Business Analysis
Business Analysis is about understanding the goals and needs of a business, or part of a business. This might be done simply to enable all stakeholders to have a shared understanding of the business goals or business processes. It might be done in order to find opportunities to improve the organization structure or business processes. It might be done in order to understand the context in which a proposed software solution must operate (although this means that some prior business analysis should have been done, informally or otherwise, to identify the need for such a solution). Business Analysis includes Stakeholder Analysis, and Business Modelling.
Stakeholder Analysis
Stakeholder Analysis is generally conducted within the context of some "project", which aims to improve the business in some fashion. Stakeholder Analysis aims to identify all the stakeholders in the project, understand their responsibilities and business needs, and gain agreement on the business problem that the project is trying to address.
The first challenge is to establish the initial stakeholder list. When listing stakeholders, it is important to think of stakeholder groups, not individuals. A stakeholder group will have a name and a description of whom its members are (for example "Purchase Requisitioners: all staff who raise purchase requisitions"). It is best to have the group nominate a representative who can articulate the needs of the whole group.
For each stakeholder group, the representative is usually interviewed to establish the responsibilities of the group, their particular needs, and their expected outcomes and success criteria for the project. Often, for the initial interview, it can be helpful to have a small number of the members of the group present, and rely on the sole representative during later activities. It is important for the representative to understand that they are responsible for gathering and articulating the views of the whole group, not just themselves.
During or after the initial information gathering process, the problem statement is formulated. This is a description of the single, root-cause problem or issue the project is intended to address. Rarely is this full understood at the outset of the project, and it is important that an early agreement is reached amongst the stakeholders as to what the problem is. The problem statement should describe whom the problem affects, how it affects them, and what the objectives of a solution must be.
Additional Resources
Online
- Gottesdiener, E. 2001, 'Specifying Requirements With a Wall of Wonder', The Rational Edge, November 2001
- Wiegers, K. 2002, 'Success Criteria Breed Success', The Rational Edge, February 2002
Other
- Leafingwell, D. & Widrig, D. 2000, Managing Software Requirements - A Unified Approach, Addison-Wesley.
