Business Analysis and Optimization

Identifying opportunities and inefficiencies

In a few words – business analysis is a set of activities performed to:

• identify business needs;
• determine problems;
• elicit, document, and manage stakeholder’s requirements to meet business needs;
• find and recommend relevant solutions.

The broader definition includes also the facilitation of successful implementation of the recommended changes – although this is more of a Project / Change management  task.

How business analysts work

Business analysts – in fact, the agents of change - execute their tasks via in-depth investigation, gathering of technical and non-technical information in the core business processes a company has, and fully identifying areas of improvement. Business analysts may work across all levels of a company and may be involved in practically every process/task from defining strategy to creating the enterprise architecture. They may take a leadership role by defining the goals and requirements for \the project of organisational changes or supporting continuous improvement in technology and processes. As a result – they develop practical solutions to resolve problems in a business (or an opportunity that needs to be addressed) by defining, documenting, analyzing and verifying requirements, evaluating solutions and thus satisfying business needs. In other words, business analysts provide a bridge between business systems to functional implementation of technical solutions.

Now in practical terms: how Business Analysis is to be performed for the Client, who determines the task like “I want you to do the following …”, and then specifies the BIG BUSINESS ANALYSIS TASK in terms of PROJECT (because this actually is a project)?

To do this, have in mind that Business Analysis is usually divided into multiple steps, with each phase having specific tasks to perform, principles to follow and documents to produce.

Business Analysis servicing the client needs

Now, in practice: how should a Business Analysis be performed for a client who specifies a task like "I want you to do the following..." and then defines the BIG TASK of the Business Analysis as a PROJECT (because it is, in fact, a project)?

To do this, remember that business analysis is typically divided into multiple stages, each with specific tasks to perform, rules to follow, and documents to produce.

I Gathering information – to lay the groundwork for the Project, clarifying the scope, requirements and business objectives. Main tasks are:

• Explore the pre-history of the Project;
• Understand the context and current business environment;
• Clarify the role of Business Analyst in this particular Project;
• Define the primary goals & business objectives;
• Identify main stakeholders & their expectations of the given Project;
• Explore & understand existing systems;
• Purify the essence of current business processes.

II.  Discovering business objectives – ensure they are clear & attainable;

• Determine the proper approach to conduct Business Analysis;
• Resolve conflicts & contradictions in multiple expectations of key stakeholders;
• Establish the common ground, terminology & mutual understanding between different stakeholders;

How Business Analysis can help you

Nowadays all the procedures, information and recommendations mentioned above are well developed by specific professional associations / institutions such as IIBA, PMI and must be taken into consideration to ensure the success of the Project you are going to start. Of course, it takes a time (to obtain relevant certification) and enormous experience to properly use these rules and technics.

We offer to engage us to identify problem areas in your company and to define the solutions that will maximize the value delivered by your business to all of its stakeholders. While you’re struggling with combining business needs and technology, we are the ones to help.