Business Analysis – Part 2

Business Analysis – Part 2
By Keith Mathis – PM Expert Live

As we continue our look at the Business Analysis knowledge areas, this month we will look at the next two sections: Requirements Management & Communication and Enterprise Analysis.

Requirements Management and Communication

Requirements Management and Communication involves making sure that all stakeholders understand the nature of a solution and agree on the requirements that the solution will meet.

Requirements Management and Communication Tasks

1. Manage solution scope and requirements – Obtaining and maintaining consensus among key stakeholders regarding the overall solution scope and the requirements that will be implemented is the first step to this knowledge area. All requirements must be assessed to verify that they fall within the solution scope. If additional requirements are invalid, the business analyst must resolve the difference.

2. Manage requirements traceability – You will now create and maintain relationships between business objectives, requirements, other team deliverables, and solution components to support business analysis or other activities. Tracing a requirement refers to the ability to look at a requirement and the others to which it is related.

3. Maintain requirements for re-use – You must remember to manage knowledge of requirements following their implementation and identify requirements that will be used long-term. A requirement that you use may be helpful to an analyst at a later date.

4. Prepare requirements package – Select and structure a set of requirements in a way that ensures they are effectively communicated to, understood by, and usable by a stakeholder. Ask questions to decide how to present requirements.

5. Communicate requirements – This is essential for bringing stakeholders to a common understanding of requirements. It includes conversation, notes, documents, presentations, and discussions.

Enterprise Analysis

Enterprise Analysis describes the business analysis activities necessary to identify a business need, problem, or opportunity. It defines the solution to meet the need and justifies the investment of the solution.

Enterprise Analysis Tasks

1. Define Business Need – To start this knowledge area, you must first identify and define why a change to an organizational system or capability is required. This can be done through numerous avenues, such as brainstorming, focus groups, or root cause analysis.

2. Assess Capability Gaps – Once the problem has been defined, you will identify new capabilities required by the enterprise to meet the business need.

3. Determine Solution Approach – You will determine the most viable solution approach to meet the business need in enough detail to allow for the definition of solution scope and prepare the business case. To do this, identify possible approaches, determine the means by which the solution may be delivered, and assess whether the organization is capable of implementing and effectively using the solution.

4. Define Solution Scope – Now, you will define which new capabilities a project or iteration will deliver. This will change throughout the project, based on changes in the business environment or as the project scope is changed to meet budget, time, quality, or other constraints.

5. Define Business Case – Finally, you must determine if an organization can justify the investment required to deliver a proposed solution. Examine the benefits, costs, and risks.

Our next post will focus on the final two knowledge areas: Requirements Analysis and Solution Assessment and Validation.

Dr. Keith Mathis, founder and CEO of The Mathis Group, specializes in Project Management, Management Leadership, and Marketing training for private businesses and government agencies of all kinds. He offers 33 Project Management courses, is a Project Management Professional, is certified by the Project Management Institute and will customize every training session to your individual company’s needs. The Mathis Group also sponsors www.pmexpertlive.com, which is a powerful project management resource with free reports, podcasts, videos, and a monthly newsletter. He also offers customized management training and coaching on any subject with prolific communication and professionalism.