where business analysis ends
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Robin Grace consultant at Software Futures, discusses where Business Analysis endsTRANSCRIPT
04/07/23 1
Where Business Analysis Ends
Tuesday, May 15, 2007Robin Grace
Principal Consultant
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What I am Not talking about Business Analysts’ and System Analysts’ Roles Business Analysis techniques or methods Business Process management, re-engineering,
Politics, which team will win the super 14, should Ramp Models be so thin, BEE, Crime, the plight of the whales, global warming, evolution, the Da Vinci code, the oscars, mini bus taxi drivers, mercury poisoning, rap music, Thai food, red meat, avian flu, gay marriages, Iraq, President Bush, Zimbabwe, Dafour, The Gautrain, cell phone cost, the cost of ASDL, Pollution, Carbon Emissions, The independence of the Basque region, Plastic Surgery, Canned Hunting, Vegetarianism, The best Yorkershire Pudding Recipe, Butter Vs Margarine and anything else that anybody has strong feeling about…
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What I would Rather be Talking About
…but they only gave me 30 minutes
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Back To the Topic
Where Business Analysis Stops and Systems Analysis
Begins
Long ago in a galaxy far
far away
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Business Analysis Definition
Business analysis helps an organization to improve how it conducts its functions and activities in order to reduce overall costs, provide more efficient use of scarce resources, and better support customers. It introduces the notion of process orientation, of concentrating on and rethinking end-to-end activities that create value for customers, while removing unnecessary, non-value added work. The person who carries out this task is called a business analyst or BA.
Wikipedia
In other words documenting the Processes within the business
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Business Process Definition“A process is thus a specific ordering of work activities across time and space, with
a beginning and an end, and clearly defined inputs and outputs: a structure for action.” Davenport, Thomas (1993), Process Innovation: Reengineering work through information technology, Harvard Business School Press, Boston
“a collection of activities that takes one or more kinds of input and creates an output that is of value to the customer “Hammer, Michael and Champy, James (1993), Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution, Harper Business
“a business process is a series of steps designed to produce a product or service” Rummler & Brache (1995), Improving Performance: How to manage the white space on the organizational chart, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco
“a set of linked activities that take an input and transform it to create an output. Ideally, the transformation that occurs in the process should add value to the input and create an output that is more useful and effective to the recipient either upstream or downstream.” Johansson, Henry J. et.al. (1993), Business Process Reengineering: BreakPoint Strategies for Market Dominance, John Wiley & Sons
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Important Commonality
Business
Process
Input
Output Value
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The Big Question
When do you stop breaking the processes into sub processes?
When it has no longer has any business meaning to do so
or When the resultant sub-process no
longer adds business value.
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Business Process Defined
An Elementary Process is the lowest level of work that can be performed with business meaning. Having started it must be completed. Once completed all business information is in
a consistent state. They are triggered by something in the
business be it outside, inside or temporal (Time)
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Elementary Processes Properties
Describe what is done not how Are technology independent Should not be decomposed any further Have Inputs, and will have a result Output of
value to the business Often require access to Business
Information Will have a trigger (Business Event or Time)
Whether a process is elementary or not is solely dependant on the way business is
done.
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Elementary Process Example
Placed Order
Value Statement
Order Information
Output
Customer
Trigger
Input
Customer Info
Product Info
Quantity
Business Information Required
Product Information
Customer Information
Take Customer Order
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Process ID:
Process Name:
Detailed Description:
External Agents Involved:
What causes the process to occur?
What happens after the process is complete?
Business rules:
Data (attributes):
CRUD
Source
Additional notes:
Information source:
Functional Requirement – AS IS List the group(s) that currently perform this process.
Take Customer OrderTake Customer Order
Placed OrderPlaced Order
CustomerCustomer
Customer Places OrderCustomer Places Order
Product Information R
Order Information C
Customer Information R
Product Information R
Order Information C
Customer Information R
From CustomerFrom Customer
The Orders departmentThe Orders department
This process allows the order clerk to capture the order from the based on the customers inputThis process allows the order clerk to capture the order from the based on the customers input
A customer must have an account with us to buy from usWhen a customer opens an account we need his phone number and address
A customer must have an account with us to buy from usWhen a customer opens an account we need his phone number and address
Adapted from B2T Training Requirements Pack
A IIBA Endorsed Education Provider
Adapted from B2T Training Requirements Pack
A IIBA Endorsed Education Provider
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Elementary Process Example
Placed Order
Order Information
CustomerCustomer Info
Product Info
Quantity
Product Information
Customer Information
Take Customer Order
We also need to document what in the business will prevent it from happening
The Business’s way of doing business
- in other words… the Business Rules
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Documenting Business Rules
In a text format, with a mind to the test case
Attached to the Business Process for which it is valid
In the Entity Relationship Diagram
Collection of Business Rules
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Business Information Rules Diagram Aka ERD
A customer must have an account with us to buy from us
When a customer opens an account we need his phone number and address
It reflect the Business Rules,
not a database design or technology
It reflect the Business Rules,
not a database design or technology
Customer Order Product
Order Item
PlacesNumberAddress (M)Contact PersonDelivery addressCredit RatingPhone Number (M)
NumberDateDiscount
Line Item number
Quantity (M)
NumberDescriptionDimensionUnits
So we can tell our different products apart easily they have the own product number
Customers do not always have orders with us
Products aren’t always on order
An order can be for many different products with different quantities
Discount is given for the whole order
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Elementary Process Example
Customer
Business Service BoundaryBusiness Service Boundary
Presentation Layer IndependentPresentation Layer Independent
Order Information
Product Information
Customer Information
Take Customer Order
Placed OrderCustomer Info
Product Info
Quantity
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Business Analysis and Use Cases
Business initiativeBusiness initiative SystemSystem
The scope includes all elementary processesThe scope includes all elementary processes
The scope includes only processes that will be automated by the System
The scope includes only processes that will be automated by the System
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Business Analysis Ends When You have fully documented the business
requirementsDefined all the Elementary Business Processes via their
InputsValue StatementsTriggersOutputsBusiness Information required
Supported by Logical Data modelBusiness Rules
TextLogical Data Model
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Where Business Analysis Ends
And
System’s Analysis Begins
It’s Elementary My Dear Watson
Thank You