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Behavioral Characteristics Required For Effective Business Analysis

As a business analyst, you are required to interact with other stakeholders on a regular basis. In the process, you form working relationships with each of the stakeholders.

Applying certain behavioral characteristics will help you to develop more effective relationships.

The behavioral characteristics of a business analyst should demonstrate these qualities:

  • ethics
     
  • personal organization, and
     
  • trustworthiness
     

Ethics can be defined as the set of guiding principles used to determine correct, moral behavior – almost like a compass giving you direction.

Behaving ethically requires that you follow specific guiding principles in all circumstances.

As a business analyst, it's important that you behave in an ethical manner at all times. This earns stakeholders' respect and builds their trust in you.

An understanding of ethics can also help you to recognize potential ethical difficulties inherent in proposed ideas or suggestions.

In the context of business analysis, ethics entails working in the best interest of all stakeholders. This involves considering how decisions will impact each stakeholder.

You also need to ensure that you treat all stakeholders with fairness, although this doesn't mean that decisions have to appease everyone – often this isn't possible.

However, it is possible to ensure that all stakeholders are informed of why a particular decision is the best one, given the organization's interests. If an ethical problem crops up at some point in the decision-making process, you will have to be able to resolve it to the best of your ability.

You will know that you are carrying out your work in an ethical manner if you

  • take the interests of everyone involved into account when making decisions
     
  • explain all decisions taken and ensure that all stakeholders understand these decisions
     
  • are open about any possible clashes in opinions or outcomes between stakeholders
     
  • are upfront about your work and what you are and aren't able to do, and
     
  • admit to any mistakes on your part and take responsibility for any consequences of your mistakes

Say you're a business analyst for a technology company involved in the development, manufacture, and supply of portable data-storage products. The company needs to cut costs.

The company has four divisions – development, manufacturing, sales, and distribution. You must determine which division is best suited for outsourcing.

When you're in the process of eliciting requirements, one stakeholder questions why you haven't involved a union representative from the distribution division. You didn't invite the representative to participate because you knew this person would be biased in their feedback.

However, behaving ethically would involve engaging all relevant stakeholders. You should elicit feedback from the union representative, even if you know this may slow down progress. Having failed to do so, you should admit your error and then rectify the situation.

Your work is made much easier when you practice good personal organization skills. Having good personal organization simply means that you manage your time, tasks, and information well, prioritizing and reprioritizing as you go.

At the most basic level, personal organization requires that you have an efficient, comprehensive filing process or system for organizing all your documents and files. You should be able to find any documents you need easily and quickly, at any time.

You can achieve good time management by

setting clear goals
 
Clearly formulated objectives and goals are easier to achieve when you create task lists and action plans. You need to ensure that each task is written out, explained, and defined thoroughly.
 
prioritizing tasks, and
 
Prioritizing your tasks involves ranking all tasks according to their importance or urgency to create a numbered to-do list or action plan.
 
avoiding procrastination
 
To avoid procrastination, you should complete tasks according to your prioritized list, even if there are other less important but more enjoyable tasks to be done. Putting off a task generally just makes it more difficult to complete the task later.
 

When you are able to access information quickly and easily, finish your tasks on schedule, and monitor the status of your to-do list, you are exercising good personal organization.

In the case of the technology company, you created an organized and detailed filing system for all business analysis documents before beginning your work.

You also created a prioritized and detailed task list, which you update regularly to keep current.

You need to earn stakeholders' trust so that you can discuss all aspects of a project openly and honestly, enabling you to make the best possible decisions.

If you don't have stakeholders' trust, they might keep vital information from you. This can prevent you from identifying the best, most practical course of action.

To gain anyone's trust, including that of stakeholders, you need to earn it.

Many people instinctively distrust change and its possible effects. Your job as a business analyst almost always entails initiating changes within an organization, so it's especially important that stakeholders trust you.

Demonstrating ethical behavior and practicing good personal organization skills are ways to start gaining stakeholders' trust. It also helps to make it clear that you are looking out for stakeholders' needs, which might not necessarily correspond with their expressed desires.

This may sometimes include addressing problems that are uncomfortable or inconvenient for stakeholders to face. However, facing up to such problems honestly and with fairness will increase stakeholders' respect for and trust in your abilities as a business analyst.

You'll be able to tell that stakeholders trust you if they

  • include you in their decision-making processes
     
  • are open to your suggestions and advice
     
  • are willing to talk about any possible issues or problems surrounding a decision, and
     
  • are willing to stand up for you and your proposed solution
     

For the technology company that must cut costs, a solution you propose is outsourcing some distribution activities. Although this would benefit the organization as a whole, some stakeholders are uncomfortable, fearing that it will result in a loss of positions within the organization.

You acknowledge this concern when communicating the solution approach with stakeholders. You also request, record, and track feedback from stakeholders about which distribution activities are the best options for outsourcing, so that further requirements can be determined using their input.

In this situation, you act ethically and utilize your organizational skills while creating an environment of trust.

Business analysis techniques

Often there are several different methods a business analyst could use to complete a task. Each method for completing a task is called a technique.

Techniques also provide information about the different forms that a task's output might take. For example, some techniques might produce outputs in a form that the business analyst will use to deliver information to stakeholders, such as a status report or a process checklist.

Techniques affect the performance of tasks. For a method to be a technique, it has to be related to at least one task. Some tasks have several related techniques, from which the business analyst chooses the technique that best suits the situation.

Tasks may have no related techniques, one, or several related techniques.

There are no techniques that business analysts are required to use.

There are so many different techniques that the BABOK® Guide documents only the ones that have already been tried and tested, and have demonstrated value. These are the techniques that the business analysis community uses most often.

Some of the techniques that are widely used include

  • acceptance and evaluation criteria definition
     
  • brainstorming
     
  • business rules analysis
     
  • data dictionary and glossary
     
  • data flow diagrams
     
  • data modeling
     
  • decision analysis
     
  • document analysis, and
     
  • interviews
     

Other widely used techniques include

  • metrics and key performance indicators
     
  • nonfunctional requirements analysis
     
  • organization modeling
     
  • problem tracking
     
  • process modeling
     
  • requirements workshops, and
     
  • scenarios and use cases

 

Question

What do business analysts use techniques for?

Options:

  1. To complete tasks
  2. To demonstrate value
  3. To determine methods

Answer

Option 1: Correct. Tasks have none, one, or several related techniques that business analysts can choose from to complete the task. They also provide information about the form that a task's output might take.

Option 2: Incorrect. Techniques are used to complete tasks. Some techniques are more relevant and more valuable than others.

Option 3: Incorrect. Methods that are related to at least one task are called techniques. Techniques are used to complete tasks and determine the form that a task's output might take.

 

Sometimes similar techniques that share a purpose are grouped under a single heading. The data modeling technique, for example, covers the use of class models, entity relationship diagrams, concept maps, term and fact models, object role models, and other similar techniques.

Although there are many less well-known techniques that competent business analysts might not be familiar with, business analysts should have a working knowledge of the more widely used techniques. This will enable them to perform tasks effectively in most of the situations they are likely to encounter.

A widely used technique might not always be the best possible technique to use in a given scenario. There might, for example, be a quicker or more effective solution. However, it's unrealistic to expect business analysts to be able to recall and demonstrate the expertise necessary to use every kind of technique.

In the BABOK® Guide, all techniques include

a purpose
The purpose describes what the technique is used for and the situations in which it is most applicable.
 
a description
The description covers exactly what the technique is and how it is used.
 
elements, and
The elements are key concepts that the business analyst needs to understand to use the technique. Each technique has a unique format and structure.
 
usage considerations
The usage considerations are the conditions under which the technique will remain effective
 
 

Question

For which purposes are techniques used in business analysis?

Options:

  1. To describe ways of completing tasks
  2. To provide information on forms that an output might take
  3. To provide value to the sponsoring organization
  4. To describe the best possible way to complete a task
  5. To determine a task's usage conditions

Answer

Option 1: Correct. A technique is a way that a business analyst can complete a task. Tasks might have no related techniques or one or more related techniques.

Option 2: Correct. Techniques provide additional information about the different forms that task outputs might take. Some techniques, for example, are designed to produce certain types of outputs.

Option 3: Correct. A technique is a method for completing a task. A task's output provides value to the sponsoring organization.

Option 4: Incorrect. Some tasks have more than one related technique. Depending on circumstance, certain techniques might be more valuable than others.

Option 5: Incorrect. Techniques have usage conditions, which describe the conditions under which they will remain effective. Usage conditions don't apply to tasks.

What are The Business analysis tasks

Each of the six business analysis knowledge areas has a purpose. The purpose of the Requirements Analysis knowledge area, for example, is to determine a solution to meet stakeholder needs.

A knowledge area is made up of tasks, each of which also has a purpose. Business analysts perform these tasks to accomplish the overall purpose of the knowledge area.

Although each business analysis task is unique, there are several characteristics that all tasks share:

  • they must be completed in order for the purposes of the associated knowledge areas to be achieved
     
  • they produce positive results that are valuable to the sponsoring organization, and
     
  • the results of tasks can be used as inputs for succeeding tasks, which may be performed by other people
     

Tasks are essential to the success of a business analysis initiative. Every task should be completed at least once during the course of an initiative. However, there is no limit on the number of times a task may be completed.

You might, for example, need to perform a task several times in order to determine an organization's current or future state.

There is no prescribed order for tasks. Business analysts can complete tasks in any order, as long as they possess the data needed to perform the tasks and produce results.

The data you require to perform a task sometimes changes over the course of an initiative. When this happens, the task might need to be completed more than once to produce updated results.

Business analysis initiatives may have iterative or agile life cycles. This dictates whether a business analyst performs several tasks in parallel, or breaks a project into specific phases and perform tasks from several knowledge areas during each phase.

Question

In what order are tasks performed?

Options:

  1. Tasks may be performed in any order
  2. Tasks are performed simultaneously
  3. Tasks are performed at the start of a project and upon its completion

Answer

Option 1: Correct. There is no prescribed order for tasks, but they each need to be performed at least once during an initiative.

Option 2: Incorrect. Tasks can be performed in any order and at any time, as long as you possess the required data to complete the task. During iterative projects, tasks are sometimes performed in parallel.

Option 3: Incorrect. Tasks can be performed in any order, as long as each one is performed at least once during a project.

Correct answer(s):

1. Tasks may be performed in any order

The only prerequisite for performing a task is that the data required to complete it is available. This data is called an input.

Task inputs may be generated by one of two types of sources:

  • by a business analysis task or
     
  • externally, outside the scope of business analysis activities
     

When you use an input to perform a task, generating a result doesn't necessarily mean that you've completed the task or fulfilled its purpose.

Instead, inputs and results might simply provide you with input for your next task, or enable you to begin performing additional work. For example, you might use several inputs to perform a single task several times. The results might enable you to examine several scenarios or move forward to an additional task.

Requirements are an important aspect of business analysis. They are the only inputs that are not produced from a single task. Requirements can be stated and classified in a number of ways when they're used as inputs. Sometimes no state or classification is listed and, in this case, any requirements can be used.

In most cases, a requirement is first listed by its state and then by its classification. For instance, stated requirements indicate that any classification can be used.

Stated requirements.

When there's no state listed, business requirements can be used in any state – prioritized, verified, or stated.

Business requirements.

Sometimes states are combined to describe requirements that have two states or to group all requirements that currently have either state. Requirements might, for example, be prioritized and verified.

Prioritized and verified business requirements.

The elements of a task describe the important concepts that business analysts need to understand in order to perform the task. They include aspects of its format and structure.

Because each business analysis initiative is specific, each task's elements are also unique.

Different sorts of tasks affect and require input from different kinds of stakeholders. For every task, a business analyst should list stakeholders who might be affected by or involved in performing the task.

Given that each business analysis task is unique, it would be impossible to create a list of all the possible stakeholders. In most cases, specific stakeholders' roles are included within broader, generic categories.

  Generic stakeholder categories in project include:

Business analysts

Business analysts are responsible for executing a project's business analysis activities, so they are stakeholders by default.


Sometimes business analysts are also responsible for roles that would normally be classed in different stakeholder categories. For example, business analysts sometimes perform subject matter expert, project manager, or tester roles, as well as performing business analysis activities.
 

Customers

Customers are internal or external stakeholders in a project or initiative. They are the people who use the products and services that a project or initiative provides. For example, if a project was implementing a new database in an organization, the customers would be the user group in the department using the new database.

Domain subject matter experts

Organizations sometimes also have contractual standards that they need to meet to uphold customers' moral rights.
Domain subject matter experts, or SMEs, are people with in-depth knowledge related to a business need.

Sometimes SMEs are also end users, managers, consultants, or legal staff. These are individuals who might use the project solution indirectly.
The term end users is most often used in software development. An end user is someone who interacts directly with a solution. In the software development environment, and end user refers to the individual who will actually use a software application once it is developed.
 

End users

In more general terms, an end user is anybody that participates in a business process.

Implementation subject matter experts

Implementation subject matter experts possess the expert knowledge necessary to design and implement the solutions that business analysts recommend.
 
Although there are too many kinds of implementation SMEs to mention, the more common kinds include software engineers, organizational change management professionals, system architects, trainers, and usability professionals.

Other generic stakeholder categories include

Project managers

Project managers are responsible for implementing the solutions that business analysts recommend. It's their responsibility to ensure that project objectives are met and to balance project constraints.

Constraints might include scope, budget, risk, resources, or schedule limitations.

Testers

Testers are responsible for ensuring that solutions meet the requirements that business analysts have specified.

They are also responsible for verifying that solutions meet quality standards, for minimizing the risk of failures and defects, and for ensuring this risk is understood.
Regulators are responsible for determining and enforcing standards. These might be standards that a solution must meet or standards that the team developing the solution must meet.

Regulators

Regulators help to enforce legislation, corporate governance standards, and audit standards. They also help to ensure that standards enforced by organizational centers of competency, such as business competency centers, are met.

Sponsors

Sponsors authorize business analysis initiatives. It is their role to instigate efforts to define business needs and find solutions that will meet these needs.
Suppliers are considered external stakeholders because they aren't usually part of the organization that is conducting a business analysis initiative. They are responsible for providing products or services to the organization.

Suppliers

Suppliers might have contractual or moral rights that organizations need to respect.

The results produced on the completion of a task are called outputs. An output is either a deliverable in itself or part of a larger deliverable.

A single output is usually created by a single task. However, it is possible for a task to have multiple outputs – for instance, when a single task is completed several times. Successfully completed tasks result in new outputs, outputs that are transformed, or outputs that have changed state.

The form an output takes depends on these factors:

  • the type of initiative or project being conducted
     
  • the sponsoring organization's standards, and
     
  • the form in which the business analyst will deliver information to stakeholders
     

For instance, in a business analysis project that includes accountants and financial clients as stakeholders, the business analyst would want to present information in a form that the stakeholders can understand. In this case, the accountants and financial stakeholders might be interested in financial data such as expenditure and budget, which you could present to them in a spreadsheet.

Because there is no prescribed order for performing tasks, an output doesn't necessarily mean that subsequent tasks using that output as an input should then be completed. Task outputs are often part of a larger deliverable and might not be in their final state. Outputs need only be in a state that enables subsequent work to begin.

 

Question

Identify the statements that describe the characteristics of business analysis tasks.

Options:

  1. They are used to accomplish the purpose of an associated knowledge area
  2. They produce positive and valuable outputs
  3. Their outputs cannot be used as inputs for subsequent tasks
  4. Requirements they use as inputs each exist only in a single state

Answer

Option 1: Correct. Just as each business analysis knowledge area has a purpose, each business analysis task has a purpose. A task's purpose supports achievement of the overall purpose of the associated knowledge area.

Option 2: Correct. The result or outputs of business analysis tasks are valuable to the sponsoring organization. Outputs are either deliverables or form parts of larger deliverables.

Option 3: Incorrect. Completed business analysis tasks produce outputs, or results, which can be used as inputs for tasks that follow.

Option 4: Incorrect. When used as inputs for tasks, requirements can be classified in different ways and exist in several states.

Correct answer(s):

1. They are used to accomplish the purpose of an associated knowledge area
2. They produce positive and valuable outputs

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