Process of Business Analysis

In this article, we will take a look into process of business analysis that will help you in every business and project. There are various business analysis tools and business analysis techniques that you will need to consider as a business analyst.

After getting a project, it is a challenge for a business analyst, how and where to start from? How to complete the project successfully? What is expected from you? How can you guarantee success of the project?

Process of Business Analysis

There are few steps in the process of business analysis that will help you through smoothly with minimum errors.

1. Gather Relevant Information

First step in process of business analysis is to collect the relevant information related to business or project. It is the responsibility of business analysts to gather all the relevant information about the project.

Whether it is a new or ongoing project, it is important to collect some relevant information. Collecting all the relevant information about the business is key to success for business analysts.

Information can be collected from people that are related to project such as project managers, stakeholders, business owners, project sponsors and more.

Following information should be focused in this step;

• Current factors affecting the business
• Risks and limitations associated with the project
• Overall business conditions
• Domain of the project
• Clear understanding of business and project
• Current processes and systems

After collecting all the information, you can make your own checklist and see how you can implement your previous expertise in this project. It will help you in collecting requirements that will help you in making work flow smooth.

2. Identify Key Business Objectives

Most of the business analysis initiate with defining business and project objectives. It is important to determine business objectives before anything else. Business objectives are results that businesses hope to achieve and maintain as their business grows.

Identifying business and project objectives will help business analysts in staying in the right direction. Entrepreneurs, business analysts and project managers should evaluate performance of the business and make sure that the business is going in right direction.

There are a few techniques that can help in making business objectives for a project are;

• SWOT analysis
• SMART goals
• Benchmarking
• Focus groups
• Brainstorming

3. Definition of Scope

On the basis of the objectives set for a project, and project teams discussions. Scope of the project will be defined in this step. It is important to have a complement and clear statement that will be termed as a scope.

Scope will be helpful in moving forward and it will help in understanding and realizing business needs. It is a guide that will be having all the details of the steps of business analysis. In this section, you will include developments and integrations in scope.  

Key responsibilities in this stage will be to;

• Have a clear statement and definition of scope,
• Suggesting a solution that will help in changing processes and systems that are needed to be made,
• Share and review it with key stakeholders.

4. Write A Business Plan

Business plan is a clear document of your objectives, and how you are going to achieve those objectives. Business plan will provide clarity over your process of business analysis because it will provide answers to many questions.

Key steps during this step;

• Identifying key stakeholders
• Selecting the form of a deliverable
• Defining the deliverable
• Cover the scope
• Setting deadlines for deliverables to be delivered

In this step, business analyst will also clarify the business requirements to stakeholders. Business analysts can gather business requirements through interviews of stakeholders, and requirements defining technique like use cases, prototypes and wireframes.  

Small detailed requirements help business analysts find information they need to find a solution. Requirements are divided into two parts;

Functional requirements

They are presented in terms of use cases, prototypes and wireframes.

Non-functional requirements

They can be documented and cover performance, scalability and security.

Read More: How To Write A Business Plan

5. Evaluate Available Options

This step in process of business analysis is very important because it will set the future of your analysis. To accomplish goals and objectives, it is important to have a right direction among different options available. 

Business analysts need to identify the right option, so that they can make the effort in right direction. They can identify various options through focus group interviewing and brainstorming.

Options to achieve business objectives can be;

• Customize/improve current product/service/solution, or
• Buy an already existing one, or
• Make a new one, or
• Connect to other systems to enhance performance

Select from these options but consider the following points while selecting;

• Financial capability
• Return on investment
• Feasibility
• Cost vs. benefit
• Impact

6. Implementation Phase

Now it is time for implementation of plan. The implementation of the idea and plan that was generated during previous steps and many questions were answered. The basic aim will be that it should be feasible for everyone and ensure that they are ready to accept change.

Now the implementation team has charge of preparing, customize and apply software and expertise on project. Business analysts need to be in implementation so that everything should move smoothly and align with the objectives.

7. Evaluate Value Added In The Business

To keep up with the objectives, continuous evaluation of business output should be done. Now it is time to assess the business performance against the objectives.

Ask questions like are we moving in the right direction? Solution is providing value as it was projected? Main things in this step are to evaluate the current progress, taking on board the key stakeholders, and proposing more solutions and modifications.

The Bottom Line

Business analysis will help you in finding more solutions to business problems that can arise at any time. But it also depends on the structure of the business.

There are wide ranges of tools and techniques available that can help you in business analysis. But find the best and appropriate tool and technique that works best with your business model. They will produce better results and give your appropriate business solutions.

Process of Business Analysis FAQ

1. What are methods of business analysis?

The most common methods of business analysis are SWOT analysis, MOST analysis, PESTLE analysis, Brainstorming, Six Thinking Hats, CATWOE, Business Process Modeling (BPM), Non-functional Requirement Analysis, The 5 Whys, and MoSCoW.

They can be used for variety of businesses, and projects.

2. What is process flow in business analyst?

The process of business analyst is divided into many steps, in which they have to perform certain tasks, follow business principles, and prepare documents.

3. What are steps of business analysis?

The steps of business analysis are;

• Gather Relevant Information
• Identify Key Business Objectives
• Definition of Scope
• Write A Business Plan
• Evaluate Available Options
• Implementation Phase
• Evaluate Value Added In The Business

4. What is the purpose of business process analysis?

Business analysis will help you in finding more solutions to business problems that can arise at any time.