When business analysis is limited to (or centred around) the software development lifecycle, it ceases to be about defining the needs of the business and instead supports the main need of the solution provider: deliver software to schedule, which should be a means and not an end in itself.

1. Business Analysis is About More Than
Software Requirements
by Declan Chellar

2. Many companies
think analysis starts
when a software
project is launched.
Testing
Technical
Solution
Reqs
Analysis

3. Problems
And they think
analysis is only
about...
Testing
Technical
Solution
Reqs
Analysis

4. They may have
produced a Product
Backlog to establish the
scope of the project.
Testing
Technical
Solution
Reqs
Analysis
PRODUCT BACKLOG

5. Or even have a
business case for the
needed changes.
Testing
Technical
Solution
Reqs
Analysis
PRODUCT BACKLOG
BUSINESS CASE TO IMPLEMENT NEEDED CHANGES

6. Testing
Technical
Solution
Reqs
Analysis
But how do we know the
items in the Product
Backlog are what the
business needs, rather
than what users want?
? PRODUCT BACKLOG
BUSINESS CASE TO IMPLEMENT NEEDED CHANGES

7. Testing
Technical
Solution
Reqs
Analysis
And how do we know
that any stated
acceptance criteria are
actually the right ones?
?
But how do we know the
items in the Product
Backlog are what the
business needs, rather
than what users want?
? PRODUCT BACKLOG
BUSINESS CASE TO IMPLEMENT NEEDED CHANGES

8. Where is the analysis that drove
out this Product Backlog?
?
Testing
Technical
Solution
Reqs
Analysis
And how do we know
that any stated
acceptance criteria are
actually the right ones?
?
But how do we know the
items in the Product
Backlog are what the
business needs, rather
than what users want?
? PRODUCT BACKLOG
BUSINESS CASE TO IMPLEMENT NEEDED CHANGES

9. WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
AS IS BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE
Any analysis should start with a view of
how the business architecture is now.

10. WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
AS IS BUSINESS ARCHITECTUREStrategy
Competition
Politics
Opportunity
Problems
Legislation
Economics
Environment
Many factors impact how a
business operates.

11. WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
AS IS BUSINESS ARCHITECTUREStrategy
Competition
Politics
Opportunity
Problems
Legislation
Economics
EnvironmentBUSINESS CASE TO ANALYSE PERCEIVED CHANGES
A business case should be written to
justify investing in an exercise to model
how the Business Architecture Should Be,
taking those factors into account.

12. WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
SHOULD BE BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE
BUSINESS NEEDS BACKLOG
A backlog of business
needs should emerge
iteratively from the Should
Be Business Architecture.
WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
AS IS BUSINESS ARCHITECTUREStrategy
Competition
Politics
Opportunity
Problems
Legislation
Economics
EnvironmentBUSINESS CASE TO ANALYSE PERCEIVED CHANGES

13. WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
SHOULD BE BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE
BUSINESS NEEDS BACKLOG
BUSINESS CASE TO IMPLEMENT NEEDED CHANGES
Once that Should Be Business Architecture
has been modelled to a good enough level
of detail, a business case should be written
to justify implementing it.
WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
AS IS BUSINESS ARCHITECTUREStrategy
Competition
Politics
Opportunity
Problems
Legislation
Economics
EnvironmentBUSINESS CASE TO ANALYSE PERCEIVED CHANGES

14. WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
SHOULD BE BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE
BUSINESS NEEDS BACKLOG
Business Case
This may spawn
several projects and
not all of them will
involve software
development.
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT 1
STAFF TRAINING
INTIATIVE
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT 2
MERGER
RECRUITMENT
DRIVE
WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
AS IS BUSINESS ARCHITECTUREStrategy
Competition
Politics
Opportunity
Problems
Legislation
Economics
EnvironmentBUSINESS CASE TO ANALYSE PERCEIVED CHANGES
Business Case Business Case Business Case Business Case
PRODUCT
BACKLOG 1
PRODUCT
BACKLOG 2

15. WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
SHOULD BE BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE
BUSINESS NEEDS BACKLOG
Business Case
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT 1
STAFF TRAINING
INTIATIVE
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT 2
MERGER
RECRUITMENT
DRIVE
WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
AS IS BUSINESS ARCHITECTUREStrategy
Competition
Politics
Opportunity
Problems
Legislation
Economics
EnvironmentBUSINESS CASE TO ANALYSE PERCEIVED CHANGES
Business Case Business Case Business Case Business Case
PRODUCT
BACKLOG 1
PRODUCT
BACKLOG 2
High Level Technical Solutions Architecture
A high-level technical
solution can now be designed
based on well-defined
business needs and their
impact across the whole
business.

16. WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
SHOULD BE BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE
BUSINESS NEEDS BACKLOG
Business Case
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT 1
STAFF TRAINING
INTIATIVE
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT 2
MERGER
RECRUITMENT
DRIVE
WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
AS IS BUSINESS ARCHITECTUREStrategy
Competition
Politics
Opportunity
Problems
Legislation
Economics
EnvironmentBUSINESS CASE TO ANALYSE PERCEIVED CHANGES
Business Case Business Case Business Case Business Case
PRODUCT
BACKLOG 1
PRODUCT
BACKLOG 2
High Level Technical Solutions Architecture
Upon which
software solutions
can be developed.

17. WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
SHOULD BE BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE
BUSINESS NEEDS BACKLOG
Business Case
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT 1
STAFF TRAINING
INTIATIVE
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT 2
MERGER
RECRUITMENT
DRIVE
WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
AS IS BUSINESS ARCHITECTUREStrategy
Competition
Politics
Opportunity
Problems
Legislation
Economics
EnvironmentBUSINESS CASE TO ANALYSE PERCEIVED CHANGES
Business Case Business Case Business Case Business Case
PRODUCT
BACKLOG 1
PRODUCT
BACKLOG 2
High Level Technical Solutions Architecture
In the meantime, the
business architecture
has continued to
iterate!

18. WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
SHOULD BE BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE
BUSINESS NEEDS BACKLOG
Business Case
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT 1
STAFF TRAINING
INTIATIVE
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT 2
MERGER
RECRUITMENT
DRIVE
WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
AS IS BUSINESS ARCHITECTUREStrategy
Competition
Politics
Opportunity
Problems
Legislation
Economics
EnvironmentBUSINESS CASE TO ANALYSE PERCEIVED CHANGES
Business Case Business Case Business Case Business Case
PRODUCT
BACKLOG 1
PRODUCT
BACKLOG 2
High Level Technical Solutions Architecture
Moreover, you don’t
have to wait until this
stage to test process
flows, data relationships
and decision logic!

19. WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
SHOULD BE BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE
BUSINESS NEEDS BACKLOG
Business Case
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT 1
STAFF TRAINING
INTIATIVE
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT 2
MERGER
RECRUITMENT
DRIVE
WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
AS IS BUSINESS ARCHITECTUREStrategy
Competition
Politics
Opportunity
Problems
Legislation
Economics
EnvironmentBUSINESS CASE TO ANALYSE PERCEIVED CHANGES
Business Case Business Case Business Case Business Case
PRODUCT
BACKLOG 1
PRODUCT
BACKLOG 2
High Level Technical Solutions Architecture
You can and should
test process flows,
data relationships
and decision logic
in the business
architecture itself.

20. WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
SHOULD BE BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE
BUSINESS NEEDS BACKLOG
Business Case
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT 1
STAFF TRAINING
INTIATIVE
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT 2
MERGER
RECRUITMENT
DRIVE
WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
AS IS BUSINESS ARCHITECTUREStrategy
Competition
Politics
Opportunity
Problems
Legislation
Economics
EnvironmentBUSINESS CASE TO ANALYSE PERCEIVED CHANGES
Business Case Business Case Business Case Business Case
PRODUCT
BACKLOG 1
PRODUCT
BACKLOG 2
High Level Technical Solutions Architecture
In fact, the whole point of
modelling is to be able to
test business solutions
before spending money on
implementing them!
You can and should
test process flows,
data relationships
and decision logic
in the business
architecture itself.

21. WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
SHOULD BE BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE
BUSINESS NEEDS BACKLOG
Business Case
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT 1
STAFF TRAINING
INTIATIVE
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT 2
MERGER
RECRUITMENT
DRIVE
WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
AS IS BUSINESS ARCHITECTUREStrategy
Competition
Politics
Opportunity
Problems
Legislation
Economics
EnvironmentBUSINESS CASE TO ANALYSE PERCEIVED CHANGES
Business Case Business Case Business Case Business Case
PRODUCT
BACKLOG 1
PRODUCT
BACKLOG 2
High Level Technical Solutions Architecture
You can and should
test process flows,
data relationships
and decision logic
in the business
architecture itself.
And save
considerable
time and money
at this stage.

22. Many BAs, Project
Managers and businesses
think analysis is only
about this.
WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
SHOULD BE BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE
BUSINESS NEEDS BACKLOG
Business Case
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT 1
STAFF TRAINING
INTIATIVE
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT 2
MERGER
RECRUITMENT
DRIVE
WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
AS IS BUSINESS ARCHITECTUREStrategy
Competition
Politics
Opportunity
Problems
Legislation
Economics
EnvironmentBUSINESS CASE TO ANALYSE PERCEIVED CHANGES
Business Case Business Case Business Case Business Case
PRODUCT
BACKLOG 1
PRODUCT
BACKLOG 2
High Level Technical Solutions Architecture

23. WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
SHOULD BE BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE
BUSINESS NEEDS BACKLOG
Business Case
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT 1
STAFF TRAINING
INTIATIVE
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT 2
MERGER
RECRUITMENT
DRIVE
WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
AS IS BUSINESS ARCHITECTUREStrategy
Competition
Politics
Opportunity
Problems
Legislation
Economics
EnvironmentBUSINESS CASE TO ANALYSE PERCEIVED CHANGES
Business Case Business Case Business Case Business Case
PRODUCT
BACKLOG 1
PRODUCT
BACKLOG 2
High Level Technical Solutions Architecture
But this results in
little more than
requirements scribing.

24. WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
SHOULD BE BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE
BUSINESS NEEDS BACKLOG
Business Case
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT 1
STAFF TRAINING
INTIATIVE
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT 2
MERGER
RECRUITMENT
DRIVE
WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
AS IS BUSINESS ARCHITECTUREStrategy
Competition
Politics
Opportunity
Problems
Legislation
Economics
EnvironmentBUSINESS CASE TO ANALYSE PERCEIVED CHANGES
Business Case Business Case Business Case Business Case
PRODUCT
BACKLOG 1
PRODUCT
BACKLOG 2
High Level Technical Solutions Architecture
If fact, business
analysis should drive
all of this.

25. WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
SHOULD BE BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE
BUSINESS NEEDS BACKLOG
Business Case
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT 1
STAFF TRAINING
INTIATIVE
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT 2
MERGER
RECRUITMENT
DRIVE
WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
AS IS BUSINESS ARCHITECTUREStrategy
Competition
Politics
Opportunity
Problems
Legislation
Economics
EnvironmentBUSINESS CASE TO ANALYSE PERCEIVED CHANGES
Business Case Business Case Business Case Business Case
PRODUCT
BACKLOG 1
PRODUCT
BACKLOG 2
High Level Technical Solutions Architecture
If fact, business
analysis should drive
all of this.
Ultimately working
in collaboration with
testers and solutions
developers.

26. WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
SHOULD BE BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE
BUSINESS NEEDS BACKLOG
Business Case
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT 1
STAFF TRAINING
INTIATIVE
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT 2
MERGER
RECRUITMENT
DRIVE
WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
AS IS BUSINESS ARCHITECTUREStrategy
Competition
Politics
Opportunity
Problems
Legislation
Economics
EnvironmentBUSINESS CASE TO ANALYSE PERCEIVED CHANGES
Business Case Business Case Business Case Business Case
PRODUCT
BACKLOG 1
PRODUCT
BACKLOG 2
High Level Technical Solutions Architecture
Ultimately working
in collaboration with
testers and solutions
developers.
And, of course, with
the Product Owners!

27. WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
SHOULD BE BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE
BUSINESS NEEDS BACKLOG
Business Case
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT 1
STAFF TRAINING
INTIATIVE
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT 2
MERGER
RECRUITMENT
DRIVE
WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
AS IS BUSINESS ARCHITECTUREStrategy
Competition
Politics
Opportunity
Problems
Legislation
Economics
EnvironmentBUSINESS CASE TO ANALYSE PERCEIVED CHANGES
Business Case Business Case Business Case Business Case
PRODUCT
BACKLOG 1
PRODUCT
BACKLOG 2
High Level Technical Solutions Architecture
Focusing BAs only on
this means the real
business needs have
not been explored.

28. And software integration
companies often address the issue
of poor business analysis by
throwing more software developers
at the project until they get it right,
or at least until they produce
something minimally acceptable to
the business.
Testing
Technical Solution
Reqs
Analysis

29. Resulting in costly and avoidable
iterations of the software
development lifecycle and delivery
delay. Even Agile projects suffer
from iterations needed because of
a poor understanding of business
needs.
Testing
Technical Solution
Reqs
Analysis

30. Testing
Technical Solution
Reqs
Analysis
When business analysis is limited to (or
centred around) the software
development lifecycle, it ceases to be
about defining the needs of the
business and instead supports the main
need of the solution provider: deliver
software to schedule, which should be
a means and not an end in itself.

31. Testing
Technical Solution
Reqs
Analysis
It can also mean success is measured
only by delivering software to
requirements, rather than by realisation
of the business benefit and adoption of
the business change by the business
people themselves.

32. WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
SHOULD BE BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE
BUSINESS NEEDS BACKLOG
Business Case
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT 1
STAFF TRAINING
INTIATIVE
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT 2
MERGER
RECRUITMENT
DRIVE
WHAT HOW WHEREWHOWHENWHY
AS IS BUSINESS ARCHITECTUREStrategy
Competition
Politics
Opportunity
Problems
Legislation
Economics
EnvironmentBUSINESS CASE TO ANALYSE PERCEIVED CHANGES
Business Case Business Case Business Case Business Case
PRODUCT
BACKLOG 1
PRODUCT
BACKLOG 2
High Level Technical Solutions Architecture
Thinking about business
analysis in these holistic terms
means your solutions (whether
technological or otherwise) are
more likely to fulfil the
business need, saving time,
money and a lot of frustration.

33. Care to discuss further?
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