Bcs business analysis 3rd edition pdf download

When you apply for BCS exam, you have to face preliminary exam at first. You must pass this exam. So, it is very important to pass in preliminary exam. When you pass this preliminary exam, you can attend in the written exam. So you have to take good preparation for the preliminary examination. If you want to take good preparation in BCS preliminary exam, you have to read some books.

There are many books in the market for BCS preliminary exam. But all books are not good at all. To pass this examination, you have to read the best book. By reading best book you can take best preparation. Click here to sign up. Download Free PDF. Sufian Rony. A short summary of this paper. The book Business Analysis is an excellent ANALYSIS explores the entire range of approaches and techniques needed to conduct business analysis successfully, including investigating business issues, modelling processes, defining requirements and introductory text for business analysts Second Edition producing rigorous business cases.

We promote wider social and economic progress through the advancement of information technology science and practice. We bring together industry, academics, practitioners and government to share knowledge, promote new thinking, inform the design of new curricula, shape public policy and inform the public.

Our vision is to be a world-class organisation for IT. Our 70, strong membership includes practitioners, businesses, academics and students in the UK and internationally. We deliver a range of professional development tools for practitioners and employees. A leading IT qualification body, we offer a range of widely recognised qualifications. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted by the Copyright Designs and Patents Act , no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, except with the prior permission in writing of the publisher, or in the case of reprographic reproduction, in accordance with the terms of the licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.

Enquiries for permission to reproduce material outside those terms should be directed to the publisher. All trade marks, registered names etc. Although every care has been taken by the authors and BISL in the preparation of the publication, no warranty is given by the authors or BISL as publisher as to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained within it and neither the authors nor BISL shall be responsible or liable for any loss or damage whatsoever arising by virtue of such information or any instructions or advice contained within this publication or by any of the aforementioned.

He has experience in university and college education, and also of training in the public and private sectors. Craig Rollason contributor is a manager of business analysts at National Grid, with a specific focus on investment planning and project start-up. He has worked across the complete business analysis lifecycle in government, manufac- turing and utilities. She specialises in project management, business analysis and agile approaches to business change.

He has worked in the IT industry for most of his career and is now an Executive Coach. Business analysis is now accepted as a mature discipline whose importance is seen alongside project management, solution development and service management. Before this publication there had been no definitive text for business analysis in the UK. Business analysis has now held its first UK conference and has a stronger position at the heart of business change, an active membership group and an expanding examination and certification scheme via ISEB, which now has an exemption agreement with the IIBA.

In addition, the original text has spawned another publication, Business Analysis Techniques 72 Essential Tools for Success , which provides additional guidance and practical tips on a range of the business analysis techniques introduced in this volume. It was difficult to see how the original text could have been bettered, but the authors should be commended in that they have achieved this with the second edition. Activity Sampling This is an investigation technique carried out to determine the amount of time individuals spend on different aspects of their work.

Activity sampling is a form of observation, and involves the collection of data that may be used for statistical analysis. Agile Agile methods are a family of processes for software development using incremental and iterative approaches.

Actor This is a role that performs areas of work within a business system. Actors are modelled on swimlane diagrams and use case diagrams. Actors are usually user roles, and show the individual or group of individuals responsible for carrying out the work. An actor may also be an IT system, and time may also be an actor. APM The Association for Project Management, with 17, individual members and corporate members, aims to develop and promote project management.

Apocryphal Tales These are usually stories used to illustrate a point, although they are of doubtful authenticity. They may be an example of conventional wisdom or of a belief that is widely accepted. Balanced Business Scorecard A balanced business scorecard supports a strategic management system by capturing both financial and non-financial measures of performance.

There are usually four quadrants: financial, customer, process, and learning and growth. The balanced business scorecard was developed by R. Kaplan and D. Benefits Management A process that is concerned with the delivery of the predicted business benefits defined in a business case.

This process includes managing projects such that they are able to deliver the predicted benefits, and, after the project has been implemented, checking progress on the achievement of these benefits and taking any actions required in order to enable their delivery. It was defined by the Boston Consulting Group. Business Activity Model BAM A conceptual model that shows the set of business activities that would be expected to be in place, given the business perspective from which it has been developed.

There are five typical types of business activity represented on a business activity model: planning, enabling, doing, monitoring and controlling activities. Business Actor Business actors are people who have an interest in a project, either because they have commissioned it, they work within the business system being studied or they will be the users of a proposed new IT system.

Business Analysis This is an internal consultancy role. It has the responsibility for investigating business situations, identifying and evaluating options for improving business systems, defining requirements and ensuring the effective use of information systems in meeting the needs of the business.

The framework places standard modelling techniques in context to help analysts determine the most appropriate technique for individual business situations. Business Architecture A framework for a business system that describes its structure, processes, people, information and technology. Business Case A business case is a document that describes the findings from a business analysis study and presents a recommended course of action for senior management to consider.

A business case would normally include an introduction, management summary, description of the current situation, options considered, analysis of costs and benefits, impact assessment, risk assessment and recommendations, plus appendices that provide detailed supporting information. Business Event A business event triggers the business system to do something. Typically this is to initiate the business process that forms the business system response to the event.

In effect, a business event tells us when a business activity should be triggered; it fires into life the process that carries out the activity. There are three types of business event: external, internal and time-based business events. Business Option A key step in developing a business case is to identify the options available to address the business problem or opportunity.

Business Perspective A view of the business system held by a stakeholder. The business perspective will be based upon the values and beliefs held by the stakeholder. These values and beliefs will be encapsulated in a defined world view. There may be several divergent business perspectives for any given business situation. The business process receives, manipulates and transfers infor- mation or physical items, in order to produce an output of value to a customer.

Business Process Model A diagram showing the tasks that need to be carried out in response to a business event, in order to achieve a specific goal. Business Requirements Elicitation The proactive investigation and collection of requirements for a solution required in order to resolve a business problem or enable a business opportunity. It is important that these rules are considered when modelling the processing to carry out the activity.

There are two main types of business rule: constraints that restrict how an activity is performed and operational guidance rules, which describe the procedures for performing activities. Business Sponsor A senior person in an organisation who is accountable for delivering the benefits from a business change.

The sponsor is also responsible for providing resources to the project team. Business Strategy A strategy describes the long-term direction set for an organisation in order to achieve the organisational objectives. Business System A set of business components working together in order to achieve a defined purpose.

The components of a system include people, IT systems, processes and equipment. Each component may be a system in its own right. Business User An individual member of staff involved in a business change project from the customer side of the equation. A business user may adopt a number of business roles including business sponsor, domain expert and end user of a solution. Capability Maturity Model Integration CMMI A process improvement approach used to help integrate traditionally separate functions, set process improvement goals and priorities and provide guidance for quality processes.

Change Control A process whereby changes to requirements are handled in a controlled fashion. The change control process defines the process steps to be carried out when dealing with a proposed change. These steps include document- ing the change, analysing the impact of the change, evaluating the impact of the change in order to decide upon the course of action to take and deciding whether or not to apply the change. The analysis and decisions should be documented in order to provide an audit trail relating to the proposed change.

Class A class is a definition of the attributes and operations shared by a set of objects within a business system. Each object is an instance of a particular class.

A class model describes the classes in a system and their associations with each other. Cloud Computing A general term for the delivery of hosted services over the internet. Competency or Competence A competency is a skill or quality that an individual needs in order to perform his or her job effectively. These facilities will include the production and storage of documentation, management of cross- references between documentation, restriction of access to documentation and management of document versions.

Cost—Benefit Analysis A technique that involves identifying the initial and ongoing costs and benefits associated with a business change initiative. These costs and benefits are then categorised as tangible or intangible, and a financial value is calculated for those that are tangible.

The financial values are analysed over a forward period in order to assess the potential financial return to the organisation. This analysis may be carried out using standard investment appraisal techniques.

Discounted Cash Flow An investment appraisal technique that takes account of the time value of money. The annual net cash flow for each year following the implementation of the change is reduced discounted in line with the estimated reduction in the value of money.

The discounted cash flows are then added to produce a net present value. Document Analysis A technique whereby samples of documents are reviewed in order to uncover information about an organisation, process, system or data items. DSDM Atern DSDM Atern is an iterative project delivery framework that emphasises continuous user involvement and the importance of delivering the right solution at the right time. Entity Relationship Diagram A diagram produced using the entity relationship modelling technique.

The diagram provides a representation of the data to be held in the IT system under investigation. Entity Relationship Modelling A technique that is used to model the data required to support an IT system. Ethnographic Study An ethnographic study is concerned with spending an extended period of time in an organisation in order to obtain a detailed under- standing of the culture and behaviours of the business area under investigation.

External Business Environment The business environment that is external to an organisation and is the source of forces that may impact the organisation. Types of forces may include the introduction of new laws, social trends or com- petitor actions. Force Field Analysis A technique to consider those forces inside and outside the organisation that will support adoption of a proposal and those that will oppose it. This technique was developed by Kurt Lewin and may be used in evaluating options for change and in change management.

Functional Requirement A requirement that is concerned with a function that the system should provide, i. This leads to the identification of actions to improve the situation.

The business activity modelling technique may be used to provide an ideal view, which can then be compared with a view of the current situation. Holistic Approach The consideration of all aspects of a business system: the people, process and organisational areas, in addition to the information and technology used to support the business system. Christina perri jar of hearts piano sheet music free pdf beginning mobile app development with react native pdf download.

Business Analysis skills are increasingly in demand as organisations grapple with the need to ensure better return on project investment. Property Search. My Knovel. My Folder. Unit Converter. More Tools. Share :. This percentage is the discount rate at which the Net Present Value is equal to zero and can be used to compare projects to see which are the better investment opportunities. Alternatively, this rate may be used to compare all projects with the return that could be earned if the amount invested was left in the bank.

An interview agenda is prepared prior to the interview and distributed to participants. The interview is carried out in an organised manner and a report of the interview is produced once the interview has been concluded.

See Business system. Key performance indicators are often identified in order to monitor progress of the critical success factors.

Measurable targets are set for KPIs. See Critical success factors. The 7-S model identifies key areas for the implementation of business change. This should be a short term delay. See Internal business environment. The net present value is calculated using the discounted cash flow approach to investment appraisal. See Discounted cash flow, Internal rate of return. An object is an instance of a class. See Class. See Discounted cash flow.

The technique involves the analysis of the political, economic, socio- cultural, technological, legal and environmental forces that may impact upon an organisation. See External business environment. Protocol analysis involves requesting the users to perform a task and describe each step as they perform it. Prototyping involves building simulations of documents, processes or systems in order to enable the business users to visualise any proposed changes and hence increase understanding about the system requirements.

Involves working with the business users and helping them to visualise and articulate their requirements. The resource audit considers five areas of organisational resource: tangible resources — physical, financial and human; intangible resources — know-how and reputation. This technique originated from the Soft Systems Methodology. See Soft systems methodology.

Potential risks are identified for each option in a business case, the probability of the risk occurring and the likely impact of the risk are assessed, and suitable countermeasures are identified. See Business case. A scenario traces the course of a transaction from an initial business trigger through each of the steps needed to achieve a successful outcome. Alternative scenarios, for example, where specific conditions are not met, are also traced.

Standard frameworks setting out the definition of skills and levels of competency for anyone working in the Information Systems industry. Shadowing involves following a user as they carry out their job for a period such as a day or two days.

Typically the record is based on a simple structure, for example a five bar gate record. Categories of stakeholder include customers, employees, managers, partners, regulators, owners, suppliers and competitors.

This technique provides a means of categorising stakeholders in order to identify the most appropriate stakeholder management approach. The strategy is defined in order to achieve competitive advantage for the organisation through its configuration of resources within a changing business environment. Surveys are useful to obtain a limited amount of information from a large group of people. Typical swimlanes represent departments, teams, individuals or IT systems. A swimlane diagram models the business system response to a business event.

The model shows the triggering event, the business actors, the tasks they carry out, the flow between the tasks, the decisions and the business outcome. The mnemonic stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. This may be due to a failure to recognise that the information is required or to the assumption that the information is already known to the analyst. See Explicit knowledge.

See Intangible benefit. See Intangible cost. A use case model consists of a diagram showing the actors, the boundary of the system, the use cases and the associations between them, plus a set of use case descriptions. An agenda is prepared prior to the workshop and distributed to participants. The workshop is run by a facilitator; actions and decisions are recorded by a scribe. There are now practising business analysts working at all levels of seniority in most organisations and the role is recognised increasingly by professionals from other disciplines, both within the IT function and the business units.

The sixth BA Conference Europe is scheduled, with increasing numbers attending year on year. There are numerous publications on business analysis, and social media abounds with mostly relevant!

BA blogs, videos and debates. Many business analysts hold certifications; at the time of writing, BCS had issued over 75, certificates. Business analysis is taught in universities. Need we go on? It definitely feels like we have arrived!

This book was written originally to provide a breadth of information and guidance to practising business analysts at all levels — and that continues to be the case.

As a result, it offers a wide-ranging source of practical guidance on how to approach business analysis and how to apply concepts and techniques. The book also supports anyone wanting to achieve professional certifications in business analysis especially those studying for the BCS International Diploma in Business Analysis.

We have included material drawn from research, discussions, and conversations with practitioners in business analysis in the UK, Europe, Australia, the USA and Canada. However, we have been struck by the number of people who are not within this group but have told us that they have found the book helpful.

These include students across IS- related disciplines, and managers and staff from various organisational departments, including marketing and HR. Ultimately, it offers information for anyone wishing to improve their understanding of business analysis. Some important changes in this edition include: yy an expanded discussion on the philosophy and use of Agile; yy a new chapter that looks at using gap analysis to identify potential improvements and the application of business architecture to ensure the alignment of proposed business changes; yy a new chapter looking at the role of the business analyst through the business change lifecycle; yy additional approaches and techniques in areas such as situation investigation and business process modelling.

The advent of the economic crisis that affected many countries is still being felt. As a result, organisations need to spend money wisely and the need for good analysis to help ensure this has never been greater. In this third edition, we have once again extended the toolkit required of a good business analyst.

But we make no apologies for this — such an important role will always need to develop and extend its reach. Thanks must go to Alan Paul — husband of Debbie — for reviewing much of the book and improving it.

Matthew Flynn and his team at BCS have made it all come together in the end. Once again, their help and support was invaluable.

Many solutions involve the development of new or enhanced information systems but this is unlikely to be the extent of the business change, and it is probable that solutions will have a broader scope incorporating changes to areas such as business processes and job roles.

The reason for producing this book is to provide guidance about business analysis that reflects the breadth of the role and the range of techniques used. While many organisations employ business analysts, there persists a lack of clarity about what the role really involves and this often creates more questions than answers. What do business analysts do? What skills do they require? How do they add value to organisations? Recognition in the broader business community is also an issue with many misconceptions regarding business analysis and a lack of appreciation of the contribution business analysts might make.

Also, in the absence of a standard definition of business analysis and a standard set of business analysis activities, problems have arisen: yy Organisations have introduced business analysis to make sure that business needs are paramount when new IT systems are introduced.

However, recognising the importance of this in principle is easier than ensuring that it is achieved. While knowledge of the business is invaluable for business analysts, problems can occur where IT forms part of the business solution and the analyst has insufficient understanding of IT. This may cause communication difficulties with the developers and could result in failure to ensure that there is an integrated view of the business and IT system.

This chapter examines business analysis as a specialist profession and considers how we might better define the business analyst role. In Chapter 4 we describe a process model for business analysis and an overview of two aspects: how business analysis is carried out and the key techniques to be used at each stage.

Much of this book provides guidance on how the various stages in the business analysis process model may be carried out. Business analysis work is well defined where there are standard techniques that have been used in projects for many years. In fact, many of these techniques have been in use for far longer than the business analyst role has been in existence.

Our aim is to help business analysts carry out their work, improve the quality of business analysis within organisations and, as a result, help organisations to adopt business improvements that will ensure business success. In the past, this has been the focus of IT departments.

However, as business operations have changed, the emphasis has moved on to the development of new services and products. The use of IT has also created opportunities for organisations to focus on their core processes and competencies without the distraction of the peripheral areas of business where they do not have specialist skills. These days, the absence of good information systems would prevent an organisation from developing significant competitive advantage and new organisations can gain considerable market share by investing in an IT architecture that supports service delivery and business growth.

Yet for many years there has been a growing dissatisfaction in businesses with the support provided by IT. This has been accompanied by a recognition by senior management that IT investment often fails to deliver the required business benefit.

In short, the technology enables the development of information systems but these rarely meet the requirements of the business or deliver the service that will bring competitive advantage to the organisation.

The Financial Times Mance reported that this situation applies to all sectors, with IT projects continuing to overrun their budgets by significant amounts and poor communication between business and technical experts remaining problematic.

The perception that, all too frequently, information systems do not deliver the predicted benefits continues to be well founded.