There are a number of generic business techniques
that a Business Analyst will use when facilitating business change.
Some of these techniques include:
1. PESTLE
2. HEPTALYSIS
3. MOST
4. SWOT
5. CATWOE
6. de Bono's Six Thinking Hats
7. Five Why's
8. MoSCoW
9. VPEC-T
10. SCRS
* * * * *
1. PESTLE
This is used to perform an external environmental analysis
by examining the many different external factors affecting an organization.
The six attributes of PESTLE:
a. Political = (Current and potential influences from political pressures)
b. Economic = (The local, national and world economy impact)
c. Sociological = (The ways in which a society can affect an organization)
d. Technological = (The effect of new and emerging technology)
e. Legal = (The effect of national and world legislation)
f. Environmental = (The local, national and world environmental issues)
2. HEPTALYSIS
This is used to perform an in-depth analysis of early stage businesses/ventures
on seven important categories:
a. Market opportunity
b. Product/solution
c. Execution plan
d. Financial engine
e. Human capital
f. Potential return
g. Margin of safety
3. MOST
This is used to perform an internal environmental analysis
by defining the attributes of MOST
to ensure that the project you are working on is aligned to each of the 4 attributes.
The four attributes of MOST:
a. Mission = (where the business intends to go)
b. Objectives = (the key goals which will help achieve the mission)
c. Strategies = (options for moving forward)
d. Tactics = (how strategies are put into action)
4. SWOT
This is used to help focus activities into areas of strength and where the greatest opportunities lie.
This is used to identify the dangers that take the form of weaknesses
and both internal and external threats.
The four attributes of SWOT analysis:
a. Strengths
- What are the advantages?
- What is currently done well?
(e.g. key area of best-performing activities of your company)
b. Weaknesses
- What could be improved?
- What is done badly?
(e.g. key area where you are performing poorly)
c. Opportunities
- What good opportunities face the organization?
(e.g. key area where your competitors are performing poorly)
d. Threats
- What obstacles does the organization face?
(e.g. key area where your competitor will perform well)
5. CATWOE
This is used to prompt thinking about what the business is trying to achieve.
Business perspectives help the business analyst
to consider the impact of any proposed solution on the people involved.
There are six elements of CATWOE:
a. Customers
- Who are the beneficiaries of the highest level business process
- and how does the issue affect them?
b. Actors
- Who is involved in the situation,
- who will be involved in implementing solutions
- and what will impact their success?
c. Transformation Process
- What processes or systems are affected by the issue?
d. World View
- What is the big picture
- and what are the wider impacts of the issue?
e. Owner
- Who owns the process or situation being investigated
- and what role will they play in the solution?
f. Environmental Constraints
- What are the constraints and limitations that will impact the solution and its success?
6. de Bono's Six Thinking Hats
This is often used in a brainstorming session to generate and analyse ideas and options.
It is useful to encourage specific types of thinking
and can be a convenient and symbolic way to request someone to “switch gears".
It involves restricting the group to only thinking in specific ways
- giving ideas & analysis in the “mood” of the time.
Also known as the Six Thinking Hats.
a. White: Pure facts, logical.
b. Green: Creative, emotional.
c. Yellow: Bright, optimistic, positive.
d. Black: Negative, devil’s advocate.
e. Red: Emotional.
f. Blue: Cold, control.
Not all colors / moods have to be used
7. Five Why's
Five Whys is used to get to the root of what is really happening in a single instance.
For each answer given a further 'why' is asked.
8. MoSCoW
This is used to prioritize requirements by allocating an appropriate priority,
gauging it against the validity of the requirement itself
and its priority against other requirements.
MoSCoW comprises:
a. Must have - or else delivery will be a failure
b. Should have - otherwise will have to adopt a workaround
c. Could have - to increase delivery satisfaction
d. Would like to have in the future - but won't have now
9. VPEC-T
This technique is used when analyzing the expectations of multiple parties
having different views of a system
in which they all have an interest in common,
but have different priorities and different responsibilities.
a. Values
- constitute the objectives, beliefs and concerns of all parties participating.
They may be financial, social, tangible and intangible
b. Policies
- constraints that govern what may be done and the manner in which it may be done
c. Events
- real-world proceedings that stimulate activity
d. Content
- the meaningful portion of the documents, conversations, messages, etc. that are produced and
used by all aspects of business activity
e. Trust
- between users of the system and their right to access and change information within it
10. SCRS
The SCRS approach in Business Analysis claims
that the analysis should flow from the high level business strategy to the solution,
through the current state and the requirements.
The SCRS is standing for:
a. Strategy
b. Current State
c. Requirements
d. Solution
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_analysis