What Every Project Managers Needs to Know About

Business Analysis
By George Bridges, PMP

Because of the rise of the business analysis profession, the field of project management will
never be the same again! Only a few years ago, there was no such thing as a business analyst
(BA). Today, we see more and more organizations using BAs to define the requirements of new
systems and products and to manage product scope. BAs are working directly with project
managers and project teams. And rightly so. A good BA can help carry the project manager’s
burden and greatly increase a project’s chances of success.

By definition, the project manager manages the project’s triple constraints of time, cost, and
scope. The product scope is, by definition, what the project will produce. Defining the product
or service to be produced for the customer is called managing the product scope – and that is
what a BA does. Before the involvement of a BA, the PM and other team members were
responsible for the product definition and managing its scope.

Let’s see what this new business analyst is and how a BA works in harmony with a project
manager to manage project scope and help projects succeed.

Business Analysis and the Role of the Business Analyst

The rise of the business analysis profession has been legitimized by the emergence of a new
professional organization called the International Institute for Business Analysis (IIBA™). Similar
to the Project Management Institute (PMI), the IIBA™ has established a body of knowledge,
called the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK®) that is rapidly being accepted by
industries worldwide.

The BABOK® provides the basis – or framework – for any organization to establish
methodologies to manage the requirements of approved projects according to documented
industry best practices. The BABOK® consists of six knowledge areas: Enterprise Analysis,
Requirements Planning and Management, Requirements Elicitation, Requirements Analysis and
Documentation, Solution Assessment and Validation, and Requirements Communication. A BA is
ultimately responsible for elaborating and integrating these knowledge areas in projects. Simply
put, the BA gathers requirements, analyzes requirements, determines solutions, validates
solutions, and facilitates communication among stakeholders about requirements and solutions.

A BA analyzes business needs to identify an organization’s business problems and proposes

solutions that bridge the organization’s needs by using information technology. Perhaps the
most valuable BA functions occur during the Requirements Planning and Management and the

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Requirements Communication phases. The product plan, the definition of the resources needed
to complete the work, the risk assessment, and the requirements change-management process
are all part of the Requirements Planning and Management phase. The Requirements
Communication phase interacts with all the other phases throughout the project duration
through activities such as interviewing stakeholders, facilitating group meetings, conducting
surveys, and communicating the results of the requirements analysis back to the stakeholders.
These two phases both span the entire life cycle of every project.

Additionally, the BA works in two domains throughout the project’s duration. The first domain
involves defining the problem and obtaining an agreement within the organization on precisely
what the problem is. The second domain involves defining the precise solution and obtaining
agreement on that solution from the organization’s stakeholders. The work in both these
domains is accomplished through requirements elicitation from stakeholders, but it continues
throughout the project because clarity of ideas can lead to refinement of both the problem and
the proposed solution to the problem.

Enterprise Analysis
The BA should be involved in the early stages of a project, even before a project manager is
assigned. In the pre-stages of a project – the Enterprise Analysis phase – the BA defines and
produces the business case, which is the financial and technical justification for the project.

Requirements Planning and Management

During the Requirements Planning and Management phase, the plan that supports all the work
that is involved with managing the product requirements is developed and produced. This
requirements plan is the product plan – not to be confused with the project plan. The product
requirements plan becomes a subset of the project plan and is maintained throughout the life of
the project by the BA.

After project kickoff, the BA continues to manage the requirements of the product, including the
requirements change-management process. The BA works for the PM and provides updates to
the PM all through the project’s course. The BA becomes a part of the larger project team, but
the accountability for the project rests with the PM.

Requirements Elicitation
The BA’s primary role in the Requirements Elicitation phase is to gather the requirements of the
business, the users, and the organization’s management into one requirements document. The
BA must determine the entire set of requirements for the product or service that will be
delivered at the end of the project. This requires the BA to draw out – to seek out, understand,
and clarify – and then to document all of the key stakeholders’ requirements. The tools of
elicitation consist of conducting interviews, organizing and conducting workshops, and analyzing
documents. These functions are planned and managed under the direction of the BA.

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Requirement Analysis and Documentation
After gathering the stakeholders’ requirements, the BA must analyze these requirements to
ensure that they are accurate, complete, free from ambiguity, and feasible. The primary tool of
the BA during this stage is business process modeling. The business process models help the BA
to clarify and define completely the voice of the customer – the detailed needs and
requirements that satisfy the customer. Often, the models from this analysis are the basis for
the requirements documentation.

Solution Assessment and Validation

The BA must be aware of the technology possibilities and provide options to stakeholders for
solving their problems. But … a solution must not only be identified, a solution must also be
validated back to user requirements. The BA must verify the solution as being business feasible,
technically feasible, and politically feasible. Additionally, the BA must create a sense of urgency
about the solution so that the organization can stay on track and meet the project’s objectives.

Requirements Communication
The last – and perhaps the most important – BA function is communication. The BA must
communicate with the business operations people, the technical people, and the executive
decision makers and sponsors. Communication with such diverse groups must be well planned
and well organized. How the BA communicates with each group is different in method,
approach, and technique. For instance, communication is formal with upper-level management
and when conducting sign-offs with the stakeholders. However, requirements gathering can be
conducted in more relaxed, informal communications, such as e-mail messages, telephone calls,
and small group meetings.

Conclusion
Business analysis is a new profession. Most project managers are not even aware that a
business analyst can relieve them of the burden of managing the product requirements. Yet,
the growth and development of the business analysis profession is part of a quiet revolution
that is going on right now in organizations around the world. The field of business analysis is
growing rapidly and is having a widespread, positive impact on project teams. The future
success of projects is at stake. Every project manager of a medium to large project needs to
consider making a BA part of that project’s team. Today, the business analyst is a vital
component of every successful project.

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 George Bridges (MS, PMP) is a trainer and senior consultant for the Business
Analysis and the Project Management certification programs for International
Institute for Learning (IIL). He has an extensive background in systems
development and operations research. He has over 30 years of experience
analyzing and developing business systems for major global corporations and
gathering and producing requirements analysis and solution assessment and
validation for manufacturing, telecommunication, Web-based, and financial
systems in industry and the nonprofit arena.

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