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  • Writer's pictureGemma Walton

What Are The Business Analysis Techniques?

Updated: Apr 25

Business Analysis is a general term that describes the combination of knowledge, methods and activities used to identify business needs and then propose changes and create solutions that create value for stakeholders. Essentially, business intelligence can be described as a high-level process of identifying and analysing business needs, goals, and objectives in order to intelligently create strategies and solutions that drive business growth and development. Business intelligence tools and techniques help determine the best approach and, at the end of the project, what could be done differently to get better results. There is a wide range of analytical tools and models with specific methods that are most effective for specific phases of the project life cycle.

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The analysis process includes several steps and methods to ensure that value is delivered to customers, shareholders, employees, and all other stakeholders in the company. Requirements analysis is used in all projects at different stages of the project life cycle, but especially when stakeholders have a solution to a business problem. Requirements analysis is part of the project life cycle and usually begins at the stage when business stakeholders propose a solution. In MOST analysis, the requirements are collected from the end user's point of view to create the best solution.


Business analysts use the business analysis approach of use case modelling to determine system requirements from the customer's perspective. In this analysis approach, business analysts focus primarily on system performance and data storage requirements in order to measure proposed real-time data system performance factors. This type of business analysis methods and techniques can be used to define a system or process by isolating the roots involved in transforming input into output. Understanding is why SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats) analysis is so frequently used to present and explain complex sequences of steps and actions that need to be performed to achieve a particular business process outcome.


It is a powerful business analysis technique often used by business analysts to translate business requirements into functional specifications as part of a traditional software development project. SWOT provides an effective overview of a company that will enable it to capitalise on opportunities, identify weaknesses, and act on its strengths. SWOT analysis combines knowledge about internal factors (strengths and weaknesses) and external factors (opportunities, threats) to determine the most appropriate business solutions. Most other methods such as mind mapping, root cause analysis, SWOT analysis, and PESTLE analysis use brainstorming and the underlying technique.


Brainstorming is a process in which people come together, put forward their ideas, conduct root cause analysis, and try to reach consensus. Brainstorming is a useful method for generating various ideas, solving or finding solutions to complex problems, and for properly analysing a business. Brainstorming is a group creativity technique widely used by business analysts to generate ideas, identify root causes of problems, and solve complex business problems. MOST analysis is a very

simple and extremely powerful framework tool used by business analysts to analyse and plan the details of what an organization is doing and the initiatives the organization should strive to implement and helps to maintain strategic alignment.


MOST analysis is a modern business analysis technique used primarily in the Agile model, where iterations are required to collect requirements, develop, and create a project. However, business process modelling is a legacy process that is often used as a business analysis technique during the analysis phase of a project to understand or analyse the gaps between an existing business process and a future business process that a company chooses. Business process modelling, commonly referred to as BPM, is commonly used in the IT industry during the analysis phase of a project to assess and understand the gaps between current and future business processes. Business model analysis helps us understand a company's business and clarify policies, market approaches and methods.


This gives a better understanding of many things, such as the revenue model, the value proposition for which customer segment, the costs associated with the value proposition, the impact on the company of changing the business model. By fully examining the design, production costs, marketing strategy, and the impact on possible upcoming changes, the business analyst ensures the growth of the company's status and income.


Business process analysis skills are also required in specific areas such as product or project management, quality assurance, or interaction design. For more complex tasks, such as conducting interviews and workshops, you will also need interpersonal skills such as active listening techniques, questions, and influence—this is especially important if you are collaborating with stakeholders. If your goal is to make decisions at a higher level, you may need to continue your education with a degree in business management.


When determining the best decisions and outcomes for your business, it can be difficult to visualise and account for all the relevant data you need to make informed decisions. Peter Checkland's CATWOE can be used to look at a problem, goal or strategy and how the problem will affect the company and stakeholders in general. The answers to the five questions serve as a root cause analysis, which is then used to create suitable solutions.

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Commonly used business analysis techniques at the project or initiative level include stakeholder identification, interviews, facilitation, baseline, coverage matrices, MoSCoW analysis, benchmarking, business rule analysis, change management, process and data modelling, and functional decomposition. Document analysis as one of the main methods of business analysis can include the analysis of strategic plans, market research, contracts, requests for information and proposals, statements, minutes of meetings, reminders, existing procedures, reference manuals, documentation of competing products, comparative product reviews, problem reports, customer proposal reports, and existing system documentation, among other things. For a business analyst, a SWOT analysis is not too technical to develop, can be easily understood by business stakeholders if

needed, and is fully compliant with the functional specification requirements of software development teams.



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