Paul Mulvey

In the business analysis profession, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. As you develop your project type, you need to know all the tools available to you; think through all the variables related to the people, project characteristics, and the process; and then determine what tasks you need to complete. Data warehouse projects A data warehouse is a solution that brings together information from diverse sources and puts it in a format that stakeholders can easily access when making complex business decisions.

The data flow diagram is a helpful diagram for business analysts that shows the parties and systems involved with a particular process, as well as the data and interfaces involved when dealing with external agents (those parties or systems that exchange information with the project but over which your project has no control).

In prototyping, you create a model of the proposed solution. In business analysis, a prototype, or mockup, generally means a representation of a computer screen and examples of how the user will interact with the application to accomplish a task to solve the business problem. The business analyst creates the prototype, usually with help from the technical team.

Verification is what most people think of when they hear the word testing — it’s the process of testing whether a business analysis solution does what it’s designed to do. During verification, the testing team (which may consist of developers, quality assurance [QA] people, and some business analysts [BAs]) put the software through its paces to both confirm that it operates as expected and ensure that it conforms to the design specifications laid out earlier in the project.

When you’re involved in process improvement projects as a business analyst, a key task is to take time to define the metrics you’ll use to measure success. The measures differ, depending on the industry and what you’re trying to improve, but the important thing is to make sure you have enough time to discover the baseline measurements and then calculate what the measure of success is.

As part of a business analysis, a business case outlines an opportunity and a recommendation to invest resources to take advantage of it. Think of the business case as your marketing or sales brochure for your idea. It may be your one shot to get approval for a project that may have a significant strategic, structural, or political corporate impact.

Aside from fulfilling a business analyst (BA) role at a company, you may have the opportunity apply your various business analysis skills to other roles. You can parse out individual business analysis skills to make yourself more marketable, take advantage of opportunities, and meet a company’s specific needs for growth and improvement.

Reverse engineering refers to looking at the solution to figure out how it works. Basically, you you’re your business analysis backward from the solution to understand the data, processes, and business rules. Reverse engineering is more common than you think. Have you ever looked into a Microsoft Excel formula to figure out where it’s coming up with the calculation?

“Why” is such a powerful question that it’s the basis for a root cause analysis technique called the 5 whys. The thought is that by the time you ask a stakeholder “Why?” 5 times, you generally have arrived at the root cause. Consider this example: Q: “Why did you submit a purchase requisition for $750?” A: “Because we need to purchase 150 staplers!