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Entries for the 'Solution Assessment and Validation (BABOK KA)' Category

» FEATURED: The Twelve Shades of the Business Analyst (BA) Facilitator

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The Twelve Shades of the Business Analyst (BA) Facilitator

This article reviews the complexity of the role of the business analyst (BA) facilitator in obtaining a stakeholder agreement (i.e., a consensus or a compromise) on solution features and/or user requirements. The BA facilitator achieves this agreement by maintaining a neutral posture in guiding the stakeholders though a dialogue in a series of meet...

» FEATURED: Solution Scope – An Insight

(4055 Views) (2 Comments)

Most of the projects inevitably struggle at some point or the other if the scope is not defined properly. The right note to start a project is to have a clear Project and Solution/Product scope at hand. It is very critical for a Business Analyst to clearly understand and define the Solution Scope in black and white before even going into the Requir...

» FEATURED: Business Analyst Checkpoints: Checkpoint Beta

(3063 Views) (1 Comments)

Business Analyst Checkpoints: Checkpoint Beta

Checkpoint Beta is not mandatory. It is, however, extremely helpful for the business analyst. Checkpoint Beta is also an informal meeting, this time with the solution team. It is held prior to committing the solution to the final, formal solution document andobtaining final confirmation from the business community.

» FEATURED: A Data-Driven Approach to Specifications

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A Data-Driven Approach to Specifications

Business requirements are usually captured in narratives and graphics that, regardless of how detailed, structured, cross-referenced and validated, are fundamentally imprecise. A data-driven approach to specifications has the potential to help avoid these problems and subsequently decrease the risk and increase the return on companies' IT investmen...

» FEATURED: Six Simple Steps for Accelerating and Perfecting Requirements: A Framework, a New Model, and Visualization

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Six Simple Steps for Accelerating and Perfecting Requirements: A Framework, a New Model, and Visualization

We present a requirements framework and methodology that may be different from what you are doing. Its three prominent characteristics are a framework, a new model, and visualization. The framework ensures completeness of all requirements. The new model is the Decision Model, transforming important business thinking into a tangible and manageable b...

» FEATURED: Business Rules vs. System Design Choices

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Business Rules vs. System Design Choices

Until business analysts really begin to understand the difference between rules of the business (business rules), and choices about system design, we’ll keep falling to the same requirements and legacy traps as always. In my previous column I looked closely at the meaning of business rule. Now let’s probe the two fundamental categories of business ...

» FEATURED: Using Extreme Inspections to Significantly Improve Requirements Practice

(7571 Views) (6 Comments)

Using Extreme Inspections to Significantly Improve Requirements Practice

Extreme Inspections are a low-cost, high-improvement way to assure specification quality, effectively teach good specification practice, and make informed decisions about the requirements specification process and its output, in any project. The method is not restricted to be used on requirements analysis related material; this article however is l...

» FEATURED: An Introduction to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK 2.0)

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An Introduction to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK 2.0)

The Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK® 2.0) is the definitive guide to the profession of business analysis. Every business analyst can profit from it, and few analysts can afford to be without it.

» FEATURED: Agile Business Analysis in Flow --The Work of the Agile Analyst (Part 2)

(15412 Views) (8 Comments)

In Part 1 of this article, I talked about the new skills and attitudes business analysts need to bring to agile development... Now it's time to talk specifics. What exactly do BAs do in agile development? How will your activities differ from those of traditional development? Let's take a look at agile business analysis from the perspecti...

» FEATURED: The Sound of Valid Requirements

(5802 Views) (1 Comments)

If requirements management practices were songs entering a popularity contest, requirements validation would hardly be a favorite contender. It's easy to understand why: validation is usually a tedious, time consuming task, and, as with nearly every quality control activity, it is supposed to reveal defects, going against our natural desire of bein...

» Ten Application Definition Best Practices

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The ubiquity of software project failures – with failure defined as projects that fundamentally failed to meet business-sponsor expectations, missed scheduled completion dates, or exceeded budget – is a pronounced theme in any number of independent research reports on custom software development. The Standish Group, for example, cited that only 31%...

» Enterprise Architect for Business Analysts

(148255 Views) (7 Comments)

As a software architect and developer I’ve used Enterprise Architect (EA) from Sparx Systems (www.sparxsystems.com) for a number of years. In that time I’ve spent considerable time and energy trying to get our business analysts to do the same. While I’ve had some success I must admit it’s been an uphill battle. I suspect this is partly because EA i...

» Best Practices for Agile/Lean Documentation

(5874 Views) (1 Comments)

Ideally, an agile document is just barely good enough, or just barely sufficient, for the situation at hand. Documentation is an important part of agile software development projects, but unlike traditionalists who often see documentation as a risk reduction strategy, agilists typically see documentation as a strategy which increases overall projec...

» Agile Requirements Best Practices

(3755 Views) (0 Comments)

To be honest, I'm not very enamored with the term "best practice". I believe that the term "contextual practice" makes far more sense because what is a "best practice" in some situations proves to be a "worst practice" in others. Having said that, people are interested in best practices so here they are when it comes to agile requirements modeling:...

» Agile Requirements Modeling

(4329 Views) (0 Comments)

Many traditional project teams run into trouble when they try to define all of the requirements up front, often the result of a misguided idea that developers will actually read and follow what the requirements document contains. The reality is that the requirements document is usually insufficient, regardless of how much effort goes into it, the r...

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Business Analyst Articles: Business Analysis & Systems Analysis

Entries for the 'Solution Assessment and Validation (BABOK KA)' Category

Join the Premier Community for Business Analysts, Business Process Professionals, Systems Analysts, Data Analysts, and more…

Business Analyst Articles: Business Analysis & Systems Analysis

Entries for the 'Solution Assessment and Validation (BABOK KA)' Category

Join the Premier Community for
Business Analysts, Business Process Professionals,
Systems Analysts, Data Analysts, and more…