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

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

POST-IMPLEMENTATIONBusiness Analysts feed back to the Owner how well their

measure of success has been achieved

Owners defines measures of success and $targets

…Business Analysts confirm & document

Strategists determine the strategy to hit the targets…Business Analysts help do market research, create strategy, challenge & documentSponsors

establish a Programme that delivers the strategy…Business Analysts document Programme TOR

and help build the Business Case

Programme ManagersInstitute Projects that implement the programme…Business Analysts document the Project TOR

Project Stakeholders…Business Analysts specify requirements for

Projects (in the Business Model)

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

Project managersImplement solution

…Business Analysts help with-Process and data migration

-Cutover planning-Rollout

Solution Builders & Businesstest solution…Business Analysts ensure tested against requirements

Solution Builders build solution

…Business Analysts protect requirements & document compromises

UsersAccept solution…Business Analysts help with-$MEASURING $BENEFITS $REALISATION

Setting the scene: scope of the Business Analyst role

$Money!

…involving up to 10 groups of people…

Stakeholders

Drivers

Objectives Objectives Objectives Objectives Objectives

Drivers Drivers Drivers

ChangeRequirements

ChangeRequirements

ChangeRequirements

ChangeRequirements

ChangeRequirements

Chain Of Reasoning:

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

Stakeholders

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

The problems / opportunities that the business face

The measures and targets that will enable us to declare the

change project has been successful

Driver

ProjectObjective

ChangeRequirement

Business Rule

Addressed asmeasured by

Delivered by

Enforces

Definitions of what changes are required that will affect the measures of success

(objectives) sufficiently for the project to be declared successful

What rules must be implemented by the changes specified in the

requirements

Description

How to forge links in the Chain Of Reasoning

Problem / opportunity analysis

SMART objectives

Business…Functional…

Non-functional…

…high level…mid level

Process modelProcess specification

Non-functional specificationsData model

Attribute specification

…low level

Driver

ProjectObjective

ChangeRequirement

Business Rule

Addressed asmeasured by

Delivered by

Enforces

Specific – there is a precise definition of the objectiveMeasurable – there are units that the objective will be measured inAchievable – the measures can be achieved ‘in the real world’Relevant –this project will actually affect this objectiveTo-die-for – the project has failed if it does not achieve the objective

Analysis products

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

Driver

ProjectObjective

ChangeRequirement

Business Rule

Addressed asmeasured by

Delivered by

Enforces

ProblemsOpportunitiesThreatsConstraints

Agile “product backlog”7 types of ISEB requirements6 types if IIBA requirements

VisionBenefitTarget

Agile “product backlog”More process and data modelling

than you can shake a stick at

AKA…

EXAMPLE way of documenting…

Problem / opportunity analysis Driver

Problem / opportunity analysis

SMART objectives

EXAMPLE way of documenting…

Driver

ProjectObjective

Addressed asmeasured by

EXAMPLE way of documenting…

Problem / opportunity analysis

SMART objectives

Business…Functional…

Non-functional…

…high level…mid level

Driver

ProjectObjective

ChangeRequirement

Addressed asmeasured by

Delivered by

EXAMPLE way of documenting…

Problem / opportunity analysis

SMART objectives

Business…Functional…

Non-functional…

…high level…mid level

Process modelProcess specification

Non-functional specificationsData model

Attribute specification

…low level

Driver

ProjectObjective

ChangeRequirement

Business Rule

Addressed asmeasured by

Delivered by

Enforces

EXAMPLE PROCESS RULES

ConductTraining

Time to startTraining course

ProvideBA support

MonitorAnalysis

quality

BA requestssupport

Analysis Phase Of Projectconcludes

A BA can request one of 4 types of support:1. Phone or email based query about a specific point2. Informal review of a project deliverable3. Formal review of full set of project deliverables4. Facilitated workshop of how to apply analysis to a specific project

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 problemInformal reviews of project deliverables will be done by email and will only discuss the technicalities of Business Analysis in relation

to the documentFormal 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 siteFacilitated 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.

Process execution rules

Process dependency rules

1. Who is interacts with process2. Where they are3. Availability of process4. Volumetrics5. Performance of process6. Security & Authorisation levels

Non-functional Rules

Course

Delegate

AnalysisDeliverable

Attends

Supplies

EXAMPLE DATA RULES

Support Type

Data relationship rules

receives

1. Who is allowed access to the data?2. How long must this data be kept?3. How many instances of it must be supported?

Non-Functional Rules

Attributes1. Name 2. Start Date3. Course duration

Attributes1. Name 2. Contact details

Attributes1. Name 2. Content3. Review feedback

Attributes1. Name 2. Description

Course.Start DateDefinition: the date/time the course is scheduled to startData type: NumericSize: 12Domain: DatetimeData rules: • Format is DD/MM/YYYY HH:MM• When created must be in the future• Cannot be a Saturday or Sunday or Bank Holiday

Data content rules

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

to implemented solutions

• It doesn’t 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 processprocess models & process non-

functional

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?