A Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge
Encyclopedia
A Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK) is the written guide to the collection of business analysis
knowledge reflecting current best practice, providing a framework that describes the areas of knowledge, with associated activities and tasks and skills required.
According to Capability Maturity Model Integration
, organisations interested in process improvement
need to adopt industry standards from the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (and other associated references
) to lift their project delivery from the ad-hoc to the managed level.
(IIBA) as a draft document version 1.4, in October 2005, for consultation with the wider business analysis and project management community, to document and standardise generally accepted business analysis practices. The first formal release was at version 1.6 in June 2006. Version 2.0 was released 31 March 2009.
As with other bodies of knowledge
, the BABOK is defined and updated by the professionals who use it every day, and is under active review and consultation all the time.
(CBAP) designation to recognise senior business analysts who could demonstrate in-depth long-term experience in these knowledge areas (5–10 years in a dedicated business analyst role).
As of September 2008, IIBA was developing intermediary certification to allow business analysts with less than 5 years experience to have their skills and competencies recognised.
While a flow of tasks and processes is suggested by these knowledge areas, the BABOK is deliberately not setting out a prescribed methodology. Indeed, version 2.0 has separated techniques from the knowledge area tasks, into a new section.
Business analysis planning and monitoring
Elicitation
Requirements management and communication
Enterprise analysis
Requirements analysis
Solution assessment and validation
Underlying competencies
Techniques
Business Analysis
Business analysis is the discipline of identifying business needs and determining solutions to business problems. Solutions often include a systems development component, but may also consist of process improvement, organizational change or strategic planning and policy development...
knowledge reflecting current best practice, providing a framework that describes the areas of knowledge, with associated activities and tasks and skills required.
According to Capability Maturity Model Integration
Capability Maturity Model Integration
Capability Maturity Model Integration is a process improvement approach whose goal is to help organizations improve their performance. CMMI can be used to guide process improvement across a project, a division, or an entire organization...
, organisations interested in process improvement
Process improvement
In organizational development , process improvement is a series of actions taken by a process owner to identify, analyze and improve existing business processes within an organization to meet new goals and objectives. These actions often follow a specific methodology or strategy to create...
need to adopt industry standards from the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (and other associated references
Body of Knowledge
Body of Knowledge is a term used to represent the complete set of concepts, terms and activities that make up a professional domain, as defined by the relevant professional association....
) to lift their project delivery from the ad-hoc to the managed level.
History
The BABOK was first published by the International Institute of Business AnalysisInternational Institute of Business Analysis
The International Institute of Business Analysis is a non-profit professional association with the purpose of supporting and promoting the discipline of business analysis....
(IIBA) as a draft document version 1.4, in October 2005, for consultation with the wider business analysis and project management community, to document and standardise generally accepted business analysis practices. The first formal release was at version 1.6 in June 2006. Version 2.0 was released 31 March 2009.
As with other bodies of knowledge
Body of Knowledge
Body of Knowledge is a term used to represent the complete set of concepts, terms and activities that make up a professional domain, as defined by the relevant professional association....
, the BABOK is defined and updated by the professionals who use it every day, and is under active review and consultation all the time.
Professional certification
Once the body of knowledge had been established, IIBA created the Certified Business Analysis ProfessionalCertified Business Analysis Professional
The Certified Business Analysis Professional designation is an award from the International Institute of Business Analysis made to Business Analysts who have significant professional experience and have demonstrated sufficient breadth and depth of knowledge by sitting and passing a three-hour...
(CBAP) designation to recognise senior business analysts who could demonstrate in-depth long-term experience in these knowledge areas (5–10 years in a dedicated business analyst role).
As of September 2008, IIBA was developing intermediary certification to allow business analysts with less than 5 years experience to have their skills and competencies recognised.
Knowledge areas
The business analysis body of knowledge defines 6 knowledge areas, which group together related sets of tasks and techniques. Each of these tasks and techniques describes the typical knowledge, skills, processes, and deliverables that the business analyst requires to be able to perform those tasks competently.While a flow of tasks and processes is suggested by these knowledge areas, the BABOK is deliberately not setting out a prescribed methodology. Indeed, version 2.0 has separated techniques from the knowledge area tasks, into a new section.
Business analysis planning and monitoring
- how business analysts plan the tasks and activities for business analysis. It covers stakeholder analysisStakeholder analysisStakeholder analysis in conflict resolution, project management, and business administration, is the process of identifying the individuals or groups that are likely to affect or be affected by a proposed action, and sorting them according to their impact on the action and the impact the action...
, selecting an approach to managing issues, risksRisk managementRisk management is the identification, assessment, and prioritization of risks followed by coordinated and economical application of resources to minimize, monitor, and control the probability and/or impact of unfortunate events or to maximize the realization of opportunities...
and requirementsRequirements managementRequirements management is the process of documenting, analyzing, tracing, prioritizing and agreeing on requirements and then controlling change and communicating to relevant stakeholders. It is a continuous process throughout a project...
; deciding how to monitor and report on requirements activities; and negotiating how to manage changeChange Management (ITSM)Change management is an IT service management discipline. The objective of change management in this context is to ensure that standardized methods and procedures are used for efficient and prompt handling of all changes to control IT infrastructure, in order to minimize the number and impact of...
on a project.
Elicitation
- how business analysts work with stakeholders to help them understand their requirements within the scope of a project. It covers eliciting requirementsRequirements elicitationIn requirements engineering, requirements elicitation is the practice of obtaining the requirements of a system from users, customers and other stakeholders...
; brainstormingBrainstormingBrainstorming is a group creativity technique by which a group tries to find a solution for a specific problem by gathering a list of ideas spontaneously contributed by its members...
; analysing documents; running focus groupFocus groupA focus group is a form of qualitative research in which a group of people are asked about their perceptions, opinions, beliefs and attitudes towards a product, service, concept, advertisement, idea, or packaging...
s; analysing system interfaces; interviewInterviewAn interview is a conversation between two people where questions are asked by the interviewer to obtain information from the interviewee.- Interview as a Method for Qualitative Research:"Definition" -...
ing; observingObservationObservation is either an activity of a living being, such as a human, consisting of receiving knowledge of the outside world through the senses, or the recording of data using scientific instruments. The term may also refer to any data collected during this activity...
; prototyping; facilitating requirements workshopWorkshopA workshop is a room or building which provides both the area and tools that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods...
s; reverse engineeringReverse engineeringReverse engineering is the process of discovering the technological principles of a device, object, or system through analysis of its structure, function, and operation...
existing systems; and collecting input via surveysStatistical surveySurvey methodology is the field that studies surveys, that is, the sample of individuals from a population with a view towards making statistical inferences about the population using the sample. Polls about public opinion, such as political beliefs, are reported in the news media in democracies....
and questionnaires.
Requirements management and communication
- how business analysts ensure that the project team and stakeholders stay in agreement on project scope. It covers communicating requirements; resolving conflictsConflict resolutionConflict resolution is conceptualized as the methods and processes involved in facilitating the peaceful ending of some social conflict. Often, committed group members attempt to resolve group conflicts by actively communicating information about their conflicting motives or ideologies to the rest...
; gaining formal approval; baseliningBaseline (configuration management)Configuration management is the process of managing change in hardware, software, firmware, documentation, measurements, etc. As change requires an initial state and next state, the marking of significant states within a series of several changes becomes important...
and tracking requirementsRequirements traceabilityRequirements traceability is a sub-discipline of requirements management within software development and systems engineering. Requirements traceability is concerned with documenting the life of a requirement and to provide bi-directional traceability between various associated requirements...
through to implementation.
Enterprise analysis
- how business analysts take a business need: define that need; identify gaps in current capabilities that stop that need being met; then if change is required, to propose an approach and scope for finding a solution and building the case to justify the work. It explores assessing business architectureEnterprise architectureAn enterprise architecture is a rigorous description of the structure of an enterprise, which comprises enterprise components , the externally visible properties of those components, and the relationships between them...
; undertaking capability gap analysis; feasibility studiesFeasibility studyFeasibility studies aim to objectively and rationally uncover the strengths and weaknesses of the existing business or proposed venture, opportunities and threats as presented by the environment, the resources required to carry through, and ultimately the prospects for success. In its simplest...
; defining the solution scopeScope (project management)In project management, the term scope has two distinct uses: Project Scope and Product Scope.Project Scope"The work that needs to be accomplished to deliver a product, service, or result with the specified features and functions."Product Scope...
; and developing a business caseBusiness caseA business case captures the reasoning for initiating a project or task. It is often presented in a well-structured written document, but may also sometimes come in the form of a short verbal argument or presentation. The logic of the business case is that, whenever resources such as money or...
.
Requirements analysis
- how business analysts work with the whole project team towards defining a solution that should meet the agreed requirements. It covers documenting and analysing businessBusiness caseA business case captures the reasoning for initiating a project or task. It is often presented in a well-structured written document, but may also sometimes come in the form of a short verbal argument or presentation. The logic of the business case is that, whenever resources such as money or...
, stakeholder, functionalFunctional requirementsIn software engineering, a functional requirement defines a function of a software system or its component. A function is described as a set of inputs, the behavior, and outputs ....
, and non-functional (quality of service) requirements; modelling the business domainBusiness modelA business model describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value...
using process diagramProcess Flow diagramA process flow diagram is a diagram commonly used in engineering to indicate the general flow of plant processes and equipment.The PFD displays the relationship between major equipment of a plant facility and does not show minor details such as piping details and designations...
s, flowchartFlowchartA flowchart is a type of diagram that represents an algorithm or process, showing the steps as boxes of various kinds, and their order by connecting these with arrows. This diagrammatic representation can give a step-by-step solution to a given problem. Process operations are represented in these...
s, data modelData modelA data model in software engineering is an abstract model, that documents and organizes the business data for communication between team members and is used as a plan for developing applications, specifically how data is stored and accessed....
s; exploring behaviour modelsBehavioral modelingIn behavioral science, system theory and dynamic systems modeling, a behavioral model reproduces the required behavior of the original analyzed system, such as there is a one-to-one correspondence between the behavior of the original system and the simulated system. That namely implies that the...
using use caseUse caseIn software engineering and systems engineering, a use case is a description of steps or actions between a user and a software system which leads the user towards something useful...
, user experience designUser experience designUser experience design is a subset of the field of experience design that pertains to the creation of the architecture and interaction models that affect user experience of a device or system...
, storyboards, wireframeWebsite wireframeA website wireframe, also known as a page schematic or screen blueprint, is a visual guide that represents the skeletal framework of a website. The wireframe depicts the page layout or arrangement of the website’s content, including interface elements and navigational systems, and how they work...
s, user profileUser profileA user profile is a collection of personal data associated to a specific user. A profile refers therefore to the explicit digital representation of a person's identity...
s and user storiesUser storyIn computer programming a user story is one or more sentences in the everyday or business language of the end user that captures what the user wants to achieve. User stories are used with Agile software development methodologies for the basis of what features that can be implemented...
; and finally verifying and validating requirements.
Solution assessment and validation
- how business analysts assess proposed solutions to help the stakeholders select the solution which best fits their requirements, and once selected how the business should prove that the solution meets those requirements and ultimately whether the project has met its objectives. It covers evaluating alternate solutions, quality assurance processesQuality AssuranceQuality assurance, or QA for short, is the systematic monitoring and evaluation of the various aspects of a project, service or facility to maximize the probability that minimum standards of quality are being attained by the production process...
, support through implementation, and post-implementation reviews.
Underlying competencies
- covers the leadershipLeadershipLeadership has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task". Other in-depth definitions of leadership have also emerged.-Theories:...
, problem solvingProblem solvingProblem solving is a mental process and is part of the larger problem process that includes problem finding and problem shaping. Consideredthe most complex of all intellectual functions, problem solving has been defined as higher-order cognitive process that requires the modulation and control of...
, and communication skills; business and technical knowledge that support effective business analysis.
Techniques
- defines a range of specific skillSkillA skill is the learned capacity to carry out pre-determined results often with the minimum outlay of time, energy, or both. Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills...
s, methods, and tools that enable the business analysis tasks in the six knowledge areas — there are 34 techniques listed in the Techniques section, with a further 15 defined within the knowledge areas.