Kathleen Hass and Associates

The Business Analysis Essential Library

The Business Analysis Essential Library is a series of books, each of which covers a separate and distinct area of business analysis. It is the business analyst who ensures there is a strong business focus for the projects that emerge as a result of the unrelenting change and fierce competitive nature of business today. The business analyst is becoming the central figure involved in leading major change initiatives within both private industry and government agencies. This series is designed to explain the emerging role of the business analyst and present contemporary business analysis practices (the what) which are supported by practical tools and techniques to enable the application of the practices (the how). Titles in the series include:

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Professionalizing Business Analysis, Breaking the Cycle of Challenged Projects

This first book in the Business Analysis Essentials Library series in intended to provide a broad overview of the emerging Business Analyst profession. It first describes the continually changing business environment that requires organizations to be nimble and flexible and able to launch and execute projects quickly to react to and plan for change to remain competitive, and to adjust as the business environment changes. A review of project performance results for large change initiatives in both the public and private sectors is then presented to demonstrate and reinforce the critical need for improved project performance. The premise that professional Business Analysis represents a significant component of improved project performance is then presented. A synopsis of Business Analysis practices is also provided. And finally, this first book in the series presents suggestions for career development of Business Analysts and for increasing organizational maturity of Business Analysis practices in your organization.

Each subsequent book in the Business Analysis Essentials Library series will go into more depth regarding Business Analysis practices and offer practical tools and techniques to help you implement the practices in your environment.

The Business Analyst as Strategist,

Translating Business Strategies into Valuable Solutions

An organization’s ability to achieve strategic goals through programs and supporting projects depends on its ability to establish a future vision, set strategic goals, select the most valuable projects, and then execute flawlessly. Organizational strategic alignment is achieved by converting strategic plans and goals into a valuable portfolio of programs and supporting projects. Strategic project leaders and project teams execute the project plans to meet objectives and deliver project outcomes, adding value to the organization.

As the role of the business analyst evolves and matures, senior business analysts will emerge as the key individuals in the organization that have the depth of business acumen and technological proficiency to serve as both business and technology experts. In this capacity, business analysts will become involved in an array of activities designed to devise a strategy to reach its future business vision by achieving strategic goals.

As businesses elevate the business analyst into a leadership role as the business and technology strategist, she serves the executive team by facilitating, informing, and enabling the most favorable business decisions during the strategic planning and enterprise analysis phases of the business solution life cycle. This book examines the emerging critical role of the business analyst during these first two phases of business planning.

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Unearthing Business Requirements, Elicitation Tools and Techniques

The goal of this book is to present principles and practices for pragmatic, effective requirements elicitation. This book is not an academic discussion of requirements-gathering practices, but rather is designed to provide critical information about why and how to plan elicitation activities and conduct elicitation sessions to capture accurate, complete, and useable business requirements. In projects, requirements elicitation is the process of gaining an understanding of the business problem or opportunity through interaction with the actual users and other key stakeholders. The purpose of the elicitation is to gain consensus on the business need across the business units involved in the change, clarity and document the requirements in such a way that actionable information is provided to the solution development team. The purpose of this book is to present simple but powerful techniques to plan and manage the requirements elicitation process.

Getting it Right, Business Requirement Analysis Tools and Techniques

This is the fourth book in the Business Analysis Essentials Library series. The goal of this book is to present principles and practices for effective requirements analysis and specification. It is intended to provide business analysts with a broad overview of the requirements analysis and specification processes. In addition, information is provided to help the business analyst decide which requirement artifacts should be produced to adequately analyze requirements.

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The Art and Power of Facilitation, Running Powerful Meetings

The goal of this text is to arm the business analyst with principles, practices, and tools for effective facilitation and meeting management with a focus on the meetings the business analyst is likely to lead. The business analyst’s role is all about the art of driving various constituencies through processes to achieve consensus on the needs of the business. The business analyst who is an expert facilitator does this in a manner that encourages participation, ownership, and productivity of everyone involved in requirements definition and management.

Some business analysis activities take place in one-on-one interviews. Conducting a good interview is a valuable business analysis skill, and we provide some useful insights on how to plan and conduct an effective interview. However, most business analysis work to elicit, analyze, specify, and validate requirements is done in some type of meeting. The goal of this book is to equip the business analyst with several powerful tools to successfully negotiate through the myriad meetings, informal working sessions, and formal workshops that are necessary to develop business requirements.

From Analyst to Leader, Elevating the Role of the Business Analyst

The goal of this text is to arm business analysts with principles, knowledge, practices and tools to assume a leadership role in their organizations. While the business analyst is primarily responsible for writing and managing requirements specifications and communicating them to stakeholders, the incidence of business analysts serving as internal business/technology consultants is rapidly emerging. A 2006 custom research study conducted by Evans Data Corporation for COMPUWARE and the Requirements Networking Group entitled The New Business Analyst, A Strategic Role in the Enterprise (http://www.evansdata.com/) revealed that business analysts spend no less than 15.3 percent of their time defining the big picture, business objectives and measures of success. Therefore, while acquiring and sustaining business analysis knowledge and skills, leadership prowess needs to be a major consideration.

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