Business Analyst Articles & Systems Analysis Articles

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» FEATURED: It’s a New World for the Business Analyst: We need to Grow up Fast!

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It’s a New World for the Business Analyst: We need to Grow up Fast!

In many organizations, culture and conventional wisdom make it difficult for the BA to break out of mostly tactical roles within projects. However, in many ways, the future competitiveness of your organization (and consequently of your future employment) depends on it! So don’t blink or you will miss out on the best BA opportunity of your career.

» Methodologies & The Dance of the Fairies

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Methodologies & The Dance of the Fairies

In a nutshell, a methodology represents a series of steps in a project specifying Who is to perform What, When, Where, Why, and How (aka, "5W+H"), from start to finish. Perhaps the best way to think of a methodology is as a roadmap or an assembly line where a product is developed over a series of work stations.

» FEATURED: An Introduction to Data Flow Diagrams

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A data flow diagram (commonly abbreviated to DFD) shows what information is needed within a process, where it is stored, and how it moves through a system to accomplish an objective. As its name implies, a data flow diagram depicts the flow of data within a system.

» The 21st Century BA: From Tactical Requirements Manager to Creative Leader of Innovative Change

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The 21st Century BA: From Tactical Requirements Manager to Creative Leader of Innovative Change

Welcome to the new series of articles on the BA as the 21st Century Creative Leader. It was a perfect storm. As we entered the second decade of the 21st century, we found ourselves struggling to adapt. ... It is no coincidence that the business analysis profession is taking hold to address many of the 21st century business challenges.

» FEATURED: Document Decisions Separately and Explicitly – A Proposed Use Case Scenario Best Practice

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Document Decisions Separately and Explicitly – A Proposed Use Case Scenario Best Practice

This article proposes a use case best practice technique: Always document decisions separately and explicitly in use case scenarios. This practice assists the business analyst in identifying where alternate and exception paths may be needed.This is similar to how decisions and resulting gateways are documented in Business Process Model and Notation...

» FEATURED: True-to-Life Business Models: How Business Rules, Business Decisions, and Business Events Relate

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True-to-Life Business Models: How Business Rules, Business Decisions, and Business Events Relate

A business model should include behavioral rules, decision rules, operational business decisions, and operational business events — all as first-class citizens. Understanding their intertwined roles is key to creating top-notch business solutions and business operation systems unmatched in their support for business agility and knowledge retention....

» FEATURED: Top 10 Key Business Analysis Trends For 2012

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Top 10 Key Business Analysis Trends For 2012

I’m pleased to continue to uphold: the unveiling of this year’s top 10 business analysis trends. This year business analysts (BAs) will need not only the balanced portfolio of technical and business skills they have been perfecting, but also a more comprehensive perspective in order to meet the challenging business environment of 2012.

» FEATURED: Three Good Reasons to Initiate a BA Center of Excellence

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Three Good Reasons to Initiate a BA Center of Excellence

Creating a BA Center of Excellence (BA COE) is a proven method for effectively reaching these goals with a BA team. In addition to improving BA performance in the traditional fields of elicitation and drafting, they aid in improving the other ‘soft’ skills that are becoming increasingly mandatory for a BA to possess.

» FEATURED: Data Modelling & Object Oriented Development

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Data Modelling & Object Oriented Development

At some stage in their working life, every business analyst will have some involvement with data modelling. They may need to model how data is (or will be) used or - if they only deal with requirements investigation - then someone else in the team will need to verify that the data to support new functions will be available.

» FEATURED: How Detailed Should Requirements Be? Part 3 - When More Requirements Detail Is Advisable

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How Detailed Should Requirements Be? Part 3 - When More Requirements Detail Is Advisable

There are several situations in which recording only high-level requirements information increases the project’s risk. When you encounter situations such as the ones described in this article, expect to spend more time than average developing detailed requirements specifications.

» FEATURED: Lean Six Sigma for non-industrial organizations

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Lean Six Sigma for non-industrial organizations

Lean techniques use a process-oriented approach. In non-industrial organizations however, the process is invisible. In order to apply Lean techniques successfully in this environment, the visibility of processes has to be significantly increased. Employees have to learn to look at their organization from a process viewpoint. Furthermore, it is impo...

» FEATURED: Agile vs. Traditional... - Part III: Winning Through Integrative Thinking

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Agile vs. Traditional... - Part III: Winning Through Integrative Thinking

Instead of taking for granted that either you find a flavor of agile that will fit the needs of your organization, or you must completely dismiss the use of agile methods, a much more valuable approach is to determine, for each individual project, which agile concepts should be embraced or not.

» FEATURED: The State of Business Analysis Practices in Organizations

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The State of Business Analysis Practices in Organizations

To remain competitive, it is more important than ever for an organization’s leadership team to use business analysis (BA) practices to execute strategies through innovative solutions. Over the years, business analysis has been rapidly developing as a profession and as a core business practice in many organizations; however, all too often business a...

» FEATURED: How Detailed Should Requirements Be? Part 2 - When Less Requirements Detail Is Appropriate

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How Detailed Should Requirements Be? Part 2 - When Less Requirements Detail Is Appropriate

Several conditions make it appropriate to leave the requirements descriptions at a higher level of abstraction. Recognize that these are broad guidelines. The BA should perform a risk-benefit analysis to balance the potential downside of omitting important information against the effort required to include it.

» Requirements Reuse: the State of the Practice

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Requirements Reuse: the State of the Practice

For several decades, software reuse has been a recognized solution to improving efficiency of software development. However, implementing reuse in practice remains challenging and the IT community has little visibility into the state of the practice specifically as it pertains to reusing software requirements. This paper presents the results of a s...

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Business Analyst Articles: Business Analysis & Systems Analysis

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Business Analyst Articles: Business Analysis & Systems Analysis

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Business Analysts, Business Process Professionals,
Systems Analysts, Data Analysts, and more…