Areas of business analysis

Even people who do not run their own business have heard of the concept of business analysis. It seems to be an inseparable element of the functioning of any company. But what exactly is business analysis and is it really so necessary? Let’s check it on the example of the IT industry!

What is business analysis?

A significant number of people identify the concept of business analysis with the analysis of business requirements. However, this is not a correct interpretation, because the latter is only a small part of all analytical activities. It is also not a business analyst, which is included in business analysis, however, it is primarily associated with the presentation of the right data to facilitate decision making and setting directions of the company’s activities. It is used in Business Intelligence solutions.

Referring to the definition, business analysis is a field of knowledge that allows to determine the business needs of a company and helps to find a solution for all business problems. This is a fairly general concept, therefore it needs to be clarified. We distinguish several areas of knowledge that are part of business analysis.

What does business analysis consist of?

Among the areas of knowledge contained in the overall business analysis, six key points can be identified.

– Planning and monitoring business analysis – it is primarily about organizing and coordinating the work of the person dealing with the analysis, i.e. a business analyst and other people interested in the results of the research. These activities are strongly associated with project management (PM). In turn, in the case of the IT industry, they contain a lot of elements from improving the process framework used to conduct analyzes.

– Acquisition and cooperation – this is the area of ​​business analysis, thanks to which you can select tasks that the analyst will perform to obtain the necessary information and confirm the results obtained. Therefore, it also includes communication with stakeholders and combining (consolidation) of all available and acquired information into a coherent whole.

– Requirements lifecycle management – this area can describe the business analyst’s tasks that he performs to manage requirements and other relevant project information. This happens from the moment they were created until the end and maintenance of these artifacts.

– Strategic analysis – it is worth remembering that it is the company’s strategy that allows achieving effects. Strategic analysis thus guarantees the emergence of strengths and weaknesses, taking advantage of current opportunities and making up for any gaps, e.g. gaining new competences. In short, it’s essential!

– Requirements analysis and solution design definition – this is an activity that provides knowledge about the activity of a business analyst. They are made to organize and impose a structure on the requirements discovered during the process of obtaining, specifying and modeling requirements. Thus, it enables efficient use of acquired information.

– Evaluation of solutions – thanks to this process we are able to assess the work done by a business analyst. Check if his actions have brought the intended results, assess the performance and identify the possible added value of the developed solution to the problem.

Business analysis in the IT industry

For business analysis strictly related to the IT industry, there are several different points. To improve IT projects, you need to focus on specific tasks and techniques specific to the project.

We distinguish among the components:

– Agile analysis – allows you to describe how to perform the analysis in a changing environment.

– Business Intelligence – refers to specific and unique characteristics of business analysis carried out due to transformation, integration and presentation of data.

– IT technologies – in the context of business analysis, it should be assessed what impact changes will have on new or existing IT systems and what exactly will change.

– Business architecture – is a formal description of how the business part of the company operates. It takes into account the key components of this activity and the relationships between them. Therefore, it concerns a broad aspect of business analysis.

– Business process management – covers all activities carried out as part of business analysis performed to build and improve all business processes in the organization.

Why is it worth doing business analysis? Although not every entrepreneur believes that business analysis is an essential element of an IT project, you should not fall into this group. Poorly done, it will not bring results, but if you approach it in a professional way, it will certainly improve your work. Lack of any analysis before starting work may lead to the creation of an unsatisfactory product customer. It will not meet his expectations, it will be useless, and yet it will consume a significant part of the budget. Everyone wants to avoid such a situation. For this reason, it’s worth focusing on business analysis!