In today’s world of rapidly changing business dynamics, business analysis is quickly becoming a crucial aspect that determines the success of any establishment. While with the advent of technology, understanding and analysing business problems have become much simpler, even today it is necessary that a business analyst knows the six knowledge areas that were originally outlined in the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge also known as BABOK.
BABOK, created and published by the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) can be described in the most simplest terms as being a framework that describes the various aspects that encompasses a business, the tasks that are undertaken on a regular basis, and the competencies as well as techniques that are necessary to execute the same. In layman terms, BABOK can be compared to the Bible for aspiring as well as established business analysts in today’s global business environment.
What is Business Analysis
According to the second version of BABOK, business analysis can be described as being, “the set of tasks and techniques used to work as a liaison among stakeholders in order to understand the structure, policies, and operations of an organization, and recommend solutions that enable the organization to achieve its goals.”
In simple terms, this definition states that business analysis is a tool that helps organizations and businesses understand and analyze their problems as well as opportunities. Along with this, when a potential solution presents itself, business analysis helps them establish if the solution is valid and most importantly measure the implementation success of the solution in the longer run.
Mentioned below are some of the key areas in which business analysis serves organizations:
1. Establishing and understanding key parameters as well as strategic objectives.
2. Listing out the projects that can be pursued along with analyzing the feasibility of pursuing them.
3. Understand and analyze the opportunities presented by the market as well as decide if skills should be acquired in order to fulfil the demand.
4. It helps establish that all the stakeholders share the same vision for the future as well as are aware of the steps that will be undertaken to reach the same. In a way, it helps keep the company on track by envisioning its future and subsequent goals.
The popular belief around BABOK is the fact that it is purely technological information, but this is not entirely true. One of the most significant benefits of business analysis is the fact it can be used in any aspect of the business and be applied regularly on objectives the company wishes to fulfil. This can be anything ranging from undertaking the development of a new software, acquiring a competitor as well as opening a new branch.
One of the most important sections of BABOK is “Requirements” as it helps businesses analyse capabilities as well as conditions that it needs to acquire or analyse in order to meet current business demands. BABOK mainly focuses on the process of identifying requirements, categorizing them, communicating it to the stakeholders, assess the risks as well as benefits, along with managing all the requirements simultaneously.
Six Knowledge Areas
The six knowledge areas outlined in BABOK are the following:
1. Planning and Monitoring
2. Elicitation
3. Requirements Communication and Management
4. Requirements Analysis
5. Enterprise Analysis
6. Validation and assessment of solutions
Conclusion
The six areas of knowledge outlined in BABOK along with all the other sections are crucial parts of any business analysts knowledge and thus if you are aspiring to become a business analyst, you should not understand and analyze them, but also implement them in real life establishments on a regular basis, along with undertaking a formal business analysis training.
