Chapter 1: Business Analysis 101 Flashcards
Area or boundaries being analyzed
Domain
Set of changes to a current State. A solution enables a domain to: meet a business need, solve a business problem, take advantage of an opportunity
Solution
The function of this role is to solve problems and work as a liaison among all technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Business Analyst
artifacts, practices or information from any participating entity that is used to perform or manage the project
OPA-Organizational Process Assets
Higher-level statements of the goals, objectives or needs of a domain/enterprise.
Business Requirements
Business Requirements are developed in this knowledge area that consists of defining business needs, assess capability gaps, determine solution approach, define solution scope, define business case
Enterprise Analysis
Statements of the needs of a particular stakeholder or class/group of stakeholders
Stakeholder Requirements
Solution characteristics to satisfy business and stakeholder requirements
Solution Requirements
Behavior and information managed by the solution
Functional Requirements
Conditions that do not involve behavior or functionality describing environmental conditions or qualities
Non-Functional Requirements
Knowledge are that stakeholder and solution requirements are developed in that consists of prioritize requirements, organize requirements, specify and model requirements, define assumptions and constraints, verify requirements and validate requirements
Requirements Analysis
Capabilities of the solution to transition from the current to future state and are not needed after transition is completed. Differentiated from other requirements because they are always temporary.
Transition Requirements
Knowledge area that transition requirements are developed in.
Solutions Assessment and Validation
Responsible and accountable for the execution of BA activities (BSA, SA, Process Analyst, Consultant and Product Owner)
Business Analyst
Makes use of products or services produced (segmented by market, geography and industry, among others)
Customer
Individual with in-depth knowledge of a topic relevant to the business need or solution scope (broken out by organizational unit and job role)
Domain SME
Directly interacts with the solution (broken out by organizational unit and job role)
End User
Responsible for designing and implementing solution (project librarian, change manager, config manager, solution architect, dev, DBA, trainer
Implementation SME
Supports operation of project activities (help desk, network tech, release mgr)
Operational Support
Ensures project’s objectives are met while balancing project assumptions and constraints related to the scope, budget, schedule, resources, quality and risk, among others (scrum master, team leader)
Project Manger
Provides products or services (providers, consultants)
Supplier
Responsible for determining how to verify that the solution meets the requirements defined by the BA within the verify requirements task (QA analyst)
Tester
Responsible for the definition and enforcement of standards ( govt, regulatory bodies and auditors)
Regulator
Responsible for initiating the effort to define a business need and develop a solution (mgrs, execs, pm, process owners)
Sponsor
Identifying business problems and assessing proposed solutions so that a full understanding of all needs can be provided to stakeholders
analytical thinking and problem solving
developing working relationships with stakeholders, incorporating qualities such as trust and ethical behavior
behavioral characteristics
understanding general business principles, and how analysis and available solutions will interact within the business environment
business knowledge
enhancing the communication methods and practices between analysts and stakeholders so that there is a clear understanding of ht needs and objectives between parties
communication skills
facilitating interaction between stakeholders and divisions, and fostering management involvement so that all goals and objectives are met for current and future projects
interaction skills
the tools used during the development and distribution of requirements to stakeholders
software applications
minimal requirements met for a solution to be considered implementable
acceptance criteria
requirements used to evaluate multiple solutions
evaluation criteria
requirements that must be met for a solution to be considered acceptable by key stakeholders
acceptance and evaluation criteria definition
the recording of a current state so that a comparison against future states is possible
baselining
a comparison of an organization’s practices against its own or a competitor’s superior performance in areas of strategy, ops and processes, and how much strengths can best be utilized to improve future enterprise ops.
benchmarking
producing numerous and diverse options and/or solutions to a particular issue by a group
brainstorming
rules that govern decisions which constrain or enable ops within an organization such as SOX, ITIL, CMMI
Business Rules analysis
a document ensuring important items are included int eh final deliverables, such as test cases and test scripts
checklist
a table or spreadsheet used to manage tracing, such as requirements traceability matrix
coverage matrix
key terms used by an org as well as the definition of data elements, their meanings and values
data dictionary/ glossary
graphical representation of how information is processed by a system
data flow diagrams
description of any relevant concepts and their relationships to one another
data modeling
examination of consequences/outcomes of different proposed solutions so that an optimal decisions can still be ascertained during times of difficulty or uncertainty.
decision analysis
identification of requirements by studying pertinent documentation on existing and proposed solutions
document analysis
approximating the cost and effort required to implement a solution
estimation
a preliminary analysis of solution alternatives to gauge whether they can meet the business need
feasibility analysis
utilization of a moderator in an interactive environment to elicit ideas about products and services from pre qualified members.
focus groups
assess potential problems identified during the readiness assessment, and determine which problems are the most important to deal with so that a mitigation strategy can be developed
force field analysis
the separation of issues into smaller components and subcomponents so that work can be assigned to different entities.
functional decomposition
identification of interfaces between solutions and/or solution components and how they will interact
interface analysis
eliciting and documenting information from an individual or group in a formal or informal setting
interviews
compiling and documenting successes, difficulties or areas for improvement, along with resultant recommendations for future projects or project phases
lessons learned process
measuring the performance of solutions and their components, and other pertinent areas of interest to stakeholders
metrics and key performance indicators
analysis of requirements that fit into the following: must, should, could, won’t
MoSCoW Analysis
process of describing the required qualities of a system, such as compatibility, security and performance
non-functional requirements analysis
process of structuring the whys, whats and hows of project requirements into a hierarchy of objects containing encapsulated data and procedures.
object-oriented design (OO)
assessment of a process or environment performed via a passible/invisible approach or an active/visible approach
observation
aligning an organization’s existing roles, responsibilities and reporting structures with the organization’s goals.
organization modeling
document identifying the business need and key stakeholders, and entails the positive impact that achieving the objectives will have on stakeholders
problem/vision statement
detailing the approach to tracking, managing and resolving defects, issues and risks so that they can be resolved in a timely fashion
problem tracking
understanding the work and interaction between groups or processes within an organization which is performed (can be displayed via graphic representation)
process modeling
process of identifying, describing and validating the user interface requirements and their integration with other requirements, such as data and business rules
prototyping
formal requirements document, product roadmap, system requirements specs
requirements documentation
use of a RFI, RFQ or RFP if an outside vendor is to provide a solution
requirements for vendor selection
identifying the scope and definition, priority and criteria of requirements by utilizing a facilitator, group and scribe
requirements workshops
isolation and management areas of risk that can impact a process, proposed solution, an objective or the organization itself, and evaluating responses
risk analysis
determining of the underlying issues/source of a problem
root cause analysis
describing of how a person, process or system interacts with a solution to accomplish an objective
scenarios and use cases
one specific way to accomplish a goal
scenario
all outcomes of an attempt to accomplish a goal that the solution will support
use-cases
graphical representation to describe the scope of analysis/solution
scope modeling
graphical representation to show how info is passed between objects during the execution of a task
sequence diagrams
formalizing of an agreement by stakeholders that the requirements docs are accurate and complete
signoff
graphical representation showing the behavior of how a concept transitions in response to a change in conditions
state diagrams
a review and discussion used to verify and validate requirements
structured walkthrough
survey to elicit info regarding business aspects, personnel and practices
survey/questionnaire
identification of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the pertinent processes
SWOT analysis
priorities requirements by allocation of a fixed resources
timeboxing/budgeting
description of functionality that user requires from a solution to meet goals
user stories
analyzing the differences between planned and actual performance, and identify ing any corrective and preventative actions
variance analysis
evaluation of a vendor’s ability to meet requirements, commitments or objectives in regard to a product or service
vendor assessment
voting to allocate a fixed amount of resources to be distributed among requirements
voting
The BA planning and Monitoring Knowledge Area identifies and describes the steps involved in what on the performance of business analysis effort to ensure expected outcomes are produced
planning, monitoring and reporting
gathering information from stakeholders to determine and understand their needs
elicitation
defines how requirements are managed and how these requirements are communicated to stakeholders of varying backgrounds and business groups
requirements management and communication
identifying business need, problem or opportunity, determining the most effective solution and justifying the investment for the new business requirement. Often initiates new projects and continues as changes occur.
Enterprise Analysis
examining the capability of stated requirements to provide a potential soution to meet stakeholder needs and develop models of the current state of an organization to identify opportunities for improvement
requirements analysis
activities performed to assess and validate all components of the proposed solution to ensure successful implementation
solution assessment and validation
