CBAPĀ®/CCBAā¢ EXAM TOPICS COVERED IN THIS CHAPTER
- Describe business analysis and the role of the business analyst.
- Explain the Business Analysis Core Concept Model (BACCMā¢).
- Explore the six business analysis knowledge areas.
- Recognize the basic contents, structure, and intent of the BABOK Ā® Guide.
- Define the BABOK Ā® Guide requirements classification scheme.
- Map business analysis activities to a generic project life cycle.
- Understand the content and intent of the BABOK Ā® Guide.
This chapter lays the foundation for navigating and understanding the content and intent of
A Guide to the Business Analysis Body of KnowledgeĀ® (
BABOKĀ® Guide). It is our high-level look at what it means to be a business analyst and how to successfully perform business analysis work. Business analysts can be found in all facets of an organizationāprojects, programs, strategic planning, operations, or other initiatives. Although the examples in this chapter use projects and the project life cycle to step through the discipline, remember that business analysts do not have to be members of a project team to do their jobs. They can work almost anywhere.
The set of generally accepted best practices defined by the BABOKĀ® Guide provides a business analysis framework defining areas of knowledge, associated activities and tasks, and the skills required to perform them. The scope of this standard covers pre-project activities, the full project life cycle, and the final productās operational life.
What Is Business Analysis?
Letās start with an example of how difficult it can be to do business analysis work when you are not certain where to begin. New business analysts start their careers in a number of ways. In the past, it was not uncommon for young software engineers to transition into the business side of an organization when their manager called them into their office, saying, āWe are short-staffed, and I need you to figure out what the users need this new software application to do.ā The fledging business analyst needed to discover who to talk to, what to ask, how to ask, and how to document the information that they discovered in a way that made sense to the development team and to the business. This was not an easy task the first time around!
In this situation, performing basic business analysis work took a lot longer than it seemed like it should. These unprepared rookie business analysts had great difficulty deciding exactly how to get started. There was no process in place to guide them and no one available to point them in the right direction. They found themselves longing to go back to their cubicles and just write some more code. Luckily, there is no need for business analysts to feel this way today. There are standards, books (like this one), websites, blogs, and tons of experienced folks out there to mentor and guide business analysts in getting the job done right.
Business analysis is the glue that holds successful organizations together. It is a distinct discipline focusing on identifying business needs, problems, and opportunities, and on determining the appropriate solutions to address them. The resulting projects and initiatives may focus on systems development, process improvement, organizational change, or some combination of the three. Business analysis touches all levels of an organization: strategic, tactical, and operational. Business analysts participate across the project and the product life cycles as they look at all aspects of an organizationās enterprise architecture, stakeholder needs, business processes, software, and hardware.
The set of generally accepted best practices defined by the BABOKĀ® Guide make this book an essential resource for every business analyst. You should take this basic business analysis framework and make it work for you and your projects. The areas of knowledge, associated activities and tasks, and the skills required to perform them will give you a valuable starting point for introducing, validating, or improving your business analysis processes throughout an organization. Even better, the scope of the BABOKĀ® Guide covers pre-project activities, the full project life cycle and the final solutionās operational life.
The BABOKĀ® Guide focuses on building underlying competencies that make for a successful business analyst on todayās projects and initiatives. The BABOKĀ® Guide defines business analysis as āthe practice of enabling change in an enterprise by defining needs and recommending solutions that deliver value to stakeholders.ā Put simply, a business analyst is defined as anyone performing these business analysis activities.
When looking at business analysis in an organization, you need to make sure that you know how the organization views its business analysts. First, what is the role of the business analyst? Second, what is the expected relationship between the business analyst and the project manager? And third, who are the stakeholders with whom the business analyst will be interacting along the way? We will look at each of these topics next.
The Business Analystās Role
The linchpin of successful business analysis is the business analyst performing the actual work. Their involvement in defining and validating solutions that address key business needs and goals is essential to both project and business success. According to the BABOKĀ® Guide, āa business analyst is any person who performs business analysis tasks described in ...
