Browsing All Posts filed under »Business Analysis Techniques«

Business Analysis Technique #2 – Benchmarking

May 27, 2011 by

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Benchmarking is a valid, powerful and concrete way to compare a new system or process to the current, “as-is” state OR to compare multiple systems in a vendor selection process. To ensure each of those adjectives (valid, powerful and concrete) are met here’s some suggestions: Valid – ensure a level playing field in all systems […]

Business Analysis Technique #5 – Data Dictionary and Glossary

May 11, 2011 by

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Equally at home with Use Case creation, or the earlier generation’s  database analysis,  Data Dictionaries and Glossaries provide a common place to store and retrieve definitions.  They’re used by business and technical roles.  The premise is to understand what is needed for a field of data or an entire table or record of data (aka […]

Business Analysis Technique #4 – Business Rules Analysis

April 29, 2011 by

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Business Rules.  Universal definitions or process descriptions that transcend a single use case or process flow.  A little bit bigger than a glossary definition (such as income range, gender, ethnicity) but not quite a usage scenario in its own right.  Business rules as they’re refined, adapted and updated are invaluable requirements assets – they really […]

Business Analysis Technique #20 – Problem Tracking

April 21, 2011 by

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Problems, issues, bugs, defects, action items, punch list, clean up tables – so many synonymous terms for the same underlying concept – tracking known “stuff” and making sure it gets resolved before a product or service is released.   While risk management concerns the known- unknown, management reserves address unknown  -unknown, problem tracking is smack dab […]

Business Analysis Technique #11 – Focus Groups

March 31, 2011 by

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Focus Groups – the 11th Technique listed in the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge employ a skilled facilitator(s) and a small group of prospective or current customers to seek out and understand what the customer or user wants and/or how they use a product or service.  The information gathered from a focus group is powerful.  […]

Business Analysis Technique #32 SWOT Analysis

March 22, 2011 by

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SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) is a venerable mainstay of management and MBA curriculum.  While it’s typically applied at the organization level for strategic management, SWOT analysis can be a helpful technique for understanding the business perspective for a set of requirements or a project. It’s described in 9.32 of the BABOK™ A […]

Business Analysis Technique #31 Surveys and Questionnaires.

March 11, 2011 by

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  Polls, surveys, questionnaires are synonymous terms for the same thing – asking people for their opinion on a topic.  Chapter Nine of the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK®), Second Edition includes Surveys and Questionnaires as the 31st technique. Surveys help teams understand what customers want. They will differ depending on whether they will […]

Business Analysis Technique #26 – Scenarios and Use Cases

March 2, 2011 by

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Several years ago I shared a series of articles in the Rational Edge for IBM that showcased real life applications of use cases and incremental development.  Two of those articles focused on replacing a legacy unemployment insurance system. The entire article provides a much more thorough introduction from that example – so take a quick […]

Business Analysis Technique #3 – Brainstorming

March 1, 2011 by

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The whiteboard.  The dry eraser.  The multi-color pens.  The overbearing meeting participant.  Those four things often come together when thinking of brainstorming.  It’s a technique among multiple management nexus disciplines and at the heart of agile, business analysis and project management. It can produce great results from a team. The Business Analysis Body of Knowledge […]

34 Business Analysis Techniques from The IIBA

February 25, 2011 by

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Chapter Nine of the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK®), Second Edition provides a concluding overview of thirty-four techinques used throughout business analysis and the six processes defined within the BABOK®).  I’ll highlight the most frequently used ones in my career over the next several weeks.  If one of the following techniques does not make […]