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Business Analysis for Practitioners: A Practice Guide
Business Analysis for Practitioners: A Practice Guide provides practical resources to tackle the project-related issues associated with requirements and business analysis—and addresses a critical need in the industry for more guidance in this area. The practice guide begins by describing the work of business analysis. It identifies the tasks that are performed, in addition to the essential knowledge and skills needed to effectively perform business analysis on programs and projects.
306 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2015
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December 23, 2023
Business Analysis for Practitioners: A Practice Guide
by Project Management Institute
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
PREFACE
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Purpose of this Practice Guide
1.2 Need for this Practice Guide
1.3 PMI’s Increased Focus on Business Analysis
1.4 Intended Audience for the Guide
1.5 What is Business Analysis?
1.6 Who Performs Business Analysis?
1.6.1 Skillset and Expertise Needed for the Business Analysis Role
1.6.2 How Organizations Implement Business Analysis
1.6.3 The Relationship Between the Project Manager, Business Analyst, and Other Roles
1.6.4 The Need to Build the Relationships
1.7 Definition of Requirement
1.7.1 Who has the Responsibility for the Requirements?
1.7.2 Requirement Types
1.8 The Structure of the Practice Guide
1.8.1 Section 2 on Needs Assessment
1.8.2 Section 3 on Business Analysis Planning
1.8.3 Section 4 on Requirements Elicitation and Analysis
1.8.4 Section 5 on Traceability and Monitoring
1.8.5 Section 6 on Solution Evaluation
2 NEEDS ASSESSMENT
2.1 Overview of this Section
2.2 Why Perform Needs Assessments
2.3 Identify Problem or Opportunity
2.3.1 Identify Stakeholders
2.3.2 Investigate the Problem or Opportunity
2.3.3 Gather Relevant Data to Evaluate the Situation.
2.3.4 Draft the Situation Statement
2.3.5 Obtain Stakeholder Approval for the Situation Statement
2.4 Assess Current State of the Organization
2.4.1 Assess Organizational Goals and Objectives
2.4.1.1 Goals and Objectives
2.4.1.2 SMART Goals and Objectives
2.4.2 SWOT Analysis
2.4.3 Relevant Criteria
2.4.4 Perform Root Cause Analysis on the Situation
2.4.4.1 Five Whys
2.4.4.2 Cause-and-Effect Diagrams
2.4.5 Determine Required Capabilities Needed to Address the Situation
2.4.5.1 Capability Table
2.4.5.2 Affinity Diagram
2.4.5.3 Benchmarking
2.4.6 Assess Current Capabilities of the Organization
2.4.7 Identify Gaps in Organizational Capabilities
2.5 Recommend Action to Address Business Needs
2.5.1 Include a High-Level Approach for Adding Capabilities
2.5.2 Provide Alternative Options for Satisfying the Business Need
2.5.3 Identify Constraints, Assumptions, and Risks for Each Option
2.5.3.1 Constraints
2.5.3.2 Assumptions
2.5.3.3 Risk
2.5.4 Assess Feasibility and Organizational Impacts of Each Option
2.5.4.1 Operational Feasibility
2.5.4.2 Technology/System Feasibility
2.5.4.3 Cost-Effectiveness Feasibility
2.5.4.4 Time Feasibility
2.5.4.5 Assess Factors
2.5.5 Recommend the Most Viable Option
2.5.5.1 Weighted Ranking
2.5.6 Conduct Cost-Benefit Analysis for Recommended Option
2.5.6.1 Payback Period (PBP)
2.5.6.2 Return on Investment (ROI)
2.5.6.3 Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
2.5.6.4 Net Present Value (NPV)
2.6 Assemble the Business Case
2.6.1 Value of the Business Case
3 BUSINESS ANALYSIS PLANNING
3.1 Overview of this Section
3.2 The Importance of Business Analysis Planning
3.2.1 Rationale
3.2.2 Business Analysis Planning and Project Management Planning
3.3 Conduct or Refine the Stakeholder Analysis
3.3.1 Techniques for Identifying Stakeholders
3.3.1.1 Brainstorming
3.3.1.2 Organizational Charts
3.3.2 Determine Stakeholder Characteristics
3.3.2.1 Attitude
3.3.2.2 Complexity
3.3.2.3 Culture
3.3.2.4 Experience
3.3.2.5 Level of Influence
3.3.2.6 Location and Availability
3.3.3 Techniques for Grouping or Analyzing Stakeholders
3.3.3.1 Job Analysis
3.3.3.2 Persona Analysis
3.3.4 Assemble the Stakeholder Analysis Results
3.4 Create the Business Analysis Plan
3.4.1 Business Analysis Plan vs. Requirements Management Plan
3.4.2 What to Include in the Business Analysis Plan
3.4.2.1 Determining the Proper Level of Detail
3.4.3 Understand the Project Context
3.4.4 Understand How the Project Life Cycle Influences Planning Decisions
3.4.5 Ensure the Team is Trained on the Project Life Cycle
3.4.6 Leverage Past Experiences When Planning
3.4.6.1 Lessons Learned
3.4.6.2 Retrospectives
3.4.7 Plan for Elicitation
3.4.7.1 Strategies for Sequencing Elicitation Activities
3.4.8 Plan for Analysis
3.4.9 Define the Requirements Prioritization Process
3.4.10 Define the Traceability Approach
3.4.11 Define the Communication Approach
3.4.12 Define the Decision-Making Process
3.4.13 Define the Requirements Verification and Validation Processes
3.4.14 Define the Requirements Change Process
3.4.15 Define the Solution Evaluation Process
3.5 Plan the Business Analysis Work
3.5.1 Determine Who Plans the Business Analysis Effort
3.5.2 Build the Business Analysis Work Plan
3.5.2.1 Identify the Deliverables
3.5.2.2 Determine the Tasks and Activities
3.5.2.3 Determine the Timing and Sequencing of Tasks
3.5.2.4 Determine the Roles and Responsibilities
3.5.2.5 Identifying the Resources
3.5.2.6 Estimate the Work
3.5.3 Assemble the Business Analysis Work Plan
3.5.4 Document the Rationale for the Business Analysis Approach
3.5.5 Review the Business Analysis Plan with Key Stakeholders
3.5.6 Obtain Approval of the Business Analysis Plan
4. REQUIREMENTS ELICITATION AND ANALYSIS
4.1 Purpose of this Section
4.2 What it Means to Elicit Information
4.2.1 Elicitation Is More than Requirements Collection or Gathering
4.2.2 Importance of Eliciting Information
4.3 Plan for Elicitation
4.3.1 Develop the Elicitation Plan
4.3.1.1 Finding Information
4.3.1.2 Techniques for Eliciting Information
4.3.1.3 Sequencing the Elicitation Activities
4.4 Prepare for Elicitation
4.4.1 Determine the Objectives
4.4.2 Determine the Participants
4.4.3 Determine the Questions for the Session
4.5 Conduct Elicitation Activities
4.5.1 Introduction
4.5.2 Body
4.5.2.1 Types of Questions
4.5.2.2 How to Ask the “Right” Questions
4.5.2.3 Listening
4.5.3 Close
4.5.4 Follow-Up
4.5.5 Elicitation Techniques
4.5.5.1 Brainstorming
4.5.5.2 Document Analysis
4.5.5.3 Facilitated Workshops
4.5.5.4 Focus Groups
4.5.5.5 Interviews
4.5.5.6 Observation
4.5.5.7 Prototyping
4.5.5.8 Questionnaires and Surveys
4.6 Document Outputs from Elicitation Activities
4.7 Complete Elicitation
4.8 Elicitation Issues and Challenges
4.9 Analyze Requirements
4.9.1 Plan for Analysis
4.9.1.1 Analysis Defined
4.9.1.2 Thinking Ahead about Analysis
4.9.1.3 What to Analyze
4.10 Model and Refine Requirements
4.10.1 Description of Models
4.10.2 Purpose of Models
4.10.3 Categories of Models
4.10.4 Selection of Models
4.10.5 Use Models to Refine Requirements
4.10.6 Modeling Languages
4.10.7 Scope Models
4.10.7.1 Goal Model and Business Objective Model
4.10.7.2 Ecosystem Map
4.10.7.3 Context Diagram
4.10.7.4 Feature Model
4.10.7.5 Use Case Diagram
4.10.8 Process Models
4.10.8.1 Process Flow
4.10.8.2 Use Case
4.10.8.3 User Story
4.10.9 Rule Models
4.10.9.1 Business Rules Catalog
4.10.9.2 Decision Tree and Decision Table
4.10.10 Data Models
4.10.10.1 Entity Relationship Diagram
4.10.10.2 Data Flow Diagrams
4.10.10.3 Data Dictionary
4.10.10.4 State Table and State Diagram
4.10.11 Interface Models
4.10.11.1 Report Table
4.10.11.2 System Interface Table
4.10.11.3 User Interface Flow.
4.10.11.4 Wireframes and Display-Action-Response
4.11 Document the Solution Requirements
4.11.1 Why Documentation is Important
4.11.2 Business Requirements Document
4.11.3 The Solution Documentation
4.11.3.1 Requirements
4.11.3.2 Categorization
4.11.4 Requirements Specification
4.11.4.1 Documenting Assumptions
4.11.4.2 Documenting Constraints
4.11.5 Guidelines for Writing Requirements
4.11.5.1 Functional Requirements
4.11.6 Prioritizing Requirements
4.11.6.1 Prioritization Schemes
4.11.7 Technical Requirements Specification
4.11.8 Documenting with Use Cases
4.11.9 Documenting with User Stories
4.11.10 Backlog Items
4.12 Validate Requirements
4.12.1 The Concept of Continual Confirmation
4.12.2 Requirements Walkthrough
4.13 Verify Requirements
4.13.1 Peer Review
4.13.2 Inspection
4.14 Approval Sessions
4.15 Resolve Requirements-Related Conflicts
4.15.1 Delphi
4.15.2 Multivoting
4.15.3 Weighted Ranking
5. TRACEABILITY AND MONITORING
...
...
6. SOLUTION EVALUATION
...
...
APPENDIX X1
APPENDIX X2
GLOSSARY
INDEX
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Business Analysis for Practitioners: A Practice Guide is a complementary document to PMI’s foundational standards. This practice guide provides guidance on how to apply effective business analysis practices on programs and projects and to drive successful business outcomes.
This practice guide provides those with an interest in and commitment to the business analysis discipline the following:
• Diverse collection of both long-established and recent business analysis techniques and practices,
defined and explained by experienced business analysis professionals and practitioners; and
• Description of how these techniques and practices can be used including many specific examples.
The information in this practice guide will help readers to:
• Consider which practices and techniques are appropriate for use in their own organizations, and
• Consider how to adapt and adjust techniques and practices to meet organizational and cultural needs without diluting the quality of business analysis which they support
Business Analysis for Practitioners: A Practice Guide offers practices as a starting point to identify thought processes and approaches that may improve how organizations and practitioners approach and achieve effective business analysis.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The practice guide describes the work of business analysis and identifies the tasks that are performed in addition to the essential knowledge and skills needed to effectively perform business analysis on programs and projects.
This practice guide is applicable to all programs and projects, regardless of whether these are focused on products, services, or process improvement.
The concepts and techniques described in this practice guide are implementation-independent and can be used to develop manual or automated solutions, using any type of project life cycle.
by Project Management Institute
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
PREFACE
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Purpose of this Practice Guide
1.2 Need for this Practice Guide
1.3 PMI’s Increased Focus on Business Analysis
1.4 Intended Audience for the Guide
1.5 What is Business Analysis?
1.6 Who Performs Business Analysis?
1.6.1 Skillset and Expertise Needed for the Business Analysis Role
1.6.2 How Organizations Implement Business Analysis
1.6.3 The Relationship Between the Project Manager, Business Analyst, and Other Roles
1.6.4 The Need to Build the Relationships
1.7 Definition of Requirement
1.7.1 Who has the Responsibility for the Requirements?
1.7.2 Requirement Types
1.8 The Structure of the Practice Guide
1.8.1 Section 2 on Needs Assessment
1.8.2 Section 3 on Business Analysis Planning
1.8.3 Section 4 on Requirements Elicitation and Analysis
1.8.4 Section 5 on Traceability and Monitoring
1.8.5 Section 6 on Solution Evaluation
2 NEEDS ASSESSMENT
2.1 Overview of this Section
2.2 Why Perform Needs Assessments
2.3 Identify Problem or Opportunity
2.3.1 Identify Stakeholders
2.3.2 Investigate the Problem or Opportunity
2.3.3 Gather Relevant Data to Evaluate the Situation.
2.3.4 Draft the Situation Statement
2.3.5 Obtain Stakeholder Approval for the Situation Statement
2.4 Assess Current State of the Organization
2.4.1 Assess Organizational Goals and Objectives
2.4.1.1 Goals and Objectives
2.4.1.2 SMART Goals and Objectives
2.4.2 SWOT Analysis
2.4.3 Relevant Criteria
2.4.4 Perform Root Cause Analysis on the Situation
2.4.4.1 Five Whys
2.4.4.2 Cause-and-Effect Diagrams
2.4.5 Determine Required Capabilities Needed to Address the Situation
2.4.5.1 Capability Table
2.4.5.2 Affinity Diagram
2.4.5.3 Benchmarking
2.4.6 Assess Current Capabilities of the Organization
2.4.7 Identify Gaps in Organizational Capabilities
2.5 Recommend Action to Address Business Needs
2.5.1 Include a High-Level Approach for Adding Capabilities
2.5.2 Provide Alternative Options for Satisfying the Business Need
2.5.3 Identify Constraints, Assumptions, and Risks for Each Option
2.5.3.1 Constraints
2.5.3.2 Assumptions
2.5.3.3 Risk
2.5.4 Assess Feasibility and Organizational Impacts of Each Option
2.5.4.1 Operational Feasibility
2.5.4.2 Technology/System Feasibility
2.5.4.3 Cost-Effectiveness Feasibility
2.5.4.4 Time Feasibility
2.5.4.5 Assess Factors
2.5.5 Recommend the Most Viable Option
2.5.5.1 Weighted Ranking
2.5.6 Conduct Cost-Benefit Analysis for Recommended Option
2.5.6.1 Payback Period (PBP)
2.5.6.2 Return on Investment (ROI)
2.5.6.3 Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
2.5.6.4 Net Present Value (NPV)
2.6 Assemble the Business Case
2.6.1 Value of the Business Case
3 BUSINESS ANALYSIS PLANNING
3.1 Overview of this Section
3.2 The Importance of Business Analysis Planning
3.2.1 Rationale
3.2.2 Business Analysis Planning and Project Management Planning
3.3 Conduct or Refine the Stakeholder Analysis
3.3.1 Techniques for Identifying Stakeholders
3.3.1.1 Brainstorming
3.3.1.2 Organizational Charts
3.3.2 Determine Stakeholder Characteristics
3.3.2.1 Attitude
3.3.2.2 Complexity
3.3.2.3 Culture
3.3.2.4 Experience
3.3.2.5 Level of Influence
3.3.2.6 Location and Availability
3.3.3 Techniques for Grouping or Analyzing Stakeholders
3.3.3.1 Job Analysis
3.3.3.2 Persona Analysis
3.3.4 Assemble the Stakeholder Analysis Results
3.4 Create the Business Analysis Plan
3.4.1 Business Analysis Plan vs. Requirements Management Plan
3.4.2 What to Include in the Business Analysis Plan
3.4.2.1 Determining the Proper Level of Detail
3.4.3 Understand the Project Context
3.4.4 Understand How the Project Life Cycle Influences Planning Decisions
3.4.5 Ensure the Team is Trained on the Project Life Cycle
3.4.6 Leverage Past Experiences When Planning
3.4.6.1 Lessons Learned
3.4.6.2 Retrospectives
3.4.7 Plan for Elicitation
3.4.7.1 Strategies for Sequencing Elicitation Activities
3.4.8 Plan for Analysis
3.4.9 Define the Requirements Prioritization Process
3.4.10 Define the Traceability Approach
3.4.11 Define the Communication Approach
3.4.12 Define the Decision-Making Process
3.4.13 Define the Requirements Verification and Validation Processes
3.4.14 Define the Requirements Change Process
3.4.15 Define the Solution Evaluation Process
3.5 Plan the Business Analysis Work
3.5.1 Determine Who Plans the Business Analysis Effort
3.5.2 Build the Business Analysis Work Plan
3.5.2.1 Identify the Deliverables
3.5.2.2 Determine the Tasks and Activities
3.5.2.3 Determine the Timing and Sequencing of Tasks
3.5.2.4 Determine the Roles and Responsibilities
3.5.2.5 Identifying the Resources
3.5.2.6 Estimate the Work
3.5.3 Assemble the Business Analysis Work Plan
3.5.4 Document the Rationale for the Business Analysis Approach
3.5.5 Review the Business Analysis Plan with Key Stakeholders
3.5.6 Obtain Approval of the Business Analysis Plan
4. REQUIREMENTS ELICITATION AND ANALYSIS
4.1 Purpose of this Section
4.2 What it Means to Elicit Information
4.2.1 Elicitation Is More than Requirements Collection or Gathering
4.2.2 Importance of Eliciting Information
4.3 Plan for Elicitation
4.3.1 Develop the Elicitation Plan
4.3.1.1 Finding Information
4.3.1.2 Techniques for Eliciting Information
4.3.1.3 Sequencing the Elicitation Activities
4.4 Prepare for Elicitation
4.4.1 Determine the Objectives
4.4.2 Determine the Participants
4.4.3 Determine the Questions for the Session
4.5 Conduct Elicitation Activities
4.5.1 Introduction
4.5.2 Body
4.5.2.1 Types of Questions
4.5.2.2 How to Ask the “Right” Questions
4.5.2.3 Listening
4.5.3 Close
4.5.4 Follow-Up
4.5.5 Elicitation Techniques
4.5.5.1 Brainstorming
4.5.5.2 Document Analysis
4.5.5.3 Facilitated Workshops
4.5.5.4 Focus Groups
4.5.5.5 Interviews
4.5.5.6 Observation
4.5.5.7 Prototyping
4.5.5.8 Questionnaires and Surveys
4.6 Document Outputs from Elicitation Activities
4.7 Complete Elicitation
4.8 Elicitation Issues and Challenges
4.9 Analyze Requirements
4.9.1 Plan for Analysis
4.9.1.1 Analysis Defined
4.9.1.2 Thinking Ahead about Analysis
4.9.1.3 What to Analyze
4.10 Model and Refine Requirements
4.10.1 Description of Models
4.10.2 Purpose of Models
4.10.3 Categories of Models
4.10.4 Selection of Models
4.10.5 Use Models to Refine Requirements
4.10.6 Modeling Languages
4.10.7 Scope Models
4.10.7.1 Goal Model and Business Objective Model
4.10.7.2 Ecosystem Map
4.10.7.3 Context Diagram
4.10.7.4 Feature Model
4.10.7.5 Use Case Diagram
4.10.8 Process Models
4.10.8.1 Process Flow
4.10.8.2 Use Case
4.10.8.3 User Story
4.10.9 Rule Models
4.10.9.1 Business Rules Catalog
4.10.9.2 Decision Tree and Decision Table
4.10.10 Data Models
4.10.10.1 Entity Relationship Diagram
4.10.10.2 Data Flow Diagrams
4.10.10.3 Data Dictionary
4.10.10.4 State Table and State Diagram
4.10.11 Interface Models
4.10.11.1 Report Table
4.10.11.2 System Interface Table
4.10.11.3 User Interface Flow.
4.10.11.4 Wireframes and Display-Action-Response
4.11 Document the Solution Requirements
4.11.1 Why Documentation is Important
4.11.2 Business Requirements Document
4.11.3 The Solution Documentation
4.11.3.1 Requirements
4.11.3.2 Categorization
4.11.4 Requirements Specification
4.11.4.1 Documenting Assumptions
4.11.4.2 Documenting Constraints
4.11.5 Guidelines for Writing Requirements
4.11.5.1 Functional Requirements
4.11.6 Prioritizing Requirements
4.11.6.1 Prioritization Schemes
4.11.7 Technical Requirements Specification
4.11.8 Documenting with Use Cases
4.11.9 Documenting with User Stories
4.11.10 Backlog Items
4.12 Validate Requirements
4.12.1 The Concept of Continual Confirmation
4.12.2 Requirements Walkthrough
4.13 Verify Requirements
4.13.1 Peer Review
4.13.2 Inspection
4.14 Approval Sessions
4.15 Resolve Requirements-Related Conflicts
4.15.1 Delphi
4.15.2 Multivoting
4.15.3 Weighted Ranking
5. TRACEABILITY AND MONITORING
...
...
6. SOLUTION EVALUATION
...
...
APPENDIX X1
APPENDIX X2
GLOSSARY
INDEX
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Business Analysis for Practitioners: A Practice Guide is a complementary document to PMI’s foundational standards. This practice guide provides guidance on how to apply effective business analysis practices on programs and projects and to drive successful business outcomes.
This practice guide provides those with an interest in and commitment to the business analysis discipline the following:
• Diverse collection of both long-established and recent business analysis techniques and practices,
defined and explained by experienced business analysis professionals and practitioners; and
• Description of how these techniques and practices can be used including many specific examples.
The information in this practice guide will help readers to:
• Consider which practices and techniques are appropriate for use in their own organizations, and
• Consider how to adapt and adjust techniques and practices to meet organizational and cultural needs without diluting the quality of business analysis which they support
Business Analysis for Practitioners: A Practice Guide offers practices as a starting point to identify thought processes and approaches that may improve how organizations and practitioners approach and achieve effective business analysis.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The practice guide describes the work of business analysis and identifies the tasks that are performed in addition to the essential knowledge and skills needed to effectively perform business analysis on programs and projects.
This practice guide is applicable to all programs and projects, regardless of whether these are focused on products, services, or process improvement.
The concepts and techniques described in this practice guide are implementation-independent and can be used to develop manual or automated solutions, using any type of project life cycle.
January 13, 2022
3.5/5 - I picked up this book based off of a recommendation from Jeremy Aschenbrenner from The BA Guide. He noted that it contained more practical examples than IIBA's BABOK guide, and I work best with examples, so I scooped it up as my introductory read to everything BA. It was a decent read, peppered with examples, models, and tables of information, but perhaps not as many as I'd like. I found some of the sections to be quite snoozy too, but that might have just been personal preference to other material or sections where there weren't as many practical examples for me. I'll be reading the BABOK guide next, which has even less practical examples apparently, so we'll see how that measures up.
August 2, 2017
Pretty useful material especially if you are trying to get the PMI-PBA certification. Having an understanding of project management as well as reading the PMBOK guide before reading this will help you ease into the concepts very easily
August 19, 2017
Goods starting point to get into business analysis.
Guides you through the various steps of business analysis. Example models are good. I've been able to apply much of what I learned in my day to day.
Guides you through the various steps of business analysis. Example models are good. I've been able to apply much of what I learned in my day to day.
January 25, 2020
"Business analysis is the set of activities performed to identify business needs and recommend relevant solutions; and to elicit, document, and manage requirements."
March 25, 2020
This is a really useful material when working as a business analyst.
December 22, 2020
The best source for BA i have ever found
Easy enough to use and specific enough to proficient this job
Easy enough to use and specific enough to proficient this job
November 6, 2022
Great tool to prep for the PMI-PBA certification. Comprehensive yet precise mostly.
December 29, 2015
Good: Info on how to assess current status of companies/organizations, requirement elicitation models.
Bad: Details on processes are so many, it is difficult to follow.
The book is also lacking any how-to details on specifics e.g. IRR, NPV, Model creation, others. Not even one formula.
Bottomline: Far too much verbiage for far too little essence. Not guide a I would use for practical purposes.
NOTE: I have the feeling that the authors may have confused business analysis with analytics when writing this practice. There are places where they try to merge one concept with the other.
Bad: Details on processes are so many, it is difficult to follow.
The book is also lacking any how-to details on specifics e.g. IRR, NPV, Model creation, others. Not even one formula.
Bottomline: Far too much verbiage for far too little essence. Not guide a I would use for practical purposes.
NOTE: I have the feeling that the authors may have confused business analysis with analytics when writing this practice. There are places where they try to merge one concept with the other.
April 29, 2016
Good overview of PMI Business Analysis. Material is very dry but I guess that's the purpose of a guide book
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews