IIBA CCBA – Introduction – 2

1. Introduction to Strategy Analysis

Strategy defines the most effective way to apply organizational capabilities in order to reach the desired goals of the enterprise division, department or a project. In this session, you will get overview of various business analyst tasks involved in Strategy Analysis Knowledge area. By the end of this session, you would have understood the purpose of strategy analysis. Organization’s business environment is constantly undergoing change with respect to customer demands, competition, new marketing channels, evolving technology, etc. These changes in the business environment lead to identification of the business needs. Strategy analysis is performed to study the organizational context and collaborate with stakeholders to identify the business need. Strategy analysis focuses on defining the future and various intermittent transition states needed to address the identified business need. It involves strategic thinking, which is useful to discover solutions or capabilities required to deliver value to stakeholders. The solutions can be in form of new or redesigned business process, change in organizational structure, software package implementation, custom, application development, application enhancement, et cetera.

Hence, strategy analysis provides context to requirements analysis and design definition for a given change initiative. Strategy analysis is an ongoing activity that also assesses any changes in the business need. As for changes in the organizational context, this is the input output diagram for Strategy Analysis Knowledge area. Inputs are information consumed or transformed to produce an output and are necessary for a task to begin. Inputs are generated by other business analysis tasks or are generated outside the scope of business analysis. The inputs labeled with the task number are outputs of those specific tasks, while inputs that are generated outside scope of business analysis are marked as external outputs, are the results produced by performing the task, and are labeled with the task number. These outputs may act as inputs to other business analysis tasks. Please pause and study the input output diagram.

Strategy Analysis Knowledge Area includes following Business Analysis Task using analyze current state tasks, we can understand the underlying business need and existing capabilities in terms of people, process and technology of the enterprise. Using defined future state tasks, we can define the changes in capabilities that are needed in terms of people, process and technology to meet the business need. Using SS risk tasks, we can identify the risk associated in achieving the desired future state exposure of each risk and recommend appropriate action. Using defined change strategy tasks, we can perform gap analysis between current and future state and devise a high level plan of key activities that will be used to transform the enterprise from the current state to the desired future state. Now, let’s try to understand Business Analysis Core Concept Model within the context of strategy analysis. The business analysis core concept model is a conceptual framework for business analysis.

The Business Analysis Core Concept Model can be used to describe and communicate about business analysis using a common terminology. It is composed of six terms and each of this term is considered to be a core concept the six core concepts are change, need, solution, stakeholder, value and context. Each core concept is defined by other five core concepts and cannot be fully understood until all the concepts are understood. First concept is change and it signifies the act of transformation in response to a business need. As business environment evolves, changes occur within a context and can lead to enhancement or degradation of the solutions. Hence, during strategy analysis we need to define the future state and develop a change strategy to achieve the desired future state. The second concept is need and it signifies a problem or opportunity to be addressed. Needs are due to changes in given context and can also cause changes.

Hence, during strategy analysis we need to identify needs within the current state and prioritize those needs to determine the desired future state. The third concept is Solution and it signifies a specific way of satisfying one or more needs in a given context. Solution also solves problems faced by the stakeholders. Hence, during strategy analysis we need to define the scope or boundary of a solution as part of developing a change strategy. Solution scope should clearly describe what part of solution is in scope and what part is out of scope. The fourth concept is Stakeholder and it represents a stakeholder group or individual stakeholder affected by the change and needs the solution. Hence, during strategy analysis we need to collaborate with stakeholders to understand the business need, define a future state that will meet those needs, and develop a change strategy to transition from the current state to the desired future state.

The fifth concept is Value and it signifies the worth, importance or usefulness of something to a stakeholder. Within a context, value can be potential gains or returns. Hence, during strategy analysis we need to examine the potential value of the solution to determine if change is justified. The 6th concept is Context and it signifies the circumstances that influence the change. Hence, during strategy analysis we need to consider the context of the enterprise in developing a change strategy. Please pause and go through the usage and application of each of the core concepts within the context of strategy analysis. To recap defines the most effective way to apply organizational capabilities in order to reach the desired goals of the enterprise, division, department or a project. In this session, you have just got an overview of various business analysis staff and about the Business Analysis core concept model within the context of strategy analysis knowledge Area.

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