Business analysis

Business analysis is a research discipline of identifying business needs and determining solutions to business problems. Solutions often include a software-systems development component, but may also consist of process improvement, organizational change or strategic planning and policy development. The person who carries out this task is called a business analyst or BA.

Business analysts do not work solely on developing software systems. Those who attempt to do so run the risk of developing an incomplete solution.

Although there are different role definitions, depending upon the organization, there does seem to be an area of common ground where most business analysts work. The responsibilities appear to be:

In line with this, the core business analyst role could be defined as an internal consultancy role that has the responsibility for investigating business situations, identifying and evaluating options for improving business systems, defining requirements and ensuring the effective use of information systems in meeting the needs of the business.

Business analysis as a discipline includes requirements analysis, sometimes also called requirements engineering. It focuses on ensuring the changes made to an organisation are aligned with its strategic goals. These changes include changes to strategies, structures, policies, business rules, processes, and information systems.

Examples of business analysis includes:

Focuses on understanding the needs of the business as a whole, its strategic direction, and identifying initiatives that will allow a business to meet those strategic goals. It also includes:

Involves planning the requirements development process, determining which requirements are the highest priority for implementation, and managing change.

Describes techniques for collecting requirements from stakeholders in a project. Techniques for requirements elicitation include:

Describes how to develop and specify requirements in enough detail to allow them to be successfully implemented by a project team.

The major forms of analysis are:

Requirements documentation can take several forms:

Describes techniques for ensuring that stakeholders have a shared understanding of the requirements and how they will be implemented.

Describes how the business analyst can perform correctness of a proposed solution, how to support the implementation of a solution, and how to assess possible shortcomings in the implementation.

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