What is Business Analysis?
Business analysis is a discipline involving a number of tools and techniques that are used to identify the needs of organization, and develop solutions that meet those needs. As companies have increasingly outsourced much of their operations, they have also looked to the field of business analysis to provide the insight and expertise to assist them through their growth cycles.
Business analysis is used in all industries and in all situations. When a high tech company is experiencing unprecedented growth, and needs to ensure that its systems can help it grow, it turns to business analysis. When a struggling US-based manufacturing firm is facing whether or not to outsource its production facilities to India -- it turns to business analysis. When an entrepreneur is considering launching a product idea and is evaluating the feasibility -- it turns to business analysis. Simply put, business analysis, whether implicit or explicit, plays a role in virtually all decision-making in an organization.
Topic 1.2: What is the role of the Business Analyst?

Business analysts are often more closely defined by function, not by role, as the role of a business analyst might take a variety of forms. For example, business analysts might reside internal or external to an organization. A strategic group within a company might employ several dedicated business analysts who work on ongoing projects and areas of interest. Alternatively, a company might contract with business analysts, in the form of outside consultants, to work on specific issues and isolated projects. Or, often, a company might do both.
What distinguishes business analysis from related fields such as systems analyst, project management, product management, and management consulting is the breadth of knowledge and generalized thinking that a business analyst brings to the table. Business analysis is about using tasks and techniques to solve problems. Unlike a systems analyst, for instance, those problems, and the resulting solutions may or may not entail specific information systems, or IT solutions, within an organization. However, within specific engagements, business analysts often find themselves taking on roles and responsibilities of these related fields -- for instance, acting as a systems analyst in the course of a particular project. Such versatility is key to the success of the business analyst.
Business analysts utilize their tasks and techniques much like a handyman uses his toolkit -- to approach a situation, identify a solution, and then fix it. No other field draws from such a wide range of tasks and techniques that can be used in such a range of situations.
Consequently, the business analyst might take on a variety of roles that require a variety of different skills. The below table summarizes just a few of the roles that a business analyst might be required to undergo, and some of the skills that are helpful for each role. Role | Skills Necessary | Project Manager | Time Management, Delegation, Communications | Systems Analyst | Ability to synthesize large amounts of data, Organization, and Technical Expertise | Management Consultant | Analytical Skills, Listening and Communication Skills | Organizational Trainer | Presentation Skills, People skills, Broad-based Knowledge | Strategist | Analytical skills, People Skills, Presentation Skills | Change Architect | Time Management, Listening and Communication Skills, |
Overall, what defines a successful business analyst is the versatility to take on a variety of roles as a project unfolds and develops. Learning what tasks and techniques can assist in succeeding at each role is key to successful business analysis
Topic 1.3: Defining Key Concepts: Domains
Domains are areas undergoing business analysis, and are often used to describe different industries or different groups or subgroups in an organization. For instance, one might refer to the healthcare industry as a domain. However, the product management team in a particular organization might also be a domain.
Because of the training and expertise of the business analyst, it is not always necessary that a business analyst be a subject matter expert in a particular domain. For instance, in general domain oriented business analysis, for instance, in healthcare, it is feasible that the business analyst have little prior exposure to the healthcare industry. What is important is that the business analyst understands the tasks and techniques necessary to identify and solve the necessary business problems.
There are cases where domain-specific business analysis is necessary; for instance, in the domain of finance. It might be preferable to hire a business analyst who is skilled and experienced not only in general tasks and techniques, but also in the issues and opportunities that the specific field of finance presents.
In summary, business analysts can be either general domain-oriented, or domain-specific. Which works best is dependent on the organization and the issues at hand.
Topic 1.4: Defining Key Concepts: Solutions |
While the identification of problems and needs of an organization is vital to the role of the business analyst, so is the concept of solutions. Business analysts are hired to develop solutions. Simply put, a solution is the set of change that meets a business need, or addresses a problem. Perhaps the biggest challenge in determining solutions is to properly identify the business needs and diagnose the problem in the first place. That is why the business analyst is so dependent on tasks and techniques -- they are truly the building blocks that ensure that problems are properly identified, and worked through on the way to an optimal solution.
Solutions can range from a training program, to a new software program, to a timetable for implementation, to a new growth strategy, to a new organizational structure. Just as organizations have wide ranges of problems, so are there wide ranges of solutions that correspond to those problems.
Topic 1.5 Defining Key Concepts: Requirements
Requirements are key to every project a business analyst will undergo. They are simply the conditions that must be met. There are a number of different types of requirements, and it is up to the business analyst to ensure that a solution meets those requirements.
Business requirements are set by the organization, and often closely define the project. For example, a business requirement might be that the business analysis process not cost more than $1 million in total.
Stakeholder requirements are determined by individual stakeholders. For instance, a stakeholder might require that all business analysis communication take the form of PowerPoint presentations delivered weekly.
Solution requirements begin to specifically articulate functions and conditions that a future solution might take. For instance, in a systems based project, it might be required that any solution run on an Oracle platform. Transition requirements help to bridge the gap between today, and a fully implemented solution. For instance, if the solution involves a new organizational structure, a transitional requirement is that the interim structure utilizes the services and help of 8 managers and 25 employees.
Topic 1.6 Defining the 7 Knowledge Areas
As we’ve discussed, one of the elements that sets a business analyst aside from other similar and related fields is a broad based set of knowledge that can be applied in the form of tasks and techniques to solve business problems. The BABOK defines that knowledge base across seven areas, graphically shown in Figure 1-1 in the BABOK® Guide 2.0.
As shown, Underlying Competencies serve as the foundation for business analysis knowledge, upon which everything is based. Likewise, from the top looking down, we see the importance of Business Analysis Planning and Monitoring. Planning the process, and, on an ongoing basis, monitoring the process, is the key to success in every business analysis project.
Within the knowledge areas that determine project work plans and deliverables, there are five additional Knowledge areas. Central is Requirements Analysis, which is used at every level by the business analyst to ensure that all kinds of requirements are understood and are being met. Two of the ways that the business analysis continually analyzes and considers those requirements are through Elicitations of stakeholders, and through an ongoing Requirements Management and Communications process. Finally, and throughout the engagement, the business analyst is engaged in Enterprise Analysis as well as Solution Validation and Assessment.
These seven knowledge areas will serve as the basis of study throughout these courses.
Topic 1.7 The Business Analysis Frameworks
Frameworks, and their resulting tasks, are very important to analysts and in the business world in general. They serve a number of purposes. First, they give a starting point as to how to approach a problem. Let's consider a chain of coffee shops, called Java Judy's. The founder, Judy, opened the business ten years ago. Based on the success of her original shop, she began an aggressive expansion campaign three years ago. We'll refer to Judy and her business throughout this course.

Imagine Judy approaches you with the following issue: "No matter what I do, I can only breakeven from month-to-month. I was actually making more profit when I was only operating one store." Where do you begin? How do you start to break down her problem and determine what solutions might be appropriate? Frameworks give you a structure to follow as you delve into her business issue, define a set of tasks, and work toward a solution.
Secondly, frameworks provide thoroughness, and help ensure that you aren't leaving out important elements in your problem solving. For instance, if you answered Judy in absence of a complete and methodical approach to addressing her problem, you might answer, "It's obvious that you need to attract more customers by lowering the prices of your coffee." However, what you don't know is that the price of coffee fluctuates, and has been rising for the past year. Lowering her prices might, in effect, decrease her profitability, further complicating her problem.
Thirdly, frameworks provide a disciplined approach that allows us to address a range of issues, some of which you might not even be familiar with. One of the advantages that business analysts bring to their work is a set of open eyes, providing processes and an approach that works across industries, sectors, and levels of expertise. Perhaps you have never worked in the coffee business, or any type of food service. Maybe you don't even drink coffee. How will you approach this problem with little or no factual or anecdotal experience of the task at hand? Having a framework like the BABOK guide to work through helps the analyst to address a huge range of business issues across a wide range of industries. Indeed, with a solid framework in your toolkit, often approaching an issue with little prior knowledge can be a benefit, as it reduces the risk of inherent bias to your approach.
In this course, we'll focus on the first of the seven knowledge areas: Business Analysis Planning and Monitoring. Business Analysis Planning and Monitoring is the process that defines the tasks associated with the activities of the business analyst. Simply put, it is the planning and thought process behind development of a Scope of Work. In the case of Java Judy's, for this initial knowledge area, we would define what the inputs and outputs are to the work at hand, and what tasks we'd accomplish to achieve those.
The form that tasks take, the order in which they are performed, the relative importance of the tasks, and other things may vary, but each task contributes in some fashion, directly or indirectly, to that overall goal. Next, we'll look into more detail about tasks and techniques.