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, organisational change or strategic planning and policy development.

Business processes occur at all organisational levels and may or may not be visible to the customers.

A business process or business method is a collection of related, structured activities or tasks by people or equipment which in a specific sequence, produce a service or product (serves a particular business goal) for a particular customer or customers.

Benefits

A business process may often be visualised (modelled) as a flowchart of a sequence of activities with interleaving decision points or as a process matrix of a sequence of activities with relevance rules based on data in the process.

The benefits of using business processes include improved customer satisfaction and improved agility for reacting to rapid market change. Process-oriented organisations break down the barriers of structural departments and try to avoid functional silos.

Common Issues

Executing business processes successfully is not always an easy task. There are numerous challenges which arise, including:

Bottlenecks

the slowing or halting of a process at a specific stage due to a human/machine error or difficulty.

Duplication of Work & Redundancy

Inefficient processes often have areas that are repeated or unnecessary.

Lack of Visibility

Management does not have a way of viewing where processes stand, what their status is, and how they are performing generally, and specifically.

Integration Issues

Process technology does not always integrate well with existing systems, causing communication gaps and malfunctions.
Business Analysts

Often BA’s are involved in both business analysis and business process although once the changes have been identified and documented this can be handed over to a PM who will work alongside in the BA in delivering the change.

Our BA team are highly experienced in clarifying the scope, requirements, and business objectives as quickly as possible so as to:

  • create deliverables that meet stakeholder needs
  • define the project’s business objectives and scope
  • understand the project history so that work is not repeated
  • ensure previously made decisions are not rehashed.
  • understand the existing systems and business processes to provide a clear picture of the current state that needs to change

In summary this involves 8 key steps:

  1. Get orientated
  2. Discover the primary business objectives
  3. Define the scope
  4. Create a business analysis plan
  5. Define detailed requirements
  6. Support the technical implementation
  7. Help the business implement the solution
  8. Assess the value created by the solution

We use a variety of business analysis techniques that may include any the following:

  1. SWOT Analysis
  2. MOST Analysis
  3. Business Process Modelling (BPM)
  4. Use Case Modelling
  5. Brainstorming
  6. Non-functional Requirement Analysis
  7. PESTLE Analysis
  8. Requirement Analysis
  9. User Stories
  10. CATWOE