11 Effective Techniques of Business Analyst

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May 22, 2024 Updated: May 22, 2024
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11 Effective Techniques of Business Analyst
11 Effective Techniques of Business Analyst

Business analysis techniques encompass a range of methodologies employed to identify business needs, solve problems, and devise strategic plans for improvement within an organization. For individuals aspiring to pursue careers in business or analysis, grasping the significance of business analysis techniques and familiarizing oneself with relevant examples is invaluable for enhancing daily work responsibilities.

Business analysts play a crucial role in ensuring the success of projects and initiatives within organizations. They bridge the gap between business objectives and technical solutions, translating complex requirements into actionable plans. To excel in this role, business analysts must possess a diverse set of skills and techniques. 

As per findings from a report by Mordor Intelligence, the market size for Business Analytics reached USD 81.46 billion in the preceding year. Projections indicate that over the next five years, this figure is anticipated to ascend to USD 130.95 billion, reflecting a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 8.07% during the forecast period. In this blog, we'll explore 11 effective techniques that every business analyst should master.

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Understanding Business Analysis

Business analysis encompasses a broad spectrum of skills, techniques, and tasks aimed at identifying business requirements, suggesting improvements, and devising solutions that add value to stakeholders. While modern business analysis frequently involves software and digital data, professionals in this field often contribute to organizational changes, process enhancements, policy development, and strategic planning.

As per a report from Maximise Market Research, the Business Analytics Market reached a valuation of around US$ 78.48 billion in 2022. It is anticipated to witness a compound annual growth rate of 7.5% from 2023 to 2029, culminating in total revenue approaching US$ 130.21 billion.

Business analysts drive organizational transformation by evaluating needs, identifying weaknesses, and devising and executing optimal solutions. These conclusions are typically informed by data collected through diverse methods, often categorized as "big data."

Why are business analyst techniques important?

Business analyst techniques are essential for organizations as they provide structured approaches to analyze complex business problems, identify opportunities, and devise effective solutions. By employing these techniques, businesses can make data-driven decisions, optimize processes, and improve overall performance. These methodologies help ensure that resources are allocated efficiently, risks are mitigated, and projects are executed successfully. Ultimately, business analyst techniques play a crucial role in enhancing organizational agility, competitiveness, and profitability in today's dynamic business landscape.

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Types of Business Analytics

Business analytics encompasses various types, each serving a specific purpose within an organization. Here are several  common types of business analytics:

Descriptive analytics:Descriptive analytics centers on summarizing historical data to comprehend past performance. It addresses questions such as "What happened?" by studying trends, recognizing patterns, and analyzing key performance indicators (KPIs). Common methods include data visualization, dashboards, and reporting.

Predictive Analytics: Predictive analytics leverages past data to predict future outcomes or trends. By applying statistical algorithms, machine learning, and data mining techniques, organizations can make informed predictions about future events. This type of analytics is valuable for anticipating customer behaviour, demand forecasting, and risk management.

Prescriptive Analytics: Prescriptive analytics goes beyond predicting outcomes to recommend actions that can optimize future outcomes. It leverages advanced algorithms, optimization techniques, and simulation models to provide decision-makers with actionable insights. Prescriptive analytics helps organizations make data-driven decisions to achieve their goals more effectively.

Business Analyst Techniques

11 Top Effective Business Analyst Techniques

Business analysis techniques encompass methodologies employed to formulate and execute strategies aimed at identifying an organization's requirements and achieving optimal outcomes. Below are 11 highly effective techniques that can be employed to conduct successful business analysis:

Business Process Modeling (BPM)

BPM (Business Process Management) is frequently employed during the analysis phase of a project to comprehend and evaluate the disparities between the existing business process and the envisioned future process. This method comprises four key tasks:

  • Strategic planning
  • Analysis of the business model
  • Defining and designing the process
  • Technical analysis for intricate business solutions

Numerous industries, particularly the IT sector, prefer this approach due to its simplicity and clarity in outlining the execution process steps, demonstrating its functionality across various roles.

Brainstorming

Utilizing traditional brainstorming remains unparalleled in fostering innovation, pinpointing the underlying causes of problems, and devising solutions to intricate business challenges. This collaborative technique is frequently integrated into other methodologies like PESTLE and SWOT analyses to enhance idea generation and problem-solving capabilities.

CATWOE

CATWOE is a method utilized by business analysts to consolidate the perspectives of different stakeholders onto a unified platform, identifying key players and beneficiaries. This technique allows for a comprehensive evaluation of how any proposed action will impact various parties. The acronym denotes:

  • Customers: Those who benefit from the business.
  • Actors: The individuals or entities involved in the process.
  • Transformation Process: The core transformation within the system.
  • World View: The overarching perspective and its impacts.
  • Owner: The entity that owns the impacted system and its relationship.
  • Environmental Constraints: The limitations imposed by the environment and their influence on the solution.

MoSCoW (Must or Should, Could or Would)

The MoSCoW method prioritizes requirements by providing a framework to assess each demand with others. This process prompts inquiries about the essentiality of each element.Is the item essential or merely desirable? Does the demand contribute to enhancing the product, or is it a potential consideration for future implementation?

MOST (Mission, Objectives, Strategies, and Tactics) Analysis

MOST is a highly effective business analysis framework renowned for its efficacy in comprehending an organization's capacity and mission. This technique involves conducting an exhaustive internal analysis of the organization's objectives and methods to pursue them. The acronym signifies:

  • Mission: What is the organization's fundamental purpose?
  • Objectives: What are the pivotal goals facilitating the fulfilment of the mission?
  • Strategies: What are the available avenues for realizing the objectives?
  • Tactics: What are the approaches the organization will adopt to execute the strategies?

PESTLE Analysis

Business analysts utilize the PESTLE model, also known as PEST, to identify external factors that can impact their company and to devise appropriate strategies for addressing them in business decision-making. These influences encompass:

  • Political: Factors such as government policies, financial support, and subsidies.
  • Economic: Considerations include labor costs, energy prices, inflation, and interest rates.
  • Sociological: This category encompasses aspects like education, culture, media, lifestyle, and demographics.
  • Technological: Refers to advancements and innovations in information and communication technologies.
  • Legal: Involves local and national regulations, compliance requirements, and employment laws.
  • Environmental: Factors include environmental regulations, waste management, pollution, and weather conditions.

Through analysis and study of these factors, analysts gain insights into their impact on the organization's trajectory. This comprehension facilitates the development of strategies to effectively address them.

SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis, widely embraced across industries, serves to pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses within a corporate structure, framing them as opportunities and threats. This insight aids analysts in making informed decisions regarding resource allocation and suggesting avenues for organizational enhancement. The four components of SWOT are as follows:

  • Strengths: Attributes of the project or business that confer an advantage over competitors.
  • Weaknesses: Characteristics of the business that present a disadvantage compared to competitors or other projects.
  • Opportunities: Environmental elements that the project or business could leverage.

Threats: Environmental factors that could impede the project or business.

SWOT is a flexible and straightforward technique, adaptable for both rapid assessments and in-depth analyses of organizations of any size. Moreover, it proves valuable for evaluating diverse subjects, including groups, functions, or individuals.

Six Thinking Hats

This business analysis method guides a group's thought process by prompting them to explore diverse ideas and perspectives. The 'six hats' framework includes:

  • White Hat: Emphasizes data and logic.
  • Red Hat: Incorporates intuition, emotions, and instincts.
  • Black Hat: Evaluates potential negative outcomes and risks.
  • Yellow Hat: Focuses on positives and maintains an optimistic outlook.
  • Green Hat: Encourages creativity and innovative thinking.
  • Blue Hat: Considers the overarching perspective and ensures process control.

The six thinking hats technique is commonly employed alongside brainstorming sessions, facilitating the direction of the team's cognitive processes and encouraging consideration of various viewpoints.

The 5 Whys

This technique is commonly encountered not only in Six Sigma but also in business analysis circles. While journalism relies on the "Five W's" (Who, What, When, Where, and Why) in reporting, the 5 Whys technique focuses solely on the question "Why" through a series of Investigative questioning, a method favored by business analysts, helps uncover the root cause of a problem through a systematic approach of asking "why?"  questions based on the responses. Here's an illustration:

Problem: The client is refusing to accept delivery of certain 3-D printers.

  • Why? Because the wrong models were shipped.
  • Why? Due to incorrect product information in the database.
  • Why? Because there were insufficient resources allocated to updating the database software.
  • Why? Because our managers didn't prioritize the matter.
  • Why? Because no one was aware of the frequency of this problem.

Solution: Enhance incident reporting procedures, ensure managers review reports and allocate budget resources for updating database software.

Mind Mapping

The mind map tool serves as a valuable aid in brainstorming sessions, frequently utilized by business analysts to facilitate idea generation, root cause analysis, and requirement identification with stakeholders. Its simple graphical representation underscores the connections between ideas and topics.

Mind maps also assist business analysts in pinpointing issues and potential solutions, making them indispensable tools in their toolkits.

Creating a mind map involves:

  • Establishing the primary organizational structure or issues as the central focal point.
  • Connecting primary components to the centre via branches, which are labelled to represent different areas or issues.
  • Identifying key components using concise phrases.
  • Allowing core elements to branch out into second-level branches to represent more intricate components.
  • Adding additional levels as necessary for further detail.

Non-Functional Requirement Analysis

This technique is commonly employed by analysts for projects involving the replacement, alteration, or development of a technology solution. It entails defining and documenting the necessary attributes for a new or modified system, primarily focusing on requirements such as data storage or performance. Non-functional requirement analysis typically encompasses:

  • Logging
  • Performance
  • Reliability
  • Security

Non-functional requirement analysis is frequently conducted during the Analysis phase of a project and is implemented during the subsequent Design phase.

Mastering these 11 techniques can empower business analysts to deliver value-added solutions that meet stakeholders' needs, drive organizational growth, and achieve strategic objectives. By honing their skills in requirement elicitation, stakeholder analysis, SWOT analysis, business process modeling, data analysis, use case development, prototyping, user stories, impact analysis, gap analysis, and communication, business analysts can make significant contributions to project success and business outcomes.

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