General Business Articles

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. A data warehouse supports a company’s tactical and strategic goals. Data warehouses are useful for trend analysis, forecasting, competitive analysis, and targeted market research. Data is often summarized by specific subject area, function, department, geographic region, time period, or all of these. Most data warehouse projects fall into the “large project” category and result in a substantial project planning effort for you as the business analyst. These projects often have a company-wide focus. The business priority for the project depends on what critical decisions need to be made to address a business threat or opportunity. Include these types of tasks in your data warehouse project work plan: Identifying what information the data warehouse must contain, identifying who should have access to it, and making sure users have the right level of access. Identifying and prioritizing subject areas to be implemented. Managing the scope of each subject area iteration or release. Validating the data accuracy and consistency during the extract/transform/load (ETL) process. Defining the correct level of data summarization. Establishing a data refresh schedule that’s consistent with business needs, timing, and cycles. Researching and reviewing available commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) business intelligence tools used for complex reporting. Planning for a user-friendly, powerful desktop query tool for users to access data without IT assistance. Planning for the user training and support needed to learn how to use tools and access data. Ensuring thorough testing is done prior to user acceptance testing (UAT). Process improvement projects Companies find competitive advantages by looking closely at their business processes and determining whether they need to improve their business operations. Depending on the changes to be made, those changes may occur in small segments over a long period of time (evolutionary changes) or may be made at one time (revolutionary changes). As a business analyst, your evaluation of the business process may result in a recommendation for software changes, procedural changes, organizational changes, or personnel changes. The tasks you perform when completing a process improvement project include analyzing the current process, capturing metrics as a baseline, identifying the problems, and identifying solutions that fix those problems to achieve better performance. Reengineering — another approach to changing a business process — happens when you start from scratch to ask what the organization needs in order to succeed instead of fixing something that already exists. You ignore current roles, silos (compartmentalized departments in organizations), and outdated business rules, and challenge assumptions to create enterprise-wide changes. Reengineering implies that you’re innovating dramatically to design new, streamlined processes. Tasks related to process reengineering projects include the following: Performing root cause analysis to find out the real problem that exists within the business Brainstorming with the project team alternative approaches to address the problem area Choosing the best approach that solves the business problem Infrastructure projects Infrastructure projects are internal technical upgrades that impact systems, hardware, platforms, or tools in order to improve the technology that supports the business and the information technology (IT) efforts. Typically, these projects are called IT projects because they’re driven and sponsored by IT departments. Tasks to include on your work plan include the following: Assessing how software interface changes (even small ones) may impact usability Assessing how the project may impact user productivity and whether training may be required Determining whether any change to a work process needs to be made based on the project With infrastructure projects, the changes often affect stakeholders, external customers, or suppliers. Business analysts are involved to manage requirements and expectations of these changes among all project stakeholders. Here are some things to keep in mind: Business analysts sometimes underestimate or miscommunicate business impact, technical risks, and priorities, so be careful. In particular, don’t forget about implementation considerations and transition requirements (user training, timing, and support). Although infrastructure projects aren’t intended to change user functionality, user productivity often decreases during the learning curve as users get used to the new elements. Because these projects are technology improvements, they may often be delayed to make room for more business-critical efforts, assuming their delay doesn’t significantly impact the business. These projects may be initiated because vendor support is no longer available. Web development projects In today’s environment, many users expect feature-rich websites and applications accessible from anywhere with any web browser. They also expect functions to be delivered in short time frames. Think about the applications you use today, like online banking, social media, and shopping websites. Web development projects are customer-facing web applications that are targeted at consumers and are available inside or outside the organization. As such, they require some special considerations in your work plan. When planning for this type of project, make sure to prioritize the features and functions. Doing so allows the team to work on and implement the highest value features first. Using an agile approach (building a highly skilled, tightly knit, self-managed, and collocated team that stays with the project from beginning to end and delivers software quickly) works well for these types of projects. Key stakeholders involved in these projects include usability experts, marketing product owners, and a customer representative or surrogate representative, such as marketing or business analyst. The following are some tasks to include on a web development work plan: Eliciting usability and security requirements Use cases, user stories, wireframes, prototypes, and simulations Testing activities like UAT

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). It’s most commonly used for the project level context diagram (or scope diagram). Although the data flow diagram is a graphic, as the name suggests, you can also use a text-based version called the external interaction textual template. You use these techniques to analyze and communicate. If text communicates better to your stakeholders, use the textual template rather than the diagram. Introduction to data flow diagrams for business analysis The data flow diagram consists of three basic symbols: circles, curved lines, and rectangles. Each symbol represents something different: Circles: The circles represent the process (or the function) that actually works to transform inputs into outputs. In the example below, the process involves taking in all the information from the guest (input) and sending it off to the reservation system (output). Curved lines: The curved lines represent the data flowing into and out of the process. These bits of data aren’t detailed data elements but rather a conglomeration of data called net flow. In the example, dates coming from the guest into the process are arrival and departure dates (including times), but instead of getting that detailed, the diagram simply summarizes them as “dates.” Rectangular boxes: The rectangular boxes represent external agents that are sources or recipients of data. Your project has no control over how these sources execute their internal processes (their work), and the project can only send data to and receive it from them. For example, you have no idea how the reservation system processes its data, but based on what you send the system, you get the availability and price information from it. Credit: Illustration by Wiley, Composition Services Graphics Here are some examples of when you should apply this technique: When identifying stakeholders (those external agents!) When scoping your project and figuring out your boundaries Like any analysis method, data flow diagrams have advantages and disadvantages. In the advantages column is the fact that the diagram is a very clear way to show the scope boundaries for the project so that everyone is on the same page with regard to the area being analyzed (the scope). It also highlights the items that aren’t part of scope and can be documented as “out of scope.” The disadvantages primarily have to do with reader understanding: The diagram doesn’t show sequence, so some businesspeople may have a hard time following it. The diagram presents the data flowing into and out of the project at a rather high level. It doesn’t show all the data elements, which may be problematic for detail-oriented folks. The data flow has kind of fallen out of favor because, outside the scope diagram, businesspeople don’t relate to the many levels of the data flow diagram. They prefer a workflow. Here’s how to create a data flow diagram: Identify the process you’re documenting (the circle in the middle of the diagram). Identify all the parties and systems (the rectangles) involved in the process. Elicit from the stakeholders the data (the curved lines) flowing among the parties, the systems, and the process. Have the stakeholders validate your diagram. The external interaction textual template for business analysis An external interaction textual template may sound complicated, but it’s really not. You use the same information you’d use for a data flow diagram but present it in a text table rather than a graphic. A textual representation may be preferable when your stakeholders don’t understand the diagram or when teaching them how to read it takes too much time. You can see that the left-hand column lists the external agents (the rectangles on the data flow diagram), and the middle and right-hand columns list the data itself (the curved lines on the diagram). Credit: Illustration by Wiley, Composition Services Graphics

Article / Updated 09-21-2022

Can you make decisions swiftly and confidently when vast amounts of data cross your desk and inbox every day? How do you prioritize and rapidly respond in the midst of changing conditions? Well, you use the skills you already possess but may not be tapping into. Here's an interesting correlation: The way you process information as you drive a vehicle works for making an informed decision, as well. If you drive well enough to be 98 percent accident-free, chances are you're already a master of processing tons of data at high speed: You select pertinent information almost automatically and then use the information quickly and accurately. If you apply that innate skill to your decision-making, you can make informed business decisions without second guessing yourself. To sort from a sea of information, do the following. Focus on the outcome. Being clear about the end point does two things: Provides guidance for your intuition, enabling you to sift through all the available information to select what's important for the decision you need to make Gives you a solid anchor for your decisions that can accommodate opposing facts and perspectives If, for example, the end point is to stay under budget, then your decision and the data you use to inform your decision will be filtered based on that. If the end point is to produce a product that meets customers' unstated needs, then all the available information will be filtered using that criterion. The outcome anchors your decision making. Stop mentally concentrating on the issues and let your subconscious do the work for you. Your subconscious is faster than your conscious mind, and it works automatically when your focus is clear. When you turn the issue over to your subconscious, you gain speed and accuracy. Question and expose the beliefs you use to interpret how the world works. Beliefs, otherwise known as mental models — things you believe to be true but that may not actually reflect a widened view of reality — filter reality to confirm your previous experiences. Questioning your beliefs permits you to improve the accuracy of your analysis, jettison past connotations, and open up new possibilities. Observe your emotions. Step back to gain perspective and quiet the mental chatter so that you can accurately hear your inner voice. You'll gain a wider view of the situation and be able to see alternatives. It's really easy to fall prey to doubt or to rationalize your decision. If you're feeling fearful, you may think you have only one option or no options. In climates of high fear, when the rational dominates, making an informed decision requires that you achieve a calmer state of mind so that you can access your higher mental and intuitive functioning. After you analyze and review your options, select your decision, but before you commit, check in on how you feel about the option you've selected. Call it a heart check. Even when the solution is a totally new approach, you need to feel at peace with it. Making an informed decision requires that you work with both facts (actual data) and emotional information, and that you take steps to mitigate the effect of ingrained bias. Doing so requires that you commit to mastering all your senses and intelligences so that, in chaotic decision-making environments, you'll be able to balance data with open-minded experimentation and stay sensitive to cues that other decision-makers will miss.

Article / Updated 08-03-2022

Can you make decisions swiftly and confidently when vast amounts of data cross your desk and inbox every day? How do you prioritize and rapidly respond in the midst of changing conditions? Well, you use the skills you already possess but may not be tapping into. Here’s an interesting correlation: The way you process information as you drive a vehicle also works for making an informed decision. If you drive well enough to be 98 percent accident-free, chances are you’re already a master of processing tons of data at high speed: You select pertinent information almost automatically and then use the information quickly and accurately. If you apply that innate skill to your decision-making, you can make informed business decisions without second guessing yourself. To sort from a sea of information, do these things: Focus on the outcome. Being clear about the end point does two things: Provides guidance for your intuition, enabling you to sift through all the available information to select what’s important for the decision you need to make Gives you a solid anchor for your decisions that can accommodate opposing facts and perspectives If, for example, the end point is to stay under budget, your decision and the data you use to inform your decision will be filtered based on that. If the end point is to produce a product that meets customers’ unstated needs, all the available information will be filtered using that criterion. The outcome anchors your decision making. Stop mentally concentrating on the issues and let your subconscious do the work for you. Your subconscious is faster than your conscious mind, and it works automatically when your focus is clear. When you turn the issue over to your subconscious, you gain speed and accuracy. Question and expose the beliefs you use to interpret how the world works. Beliefs, otherwise known as mental models — things you believe to be true but that may not actually reflect a widened view of reality — filter reality to confirm your previous experiences. Questioning your beliefs permits you to improve the accuracy of your analysis, jettison past connotations, and open up new possibilities. Observe your emotions. Step back to gain perspective and quiet the mental chatter so that you can accurately hear your inner voice. You’ll gain a wider view of the situation and be able to see alternatives. It’s easy to fall prey to doubt or to rationalize your decision. If you’re feeling fearful, you may think you have only one option or no options. In climates of high fear, when the rational dominates, making an informed decision requires that you achieve a calmer state of mind so that you can access your higher mental and intuitive functioning. After you analyze and review your options, select your decision, but before you commit, check in on how you feel about the option you’ve selected. Call it a heart check. Even when the solution is a totally new approach, you need to feel at peace with it. Making an informed decision requires that you work with both facts (actual data) and emotional information, and that you take steps to mitigate the effect of ingrained bias. Doing so requires that you commit to mastering all your senses and intelligences so that, in chaotic decision-making environments, you’ll be able to balance data with open-minded experimentation and stay sensitive to cues that other decision-makers will miss.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-28-2022

If you’re considering buying a business, you will need to investigate the company to make an informed decision about the business's valuation. The valuation process involves research and observation — whether the prospective enterprise is operating successfully or is functioning as a troubled company.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-27-2022

In a business environment of complexity and uncertainty, excellent decision-making skills are paramount. Employees, customers, and others touched by a company's actions respond to what they trust — ethical decision-making in business has become a strategic asset. Learn how to communicate decisions effectively, how to make faster and more informed decisions on the fly, and how to incorporate your core values into your decision-making.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-27-2022

Before you earn an MBA (Master of Business Administration) degree, you can still apply MBA-level knowledge in your career: Be a better business manager by efficiently delegating responsibilities among your employees and successfully rewarding those who do a good job. Hone your design and marketing skills by creating an informative and easy-to-use business website and a brief but clear marketing plan.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-25-2022

Robert's Rules provides rules and procedures that allow a deliberative assembly to make its decisions efficiently, and with all due regard for the rights of the minority. Following the rules ensures more a fair and more achievable outcome without wasting time, but remembering all the details of parliamentary procedure can be a tall order. Keeping some quick reference material on hand when you enter a meeting will ensure you have the important information you need to effectively and democratically achieve the business of the assembly.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-18-2022

Successful businesses have discovered the power of storytelling and its ability to affect the bottom line. A good way to start building your business stories is to use the time-honored storyboarding technique. There are usually a few ways to tell the same story — the one you choose may depend on the circumstances of the telling, the audience, your intent and goal in telling it, and other factors. Sometimes it can be a challenge to “pull” stories out of your organization so that they can be structured and polished for your purposes, and you may need to use story prompts to dig out the storytelling gold that exists in any company or organization.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-04-2022

Whatever reason you have for selling your business — finances, family, fatigue — you'll want to assemble the right group of professionals to assist you through the sale process, know which essential documents to have on hand, and understand how to value your business assets to ensure a successful sale.