INFS2603 - Lecture Notes PDF

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Distinction Lecture Notes with explanatory diagrams, ordered bullet points explanation and summarised lecture concepts. ...

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INFS2603 – Business Analysis (BA) Week 1 – Introduction to Business Analysis Learning Outcomes: - Understand the role and skillsets of BAs within organisations - Understand how BA roles differ across different types of organisations - Understand how the BA role is structured in different organisations - Understand the various tools and skillsets that BA use w/in organisations

What is Business Analysis? -

The practice of enabling change in an organisational context by defining needs and recommending (digitally enabled) solutions that delivers value to stakeholders

Who is Business Analysis? In the context of developing, analysing and implementing information systems, someone who can: - Understand enterprise problems and goals - Analyse needs and solutions - Devise strategies - Drive change - Facilitate stakeholder collaboration

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Business Analysis Core Concept Model Core Concept Change

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Need

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Solution

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Stakeholder

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Value

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Context

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Description Act of transformation in response to a need Works to improve performance of enterpise Improvements are deliberate / controlled through BA activities A problem or opportunity to be addressed Can cause changes - motivating stakeholder to act Specific way of satisfying one or more needs in context Resolving a problem faced by stakeholders, enabling advntage of opprtunity Group/individual w/ relationship to the change/need/solution Often defined in terms of interest, impact, influnece over change Grouped based on relation to needs/chamges/solution Worth, importance, usefulness of something to the stakeholder Either potential or realized gains Circumstances that influnece/influenced by/provide understanding of change

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Core Areas of Business Analysis

Roles of Business Analysis -

Understand business needs and user requirements Gather and specify requirements Model new system Build consensus Communicate with tech Need -> Solution -> BA

BA Roles Across Different Types of Organisations Workplace

BA and Team

Tools and Methods Business uses Conservative Single function practice farmed out cases, business requirements, to a project specifications Single role per Waterfall person delivery method Progressive Cross-functional Change-based ‘agile’ delivery platform method Multiple roles per person where on User stories may be the main Acceptance role criteria User story mapping Elaborations Avant-garde Cross-functional Design-thinking platform and Multi-

Collaborative Networks Vertical: Limited to BA department + incidentals w/in own organisation

Manager’s Mindset Hierarchical: Command and control

Whole Organisation – Horizontal and Vertical

Servant Leadership

Conformity and unity

Tolerance and Flexibility Delegate Authority

Extended across whole of

Flatter structure

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Lean and Agile

Ability to customise Inceptions own role Lean Canvases Experiments Continuous delivery

organisation and expands to other connections

Diversity and creativity Distributed authority

Understand -

Systems Development Lifecycle (SDLC) Planning Phase  Why should we build this system?  What value does it provide?  How long will it take to build? Analysis Phase  Who will use it?  What should the system do for us?  Where and when will it be used? Design Phase  How should we build it? Implementation Phase  Go ahead

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Systems Development Methodologies Visualisation tools and techniques Prototyping tools

Summary -

Business Analysis is a highly sought-after skill in various industries Business Analysis is primarily about managing and facilitating change within organizations A Business Analyst is any professional who performs business analysis tasks no matter their job title or organizational role How organizations perform Business Analysis varies, and the tools, techniques and methodologies used also varies In this course, we will get to understand what Business Analyst tasks are, with a focus on digitally enabled change

Why Do We Need Methodologies? -

Failures occur too often

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Creating systems is not intuitive Projects are late, over budget or delivered with fewer features than planned

Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) 1. 2. 3. 4.

Planning Analysis Design Implementation

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Each phase consists of a series of steps Each phase is documented (deliverables) Phases are executed sequentially, incrementally, iteratively or in some other pattern

(1) Planning Phase Focus: Why build this system?

Step Identify opportunity | Analyse feasibility | How to structure the Develop workplan project | Staff project | Primary Outputs: System request w/ Control and direct feasibility study project

Technique Deliverable Project identification System request Feasibility study Technical/ Project plan economic/ organisational - Wok plan feasibility Staffing plan Project/Scope Standards list Management Time estimation

Risk assessment

Project Plan Work breakdown structure Risk Management

(2) Analysis Phase

Step

Technique

Deliverable

‫בס׳׳ד‬ Focus: Who, what, where and when for this system? Primary output: System proposal

Develop analysis strategy | Determine business requirements | Create use cases | Model Processes | Model data

Business process automation Business process improvement Business process reengineering

System proposal Requirements definition Use cases Process models Data models

Document analysis Use case analysis Data flow diagramming Normalisation

(3) Design Phase Focus: How will this system work?

Step Design physical system Design architecture

Primary output: System specification

Technique Design strategy Architecture design Hardware and software selection

Design interface Design Programs Design databases and files

Interface structure/ Standards/ Prototype/ Evaluation

Deliverable Alternative matrix System specification - Architecture report - Hardware and software specification - Interface design Physical process model

Data flow diagramming

Program design

ERD Denormalization

Database and file specification Physical data model

(4) Implementation Phase

Step

Technique

Deliverable

‫בס׳׳ד‬ Focus: Delivery and support of completed system

Construct system

Programming Software Testing Performance testing

Install system

Conversion strategy selection

Maintain System

Training Support selection System maintenance Project assessment Postimplementation audit

Primary output: Installed system

Post Implementation

Systems Development Methodologies -

Formalised approach to implementing the SDLC

Structured Design Waterfall

Parallel

Rapid Application Development Phased

Test plan Programs Documentation Migration plan

Support plan Problem report Change request Postimplementation Audit report

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System Prototyping

Throwaway Prototyping

Agile

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Agile Development What is it? - Programming centric methodologies vs. management centric methodologies - Based on the agile manifesto’s 12 principles - Focus on delivering working software to satisfy customer’s current needs and to embrace change as it comes along - Minimum documentation - Like SDLC, there are implementations of Agile: XP, SCRUM Criticisms: - Co-location issues - Programmers can go wild - No documentation, no auditability - Unclear if agile can deliver large mission-critical systems

Design-Based Methodologies

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Adaptive vs Predictive (Business Analysis) Approach

Summary -

All systems development projects follow essentially the same process, called the system development life cycle (SDLC) System development methodologies are formalized approaches to implementing SDLCs SDLC activities are configured, sequenced and formalized differently in different methodologies Traditional, Progressive, Avant Garde Methodologies

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Week 2 – Traditional Business Analysis Learning Outcomes: -

Understand traditional systems development methodology Understand Object-Oriented Systems Understand Principles of Object-Oriented Systems Understand Unified Process Methodology in the context of Object-Oriented Systems Understand the Project Management workflow of Unified Process Methodology Understand the need for project management in IS development Create a system request based on business needs and requirements Perform technical, economic and organizational feasibility analysis Understand and apply project management tools such as Work Breakdown Structure, Gantt charts & Network diagrams Understand project staffing challenges and issues

Structured Design -

Waterfall Parallel

Object-Oriented Systems (OOS) -

OOS systems (process and data centric) and traditional systems (process OR data centric) The OOS mimics the real world It captures the structure and behaviour of IS in modules that encompass both the process and data

Traditional Vs Object-oriented

Principles of OOS Analysis and Design Use-case driven (mimic the real world) - Use-case will define behaviour of a system - Each use-case focuses on business process Architecture centric (based on a plan) - Functional = external view = focus on user perspective

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Static = structural view = focuses on attributes, methods, classes and relationships Dynamic = behavioural view = focuses on messages b/w groups and the resulting behaviour

Iterative and Incremental (evolve the system) - Undergoes continuous testing / refinement - Analyst understand system better over time

The Unified Process -

A traditional OOSAD methodology which maps out when/how to use various Unified Modelling Language (UML) techniques for object-oriented analysis and design

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A two-dimensional systems development process, consisting of phases and workflows:  Phases = time period in development  Workflows = tasks that occur in each phase  Activities = both phase and workflows will overlap

Project Management Workflow in The Unified Process Project Management -

The process of planning and controlling the development of a system within a specified time frame at a minimum cost with the desired functionality Project = a set of activities with a beginning/end point – when completed delivers value to business

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Project Identification Projects are driven by business needs: And identified: - Business units - IT people - Identified jointly by business and IT The project sponsor believes in the system and wants to see it succeed - Normally businessperson does this - Should have the authority to move it forward

The System Request -

Document that described the reasons for and the value added from building a new system

Contains five elements: 1. Project sponsor – primary point of contract for the project 2. Business need – reason for prompting project 3. Business requirements – what system will do 4. Business value – what the benefit will be (tangible/intangible) 5. Special issues / constraints – other considerations

Project Identification -

Project manager works collaboratively with Business Analyst to drive project forward

Feasibility Analysis -

Determining whether the project is feasible  What are the risks?  Can these risks be overcome?

Major components: - Technical feasibility (Can it be built?) - Economic feasibility (Should we build it?) - Organisational feasibility (Will they use it? This is typically performed by the BA in collaboration with other stakeholders

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Technical Feasibility (Can we build it?) Identify risks in the following cases: - Functional area  Are analysts familiar with this portion of the business -

Technology  Less familiarity generates more risk

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Project size  Large projects have more risk

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Compatibility  Difficult integration increases the risk

Economic Feasibility (Should we build it?) 1. Identifying Costs and Benefits

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2. Assigning Values to Costs and Benefits

3. Determining Cash Flows

4. Determining Net Present Value (NPV) 5. Determining Return on Investment (ROI) 6. Determine Break-Even Point

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7. Graphing Break-Even Point

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List tangible costs and benefits for projects Include one-time and recurring costs Create numbers for each of the costs and benefits Even intangibles Consult with professionals Project costs and benefits over period of time will be Apply growth rate Calculate value of future costs and benefits today How much money organisation will receive in ROI Find year where greater benefits than costs (first occurrence) Will help understand how long until BE Plot yearly costs on a line graph Line cross break even

Organisational Feasibility (If we build it, will they come?) -

Will the users use/accept the system? Is the project strategically aligned with the business? Conduct stakeholder analysis:  Project sponsor  Organisational management  System and end users  Others

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Stakeholder Rainbow

Other Stakeholder Analysis Techniques

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Project Selection -

Projects approved, declined, delayed based on value added vs. risks

Project Portfolio Management Goals: - Maximise cost/benefit ratio - Maintain optimal mix of projects based on:  Risk  Size, cost and length of time to complete  Purpose, scope and business value - Limited resources require trade-offs - Selected projects enter the project management process

Project Management Process and Workplan Creation -

Workplan is created once the Project Manager has a general idea of tasks to be completed

Project Management Tools -

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Aids in Workplans Identify all tasks, sequence, estimate time to complete each one Work breakdown structures:  Hierarchy of tasks to identify Gantt charts  Horizontal bar chart that shows the WBS graphically Network diagrams  Program Evaluation and Review Techniques (PERT) and Critical Path Methods (CPM) Applications: Trello, Atlassian, JIRA

Risk Management -

What are the sources of risk in this project? How can we assess the risk?

Scope Management Scope “creep” - Occurs after the project is underway - Results from adding new requirements to project

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= deleterious effect on schedule Feature of Waterfall (structured development) Not so agile

Features to manage the project scope: - Identify all requirements at the outset - Allow only those changes deemed absolutely necessary - Carefully examine impact - Delay changes for future enhancements

Staffing the Project Goals: -

Determine how many required Match skills to required activities Motivate team to meet objectives Minimise conflicts

Deliverables: - Staffing plan - Number/kind of people assigned - Overall reporting structure - Project charter (describes projects objectives and rules)

“Jelled” Team -

A team of people so strongly knit that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts Characteristics:  Low turnover rate  Strong sense of identity  Feeling of eliteness  Team vs. individual ownership of project  Team members enjoy work

Motivating People -

Greatest influence on performance Monetary rewards usually do not motivate How to motivate?  Encourage group ownership  Provide autonomy, but trust team to deliver  Utilise equitable compensation  Allow members focus on what interests them

Handling Conflict Preventing or mitigating conflict - Cohesiveness has greatest effect - Clearly defining roles and holding team members accountable - Establish work / communications rules in project charter

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Additional techniques: - Define plans for project - Develop schedule of commitments in advance - Forecast other priorities and their impact on the project

Summary -

Projects are identified based on business needs Proposals need to pass the technical, organisational and economic feasibility tests Projects also need to fit the overall portfolio of projects of the organisation Management of projects depends on the SDLC methodology adopted – different methodologies have different challenges Project management tools help track the time, scope and budget of projects Business Analysts work in conjunction with the Project manager

Week 2b – Traditional Business Analysis Learning Outcomes: - Understand requirements of determination process - ^ what are the function/non-functional requirements - Learn various requirements analysis strategies - Understand purpose of ^ gathering techniques and relationship to requirements analysis strategies - Understand requirements gathering techniques:  Interviews  Joint Application Development  Survey  Observation  Participation  Non-participant  Observation - ^ when to use what type of requirements gathering techniques

Business Analysis Body of Knowledge

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What is Requirements Determination? Purpose - To convert high level business requirements from the system request into detailed requirements What are a requirements? - A statement of what the system must do (functional) or a characteristic (nonfunctional) it must have - Will later evolve into a technical description of how the system will be implemented

Type of Requirements Functional - Relates to a process or data - Ie. tacking uber eats courier on maps Non-Functional - Relates to performance or usability - Ie. real time location of the uber eats courier should refresh every 10 milliseconds

Requirements Determination Process

Prepare for Requirements Determination Consider business domain, corporate culture, environment Consider stakeholder locations and those who are involved and their dynamics Consider skills of the business analysis practitioner Consider other requirements determination activities planned to complement this one 5. Selected requirements analysis strategies 6. Select requirements gathering techniques 7. Set-up logistics

1. 2. 3. 4.

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Activity’s goals Participants and their roles Scheduled resources Communication channels Interpreter

8. Secure supporting material  Historical data  Materials  Documents  Policies  Regulations  Contracts 9. Prepare stakeholders on what is required

Conduct Requirements Determination Collaborative - Involved direct interaction with stakeholders - Relies on their experience, expertise and judgment Research - Involves systematically discovering and studying information from materials or sources that are not directly known by sta...