1. The Business Context Flashcards
Name a technique for looking at a holistic view of a buisness through change
Utilising the POPIT model ensures an analyst considers all internal factors when identifying areas for improving the business system:
Processes,
Organisation,
People,
Information and Technology
Give me 3 competencies of a business analyst
1 - Interpersonal skills
2 - Business Knowledge
3 - Professional techniques
Name 3 necessary Interpersonal skills of a BA
Communication, Relationship Building, Influencing, Team working, Political Awareness, Analytical skills and critical thinking, Attention to detail, Problem solving, Leadership, Self belief, Professional development.
Name 3 areas of Business functions a BA may require knowledge of
Business Finance, Business Case Development, Domain Knowledge, Subject Matter Expertise, Principles of IT, Organisation Structures, Supplier Management, Business Architecture.
Name 3 professional techniques of a BA
Project management, Strategy analysis, Stakeholder analysis and management, Investigation techniques, Requirements Engineering, Requirement analysis Requirement management Business Modelling, Data Modelling, Gap analysis, Facilitation skills, Portfolio management, Benefits management, Agile thinking.
Name a technique to analyse the influences from the external business envirment
PESTLE
Porters 5 forces
SWOT (OT)
Name a technique to analyse the capability of the internal business environment
SWOT (SW)
Porters value chain analysis
What is SWOT analysis
SWOT analysis consolidates internal and external analysis, summarising the current position and helping form a basis for strategy development.
Internal;
Strengths
Weaknesses
External;
Opportunities
Threats
What is PESTLE analysis
PESTLE analysis is a simple tool used to breakdown external impacting factors on a proposal into easily analysed and communicated pieces.
Political Environmental Socio-cultural Technological Legal Economic
What are CSF’s and give me an example
Critical Success Factors - Statements of the areas in which the business considers vital to its success e.g. Increase Market Share Through Current Customers.
What are KPI’s and give me an example
Key Performance Indicators - Areas to be monitored to measure whether each critical success factor is being achieved
KPI = metric + target
Growth in revenue for current customers
What are the stages of the lifecycle for business change
Alignment - BA aims to understand business strategy and objectives Definition - Investigation Design - Solution design Implementation Realism - Check solution meets needs
Why is Business analysis Important
Business analysis is an important part of making sure any business succeeds. In the ever changing professional environment businesses are constantly required to improve and change, business analysis identifies and prepares an organisation on the best opportunities and methods to meet the changing needs in like with our business objectives.
Name 3 benefits business analysis can offer an organisation
Specialist knowledge in an area
An unbiased view, opportunity for someone not bedded in to the function or organisation to take a holistic view of the project
Finance and the economy, business case development, understanding of the principles of IT
(Business domain knowledge, Subject Matter Expertise, Organisation Structures & Design, Supplier Management)
Why is it important to have a Holistic view of a business system
Able to look at all influencing factors and identify all internal factors that may be influenced by the proposed change, look at the wider ripples of a change and start to think about how to mitigate that. Not bedded in, birds eye view
What is the role of BCS in professional development of business analysts
BCS is a worldleader in business analysis certification, helping skill BAs with the tools and critical thinking to thrive in their role and give organisations confidence in the staff they are hiring
Identify the importance of a code of conduct/ Professional standards
We have a responsibility to the role, to BCS, to our employer and to our customer to act honorably, truthfully and legally. Knowing and adhering to our code of conduct will ensure we follow this responsibility.
How can we utilise PESTLE analysis
PESTLE can be utilised to assess the influence of the external environment upon the organisation and include these factors for consideration when we think about strategy for change, threats to our business and opportunities in the market
What are Performance targets
A performance target is a target set against each KPI
What is the link between CSFs, KPIs and performance targets
Each Critical success factor should have a set of KPIs against it that are to be monitored against their performance targets to track whether the CSF is being met.
CSF = Metric(KPI) + Target
Name the elements of the balance business scorecard
Financial
Customer
Internal Business processes
Learning and growth
all surrounding - Vision and strategy
How can we utilise the Balanced Business scorecard in practice
The balanced business scorecard is a framework for identifying CSF and KPIs, analysing the business objectives by key questions surrounding the vision and strategy.
What are the key differences between waterfall and agile solution delivery
Waterfall is a linear model of Project delivery
Agile is a continuous iteration of development and testing to deliver a project
The Agile methodology is known for its flexibility whereas Waterfall is a structured software development methodology
Agile allows changes in project development requirements whereas Waterfall has no scope of changing the requirements once the project development starts.
How would you describe the role of a BA?
An advisory role for identifying and analysing business situations, identifying and evaluating options for improving business systems, elaborating and defining requirements, and ensuring the effective implementation and use of information systems in line with business needs.
What is strategy
- business goal or mission
- timeframe: short, medium and long-term
- organisation resources utilisation: finance, skills, assets, technical competence
- environment: the organisation works in
“What’s happening out there, and how do we fit into and maximise return from it?”
What is a resource audit and how can it be utiliised
A resource audit is an internal analysis tool, assessing and deploying core competencies as appropriate, can be a subconcious task
What is CATWOE and how is it ustilised
CATWOE is a tool for analysing a Stakeholder’s business perspective on the end result
Customer (Target audience)
Actors (In transfromation)
Transformation (Core processes)
Worldview (What the organisation should be doing and why, BAU not project, Resource + view + objective)
Owner (Key decision maker)
Environmental (PESTLE)
What is boscard and how can it be utilised
Boscard is a method of completing the Terms of Reference or Project initiation document.
Using Boscard helps to identify all the key areas for consideration in your analysis
Background Objective Scope Constraints Assumptions Resource Deliverables
Why is it important to define a Stakeholders perpective?
Personal goals are not always the same as the organisation or other people, to ensure alignment of views and that you have an understanding of where and why they differ to mitigate going forward
