Equally at home with Use Case creation, or the earlier generation’s database analysis, Data Dictionaries and Glossaries provide a common place to store and retrieve definitions. They’re used by business and technical roles. The premise is to understand what is needed for a field of data or an entire table or record of data (aka… [Read more…]
April 29, 2011 by David Kohrell
Business Rules. Universal definitions or process descriptions that transcend a single use case or process flow. A little bit bigger than a glossary definition (such as income range, gender, ethnicity) but not quite a usage scenario in its own right. Business rules as they’re refined, adapted and updated are invaluable requirements assets – they really… [Read more…]
April 21, 2011 by David Kohrell
Problems, issues, bugs, defects, action items, punch list, clean up tables – so many synonymous terms for the same underlying concept – tracking known “stuff” and making sure it gets resolved before a product or service is released. While risk management concerns the known- unknown, management reserves address unknown -unknown, problem tracking is smack dab… [Read more…]
March 31, 2011 by David Kohrell
Focus Groups – the 11th Technique listed in the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge employ a skilled facilitator(s) and a small group of prospective or current customers to seek out and understand what the customer or user wants and/or how they use a product or service. The information gathered from a focus group is powerful. … [Read more…]
March 22, 2011 by David Kohrell
SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) is a venerable mainstay of management and MBA curriculum. While it’s typically applied at the organization level for strategic management, SWOT analysis can be a helpful technique for understanding the business perspective for a set of requirements or a project. It’s described in 9.32 of the BABOK™ A… [Read more…]
March 11, 2011 by David Kohrell
Polls, surveys, questionnaires are synonymous terms for the same thing – asking people for their opinion on a topic. Chapter Nine of the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK®), Second Edition includes Surveys and Questionnaires as the 31st technique. Surveys help teams understand what customers want. They will differ depending on whether they will… [Read more…]
March 2, 2011 by David Kohrell
Several years ago I shared a series of articles in the Rational Edge for IBM that showcased real life applications of use cases and incremental development. Two of those articles focused on replacing a legacy unemployment insurance system. The entire article provides a much more thorough introduction from that example – so take a quick… [Read more…]
March 1, 2011 by David Kohrell
The whiteboard. The dry eraser. The multi-color pens. The overbearing meeting participant. Those four things often come together when thinking of brainstorming. It’s a technique among multiple management nexus disciplines and at the heart of agile, business analysis and project management. It can produce great results from a team. The Business Analysis Body of Knowledge… [Read more…]
February 25, 2011 by David Kohrell
Chapter Nine of the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK®), Second Edition provides a concluding overview of thirty-four techinques used throughout business analysis and the six processes defined within the BABOK®). I’ll highlight the most frequently used ones in my career over the next several weeks. If one of the following techniques does not make… [Read more…]
February 5, 2011 by David Kohrell
Certification exams for management and information technology have become a necessity for finding a job, advancing a career and validating knowledge. Certification does not measure intelligence, work habits, team work and a myriad of additional competencies and talent needed to succeed. Sometimes they’re a necessary evil. Other times they bring a tremendous sense of fulfillment!… [Read more…]
January 11, 2011 by David Kohrell
Virtual teams are geographical dispersed teams (GDT) who are formed for a variety of reasons. Sometimes the virtual team is formed as a result of mergers and acquisitions (M&A), or a collaboration among organizations may trigger it, perhaps a key employee moves or a company wishes to get some “boots on the ground” in a… [Read more…]
January 10, 2011 by David Kohrell
Schedule (Activity Duration or Activity Resource) and Cost estimating are two lynch pins for business analysis and project management. The most common estimate techniques are: analogous, bottom-up, parametric and three-point – PERT. For those pursuing a CBAP® or PMP® how to use them and whether those are mutually exclusive can become a bit confusing. The… [Read more…]
May 18, 2010 by tapuniversity
We’ve posted a number of well-read entries on the Project Management Institute’s (PMI) code of ethics, and today we turn our attention to the International Institute of Business Analysis’s (IIBA) values. A copy of their values can be found at http://www.theiiba.org/Content/NavigationMenu/About/GuidingPrinciples/IIBA_Values_2010.pdf. The four core values of the IIBA are: Respect, Integrity, Shared Vision, and Innovation. … [Read more…]
December 15, 2009 by tapuniversity
The User Stories technique is one of 34 techniques described in the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK®). Business Analysts may use this technique to get a general understanding of the functionality that stakeholders want in a solution and why this functionality is important. User Stories are a brief, textual description that consists of three… [Read more…]
October 19, 2009 by tapuniversity
Ethics is part of the BABOK®’s Behavioral Characteristics competency, which is one of six general competencies that a successful business analyst should possess. For each competency, the BABOK lists effectiveness measures. These effectiveness measures for ethics include: making decisions that consider the interests of all stakeholders, being clear with the reasons for decisions, disclosing potential… [Read more…]
October 16, 2009 by tapuniversity
Creativity is part of the BABOK®’s Analytical Thinking and Problem Solving competency, which is one of six general competencies that a successful business analyst should possess. Although some professions such as artist or inventor are heavily dependent on creativity, it is hard to imagine someone in a profession that could not benefit from generating innovative… [Read more…]
October 15, 2009 by tapuniversity
The Business Analysis Performance Assessment document indicates how well the business analysis activities are being performed during a project. It is created as part of the BABOK®’s Manage Business Analysis Performance task which also plans how the performance of business analysis activities will be measured and reported. The Business Analysis Performance Assessment should contain a… [Read more…]
October 14, 2009 by tapuniversity
Effective communication among team members and other stakeholders is critical for project success. Specifically planning how communication will occur concerning the business analysis component of a project is outlined in the Business Analysis Communication Plan. This document is created through the BABOK®’s Plan Business Analysis Communication task. The Business Analysis Communication Plan describes the requirements… [Read more…]
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May 11, 2011 by David Kohrell
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