Challenge yourself by keeping up with practical business analysis techniques you can apply on the job.
SSM is presented in a series of 7 steps though it’s not meant to be followed in a linear fashion. Stages may be skipped, refined, iterated or followed depending on the peculiarities of the situation. The analyst moves from the real world of gathering information about the situation (elicitation), to the model world of systems thinking (analysis) and back to the real world to verify the requirements (verification).
Read MoreThe document analysis technique is one of the most effective ways of kick-starting the requirements elicitation phase. It is the art of studying relevant business, system and project documentation with the objective of understanding the business, the project background, identifying requirements and opportunities for improvement.
Read MoreMost people are used to observing events in their personal and professional lives. In some cases, we come to conclusions based on the events we observe. The observation technique is an effective means of deciphering how a user does their job by conducting an assessment of their work environment. This technique can be used to verify requirements and deliver instant requirements worthy of consideration.
Read MoreIn an environment devoid of clear rules or guidance on what business actions are allowed or not allowed, employees would make decisions on the fly. Decisions would be made without consulting company policies/guidelines, leading to complete chaos. Business rules are the conditions or constraints that define how the business operates and should be analysed alongside business requirements.
Read MoreBusiness Analyst Training comes in different flavours. This post is a compilation of reputable VIRTUAL business analyst training you can attend (from anywhere in the world) to polish your use of business analysis techniques. Please note that these courses have not been listed in any particular order of preference and this post is only for your information.
Read MoreForce field analysis is a technique that can be used for identifying, discussing and documenting the factors that support or oppose a change initiative. It was introduced in the 1940s by Kurt Lewin, a social psychologist, and can be applied to making go or no-go decisions on potentially disruptive business changes.
Read MoreWriting a user story is an interesting way of adding a touch of agile to your projects. A user story can be described as a high-level statement of a requirement that does not go into excessive detail. It describes the functionality or feature that a product is expected to deliver to the user. Stories encourage iterative development and can be refined as many times as possible to reach agreement and understanding among stakeholders.
Read MorePeter Chen proposed the ERD in 1976 as a conceptual modelling tool that represents real world data in the form of entities and relationships. Its primary application is in the design of relational databases; this is why it is also referred to as a Database Model.
So, what exactly are entities and why would you want to draw an ERD?
Read MoreTo simplify requirements gathering, it's useful to think of user requirements as “scenarios”. Scenarios are textual descriptions of how users will make use of the system when it is deployed. They guide the requirements gathering process and serve as a baseline from which more detailed requirements may be elicited.
Read MoreA use case can be defined as an activity performed by the system in response to an event. How can the analyst ensure that all the use cases (system functionalities) are captured? An interesting approach by Alistair Cockburn suggests that analysts identify use cases with the “coffee-break test”. That is, once the user has completed a use case, s/he can take a coffee-break without feeling guilty... Beyond the coffee-break test, there are 3 recommended techniques for identifying use cases. They are discussed below:
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A SIPOC diagram represents a high-level view of a process. It shows the Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs and Customers and is pronounced "Psy-puck". The SIPOC Diagram plays an important role in Process Definition and Improvement and should ideally be done first before embarking on process mapping.
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Read MoreOne of the responsibilities of a business analyst is seeking solutions to business problems and improving existing processes. In order to achieve improvement in daily operations, trends need to be monitored. This is where the tally sheet comes in – it’s used for recording the frequency of events/problems as they occur.
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Read MoreRequirements need to be prioritized because stakeholders can’t always have everything they want, or should I say, because we can’t always give them everything they want. This is not because we don’t like their faces but because most projects are faced with a limited budget and time frame. As a business analyst, how do you ensure you focus on the most important requirements?
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Read MoreAccording to EBG Consulting, requirement workshops can reduce product defects by up to 50%. The collaborative power of requirements workshops should be leveraged when gathering requirements. It's a unique opportunity for the BA to study group dynamics, resolve conflicting requirements and deliver an acceptable solution.
Read MoreThe Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) is a popular project management estimation technique that can be used for arriving at reasonably accurate figures or guesses. It may also be used to evaluate the duration of time required to complete a business analysis effort.
Read MoreThe Affinity Diagram is interesting to use and is one of my favourite sense-making tools. It allows you to sort out masses of information into natural groups based on the common characteristics they share or the categories they fall into.
Read MoreA use case diagram provides a high-level description of what your system should be able to do and who/what will interact with it. It’s a technique for specifying functional requirements.
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Read MoreIf you have a massive and complex project with many entities, data, data sources, data destinations and processes going on, a data flow diagram is one of the most effective ways of making sense of all that data.
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Read MoreVariance analysis is a technique used for evaluating the difference between planned and actual figures. This can be applied to time, resources and any other factor that has a major impact on your project.
Read MoreMade popular in the 70s by the Toyota Production System, the 5 whys is a flexible problem solving technique. I personally find it intriguing. Partly because its so simple and partly because it also requires skilled facilitation to be effective, straightforward as it is.
Read MoreThis business analyst blog contains practical insights into business analysis, software testing and business process management. I will be sharing business analyst tips, CBAP Certification tips, lessons learnt and insights into all the things I've learnt during my BA career.
