Business Analysis

The BABOK® Guide describes and defines business analysis as the practice of enabling change in an enterprise by defining needs and recommending solutions that deliver value to stakeholders. For more information, see What is Business Analysis?

Business Analysis Information

Business analysis information refers to the broad and d verse sets of information that business analysts analyze, transform, and report. It is information of any kind—at any level of detail—that is used as an input to, or is an output of, business analysis work. Examples of business analysis information include elicitation results, requirements, designs, solution options, solution scope, and change strategy.It is essential to expand the object of many business analysis activities from'requirements' to 'information' to ensure that all inputs and outputs of business analysis are subject to the tasks and activities described in the BABOK® Guide. For example, when performing 'Plan Business Analysis Information Management' it includes all the examples listed above. If the BABOK® Guide described 'Plan Requirements Management', it would exclude important outputs like elicitation results, solution options, and change strategy.

Design

A design is a usable representation of a solution. Design focuses on understanding how value might be realized by a solution if it is built. The nature of the representation may be a document (or set of documents) and can vary widely depending on the circumstances. For more information, see Requirements and Designs.

Enterprise

An enterprise is a system of one or more organizations and the solutions they use to pursue a shared set of common goals. These solutions (also referred to as organizational capabilities) can be processes, tools or information. For the purpose of business analysis, enterprise boundaries can be defined relative to the change and need not be constrained by the boundaries of a legal entity, organization, or organizational unit. An enterprise may include any number of business, government, or any other type of organization.

Organization

An autonomous group of people under the management of a single individual or board, that works towards common goals and objectives. Organizations often have a clearly defined boundary and operate on a continuous basis, as opposed to an initiative or project team, which may be disbanded once its objectives are achieved.

Plan

A plan is a proposal for doing or achieving something. Plans describe a set of events, the dependencies among the events, the expected sequence, the schedule, the results or outcomes, the materials and resources needed, and the stakeholders involved.

Requirement

A requirement is a usable representation of a need. Requirements focus on understanding what kind of value could be delivered if a requirement is fulfilled. The nature of the representation may be a document (or set of documents), but can vary widely depending on the circumstances. For more information, see Requirements and Designs.

Risk

Risk is the effect of uncertainty on the value of a change, a solution, or the enterprise. Business analysts collaborate with other stakeholders to identify, assess, and prioritize risks, and to deal with those risks by altering the likelihood of the conditions or events that lead to the uncertainty: mitigating the consequences, removing the source of the risk, avoiding the risk altogether by deciding not to start or continue with an activity that leads to the risk, sharing the risk with other parties, or accepting or even increasing the risk to deal with an opportunity.