The subject of business agility has been gaining increasing traction over the last few years. Ever since the presentation of the agile manifesto, which was primarily related to computer programming, the word agile is appearing in ever greater number of contexts. As Bertrand Meyer, in his book, ‘Agile, the Good, the Hype and the Ugly’, asks, "Who wants to say they are not agile?" And as many consultants, trainers and authors can confirm, use of the ‘A’ word is great for driving sales. … [Read more...] about The business agility manifesto
Data capture at the speed of thought
Yesterday’s technologies. One thing that hasn’t evolved that much for the average computer user is how to get what they’re thinking into the computer. Most business analysts probably still think primarily of the old technologies. We’ve had keyboards forever. And many business analysts spend a significant proportion of their time as an (untrained) typist. Unless we can ‘touch type’, business analysis activities such as writing up interview notes, reports and business cases tend … [Read more...] about Data capture at the speed of thought
Levels and roles of business analysis
Levels of business analysis Strategic: Business transformations; Portfolio management; Business change; Business architecture and Target operating models; Business agility; Benefits realisation. Operational: Business processes; Business data; Management information and Decision support; Business rules; Business cases; Business requirements discovery; Problem analysis. Tactical: Software requirements specification and management; Business Analysis Roles and Qualities Business … [Read more...] about Levels and roles of business analysis
Business analysis centre of excellence
Optimising Business Analyst Performance A business analyst’s role is very much about the continuous improvement of business capabilities. But the capabilities of the each business analyst and the whole business analysis function also need to be continuously improved . Unfortunately, business analysts and other team members often do not have the time, the independence, the authority or appropriate organisational structures to examine and improve their own capabilities and to optimise their own … [Read more...] about Business analysis centre of excellence
Who writes user acceptance tests?
The users should write and run the user acceptance tests? This is probably true, at least in theory, but as we shall see, things are rarely that simple; that's life. User acceptance testing (UAT) is the responsibility of the users. By ‘user’, we are typically referring to those stakeholders who will use the system to support their roles in the day to day operation of the business. At least some of these users have hopefully been involved in the elicitation of the user requirements. There … [Read more...] about Who writes user acceptance tests?
How well do you know your business rules?
Where are your business rules? Do you document your business rules somewhere out of sight, e.g. coded in: Database stored procedures? Software applications? Do you perhaps document them as part of the description of your Business data? Business rules can be reflected in the data model Business processes? Business processes will be constrained by business rules Requirements for computer systems? Requirements will reflect business rules but they not, themselves, … [Read more...] about How well do you know your business rules?