There are many different understandings of what business analysis is and what a business analyst does. Although several definitions have been proposed, most of them revolve around the concept of delivering solutions that have value for a stakeholder. The IIBA defined the discipline of business analysis as “a set of tasks and techniques used to work as a liaison among stakeholders in order to understand the structure, policies, and operations of an organization, and to recommend solutions that enable the organization to achieve its goals” [2]. From this definition, we discern that a business analyst recommends solutions to problems or addresses a need with the aim of achieving a pre-defined goal. However, in the latest version of BABOK, the definition has been refined to the “practice of enabling change in an enterprise by defining needs and recommending solutions that deliver value to stakeholders. Business analysis enables an enterprise to articulate needs and the rationale for change and to design and describe solutions that can deliver value” [3]. Accordingly, at the core of business analysis is the work of finding solutions that address the needs for the purpose of delivering value to some entity. In other words, it simply means to analyze needs or problems of a specific business for the purpose of finding and implementing a solution.
A business analyst is someone who performs business analysis tasks. As such, the job title is secondary to the kind of work that is performed. The business analyst is someone who is responsible for and works with “discovering, synthesizing, and analyzing information from a variety of sources within an enterprise, including tools, processes, documentation, and stakeholders” for “eliciting the actual needs” [3] for the purpose of recommending solutions that address these needs. Anyone working systematically with such tasks is doing business analysis even if they carry the job title of business system, data, system, process or enterprise analyst, management consultant, product owner or software product manager.
The business analyst performs the work of business analysis in different contexts and levels. The tasks can be performed on levels ranging from strategic to operational or it can be confined to a single project aiming at improving a specific part of the business or involving several divisions of an organization. It can be concerned with introducing new solutions or continuously improving existing solutions. More often than not, the business analyst works with a change in one or more information systems. In short, business analyses, regardless of the multitude of forms it can take on, is about understanding the actual problem or need and, through a set of activities and analysis, recommending the best solution that will resolve the problem or satisfy the need of the stakeholders.
• Change: The act of transformation in response to a need.
• Need: A problem or opportunity to be addressed.
• Solution: A specific way of satisfying one or more needs in a context.
• Stakeholder: A group or individual with a relationship to the change, the need, or the solution.
• Value: The worth, importance, or usefulness of something to a stakeholder within a context.
• Context: The circumstances that influence, are influenced by, and provide an understanding of the change.
Change, the main output of business analysis work, aims at making improvements to one or several aspects of an enterprise. Most commonly, changes are driven by some problem or need in an enterprise. However, changes in the situation of the enterprise, such as new competitors or new products, might also give rise to the need for some form of change. The needs are satisfied in a specific way, i.e., a solution. The solution causes a change that satisfies a need and makes an impact on stakeholders who have some form of interest in the matter. The solution brings some kind of tangible and/or intangible value that can either be measured directly and/or indirectly. All of the above takes place within a context of factors. Such factors might be industry trends, regulations, organizational attitudes and culture, or enterprise-specific factors (financial, product, process, and/or technology). The work of the business analyst is about the relation of these concepts i.e., recommending solutions that address a need in such a way as to produce value for a stakeholder within a context. As such, these concepts are guiding stars in all areas of the business analyst’s work. These concepts are, therefore, interdependent and are best understood collectively (see Fig. 1.2). No single core concept precedes or outranks any of the other ones.
Let us consider an example and how the BACCM captures the different aspects of the business analysis work. Let us assume an organic berry fruit bar producer wished to expand their business and therefore needed to find new berry suppliers. The company must have traceability of the berries to ensure they are organic and to be able to track each batch from the supplier all the way to the stores. To this end, they need a solution for tagging and tracking the journey of the berries, from the field to the packaged fruit bar sold in stores.
In this context, there is a need to have tracking. This need arises from the current situation wishing to expand but maintain control over the quality of the berries. The next component is the solution. The solution will only be useful or relevant if it satisfies the needs by providing value. In this case, the value is related proper tracking and ability to trace the berries forward (to the fruit bar in each store) and backwards (where the berries in a given fruit bar came from). The value is delivered, and the benefits of the solution are enjoyed by stakeholders. In this example, the stakeholders might have been certifying agencies, stores, or the quality assurance department of the fruit bar company. However, the need and the solution that deliver value for certain stakeholders must fit in within the context. One solution might be very good for one fruit bar company whereas it would not work at all with another one. Finally, in order to deliver a solution that resolves a problem to deliver value for a stakeholder within a context, a change is required. In this case, it might be new software enabling traceability used by all stakeholders along the journey of the berry.
The BACCM framework can be used for describing and defining the work of business analysis as it correlates and further explains the definition of what business analysis is. Furthermore, it can help us understand the relationship between these concepts when conducting different tasks of business analysis. It might be used to evaluate that all relevant results are considered when working with a specific knowledge area or assess the quality and completeness of the deliverables. When conducting an analysis of the current state the analysis can be evaluated against the core concepts to ensure that all these aspects have been considered. The quality and completeness of the analysis can be further tested by considering the internal relations between the core concepts. As the core concepts are inter-dependent, it follows that any significant change in any of the core concepts (within the scope of the business analysis project) will have an effect on other concepts. In such cases, the core concepts can assist in securing that all relevant aspects are considered and re-evaluated.
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A business analyst is someone who performs business analysis tasks. As such, the job title is secondary to the kind of work that is performed. The business analyst is someone who is responsible for and works with “discovering, synthesizing, and analyzing information from a variety of sources within an enterprise, including tools, processes, documentation, and stakeholders” for “eliciting the actual needs” [3] for the purpose of recommending solutions that address these needs. Anyone working systematically with such tasks is doing business analysis even if they carry the job title of business system, data, system, process or enterprise analyst, management consultant, product owner or software product manager.
The business analyst performs the work of business analysis in different contexts and levels. The tasks can be performed on levels ranging from strategic to operational or it can be confined to a single project aiming at improving a specific part of the business or involving several divisions of an organization. It can be concerned with introducing new solutions or continuously improving existing solutions. More often than not, the business analyst works with a change in one or more information systems. In short, business analyses, regardless of the multitude of forms it can take on, is about understanding the actual problem or need and, through a set of activities and analysis, recommending the best solution that will resolve the problem or satisfy the need of the stakeholders.
The Business Analysis Core Concept Model
We defined business analysis as the “practice of enabling change in an enterprise by defining needs and recommending solutions that deliver value to stakeholders” [3]. Notice the key words: change, enterprise (context), needs, solutions, value and stakeholders. These concepts are fundamental and recurring in the work of business analysis regardless of industry, method, and project type or if the project is at levels ranging from enterprise strategy to tactical implementation. These core concepts, change – need – solution – stakeholder – value – context, make up the conceptual framework for business analysis called “Business Analysis Core Concept Model” (BACCM). The core concepts are described below:• Change: The act of transformation in response to a need.
• Need: A problem or opportunity to be addressed.
• Solution: A specific way of satisfying one or more needs in a context.
• Stakeholder: A group or individual with a relationship to the change, the need, or the solution.
• Value: The worth, importance, or usefulness of something to a stakeholder within a context.
• Context: The circumstances that influence, are influenced by, and provide an understanding of the change.
Change, the main output of business analysis work, aims at making improvements to one or several aspects of an enterprise. Most commonly, changes are driven by some problem or need in an enterprise. However, changes in the situation of the enterprise, such as new competitors or new products, might also give rise to the need for some form of change. The needs are satisfied in a specific way, i.e., a solution. The solution causes a change that satisfies a need and makes an impact on stakeholders who have some form of interest in the matter. The solution brings some kind of tangible and/or intangible value that can either be measured directly and/or indirectly. All of the above takes place within a context of factors. Such factors might be industry trends, regulations, organizational attitudes and culture, or enterprise-specific factors (financial, product, process, and/or technology). The work of the business analyst is about the relation of these concepts i.e., recommending solutions that address a need in such a way as to produce value for a stakeholder within a context. As such, these concepts are guiding stars in all areas of the business analyst’s work. These concepts are, therefore, interdependent and are best understood collectively (see Fig. 1.2). No single core concept precedes or outranks any of the other ones.
Let us consider an example and how the BACCM captures the different aspects of the business analysis work. Let us assume an organic berry fruit bar producer wished to expand their business and therefore needed to find new berry suppliers. The company must have traceability of the berries to ensure they are organic and to be able to track each batch from the supplier all the way to the stores. To this end, they need a solution for tagging and tracking the journey of the berries, from the field to the packaged fruit bar sold in stores.
In this context, there is a need to have tracking. This need arises from the current situation wishing to expand but maintain control over the quality of the berries. The next component is the solution. The solution will only be useful or relevant if it satisfies the needs by providing value. In this case, the value is related proper tracking and ability to trace the berries forward (to the fruit bar in each store) and backwards (where the berries in a given fruit bar came from). The value is delivered, and the benefits of the solution are enjoyed by stakeholders. In this example, the stakeholders might have been certifying agencies, stores, or the quality assurance department of the fruit bar company. However, the need and the solution that deliver value for certain stakeholders must fit in within the context. One solution might be very good for one fruit bar company whereas it would not work at all with another one. Finally, in order to deliver a solution that resolves a problem to deliver value for a stakeholder within a context, a change is required. In this case, it might be new software enabling traceability used by all stakeholders along the journey of the berry.
The BACCM framework can be used for describing and defining the work of business analysis as it correlates and further explains the definition of what business analysis is. Furthermore, it can help us understand the relationship between these concepts when conducting different tasks of business analysis. It might be used to evaluate that all relevant results are considered when working with a specific knowledge area or assess the quality and completeness of the deliverables. When conducting an analysis of the current state the analysis can be evaluated against the core concepts to ensure that all these aspects have been considered. The quality and completeness of the analysis can be further tested by considering the internal relations between the core concepts. As the core concepts are inter-dependent, it follows that any significant change in any of the core concepts (within the scope of the business analysis project) will have an effect on other concepts. In such cases, the core concepts can assist in securing that all relevant aspects are considered and re-evaluated.
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