THE PMI GUIDE TO BUSINESS ANALYSIS

First Edition

AHMED YOUSRY ABDELAZIZ

Nileage LLC, Portolearn

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 The environment in which BA is conducted
2.1 Overview
2.2 Enterprise Environmental Factors
2.3 Organizational Process Assets

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 1.1 Overview and Purpose of This Guide
Overview

• The two major categories of influences

o Enterprise environmental factors (EEFs)
o Organizational process assets (OPAs)

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 2.2 Enterprise Environmental Factors

• 2.2.1 External to the Organization

• 2.2.2 Internal to the Organization

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 2.2 Enterprise Environmental Factors
2.2.1 External to the Organization

• The following categories of EEFs are external to the organization and can
impact how business analysis is performed:
o Marketplace conditions.
o Social and cultural influences and issues.
o Stakeholder expectations and risk appetite.
o Legal and contractual restrictions.
o External professional standards for business analysis.

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 2.2 Enterprise Environmental Factors
2.2.1 External to the Organization

• The following categories of external EEFs primarily provide sources of

additional information to be analyzed to support product development
and enhancement.
o Commercial databases.
o Academic research.
o Government or industry standards.
o Financial considerations.
o Physical environmental elements.

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 2.2 Enterprise Environmental Factors
2.2.2 Internal to the Organization
• The following EEFs are internal to the organization.
o Organizational culture, structure, and governance.
o Stakeholder expectations and risk appetite.
o Geographic distribution of facilities and resources.
o Market research and experimentation.
o Architecture and infrastructure.
o Information technology software.
o Human resources management policies and procedures.
o Resource policies, procedures, and availability.
o Employee capability.
o Security policies, procedures, and protocols.

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 2.3 Organizational Process Assets

• 2.3.1 Processes, Policies, and Procedures

• 2.3.2 Corporate Knowledge Base
• 2.3.3 Team and Subject Matter Expert (SME) Knowledge

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 2.3 Organizational Process Assets
2.3.1 Processes, Policies, and Procedures
• An organization’s business analysis process, policy, and procedures
include:
o Guidelines and criteria.
o Specific organizational standards.
o Project life cycles.
o Templates.
o Requirements management tool procedures.
o Financial controls procedures.
o Procedures.
o Risk management templates.
o Standardized guidelines.
o Project closure guidelines or requirements.

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 2.3 Organizational Process Assets
2.3.2 Corporate Knowledge Base

• Corporate knowledge repositories are used while conducting business

analysis to store and retrieve product requirements and other product
information and business analysis practices.

• They include but are not limited to the following:

o Business knowledge repositories.
o Configuration management knowledge repositories.
o Historical information and lessons learned knowledge repositories.
o Issue and defect management data repositories.
o Data repositories for metrics.

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 2.3 Organizational Process Assets
2.3.3 Team and Subject Matter Expert (SME) Knowledge

• Product requirements and other product information may be stored in a

variety of forms such as tools, documents, notes, emails, and in the minds
of subject matter experts.
• SMEs are a rich source of
o Information, insights, and expectations for a future state.
o Long-time members of product development or product enhancement teams may
also have knowledge that is not formally documented;
• In some sense, these team members become SMEs themselves.

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 2.4 THE IMPACT OF ORGANIZATIONAL SYSTEMS

• 2.4.1 Overview.
• 2.4.2 Organizational Systems, Project Life Cycles, and Business Analysis.
• 2.4.3 How Organizations Support Business Analysis Practices.
• 2.4.4 Business Analysis Collaboration Across Organizational Functional Areas.

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 2.4 THE IMPACT OF ORGANIZATIONAL SYSTEMS

• 2.4.2 Organizational Systems, Project Life Cycles, and Business Analysis.

Internal EEFs, especially those that are examples of organizational culture, such as values
and beliefs, structure, and governance, determine many of the characteristics of an
organizational system.

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 2.4 THE IMPACT OF ORGANIZATIONAL SYSTEMS

• 2.4.3 How Organizations Support Business Analysis Practices.

– A recent PMI survey of individuals who have a role related to business analysis found the following:
– Only 18% of respondents stated that the level of maturity in their practices is considered highly mature,
optimized for continuous improvement, and established.
– An astounding 46% of all respondents believed the business analysis practices and the associated maturity
level of practices are considered not mature or operating from an ad-hoc or “getting started” perspective.

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 2.4 THE IMPACT OF ORGANIZATIONAL SYSTEMS

• 2.4.4 Business Analysis Collaboration Across Organizational Functional Areas.

The functional areas and reporting relationships within an organizational structure have a
significant impact on how business analysis is conducted as well as who participates in it
and their level of participation.

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