The Business Analysis Body of Knowledge

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The Business Analysis Body of Knowledge

Kevin Brennan

Vice-President, Body of Knowledge

BusinessAnalystWorld

March 2007

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Who We Are

Vision:“To be the world's leading association for business analysis

professionals ”

Mission: We develop and maintain standards for the practice of business

analysis and for the certi!cation of its practitioners

The IIBA is an international non-profit professional association for business analysis professionals.

What is the BABOK™?

Captures the sum of knowledge within the profession of Business Analysis Areas of knowledge and skills Associated activities & tasks

Reflects currently accepted practices Owned & enhanced by the professionals who apply it

BUT….

is NOT a “how to do” business analysis instruction manual Is NOT a methodology and must not prescribe nor favor a

methodology

The Definition of a Business Analyst

A business analyst works as a liaison among stakeholders in order to elicit, analyze, communicate and validate requirements for changes to business processes, policies and information systems. The business analyst understands business problems and opportunities in the context of the requirements and recommends solutions that enable the organization to achieve its goals.

Knowledge Areas

EnterpriseAnalysis

Requirements Planning & Management

RequirementsElicitation

RequirementsAnalysis

RequirementsCommunications

Solution Assessment& Validation

Fundamentals

A requirement is a description of a stakeholder need...

A requirement is:(1) A condition or capability needed by a stakeholder

to solve a problem or achieve an objective. (2) A condition or capability that must be met or

possessed by a solution or solution component to satisfy a contract, standard, specification, or other formally imposed documents.

(3) A documented representation of a condition or capability as in (1) or (2).

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Version 2.0 brings the BABOK towards completion

All sections will be completed and reviewed by practitioners

Feedback from Experts to help set direction Clarify the relationship with project management

Discussion of different lifecycles (agile, iterative, waterfall) and disciplines (process management)

Extensive glossary added

Integration of tasks and techniques will have begun

Please remember: anything you see today may be changed before version 2.0 is released

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Business Analysis in different methods/lifecycles

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BPM Data Mgt.

Business Rules

Agile/Lean

BI CMMI/Waterfall

Business Analysis

Project Management

Training

Sales

etc..

Development

Quality Assurance

Aligned with CMMI, PMBOK, SWEBOK, etc.

Recognizes business analysis is more than requirements

Serves as a basis for the CBAP™ exam (but is not the only source of information)

Organized into seven knowledge areas

IIBA Body of Knowledge

Enterprise Analysis

Purpose Understand the Big Picture

Capture the view of the business to provide context

Define the business goals that a solution must be able to meet

Integrate requirements into the larger business architecture

Support initiatives & long-term planning

Includes strategic planning, business case development, cost/benefit analysis, feasibility studies

Value Provides a context / foundation on which to evaluate all future

issues & challenges

Requirements Planning & Management

Purpose Specify how the the business analysis tasks will be performed

Identify the deliverables to be produced

Describe how changes will be controlled & managed

Describe how requirements are prioritized and allocated

Value Specifies tools, resources & contributors & ensures availability

Allows for monitoring & addressing of requirements challenges

Coordinates with other project work

Ensures changes are captured correctly and consistently

Identify and Categorize Stakeholders

Determine Approach

Define Requirements Scope

Estimate and Schedule Requirements Activities

Identify Business Risks

Create Requirements Communication Plan

Prioritize Requirements

Manage Requirements

Restructured to accommodate different life-cycles

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Bottom-up Top-Down

Change-Driven

Plan-Driven

Process

Structure

Requirements Development

Agile

Iterative

Waterfall

Pro

cess

Form

ality

Requirements Elicitation

Purpose Elicit requirements from various stakeholder groups

Identify the tasks, knowledge & techniques for capturing the requirements

Value Defines the broad classifications of requirements (e.g., functional, usability,

non-functional, constraints)

Describes the various techniques used to elicit requirements, for example: Requirements Workshop Interview Survey Prototyping Focus Group

Restructured to clarify elicitation tasks

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Requirements Analysis

Purpose Analyze the data

Define the methods, tools & techniques used to structure the raw data collected during requirements gathering

Identify gaps in the information Define the capabilities of the solution

Value Transforms the business need into clearly described capabilities Provides the foundation for selecting the best alternative

among the solution options

A simpler structure that isn’t limited to software

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Techniques Process Models

Data Models

Motivational Models

Scenarios and Use Cases

Reporting and Metrics

State Models and Events

Nonfunctional Requirements

Usability

Enterprise Analysis

Requirements Elicitation

Validate Requirements

Specify Requirements

Model Requirements

Determine Assumptions and Constraints

Verify Requirements

Structure Requirements

Requirements Communication

Business Requirements

Stated Requirements

Interim RequirementsValidated Requirements

Requirements Communication

Purpose Communicate the outcome

Present & communicate requirements to all stakeholders & implementers of the project

Bring the group to consensus & gets approval

Value Presents the requirements in a format & structure that is

appropriate for its intended audience

Brings the various stakeholders to a common understanding

Formalizes agreement

Solution Assessment & Validation

Purpose Ensure the best solution is chosen

Ensure the solution meets the stakeholder objectives

Ensure that the solution can be implemented

Guide verification of the solution Value

Articulates how the Business Analysis professional should work with the other project team members (e.g., developers, clients) to produce the solution design

Identifies the approach to evaluating alternative solutions

Validate proposed and implemented solutions against business needs

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Tasks Develop alternate solutions

Ensure the usability of the solution

Support the QA process

Support the implementation of the solution

Assess and communicate solution impacts

Conduct post-implementation assessment

Enterprise Analysis

Solution Assessment and

Validation

Business Requirements

Solution Assessment

Proposed Solutions

Requirements Communication

Approved Requirements

Implemented Solutions

QA Approach

Implementation Approach

Fundamentals

Purpose Supporting skills and knowledge for a business analyst

Not part of the core, but these are the things that improve your effectiveness

Value Articulates non-specific professional skills that are necessary in order for a

Business Analysis professional to be successful in performing his/her role Communications Leadership Problem Solving Business Knowledge IT Technical Knowledge

First appearance in BABOK v2.0

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Fundamentals KA

Domain Knowledge

Communication Skills

Audience Message Formats and Media

Industry Types Functional Units

Thinking Skills

Management Methods and

Tools

Consulting Skills

Project Roles

Project Management

Quality Assurance

Organizational Change Technology

External Relationships Hando!s Project Initiation Internal

Relationships

Quality Business Process Improvement

Strategic Planning

Comprehension Analysis EvaluationConcepts,

Patterns, and Domain models

Systems Thinking

What’s still left to do?

Revisions will be made to Enterprise Analysis, Solution Assessment and Validation

Drafts and reviews of Requirements Analysis and Fundamentals

Integration

Revision of the Introduction

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What happens after v2.0 is complete?

Public and Expert reviews will be scheduled

A complete edit of the text will be completed

We’re reaching out to the business rules community and to other organizations (like the British Computer Society) to ensure that the BABOK is widely accepted

Arrangements for publication will be made

Plans for translation will begin

v3.0 (the “stable” release) targeted for late 2007–early 2008

BABOK 4.0 will not start development before 2010

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Thank you to our authors, experts, reviewers...

Sharon Aker

Tony Alderson

Scott Ambler

James Baird

Betty Baker

Kathleen Barrett

Jo Bennett

Cathy Brunsting

Neil Burton

Barbara Carkenord

Jake Calabrese

Gerrie Caudle

Bruce Chadbourne

Carrollynn Chang

Patricia Chappell

Brett Champlin

Karen Chandler

Pauline Chung

Joseph Czarnecki

Rafael Dorantes

Steve Erlank

Malcolm Eva

Kiran Garimella

Stephanie Garwood

Peter Gordon

Mary Gorman

Ellen Gottesdiener

Paul Harmon

Kathleen Hass

Rosemary Hossenlopp

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Thank you to our authors, experts and reviewers...

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Jessica HoytMonica Jain

May Jim Brenda Kerton

Day KnezBarbara Koenig

Peter KovaksJanet Lai

Gladys LamRobert Lam

Elizabeth LarsonRichard Larson

Finny LeeDean LeffingwellCherifa Liamani

Karen LittleLaura Markey

Patricia MartinRichard Martin

Chris Matts

Gillian McClearyRosina Mete

Karen MitchellBill Murray

Mark McGregor Dulce Olivera

Meilir Page-JonesHarish PathriaRichard Payne

Kathleen Person

Thank you to our authors, experts and reviewers...

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Kelly Piechota

Cleve Pillifant

Howard Podeswa

Leslie Ponder

Jason Questor

Cecilia Rathwell

Tony Rice

James Robertson

Suzanne Robertson

Jennifer Rojek

Ronald Ross

David Ruble

Keith Sarre

Chip Schwartz

John Slater

Jessica Solís

Jim Subach

Diane Talbot

Mark Tracy

Steve Tockey

Krishna Vishwanath

Marilyn Vogt

Scott Witt

David Wright

Jacqueline Young

Ralph Young

Questions?

Version 1.6 of the BABOK can be downloaded from www.theiiba.org

Updates on version 2.0 will be published at www.theiiba.org over the next few months, leading up to the release

Volunteer opportunities will be posted on the site and in the IIBA newsletter

Questions about the IIBA can be sent to [email protected]

Questions about the BABOK can be sent to: Kevin Brennan—VP, Body of Knowledge

[email protected]

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