Business Analysis

311 Pages·2014·7.18 MB·English

by  Cadle

BUSINESS ANALYSIS
BCS, THE CHARTERED INSTITUTE FOR IT
BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT champions the global IT profession and the interests
of individuals engaged in that profession for the benefit of all. We promote wider social
and economic progress through the advancement of information technology science and
practice. We bring together industry, academics, practitioners and government to share
knowledge, promote new thinking, inform the design of new curricula, shape public policy
and inform the public.
Our vision is to be a world-class organisation for IT. Our 70,000 strong membership includes
practitioners, businesses, academics and students in the UK and internationally. We deliver
a range of professional development tools for practitioners and employees. A leading IT
qualification body, we offer a range of widely recognised qualifications.
Further Information
BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT,
First Floor, Block D,
North Star House, North Star Avenue,
Swindon, SN2 1FA, United Kingdom.
T [phone]
F [phone]
www.bcs.org/contact
http://shop.bcs.org/
BUSINESS ANALYSIS
Third edition
Debra Paul, James Cadle and Donald Yeates (editors)
© 2014 BCS Learning & Development Ltd
All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review,
as permitted by the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
or transmitted in any form or by any means, except with the prior permission in writing of the publisher, or in the
case of reprographic reproduction, in accordance with the terms of the licences issued by the Copyright Licensing
Agency. Enquiries for permission to reproduce material outside those terms should be directed to the publisher.
All trade marks, registered names etc. acknowledged in this publication are the property of their respective
owners. BCS and the BCS logo are the registered trade marks of the British Computer Society, charity number
292786 (BCS).
Published by BCS Learning & Development Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT,
First Floor, Block D, North Star House, North Star Avenue, Swindon, SN2 1FA, UK.
www.bcs.org
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-78017-277-4
PDF ISBN: 978-1-78017- 278-1
ePUB ISBN: 978-1-78017-279-8
Kindle ISBN: 978-1-78017- 280-4
British Cataloguing in Publication Data.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available at the British Library.
Disclaimer:
The views expressed in this book are of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Institute
or BCS Learning & Development Ltd except where explicitly stated as such. Although every care has been taken
by the authors & BCS Learning & Development Ltd in the preparation of the publication, no warranty is given by the
authors or BCS Learning & Development Ltd as publisher as to the accuracy or completeness of the information
contained within it and neither the authors nor BCS Learning & Development Ltd shall be responsible or liable
for any loss or damage whatsoever arising by virtue of such information or any instructions or advice contained
within this publication or by any of the aforementioned.
BCS books are available at special quantity discounts to use as premiums and sale promotions, or for use in
corporate training programs. Please visit our Contact us page at www.bcs.org/contact.
Typeset by Lapiz Digital Services, Chennai, India.
iv
CONTENTS
List of figures and tables ix
Contributors xii
Foreword xiv
Abbreviations xv
Glossary xvii
Preface xxvii
1. WHAT IS BUSINESS ANALYSIS? 1
Introduction 1
The origins of business analysis 2
The development of business analysis 3
The scope of business analysis work 6
The role and responsibilities of a business analyst 12
The business analysis maturity model 13
Professionalism and business analysis 16
The future of business analysis 17
2. THE COMPETENCIES OF A BUSINESS ANALYST 19
Introduction 19
Personal qualities 20
Business knowledge 24
Professional techniques 27
The right skills for the right situation 29
How can I develop my skills? 31
Industry skills frameworks 32
Industry qualifications 33
Summary 34
3. STRATEGY ANALYSIS 38
Introduction 38
The context for strategy 38
What is strategy? 39
Strategy development 41
External environment analysis 42
Internal environment analysis 47
SWOT analysis 49
Executing strategy 51
Summary 54
v
BUSINESS ANALYSIS
4. THE BUSINESS ANALYSIS PROCESS MODEL 56
Introduction 56
An approach to problem solving 56
The business analysis process model 58
Investigate situation 59
Consider perspectives 61
Analyse needs 63
Evaluate options 65
Define requirements 67
Deliver changes 69
Summary 71
5. INVESTIGATION TECHNIQUES 72
Introduction 72
Prior research 72
Investigation techniques 74
Interviews 74
Observation 80
Workshops 82
Scenarios 87
User analysis 90
Prototyping 91
Quantitative approaches 92
Suitability of techniques 96
Documenting the current situation 96
Summary 102
6. STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS AND MANAGEMENT 103
Introduction 103
Stakeholder categories and identification 103
Analysing stakeholders 106
Stakeholder management strategies 107
Summary of stakeholder management strategies 110
Managing stakeholders 111
Defining stakeholder involvement – RACI and RASCI charts 112
Using social media in stakeholder management 114
Understanding stakeholder perspectives 115
Summary 121
7. MODELLING BUSINESS PROCESSES 123
Introduction 123
Organisational context 123
An alternative view of an organisation 125
The organisational view of business processes 126
Value propositions 129
Business process models 131
Analysing the ‘as is’ process 138
Improving business processes 141
Process measurement 144
Business Process Model and Notation 147
vi
CONTENTS
Six Sigma 148
Summary 149
8. DEFINING THE SOLUTION 151
Introduction 151
Gap analysis 151
Formulating options 156
Defining business requirements 156
Introduction to business architecture 156
Definition of business architecture 157
Structure of a business architecture 158
Business architecture techniques 159
Summary 162
9. MAKING A BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL CASE 163
Introduction 163
The business case in the project lifecycle 163
Identifying options 164
Assessing project feasibility 166
Structure of a business case 168
Investment appraisal 176
Presentation of a business case 178
RAID and CARDI logs 179
Summary 180
10. ESTABLISHING THE REQUIREMENTS 181
Introduction 181
The problems with requirements 182
A framework for requirements engineering 185
Actors 186
Requirements elicitation 189
Requirements elicitation techniques 193
Building the requirements list 193
Requirements analysis 195
Requirements validation 200
Agile approach to requirements 202
Summary 204
11. DOCUMENTING AND MANAGING REQUIREMENTS 205
Introduction 205
The importance of documentation 205
The requirements document 205
The requirements catalogue 207
Managing requirements 218
Summary 222
12. MODELLING REQUIREMENTS 224
Introduction 224
Modelling business use cases 224
Modelling system use cases 225
Modelling system data 228
vii
BUSINESS ANALYSIS
Entity relationship diagrams 229
Class models 237
Modelling in Agile approaches 244
The use of models in system maintenance 245
Summary 245
13. DELIVERING THE REQUIREMENTS 246
Introduction 246
Delivering the solution 246
Context 247
Delivery lifecycle 248
Development and delivery approach 256
Roles 260
Deliverables 261
Techniques 262
Summary 262
14. DELIVERING THE BUSINESS SOLUTION 264
Introduction 264
Stages of the business change lifecycle 264
BA role in the business change lifecycle 265
Summary 273
Index 275
viii