2. Business Analysis Key Concepts

2.1 The Business Analysis Core Concept Model™

BABOK® Guide

IIBA.org KnowledgeHub A Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® 2. Business Analysis Key Concepts 2.1 The Business Analysis Core Concept Model™

The Business Analysis Core Concept Model™ (BACCM™) is a conceptual framework for business analysis. It encompasses what business analysis is and what it means to those performing business analysis tasks regardless of perspective, industry, methodology, or level in the organization. It is composed of six terms that have a common meaning to all business analysts and helps them discuss both business analysis and its relationships with common terminology. Each of these terms is considered to be a core concept.

The six core concepts in the BACCM are: Change, Need, Solution, Stakeholder, Value, and Context. Each core concept is an idea fundamental to the practice of business analysis, and all the concepts are equal and necessary. Each core concept is defined by the other five core concepts and cannot be fully understood until all the concepts are understood. No single concept holds greater importance or significance over any other concept. These concepts are instrumental to understanding the type of information elicited, analyzed, or managed in business analysis tasks.

The BACCM can be used to:

describe the profession and domain of business analysis,
communicate about business analysis with a common terminology,
evaluate the relationships of key concepts in business analysis,
perform better business analysis by holistically evaluating the relationships among these six concepts, and \evaluate the impact of these concepts and relationships at any point during a work effort in order to establish both a foundation and a path forward

Want to see the BACCM in action? Discover the Interactive BACCM

Table 2.1.1: The BACCM

Core Concept	Description
Change	The act of transformation in response to a need. Change works to improve the performance of an enterprise. These improvements are deliberate and controlled through business analysis activities.
Need	A problem or opportunity to be addressed. Needs can cause changes by motivating stakeholders to act. Changes can also cause needs by eroding or enhancing the value delivered by existing solutions.
Solution	A specific way of satisfying one or more needs in a context. A solution satisfies a need by resolving a problem faced by stakeholders or enabling stakeholders to take advantage of an opportunity.
Stakeholder	A group or individual with a relationship to the change, the need, or the solution. Stakeholders are often defined in terms of interest in, impact on, and influence over the change. Stakeholders are grouped based on their relationship to the needs, changes, and solutions.
Value	The worth, importance, or usefulness of something to a stakeholder within a context. Value can be seen as potential or realized returns, gains, and improvements. It is also possible to have a decrease in value in the form of losses, risks, and costs. Value can be tangible or intangible. Tangible value is directly measurable. Tangible value often has a significant monetary component. Intangible value is measured indirectly. Intangible value often has a significant motivational component, such as a company's reputation or employee morale. In some cases, value can be assessed in absolute terms, but in many cases is assessed in relative terms: one solution option is more valuable than another from the perspective of a given set of stakeholders.
Context	The circumstances that influence, are influenced by, and provide understanding of the change. Changes occur within a context. The context is everything relevant to the change that is within the environment. Context may include attitudes, behaviours, beliefs, competitors, culture, demographics, goals, governments, infrastructure, languages, losses, processes, products, projects, sales, seasons, terminology, technology, weather, and any other element meeting the definition.

The core concepts can be used by business analysts to consider the quality and completeness of the work being done. Within each knowledge area description there are examples of how the core concepts may be used and/or applied during the tasks within the knowledge area. While planning or performing a task or technique, business analysts can consider how each core concept is addressed by asking questions such as: