Comments on: Rules of Thumb for Business Analysis

By: Dua_ravi

Dua_ravi — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 12:23:08 +0000

When thinking about Business Problems think of these four things and everything will get sorted out .

1. What is the root cause of Problem ?
2. What are possible solutions ?
3. How do I communicate the solution ?
4. What will be impact of solution ?

For Example - Attrition is the problem for IT companies and a company does some data crunching and results are that people are leaving the organisation because of better prospects , here the root cause is better prospects is what a normal person will think however it is more complicated then that when you look at data it gives you direction but that direction may not always be correct one as a business analyst you need to create conclusions and not follow conclusions , in the example shared above the BA finds out real reason for attrition is better opportunities because there has been sudden demand for SAP skills and people who are SAP are moving out due to it . Now comes finding out what possible solutions are and BA can go ahead and list down all the solutions possible and gives a ranking to each of the solution after carefully interviewing people /customers and gives rankings to each of these solutions ..remember no solution is full proof and sometimes it is combination of solutions which may work so ranking solutions paves way for such situations. Next comes understanding impact of each solution , if the solution was to increase compensation the impact will be financial to company or may impact planned growth due to restrained financial resources to solve the situation at hand. Communication plays a pivotal role in how people percieve things and it should be handled with maturity and experts should be involved and if possible drafts should be prepared accordingly.

By: David Wright

David Wright — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 09:26:16 +0000

Business Requirements, primarily for but not limited to Information Systems. I think what I do has co-opted the name "Business Analysis", such as at www.iiba.com, though arguably what you do better deserves the name. As the ancient Asian saying states, "All Wisdom starts with calling things by their right names."

By: Greg4

Greg4 — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 07:44:01 +0000

"Business analyst" is definitely an ambiguous term, and I should have
clarified what I meant by it. I'm looking at it primarily from the
perspective of management consulting or internal analytical work, which
could take place in a variety of functions including marketing, strategy,
operations, and supply chain. The term is also used in IT work, but I don't
necessarily have IT systems or requirements in mind.

An example might be coming up with a new marketing strategy for a company.
Inputs would include customer interviews, financial data, sales force
performance metrics, and discussions with the management team. Outputs
would include strategy recommendations and an implementation plan, and
potentially program management and training assistance. The work in the
middle would consist of qualitative and quantitative analysis.

I hope that makes it clearer what I had in mind. What does your BA work
involve?

By: David Wright

David Wright — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 07:20:22 +0000

I am trying to figure out what your main deliverables as a BA, what are your inputs and what value do you add? Priorities? Conclusions? ideas? System recommendations? Because I am a BA consultant, and do none of these things.