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Privacy policy

Capiro recognises the importance of your privacy. We are concerned to protect all personal data that we obtain from you in the course of operating our business.

This privacy policy identifies what personal data we collect, why we collect it, where it is stored, what we do with it and how long we store it.

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By using our website and purchasing our training courses you agree to the use of the data that we collect as defined in this Privacy Policy.

We may update this policy as necessary, e.g.

  • To comply with changes in the law.
  • To reflect changes in the services and products that we offer.
  • If we start to collect any personal data other than that described in this policy.
  • If we store data in other locations to those described in this policy.
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Capiro Ltd. is registered with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office.

Information about the data we collect

When do we collect personal data?

We collect personal data about you in the following circumstances:

  • When you subscribe to be kept informed about events, changes and additions to our range of products and services.
  • When you purchase a product or service from us.
  • When you email us or send us a contact form.

What data do we collect?

Subscribing to be kept informed about upcoming courses

  • Your email address.

You may cancel your subscriptions or memberships at any time, either by clicking ‘unsubscribe’ at the footer of emails we send you or by notifying us, e.g. by sending us a contact form.

Completing a contact form

  • To submit a contact form to us, you will need to provide your email address, first name and family name. This allows us to address you in a polite and respectful manner.
  • When completing a contact form, you may optionally add your company name and a phone number.

Purchasing a course

When purchasing an online course from us, you are asked to provide:

  • First and last name
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Optionally, you may supply your company name

What do we use your data for?

We use the personal data you share with us to:

  • Provide the products or services that you request.
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  • Answer your questions and communicate with you about your member account or transactions with us.

Where is your data stored?

Our web site is hosted by the company, Rainmaker Data Services (RMDS), which is based in the United States of America.

Therefore, when you submit data to us, e.g. by completing and submitting a form on our website, you are transferring this data into the USA and in using our services you consent to such transfer.

How long do we retain your data?

Legal constraints

If you purchase a product from Capiro, we will hold the data in accordance with UK law, particularly legislation related to taxation.

Subscriptions to a mailing list

Normally we retain data associated with subscriptions until we receive a request from you to unsubscribe from a mailing list.

We will periodically review our list of subscribers and members. If your membership appears to be inactive, we may contact you to see if you still want your information to be held by us. If you do not, we will delete it.

Other

We would normally retain information that you communicate to us by email or by submitting a contact form for only as long as it is useful to dealing with the matter that you raise. We may retain specific information if it will help us to provide a better and more personalised service to you.

Who do we share your information with?

The information we collect about you is not shared with or sold to any other organisation.

Online payments for our products and services are made exclusively by you via Stripe or PayPal. All such transactions are therefore strictly between you and Stripe or PayPal.

We use Google Analytics to help us analyse our web traffic.

Your right to see what data we store about you.

You have a right in law to see the information that we hold about you.

If you are a subscriber to an email list, the only information that we hold is your email address and possibly your first name and/or family name, as specified by you. You may unsubscribe from a list at any time.

If you purchase a course from you, a member account is set up automatically; the system will recognise you as a ‘member’. The details of your member account are shown on your ‘profile’. You may view and update your profile, online, at any time. You can also access your profile to change your password.

You may let us know if you want your member account to be deleted.

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Home » What is business analysis?

What is business analysis?

What is business analysis

Change for the better

What is Business Analysis?

Business analysis concerns the identification and definition of those vital changes, large and small, that all organisations must constantly make in order to:

  • adapt
  • survive
  • prosper

The IIBA defines business analysis as the 'practice of enabling change in an enterprise'. It’s concerned with defining changes to the way an organisation or enterprise does what it does.

Like ships at sea, where storms can explode into life with little or no warning, all organisations operate in an environment,

  • over which they have no control
  • and which is constantly changing

What is a business analyst?

'Business Analyst' is a role that performs business analysis. There are many job titles for this role.

Click here to read about the required skills for business analysts.

Sources of Change

The changes that organisations must react to are caused by a mix of:

  • Politics
  • Economics
  • Society - Cultures and trends - What's cool and what's not
  • Technologies
  • Laws of societies and of nature
  • Environment - the natural environment in which we all live

These are the 'drivers for change'.

PESTLE - Drivers for change

Business analysis - Business strategy

The initial letters of the words of the sources for change form the word, 'PESTLE'.

PESTLE is a technique that organisations use to prompt them to consider where the next changes might come from. This can identify both opportunities and threats.

Thinking in advance is important because organisations must:

  • quickly choose the most appropriate response to the change
  • make any necessary adjustments to their strategy

Failure to do this risks being pushed aside.

The ability to respond quickly and appropriately is summed in the concept of 'business agility'. The ability to respond effectively, seizing opportunities whilst avoiding threats, is dependent on the organisation's relative strengths and weaknesses.

Business analysts can help to guide organisations in becoming more agile. In fact, PESTLE is a good place to start to answer the question, "What is business analysis?" It follows that business analysts must understand the organisation's strategy.

Customers, Suppliers and Competition

Diagram of an organisation and its customers and suppliers operating in the external environment - Based on Rummler and Ramias

Organisations provide services for individuals or other organisations; these are their customers.

It is vital that organisations understand who their best customers are and what they value. Effective business analysts must also have this awareness.

Businesses in similar sectors compete for these customers.

To source the development of their product, organisations in all sectors must compete for the limited resources available from suppliers. These resources may be intellectual or physical,  tangible or intangible.

The nature of the competition must be understood by organisations and their business analysts.

Rummler and Ramias elegantly demonstrate all of the above in their book, ‘White Space Revisited', a must read for business analysts.

Business analysis and business strategy

An organisation's management will use this and other models to help to determine a business strategy. Senior business analysts may define an information system (IS) strategy that will help to achieve the business strategy. The IT department can then define a technical (IT) strategy to support the IS strategy.

  • The IS strategy defines  WHAT is required to meet the business strategy
  • The IT strategy defines HOW to support the IS strategy, i.e. the software, hardware and services that are needed

Business stakeholders, business analysts and IT specialists need to work together for success. It's a team effort.

All these things may come together with the Chief Information Officer, (CIO). Senior business analysts may work closely with the CIO.

A BA's levers for change - Processes, Data and Rules

Business analysis and business processes

Model of a flow of business activities
Business processes

To manage and coordinate their activities, organisations create business processes. These form a major element of business analysis and business architecture.

What is a business process?

Sharp and McDermott, authors of 'Workflow Modelling', define a process as:

  • a set of related activities, ...
  • triggered by an event, ...
  • which achieves a specific result ...
  • for the customer and other stakeholders.

An example of a business event is an order received from a customer.

Results of the process that delivers the customer's order are:

  • The customer receives what they ordered
  • The organisation gets paid

Processes and Customers

The processes on which the life of an organisation really depends are those that are seen by the customers. They must provide value to those customers. In delivering the goods and services, the processes deliver the organisation’s value proposition, their promise of value to the customers. The aim of optimising such processes is to improve the customer experience.

Business analysis and business Data

Processes create and use data. This too forms a major element of business analysis and architure.

Business analysts must seek to understand

  • what data an organisation has
  • where it is created and used
  • where and how it is stored

Modern applications such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data, machine learning, business intelligence and data warehousing are dependent on such knowledge.

Business analysts who have a deep understanding of data and analytics can support the data scientists employed on applications such as AI. They can also help to ensure that the data scientists deliver results of real business value.

If you are not familiar with data modelling, take a look at this short article and video.

Business analysis, data analysis and data analytics

Although the concepts of business analysis, data analysis and data analytics overlap, there are differences between them. Therefore it is useful to first consider them separately as far as this is possible; they all cover a lot of ground and there will be many opinions as to the exact scope of each.

Business analysis is the main topic of this article.

Data analysis can involve the modelling of data in order to understand and define data items and the connections between them. This is a job for a business analyst. Some business analysts may specialise in this area.

Data analytics is a form of data analysis, typically aimed at examining and applying algorithms to very large quantities of data in order to identify metrics such as trends. The people who perform this function may be called data analysts or data scientists. Organisations are likely to have their own understanding of the names and nature of these roles.

Business analysts, particularly those who specialise in data modelling, can support data scientists to help them understand and locate available relevant data.

Other relevant concepts in this area are artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.

Business analysis and business rules

Business rules

Business rules authority, Ronald Ross, said that rules are typically derived from business policies.

They support:

  • Business processes
  • Use of data
  • Compliance with regulations and acceptable norms of behaviour

They are the glue that binds things together.

Unfortunately, business rules are often out of sight, in databases, computer code, documents and people's minds.

Business analysts can take a leading role in:

  • bringing rules into the open
  • ensuring that they are written in the language of the organisation
  • and placing the control of them in the hands of people who operate the business

For more information about how to record and analyse business rules, see this article.

A holistic approach to business analysis

Although business processes, data and business rules are at the heart of all organisations' operations, they cannot simply be viewed in isolation. They affect each other.

They are also affected by things such as the:

  • workplace and its layout
  • management organisation structure
  • use of tools and technology

To appreciate the implications of this requires an understanding of the structure of the organisation.

Business analysts must consider all of these things both independently and collectively. This is known as taking a holistic approach, a cornerstone of effective business analysis.

Business analysis and enterprise Architecture

Business analysis provides a bridge between the business and its use of IT. That bridge can be constructed with an enterprise architecture.

The architecture links business strategy to IT strategy and the elements that make up the implementation of that strategy. It comprises, directly or indirectly, all of the things discussed in this article.

This allows the impact of changes in strategy to be assessed. It also paves the way for the support of change programmes and projects.

The role of BAs in change programmes and projects

When there appears to be a problem or opportunity a team comprising business people, business analysts, architects and other relevant groups can examine it.

This typically means creating a programme or project. The critical success factors for business analysis are similar to those for project management. There is a close relationship between these two functions and the roles of business analyst and project manager.

The team seeks to:

  • Understand the root cause of a problem
  • Assess the size of the opportunities created by the solution
  • Define the scope of the project or programme

They can also,

  • assess the obstacles to achieving success
  • make a case for change, the business case.

BAs determine requirements for a solution

A key responsibility of a business analyst is to determine the requirements for a solution that will,

  • solve the problem
  • deliver the opportunity

Identifying and defining the true requirements and successfully building solutions based on these requirements, as long been difficult to achieve.

Modern approaches to projects often involve an iterative, so called 'agile' approach, avoiding an immediate dive into detail.

In agile projects, a business analyst might take the role of product owner. This role can

  • help to communicate the goal of the product
  • manage the backlog of needed activities

An aim of such approaches is flexibility in response to changes arising during the project. This in turn can support the achievement of business agility.

Business analysis is a 'people' job

Above all, business analysis is concerned with people. Business analysts don't work with organisations; they work with people. The role is about understanding the perceptions of the people, the business stakeholders. A person's perceptions give context to what they say and what they ask for. A key technique for understanding perceptions is stakeholder analysis; it's among the first things a business analyst needs to do in change project.

When engaging with stakeholders, BAs need to,

  • Demonstrate empathy
  • Listen
  • Show that they are listening, and interested

These are essential for success in applying techniques such as,

  • Interviewing
  • Making presentions
  • Negotiating

Training needs for business analysts

We have seen that business analysis is a wide ranging topic. The business analysis techniques involved in identifying detailed requirements are deceptively straight forward. In the words of Alexander and Beus-Dukic, it's "Simple but not easy".

To see more about what is involved in becoming a business analyst, and the skills and training required, click this link.

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