Putting the ‘Analysis’ into Business Analysis

Andy Jordan is President of Roffensian Consulting S.A., a Roatan, Honduras-based management consulting firm with a comprehensive project management practice. Andy always appreciates feedback and discussion on the issues raised in his articles and can be reached at [email protected]. Andy's new book Risk Management for Project Driven Organizations is now available.

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Topics: Business Analysis, Business Case, Organizational Project Management, PMO, Portfolio Management, Requirements Management, Strategy

Most of you are probably aware that PMI now has a business analysis certification: PMI-PBA®. However, I wonder how many of you know the details. I don’t want to turn this into a repetition of information that is readily available, but I do want to suggest that for many employers, the role of a business analyst is perceived as significantly less than the scope of that certification (or others). In particular, I want to look at the analysis element of the BA role, and the point where that starts.

PMI breaks BA work into five domains, the first of which is needs assessment. Each domain has a number of tasks in it, and for needs assessment the first task is “define or review a business problem or opportunity using problem and opportunity analysis techniques in order to develop a solution scope statement and/or to provide input to create a business case.” I think that is a very good starting point for a business analyst—start with the problem or opportunity and analyze it to identify solutions and/or proposals.

Of course the work then continues through the other tasks and domains: developing a requirements management plan, identifying and decomposing requirements, specifying acceptance criteria, monitoring requirements and ultimately getting sign-off for the implemented solution and evaluating it. All of that is extremely valuable, but I’m not…

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