Business Analysis

Business analysis is identifying the business practice, problems and suggesting the solution to overcome that problems. Solutions generally include the implementation of a system or a process which removes the existing bottle necks and make process smooth. The person who carries out this task is called a business analyst (BA).

Process

Engagement

Engagement of the key person or source is very important because it the base of first hand source of information for the business analyst. It is also because of following

• Determining the primary stakeholders to engage in defining the project’s business objectives and scope, as well as any subject matter experts to be consulted early in the project.
• Understanding the project history so that you don’t repeat work that’s already been done or rehash previously made decisions.
• Understanding the existing systems and business processes so you have a reasonably clear picture of the current state that needs to change.

Objective

Analysis is done to improve the current processes and to move to the next level. Before putting all efforts objective of all process should be very clear.

• Why: Discovering expectations from primary stakeholders – essentially discovering the “why” behind the project.
• Reconciling conflicting expectations so that the business community begins the project with a shared understanding of the business objectives and are not unique to one person’s perspective.
• Ensuring the business objectives are clear and actionable to provide the project team with momentum and context while defining scope and, later on, the detailed requirements.

Discovering the primary business objectives sets the stage for defining scope, ensuring that it don’t end up with a solution that solves the wrong problem or, even worse, with a solution that no one can even determine is successful or not.

Documentation

Documentation of scope is the boundaries and limitation of the whole process. There should be clarification between the stake holders and business analyst on the limitation of the entire process.

• Defining a solution approach to determine the nature and extent of technology and business process changes to be made as part of implementing the solution to the primary business objectives.
• Drafting a scope statement and reviewing it with your key business and technology stakeholders until they are prepared to sign-off or buy-in to the document.

Plan

Planning is the key element of the entire process as this stage gives the estimated deadlines of the entire process activation.

• Given the project scope, project methodology, and other key aspects of the project situation, choosing the most appropriate types of business analysis deliverables to create to specify the detailed requirements.
• Defining the specific list of business analysis deliverables that will completely cover the scope of the project and identifying the stakeholders who will be part of the creation and validation of each deliverable.
• Identifying the timelines for completing the business analysis deliverables.

Development

This is most important part of the process this is the actual action of the entire requirement and plan. It is the heart of the entire process. This task only be performed with the help of proper documentation of scope and better understanding.

• Implantation of the tools and technology which was decided initially for development.
• Actual resource allocation for various activities like development, management, testing etc.
• Allocation of sub task among the resources.

Implementation

This is the very curtail stage of the process as whatever decided, understood and developed will show up at this stage. During the implementation, there are many worthwhile support tasks engage that will help drive the success of the project and ensure the business objectives are met.

Your key responsibilities in this step include:

• Reviewing the solution design to ensure it fulfills all of the requirements and looking for opportunities to meet additional business needs without increasing the technical scope of the project.
• Updating and/or repackaging requirements documentation to make it useful for the technology design and implementation process.
• Providing training to the end user regarding usage of tools which is developed or the process which is implemented. This responsibility may include reviewing test plans and/or test cases to ensure they represent a clear understanding of the functional requirements.
• Creating availability to answer questions and help resolve any issues that surface during the technical design, technical implementation, or testing phases of the project.

Analyze

This is the stage which shows the success ratio of entire process after analyzing the reports which came after implementation. This is UAT phase. Analyzing part has be done very carefully as any single skip can result into big problem after solutions gets live for long time.

Enhancement

There is always a scope of improvement. After implementing a successful solution, whatever missed out and considered as nice to have features can be taken in enhancement. If enhancement is big in size then all the process will get carried again.

About Author:

Mukesh Mange is a consultant in Systems Plus Pvt. Ltd. Within Systems Plus, he actively contributes to the areas of Technology and Information Security. He can be contacted at mukesh.m@spluspl.com