The document outlines the role and responsibilities of a business analyst, defining business analysis as the practice of enabling change by identifying needs and recommending solutions. It covers essential skills, job titles, and common techniques like SWOT, PESTLE, and business process modeling, emphasizing the importance of stakeholder communication. Additionally, it distinguishes the business analyst's function from that of a business consultant, highlighting the knowledge areas necessary for effective analysis and planning in organizations.

1. PREPARED BY:
GORAN MUTALIB OMAR KASSAN

2.  What is business analysis?
 Who is a business analyst?
 Business analyst skills
 Business analyst job titles
 Business analyst is a business doctor
 Business analyst versus business consultant
 Business analysis knowledge areas:
1. Enterprise analysis
2. Business analysis planning and monitoring
3. Elicitation
4. Requirement Management and Communication
5. Requirement analysis
6. Solution assessment and validation

3. Most popular business analysis techniques:
MOST
Business Process Modelling (BPM)
PESTLE
SWOT
MoSCoW
CATWOE
THE 5 WHYS (ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS)
6 THINKING HATS
MIND MAPPING
PORTER’S 5 FORCES

5. Def: this book defines
business analysis as “the
practice of enabling
change in an enterprise
by defining needs and
recommending solutions
that deliver value to
stakeholders”.
Def: a research discipline of
identifying business needs
and determining solutions
to business problems”.

6. A business analyst or a “BA” is
Responsible for discovering,
synthesizing, and analyzing
information from a variety of
sources within an enterprise,
including tools processes,
documentation, and stakeholders.
The business analyst is
responsible for eliciting the actual
needs of stakeholders – which
frequently involves investigating
and clarifying their expressed
desires – in order to determine
underlying issues and causes.

8. Relationship-building skills
(stakeholders relationship skills)

10. Industry and domain
expertise
Negotiating skills

11.  Business architect.
 Business systems analyst.
 Data analyst.
 Enterprise analyst.
 Management consultant.
 Process analyst.
 Product manager.
 Product owner.
 Requirements engineer, and systems analyst.

13. Business analyst & Business consultant gather into some points:
Appear similar in their appearance.
Find solutions.
Focus on identifying inefficiencies.

14. Business Consultant Business Analyst
Is a generalist Is a specialist
Have knowledge and skills in
several areas (finance,
accounting, management,
strategic thinking, etc.)
Deal with a specific problem
(finance, accounting,
management, strategic thinking,
etc.)
Utilize their knowledge and skill
set to formulate a course of
action that will help the company
overcome their problems and
plan effectively for the future.
The business analyst is expected
to have a wide depth of specific
knowledge in the focused area.
The endgame for a business
consultant is to draft a plan for
success and provide a road map
that the company can implement
to achieve the desired results.
success is achieved when the
specific problem is overcome
which help the company avoid a
similar problem in the future.

15. Knowledge areas represent areas of specific
business analysis expertise that include several
tasks: the six knowledge areas are:
1. Enterprise analysis
A business analyst begins by gaining an understanding of the
organizational environment in which a project is to be done
and how that project can help the organization's mission,
vision, and goals. This may require a systematic, documented
approach that often focuses on overall organization
architecture and high-level business objectives. Good analyses
allow management to prioritize among various projects and
develop effective procedures for eliciting requirements.

16. Consider an online shopping company that is facing some
problems like:
 Reduce fuel expenses.
 Decrease the time needed to deliver boxes of products.
 Increase the accuracy of the orders.
 Retain and expand the customer base
Note: Actually, item number 4 is probably the overarching goal;
in order to achieve number 4 ,you must first achieve items 1, 2,
and 3.

17. The analysts concluded that
a computer-based
scheduling approach could
route the delivery trucks
more efficiently and help
reduce both fuel
consumption and delivery
times, and a database-
driven inventory control
system could increase the
accuracy of the shipments.
Note that we haven't yet
gone into any of the
details of exactly what
the new systems are
going to look like - so far
we've been focused on
"big picture" outcomes.

18. After a business analyst has a
reasonable idea of what his project
is trying to achieve.
 He needs to work on planning
how the business analysis
activities are going to be
performed.
 The monitoring component of the
plan: He'll also determine how to
estimate the advance of the
business analysis effort once it is
ongoing.
 Determining the business analysis
processes that will be used to
Identify the stakeholders and
defining their roles and
responsibilities in the business
analysis effort (amount of money,
amount of interest).
 Planning how requirements will be
approached, traced, and
prioritized.
 Determining the goals that the
business analyst will produce.
 Developing estimations for
business analysis tasks, as well as
determining the metrics that will
be used for monitoring business
analyst work.

19.  Elicitation "is an activity within
requirements development
that:
1. Identifies sources for
requirements.
2. Uses elicitation techniques
(e.g., interviews,
prototypes, facilitated
workshops, documentation
studies) to gather
requirements from those
sources.
Note: "Projects can fail if the
end of this product either
doesn't function correctly or
doesn't do what the users want
it to do.

20. 1. Documented requirements must be communicated to
stakeholders and others in the project.
2. The Requirements Management and Communication
knowledge area cover the activities necessary to
communicate the requirements to various audiences and
manage conflicts, issues and changes in order to ensure
that stakeholders remain in agreement with the solution.
3. Actually, communication usually takes place in tandem
with the requirements analysis phase.
4. The first draft of a requirements document may need to
be revised several times as stakeholders ask questions
and possibly introduce new requirements. As a project
solution is built, a continuous review process might
introduce further changes to the requirements, which
would call for the documentation to be updated.

21. A business analyst must be able to adapt the message to the
audience. That is, she should use communications methods
that are appropriate for the intended audience. For example,
an organization's upper management would not be very
impressed by a PowerPoint presentation that features
Unified Modeling Language (UML) diagrams for a proposed
software solution, but a team of software developers would
take to it immediately because this is "language" they
understand implicitly. Usually, requirements are presented
as a package that contains all the relevant information in
various formats that appeal to a variety of audiences. This
package then winds its way through a series of reviewers (or
review committees) to ensure that all key stakeholders give
their approval for the project to continue.

22. 1. Once the needs of the users and stakeholders have been
gathered, the business analyst can begin thinking about
solutions.
2. An overall analysis might discover solutions that were not
apparent at the beginning. For example, users might need
better computers and software to track their work but in fact
what is needed is better, more efficient, processes. The
solution may not require new computers and software at all -
just a little re-engineering of existing processes. Computers
and software are great tools for conducting business, but if the
business processes are flawed, introducing more technology
won't solve any problems.
3. After analyzing the requirements about the project, the
business analyst must documents those requirements in a
clear and detailed way so stakeholders can make decisions
about project options and developers can start creating a
technical solution.

23. 1. Solution Assessment and Validation, addresses
activities done to ensure that the solution both
functions correctly and meets the needs of the
users and other stakeholders.
2. Some business analysts also become involved with
the deployment process and may help users make
the transition from the "old" way to the "new" way
of doing things.
3. Remember, a solution must satisfy two overarching
objectives:
1. It must function as the designers intended.
2. It must do what the stakeholders said they wanted,
not only must everything work, but the solution must
serve the needs of the users and other stakeholders.

24. 1. MOST Analysis
M-Mission
O-Objective
S-Strategy
T-Tactics

25. A powerful business analysis framework analyze what an organization does and
plans to achieve the goal. Hence, MOST analysis is a clear way to understand an
organization on its ability and target.
Now, let’s explain each of the factors with their purposes.
 Mission: This is the most critical factor for an organization which defines the goals
it wants to achieve in the future. If the mission is specific, then it is easier to
analyze and measure the remaining factors.
 Strategy: and finally to accomplish the mission. A strategy is a group of tactics to
achieve the objectives
 Objectives: We can consider objectives as a collection of goals which as an
accumulated result in the mission of the organization. Moreover, Objectives must
be
 Tactics: These are the discrete and straightforward methods which an organization
follows to carry out the strategies.
Advantage:
This process ensures that an organization retains focus on the mission which is the
critical factor for the success of an organization.
S- Specific
M-Measurable
A-Achievable
R-Realistic
T-Timely
S.M.A.R.T.

26. Business Process Modeling:
 is all about process improvement.
 Used to understand or analyze the
differences between existing business
process and future business process
that the business is striving for.
According to the International Institute of
Business Analysis (IIBA), business analysts
perform the below tasks in a BPM project:
 Strategic planning.
 Business Model Analysis.
 Defining process and design it.
 Technical Analysis for complex business solutions.
Advantage:
 BPM technique is an easy way to logically represent how a business process will
operate by different roles.
 Helps to make complex business analysis more straightforward to perform for
a business analyst.

27. There are always environmental factors which influence business in its
strategic planning. These key factors are commonly known as PESTLE
which stands for
 P- Political
 E – Economic
 S – Social
 T – Technological
 L- Legal
 E – Environmental
Each of the factors mentioned above has influences in making a business
decision final. Hence, the task of a business analyst is to apply PESTLE
analysis technique to understand and identify the factors within the
environment of the organization operates and analyze how those PESTLE
factors will influence the future performance of the organization.
Advantage:
 Involves many functional skills of a business analyst along with his
expertise.
 Reduce the potential threats of an organization.
 It opens up the scopes to exploit the opportunities for entering into new
markets globally.

29. The term SWOT stands for its four elements
 S- Strength.
 W- Weakness.
 O- Opportunities.
 T- Threats.
It is a overall analysis conducted by a business analysis considering:
 The internal factors as Strength and Weakness.
 The external factors as Opportunities and Threats.
 SWOT analysis is a four-quadrant analysis for a business analyst where
he places the data as the answers for each quadrant. A business analyst
answers the questions under each of the quadrants.
Advantage:
 SWOT analysis is one of the most popular business analysis techniques
followed in the industry. Furthermore, it is easy. It is an enterprise level
analysis technique and not only limited to business analysis. It could be
used at any stage of the project if the unit needs it and most of the
people know it. Hence, it is widely used in the industry.

31.  Must have Requirements labelled as Must have are critical to the current delivery
timebox in order for it to be a success. If even one Must have requirement is not
included, the project delivery should be considered a failure (note: requirements
can be downgraded from Must have, by agreement with all relevant stakeholders;
for example, when new requirements are deemed more important). MUST can also
be considered an acronym for the Minimum Usable Subset. Should have
Requirements labelled as Should have are important but not necessary for delivery
in the current delivery time box. While Should have requirements can be as
important as Must have, they are often not as time-critical or there may be
another way to satisfy the requirement so that it can be held back until a future
delivery timebox. Could have Requirements labelled as Could have are desirable
but not necessary and could improve the user experience or customer satisfaction
for a little development cost. These will typically be included if time and resources
permit. Won't have (this time)Requirements labelled as Won't have, have been
agreed by stakeholders as the least-critical, lowest-payback items, or not
appropriate at that time. As a result, Won't have requirements are not planned into
the schedule for the next delivery timebox. Won't have requirements are either
dropped or reconsidered for inclusion in a later timebox. (Note: occasionally the
term Would like to have is used; however, that usage is incorrect, as this last
priority is clearly stating something is outside the scope of delivery).

33. CATWOE is a generic thinking way for business analysis to
understand what a business is trying to achieve. It identifies what
the problem areas are and how the solution will impact the
business and its associated people.
CATWOE is an acronym for
 Clients
 Actors
 Transformation
 World View
 Owner
 Environmental Constraints
Advantage:
The CATWOE analysis brings up the different stakeholders’
perceptions on a common platform. Hence, it provides a holistic
understanding regarding assumption, the integrity of the data,
ethical angle. It helps a business analyst to prioritize different
perspectives depending on its merits.

35. A college has arrived late to the team meeting explaining it is not their
fault, but was caused by a parking ticket. A few questions are asked about
the ticket and it turns out the parking ticket was a consequence of other
actions, not the cause.
Q1. Why did you get a parking ticket?
A. I parked in a spot I wasn’t mean to be in.
Q2. Why?
A. I was running late so parked there to get into work on time.
Q3. Why?
A. I got up late.Q4. Why?
A. The alarm didn’t go off.
Q5. Why?
A. I stayed up late to watch a film and I forgot to set it.
The root cause of the problem was identified after 5 layers of ‘why’. Taking
the statement at face value at each layer would lead to the wrong
conclusion. Embedding a mandatory checking and setting process would
likely stop this problem from happening again.

37. You can use Six Thinking Hats in meetings or on your own. In meetings, it
has the benefit of preventing any confrontation that may happen when
people with different thinking styles discuss a problem, because every
perspective is valid.
Each "Thinking Hat" is a different style of thinking. These are explained
below:
 White Hat: with this thinking hat, you focus on the available data. Look
at the information that you have, analyze past trends, and see what you
can learn from it. Look for gaps in your knowledge, and try to either fill
them or take account of them.
 Red Hat: "wearing" the Red Hat, you look at problems using your
intuition, gut reaction, and emotion. Also, think how others could react
emotionally. Try to understand the responses of people who do not fully
know your reasoning.
 Black Hat: using Black Hat thinking, look at a decision's potentially
negative outcomes. Look at it cautiously and defensively. Try to see why
it might not work. This is important because it highlights the weak
points in a plan. It allows you to eliminate them, alter them, or prepare
contingency plans to counter them.

38.  Black Hat thinking helps to make your plans "tougher" and more
resilient. It can also help you to spot fatal flaws and risks before you
embark on a course of action. It's one of the real benefits of this model,
as many successful people get so used to thinking positively that they
often cannot see problems in advance. This leaves them under-prepared
for difficulties.
 Yellow Hat: this hat helps you to think positively. It is the optimistic
viewpoint that helps you to see all the benefits of the decision and the
value in it. Yellow Hat thinking helps you to keep going when everything
looks gloomy and difficult.
 Green Hat: the Green Hat represents creativity. This is where you
develop creative solutions to a problem. It is a freewheeling way of
thinking, in which there is little criticism of ideas. (You can explore a
range of creativity tools to help you.)
 Blue Hat: this hat represents process control. It's the hat worn by people
chairing meetings, for example. When facing difficulties because ideas
are running dry, they may direct activity into Green Hat thinking. When
contingency plans are needed, they will ask for Black Hat thinking.

40. This is a mind map about – conveniently enough – mind mapping itself. It presents,
in a visual way, the core elements and techniques on how to draw mind maps. Yes, I
know this may look a little too messy initially, but bear with me: once you break the
ingrained habit of linear note taking, you won’t look back.
Benefits and Uses:
 I think I already gave away the benefits of mind mapping and why mind maps
work. Basically, mind mapping avoids dull, linear thinking, jogging your creativity
and making note taking fun again.
 But what can we use mind maps for?
 Note taking
 Brainstorming (individually or in groups)
 Problem solving
 Studying and memorization
 Planning
 Researching and consolidating information from multiple sources
 Presenting information
 Gaining insight on complex subjects
 Jogging your creativity

42.  The tool was created by Harvard Business School
professor Michael Porter, to analyze an industry's
attractiveness and likely profitability. Since its
publication in 1979, it has become one of the
most popular and highly regarded business
strategy tools.
 Porter recognized that organizations likely keep a
close watch on their rivals, but he encouraged
them to look beyond the actions of their
competitors and examine what other factors
could impact the business environment. He
identified five forces that make up the
competitive environment, and which can erode
your profitability.