Paul Mulvey

Paul Mulvey, CBAP, Director, Client Solutions, B2T Training, has been involved in business analysis since 1995

Articles & Books From Paul Mulvey

Article / Updated 09-22-2022
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.
Article / Updated 09-22-2022
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).
Article / Updated 03-06-2017
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.
Article / Updated 01-27-2017
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.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Business analysis projects all follow the same basic life cycle. A project is a set of steps that accomplish something, so describing business analysis activities as part of a project life cycle makes sense. Although each project you undertake is different, and you must always remain fluid and flexible to some degree, business analysis tasks follow a general order: Plan the project.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
A prototype is a model of a user interface (UI) in an automated system. For your business analysis, the prototype may be the user interface for a full system or a screen layout, report layout, or data entry form. The project team builds the prototype to demonstrate to stakeholders what the automated system will look like.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
The communication tool or method you choose should be appropriate for the audience, content, purpose, and message giver of the communication (as a business analyst, you may create communications for others to deliver). When evaluating communication tools, consider the following: Number of people involved: What works well for 10 people may not work well for 80.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
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.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
When verifying and validating solutions, you perform a requirements review, a structured audit in which you give participants the opportunity to ask questions and make suggestions in order to improve the quality of the product being reviewed. Keeping the requirements review session moving forward is the facilitator’s job; because you may be wearing that hat during the meeting, here are some tips for conducting the requirements review session: Put on a thick skin when documents you authored are being reviewed.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
On new development or mission-critical projects, several people may perform business analysis work. If so, business analysis planning may be divided among different business analysts. In these cases, the lead or senior BA should work with the sponsor, who has acquired funds to do the project and ensures project alignment with strategic goals.