined collection of expertise,
skills and techniques. And managers and SMEs
who deal with those unintentional BAs often
have no idea that a discipline exists, or that
working regardless of title can provide so much
value.
The entire spectrum of business analysis is
covered by Fundamentals of Business Analysis:
before, during and after a solution to a business
problem is introduced, and often involves
business analysis of businesses. It is a broad and
shallow summary to facilitate an understanding
of the value that business analysis offers in
terms of strategy implementation, both doing the
right job and doing the right job.
This basic course explores the entire enterprise
and how business analysis is used to express and
prioritize business needs, identify and analyze
solution options , make recommendations,
describe the scope of the solution, handle
requirements within a project, support a solution
once it is in place, ensure that business priorities
are met and continually enhance the solution
It may be interesting to take this course for
managers, company subject matter experts,
developers, project managers, junior business
analysts, and everyone else responsible for
delivering value through project- and program-
based work.
Business Analysis - is a research discipline in
which business needs are identified and
solutions to business problems are identified. A
software-systems development portion is often
included in solutions, but can also consist of
process enhancement, organizational change or
strategic planning and policy development. The
person who performs this role is called a
company analyst or BA.
Company analysts are not only working on
software systems growth. But operate around
the enterprise, in collaboration with business
partners, solving business problems. Although
much of the work that market analysts do today
relates to software development / solutions, this
stems from the continuing major changes that
corporations across the globe are undergoing in
their digitalization efforts.
During the demand discovery process, one of
the key objectives of business analysis is to
uncover unknown threats and requirements. But
as many industry experts would certainly testify,
the issue of scope creep eventually occurs
sooner or later, unless specific measures are
taken to avoid it.
Tom Ewer describes scope creep on his website
as, "the mechanism by which a project expands
beyond its originally planned scale."
In their attempt to handle scope creep, project
managers are not alone; business analysts are
also worried. In most situations, things start well
enough, but as the elicitation of specifications
progresses, stakeholders will start asking for
more specifications, or may even believe that
the additional requirements they have brought to
the table fall beyond the project's reach. They
also expect the costs and delivery time period to
be the same in both situations.
The concept of scope is especially crucial to
keep the project team focused on what matters.
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Since stakeholders have different concerns and
interests, by highlighting the limits of the
research area and the project, it is important that
the BA redirect discussions and inquiries to
what matters.
By drawing "the line between what's in and
what's out for the project," Karl Wiegers
explains, context diagrams describe the scope of
a project. He adds, "The reach determines what
the product is and is not, what it will and will
not do, what it will and will not contain." Also,
for very tiny projects, it should be considered a
key deliverable, as those are most likely to
suffer from the worst form of scope creep.
The context diagram is easy to build and shows
the company organizations, external
applications, workers, clients, and suppliers that
communicate with the project, as well as the
flow of information into and out of the project
or research field.
What does it look like with a background diagram?
Context diagrams - are graphical, high-level
representations, also known as context-level
data flow diagrams or level-0 data flow diagram
that say nothing about how the system functions
internally or how it looks from the end user's
point of view. Instead, background diagrams
display the boundary between these entities
(users, software programs, or hardware
components) and the system by system, external
entities, and data flows.
"Since the 1970s, context diagrams have been
around to explain the knowledge exchanges
between users and the future business
environment, since the days of organized
business analysis and design," says Phil Vincent
in his article for Corporate Education
Community. It sets expectations among project
stakeholders precisely because a context
diagram provides a succinct high-level
summary, and forces business analysts to
determine requirements and the resources
required for their execution methodically and
thoroughly.
As a central entity influenced by external agents
or external agencies, think about your software
system or project. The goal is to display all the
entities that communicate with it outside your
system, either by receiving data from it or
transmitting data to it. It does not disclose much
about internal processes.
While, depending on the company, there are
different position descriptions, there does seem
to be a field of common ground where most
business analysts operate. It appears that the
tasks are:
Taking a holistic view of the situation to discuss
market structures. This can involve analyzing
components of organizational frameworks and
problems with employee growth, as well as
existing procedures and IT systems.
To determine behavior to facilitate the
functioning of a business method. Again, to
ensure that they are in line with any planned
process reform and IT system growth, these will
include an analysis of organizational structure
and staff development needs.
Use acceptable reporting standards to document
the business conditions for supporting the IT
framework.
In line with this, it is possible to describe the
core role of business analyst as an internal
consulting role responsible for examining
business conditions, identifying and assessing
options for enhancing business processes,
determining requirements and ensuring that
information systems are used effectively to meet
business needs.
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The context diagram can help the business
analyst limit the scope of analysis to what is
important. Identifying the information flows as
well as the agents that will affect the project also
goes a long way to helping the business analyst
understand what the requirements are, how the
business works and the extent of the
requirements elicitation effort.
Context Diagram
The Communicate Business Analysis
Information task involves (Ramos, 2019):
1. Determine Objectives: Define what reason to
prepare the Business analysis information.
Example:
• communicate about requirements and designs
to stakeholders,
• estimate quality and planning,
• evaluate alternatives,
• require formal reviews and approvals,
• define inputs to solution design,
• maintain contractual and regulatory obligations
and
• support reuse.
2. Select the Format of Communication: A
package may be developed to communicate
information clearly and in a usable format
for continuing change activities.
The package format may comprise:
• Formal Documentation: based templates used
by the organization, and provides a solid, simple
to use and long-term record of the information.
• Informal Documentation: used during a
change but are not part of a formal
organizational process.
• Presentations: involves a high-level overview
appropriate for understanding goals and to
support decision making.
3. Select Communication Platform: An
appropriate platform needs to be chosen to
communicate the Business Analysis
information.
In general, communication platforms can be:
• Group collaboration: communicate the
package to a group of important stakeholders at
the same time.
• Individual collaboration: communicate the
package to an individual stakeholder at a time.
• Non-verbal methods (e.g. Email): to
communicate the package when is not requires
verbal explanation to support it.
Is considered that the Business Analysis
Information is finally communicated when the
target stakeholders have an understanding of its
content and implications, and also the
stakeholders are engaged, understanding the
information and agreeing with the Business
Analysis Information. For this is the Business
Analyst responsibility to develop a Business
Analysis information package, with clear goals
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through an adequate format in an appropriate
platform.
Topic 2
Introduction to Strategy Analysis
What is Strategic Analysis?
In order to formulate a plan, strategic analysis
refers to the method of doing research on a
corporation and its operating environment. The
concept of strategic analysis can vary from an
academic or business viewpoint, but there are
several common factors involved in the process:
1. Identifying and reviewing data related to
the strategy of the organization
2. Defining the internal and external
environments that need to be
investigated
3. Using several analytic methods such as
Porter’s five forces analysis, SWOT
analysis and Value Chain analysis,
What is Strategy?
A strategy is a plan of actions taken by
managers to accomplish the overall purpose of
the organization and other subsidiary objectives.
The success of a business is also decided by it.
"A business is basically asking itself in
strategy," Where do you want to play and how
are you going to win? A high-level summary of
the business plan, its execution, and the
processes leading to business success is given in
the following guide.
Vision, Mission, and Values
To develop a business strategy, a company
needs a very well-defined understanding of what
it is and what it represents. Strategists need to
look at the following:
Vision – What it wants to achieve in the
future (5-10 years)
Mission Statement – What business a
company is in and how it rallies people
Values – The fundamental beliefs of an
organization reflecting its commitments
and ethics
Strategists will help the company undertake a
strategic review after having a clear
understanding of the vision, purpose, and values
of the company. The aim of a strategic analysis
is to assess the external and internal climate of
an organization, evaluate current strategies, and
generate and evaluate the strategic alternatives
that are most effective.
Strategic Analysis Process
The following infographic demonstrates the
strategic analysis process:
1. Conduct an environmental study of
emerging policies
A business needs to complete an
environmental review of its existing
strategies starting from the outset.
Considerations of the internal climate
include concerns such as organizational
inefficiencies, productivity of workers, and
financial difficulties constraints.
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 Considerations of the external world include
political developments, economic changes,
and adjustments in consumer preferences.
2. Determine the utility of current initiatives
In the prevailing market climate, a primary
goal of a strategic review is to assess the
efficacy of the existing strategy. Strategists
have to ask themselves questions like: Is our
plan failing or succeeding? Can we fulfil our
stated objectives? Does our approach fit our
vision, mission, and values?
3. Formulate schedules
If "No" or "Unsure" is the answer to the
questions asked in the evaluation stage, we
undergo a planning stage where strategic
solutions are suggested by the organization.
Strategists may recommend ways of
maintaining lower costs and leaner
operations. Changes in capital structure,
changes in supply chain management, or
some other solution to a business method are
possible strategic alternatives.
4. Recommend and incorporate the most
feasible solution
Finally, we get a recommendation after
reviewing tactics and suggesting
alternatives. We opt to execute the most
feasible and quantitatively profitable
approach after reviewing all potential
strategic alternatives. We replicate the whole
process iteratively after generating a
recommendation. It is important to adopt,
review and re-assess strategies. Since
business environments are not static, they
must shift.
Strategy Stages
In terms of scale, strategic plans include three
levels:
1. (Portfolio) Corporate Level
Corporate planning at the highest level
requires high-level strategic choices that can
help a corporation retain a competitive edge
and stay sustainable in the near future. A
company's corporate-level decisions are all-
encompassing.
2. Business-grade
Business-level options are at the median
strategy level. To help the organization
achieve a competitive edge in its own
industry or other sectors, the business-level
approach focuses on market position.
3. Operational-level
Functional-level decisions are at the lowest
level. They concentrate on operations within
and amongst various functions, aimed at
increasing the overall company's
effectiveness. The focus of these methods is
on unique roles and classes.
STRATEGIC PLANNING
Strategic planning includes the mechanisms for
identifying priorities and designing plans to
achieve those priorities. A strategy is a long-
term action plan aimed at achieving a clear
purpose, as distinguished from strategies or
quick actions with resources at hand.
The aim of strategic or long-range planning is to
enable the organization to set goals and to better
serve the needs of the stakeholders. A strategic
plan must be versatile and realistic and still
function as a roadmap for program execution,
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reviewing how these programs are going, and, if
necessary, making changes.

A strategic plan must represent the developers'

thoughts, emotions, ideas, and wants and shape
them into an integrated document together with
the intent, task, and regulations of the
organization. The creation of a strategy involves
a great deal of testing, debate, and analysis of
the opinions of the leaders responsible for the
planning of the strategy. More often than not,
though, the layout of the strategy is less difficult
than the execution is.

In essence, execution takes apart a strategy and

diffuses it within an enterprise. The strategy
must then be approved by any unit within the
company concerned, agreed to its course, and
concrete actions enforced. In order to execute a
plan effectively and efficiently, all people
involved in its execution must work as a whole
or the plan is doomed to fail.

In this sense, long-range / strategic planning

identifies consequences that are expected to
occur. Strategic planning attempts to generate
more favorable future outcomes by either

Adjusting existing programs and proceedings in

order to produce more desirable performance in
the external world

Or by manipulating the world outside. It may

be more difficult to accomplish the latter. In
business, strategic planning may provide a
general direction for a company's strategic
management or provide clear direction in such
areas as:

Marketing campaign Marketing strategy

Human properties
Tactics for organizational growth
Deployments of information technology
Economic techniques