What is a business analysis process? What is that sequence of activities that will lead to the goal – understanding, capturing and creating a shared understanding of the desired future state?
Regardless of methodology, it includes:
Discovery: gathering information about the company, the problem or business need and its context.
Making assumptions to have a starting place for analysis.
Analysis activities: research, breaking complex problems into smaller components, researching connections and dependencies, capturing and ordering relevant information, investigating gaps, and asking many questions.
Synthesis: capturing the expectations of the solution – the future state – the business requirements; depicting it using text, diagrams, matrices, storyboards and other techniques.
Validation: reviews, walkthroughs and requirements quality assurance – and creating a shared understanding of the requirements.
And, along and parallel with that, prioritization and packaging – structuring, documenting, cross-referencing, and agreeing on the business value of each requirement or user story.
The process may look waterfall-ish, but successful analysis by its nature is iterative, just like scientific inquiry. There will be branches, dead ends and logical loops to navigate, there will be mind maps growing in multiple directions, and there will be always something new to take into account.
You need a business analysis professional to plan and lead this process and facilitate the discussions, debates and reviews necessary to reach a shared understanding of requirements, and capture it in the most accessible and effective way.
Explore the BA process with me in this webinar recording.
Contact Yulia for details on Business Analysis in One Day and other corporate training programs. Consider other ways to help your organization mature its business analysis and business architecture functions, and explore BA videos on the Why Change YouTube channel.
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