Bite sized training sessions:

Fundamentals of
Business Analysis

Objectives
Analyse the reasons why the fundamental
components of all Business Analysis tools
and methods must be the same
Examine fundamental components of
Business Analysis

Setting the scene: scope of the Business Analyst role

There is a chain of reasoning that leads from the statement of a problem to the implementation of solutions

involving up to
Owners
defines measures of success and $targets
Business Analysts confirm & document

10 groups of people

$Money!

Strategists
Sponsors
establish a Programme that delivers the strategy
Business Analysts document Programme TOR
and help build the Business Case

determine the strategy to hit the targets

Business Analysts help do market research, create strategy, challenge &
document

Programme Managers
Institute Projects that implement the programme
Business Analysts document the Project TOR

Project Stakeholders
Business Analysts specify requirements for
Projects (in the Business Model)

Solution Builders
build solution
Business Analysts protect requirements & document compromises

Project managers
Implement solution
Business Analysts help with
-Process and data migration
-Cutover planning
-Rollout

Design Analysts
design solution that satisfies the requirements
Business Analysts write functional specifications, protect
requirements & document compromises

Solution Builders & Business

test solution
Business Analysts ensure tested against requirements

Users
Accept solution
Business Analysts help with

-$MEASURING $BENEFITS $REALISATION

POST-IMPLEMENTATION
Business Analysts feed back to the Owner how well their
measure of success has been achieved

Chain Of
Reasoning:

Stakeholders

Drivers

Drivers

Drivers

Objectives Objectives Objectives Objectives

Objectives

Change
Requirements

Drivers

Stakeholders

Change
Requirements

Change
Requirements

Change
Requirements

Change
Requirements

Change Requirements must be assumed to be wrong until they are proved to

be right

Scope of analysis of change

requirements
Change requirements can be for (amongst
others)
Processes
Organisation units
Locations
Channel
Data
Applications
Technologies
Non-functionals
oh and the valid intersections!!!

Change Requirements
Scope - Example

We need to change how we take orders (process)

by the tele-orders team (organisation unit)
at our Leeds contact centre (location)
by phone or email (channel)
to capture alternate delivery addresses (data)
on the Chordiant system (application)
running on the intranet (technology)
and make it available 24/7/365 (non-functional).

Fundamental Components of
Business Analysis

All the Links in the Chain Of Reasoning

Description
The problems / opportunities that
the business face

Driver
Addressed as
measured by

The measures and targets that

will enable us to declare the
change project has been
successful
Definitions of what changes are required
that will affect the measures of success
(objectives) sufficiently for the project to
be declared successful

Project
Objective
Delivered by

Change
Requirement
Enforces

What rules must be implemented

by the changes specified in the Business
requirements

Rule

How to forge links in the Chain Of

Reasoning
Analysis products
Problem / opportunity analysis

Driver
Addressed as
measured by

SMART objectives

Project
Objective

Specific there is a precise definition of the objective

Measurable there are units that the objective will be measured in
Achievable the measures can be achieved in the real world
Relevant this project will actually affect this objective
To-die-for the project has failed if it does not achieve the
objective

Delivered by

Business
Functional
Non-functional

Change
Requirement

high level
mid level

Enforces

Process model
Process specification
Non-functional specifications
Data model
Attribute specification

Business Rule

low level

All methods and all approaches HAVE to cover all links in the Chain
Of Reasoning

AKA
Driver
Addressed as
measured by

Vision
Benefit
Target

Problems
Opportunities
Threats
Constraints

Project
Objective
Delivered by

Agile product backlog

Change
7 types of ISEB requirements
Requirement 6 types if IIBA requirements
Enforces

Agile product backlog

More process and data modelling Business Rule
than you can shake a stick at

EXAMPLE way of documenting

Problem / opportunity analysis

Driver

EXAMPLE way of documenting

Problem / opportunity analysis

Driver
Addressed as
measured by

SMART objectives

Project
Objective

EXAMPLE way of documenting

Problem / opportunity analysis

Driver
Addressed as
measured by

SMART objectives

Project
Objective
Delivered by

Business
Functional
Non-functional

Change
Requirement

high level
mid level

EXAMPLE way of documenting

Problem / opportunity analysis

Driver
Addressed as
measured by

SMART objectives

Project
Objective
Delivered by

Business
Functional
Non-functional

Change
Requirement

high level
mid level

Enforces

Process model
Process specification
Non-functional specifications
Data model
Attribute specification

Business Rule

low level

EXAMPLE PROCESS RULES

A BA can request one of 4 types of support:
1. Phone or email based query about a specific point
2. Informal review of a project deliverable
3. Formal review of full set of project deliverables
4. Facilitated workshop of how to apply analysis to a specific project

Process execution rules

1. In the case of phone or email query about a specific point

the BA poses the question and the training provider will provide guidance for how the technicalities of Business Analysis apply to
the problem
Informal reviews of project deliverables will be done by email and will only discuss the technicalities of Business Analysis in relation
to the document
Formal reviews will involve the BA sending the full set of Analysis deliverables to the training provider who will critique them from a
technical perspective and then deliver the feedback in a one-to-one structured feedback session on the client site
Facilitated workshops will be initiated by the BA - the training provider will supply workshop agenda and prerequisites which the BA
will use to organise the workshop. The training provider will then facilitate the workshop for the project.

Time to start
Training course

BA requests
support
Provide
BA support

Conduct
Training
Analysis Phase
Of Project
concludes

Process dependency rules

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Who is interacts with process

Where they are
Availability of process
Volumetrics
Performance of process
Security & Authorisation levels

Non-functional Rules
Monitor
Analysis
quality

EXAMPLE DATA RULES

Non-Functional Rules
1.
2.
3.

Who is allowed access to the data?

How long must this data be kept?
How many instances of it must be supported?

Course

Data content rules

Course.Start Date
Definition: the date/time the course is scheduled to start
Data type: Numeric
Size: 12
Domain: Datetime
Data rules:

Format is DD/MM/YYYY HH:MM

When created must be in the future

Cannot be a Saturday or Sunday or Bank Holiday

Attributes
1. Name
2. Start Date
3. Course duration

Attends

Attributes
1. Name
2. Contact details

Delegate

receives

Support Type

Attributes
1. Name
2. Description

Supplies

Analysis
Deliverable

Attributes
Data
1. Name
2. Content
3. Review feedback

relationship rules

Conclusions

There is a chain of reasoning that leads from the statement of a problem

to implemented solutions
It doesnt matter how you get from problem to solution what method or
approach but you will HAVE to
Define the problem being fixed (drivers)
Define how you will know they have been fixed (objectives)
Define what has to change to achieve objectives (high level requirements)
Define how big the changes have to be to achieve objectives (scope)
Define what process changes are required (process requirements)
Define what data changes are required (data requirements)

BA Q&A (I) - TOR

what factors caused this project to come in to being?

Driver analysis

how will you know the project has been successful?

smart Objectives

how big is the solution?

scope

what applications and technologies will the solution

impact

scope

what data will be migrated?

scope

where will it be able to do it?

scope

where will the solution impact?

scope

who is impacted by the solution?

scope

What changes will the project make that will deliver the
objectives?

high level functional requirements

what processes does the solution cover?

scope & high level functional

requirements

what will the solution be able to do?

high level functional requirements

BA Q&A (II) Process & Data

Models

what is the process sequence of the solution?

process models

who is involved with each process

process models & process nonfunctional

what are the rules that each process executes?

process logic

what data does each process need to be able to

execute?

process logic

how fast will each process be?

process non-functional

how many transactions must each be able to perform?

process non-functional

where will each process be used?

process non-functional

who is allowed to use each process?

process non-functional

how are all the different sets of data related to each

other?

data model

what needs to be known about each set of data?

data attributes

how long will data be kept?

data non-functional

how much data will be kept?

data non-functional

who can access what data?

data non-functional

Questions?