Business Change Lifecycle
Alignment and Definition
Analysis of the Organisation |
Business Needs Analysis |
Requirements Analysis |
in order to determine new ways of working that will improve the organisation’s
efficiency and effectiveness
Implementation
Development |
Business Acceptance Testing |
Realisation
Benefits Review |
Benefits Realisation |
Internal Environment Analysis
MOST
Mission A statement declaring what business the organisation is in and what it is intending to achieve. |
Objectives The specific goals against which the organisation’s achievements can be measured. |
Strategy The medium to long-term approach that is going to be taken by the organisation in order to achieve the objectives and mission. |
Tactics The detailed means by which the strategy will be executed |
Resource Audit
Physical resources that the organisation owns or has access to and includes features such as buildings, plant and equipment, land |
Financial resources that determine the organisation’s financial stability, capacity to invest in new resources and ability to weather business fluctuations and changes |
Human resources and their expertise, adaptability, commitment |
Know-How of the organisation which may include actual patents or trademarks |
Reputation of the organisation, for example the brand recognition and the belief that is held about the quality of the brand, and the goodwill – or antipathy – that this produces |
Boston Box (Matrix)
provides a means of conducting portfolio analysis. A company’s strategic business units (SBUs) – parts of an organisation for which there is a distinct and separate external market – are identified and the relationship between the SBU’s current or future revenue potential is modelled against the current share of the market
Balanced Business Scorecard
The Balanced Business Scorecard (BBS) can be thought of as the strategic balance sheet for an organisation as it captures the means of assessing the financial and nonfinancial components of a strategy. It therefore shows how the strategy execution is working and the effectiveness with which the levers for change are being used. The BBS supplements financial measures with three other perspectives of organisational performance – customers, learning and growth, and internal business processes.
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Range of Analysis Activities
Strategic Analysis and Definition
BA to have access to information about their organisation’s business strategy |
BA's work to support the execution of business strategy |
It is vital that BAs are able to work within the strategic business context |
IT Systems Analysis
Systems analysts are responsible for analysing and specifying the IT system requirements in sufficient detail to provide a basis for the evaluation of software packages or the development of a bespoke IT system via data, process and function modelling |
Business analyst is responsible for considering a range of business options to address a particular problem or opportunity |
Business analysis
Business analysts will usually be required to investigate a business system where improvements are required: |
- resolve a localised business issue |
- investigation into several issues, or perhaps ideas, regarding increased efficiency or effectiveness |
- focus specifically on enhancing or replacing an existing IT system in line with business requirements. In this case the analyst would deliver a requirements document defining what the business requires the IT system to provide. |
- working cross-functionally, taking a value delivery approach. This work is likely to require analysis of a workstream comprising various activities and systems |
For any changes to succeed the business analyst needs to consider all aspects, for example, what processes, IT systems, job roles, skills and other resources will be needed to improve the situation |
External Environment Analysis
PESTLE
Political influences The stability of the government or political situation Government policies – such as on social welfare Trade regulations and tariffs |
Economic influences Interest rates Money supply Inflation Unemployment 85 Disposable income Availability and cost of energy The internationalisation of business Taken together these economic factors determine how easy – or not – it is to be profitable because they affect demand. |
Socio-cultural influences Demographics – such as an ageing population in Europe Social mobility – will people move to find work or stay unemployed where they are and rely on state support? This may also be seen as a political issue with an enlarged Europe enabling a freer movement of labour across the community Lifestyle changes – such as changes in the retirement age and general changes in people’s views about work/life balance |
Technological influences Technological developments Government spending on research, the quality of academic research, the ‘brain drain’ The focus on technology; demand for invention and innovation The pace of technological change, the creation of technology enabled industries |
Legal influences Legislation about trade practices and competition Employment law – employment protection, discrimination etc Health and safety legislation Company law Financial regulation |
Environmental influences Global warming and climate change Animal welfare Waste, such as unnecessary packaging Environmental protection legislation such as new laws on recycling and waste disposal industries |
The key tasks are to identify those few factors that will really affect the organisation and to develop a real understanding of how they might evolve in the future
SWOT Analysis
The SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis is often used to pull together the results of an analysis of the external and internal environments.
SWOT analysis is where we summarise the key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in order to carry out an overall audit of the strategic position of a business and its environment
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BA Role and Responsibilities
Investigate business systems taking a holistic view of the situation; this may include examining elements of the organisation structures and staff development issues as well as current processes and IT systems |
Evaluate actions to improve the operation of a business system. Again, this may require an examination of organisational structure and staff development needs, to ensure that they are in line with any proposed process redesign and IT system development. |
Document the business requirements for the IT system support using appropriate documentation standards. |
Elaborate requirements, in support of the business users, during evolutionary system development. |
Strategy implementation – here the business analysts work closely with senior management to help define the most effective business system to implement elements of the business strategy |
Business case production – more senior business analysts usually do this, typically with assistance from Finance specialists |
Benefits realisation – the business analysts carry out post-implementation reviews, examine the benefits defined in the business case and evaluate whether or not the benefits have been achieved. Actions to achieve the business benefits are also identified and sometimes carried out by the business analysts. |
Specification of IT requirements – typically using standard modelling techniques such as data modelling or use case modelling. |
External Environment Analysis
Porter's Five Forces
An analysis tool that helps to evaluate an industry’s profitability and hence its attractiveness
Threat of New Entrants
New entrants may want to move into the market if it looks attractive and if the barriers to entry are low. Globalisation and deregulation both give new entrants this opportunity but there are barriers to entry that organisations build. These include: |
Economies of scale. This may be difficult to achieve for a new entrant |
Substantial investment required. A new entrant may have difficulty in obtaining sufficient funds for investment. |
Product differentiation. If existing products and services are seen to have strong identities, which are supported by high expenditure or branding, then new entrants may be deterred from entry |
Access to distribution channels. Existing distribution channels may be booked by existing suppliers requiring new entrants to find new and different distribution channels. |
The existence of patented processes. |
The need for regulatory approval, for example, in the financial and defence sectors |
Bargaining Power of Suppliers
Supplier power limits the opportunity for cost reductions when: |
there is a concentration of suppliers and when supplying businesses are bigger than the many customers they supply; |
the costs of switching from one supplier to another are high. This may be because of clauses in supply contracts, interacting IT systems between the organisation and its suppliers, supply logistics or the inability of other suppliers to delivery |
the supplier brand is powerful, for example, the power of ‘Intel Inside’; |
customers are fragmented so do not have a collective influence. |
bargaining power of buyers
Customer power – or the bargaining power of buyers as Porter called it – is high when: |
there are many small organisations on the supply side. For example, in the supply of food products to supermarkets |
alternative sources of supply are available and easy to find; |
the cost of the product or service is high encouraging the buyer to search out alternatives |
switching costs are low |
threat from substitute products
product substitution from new technologies is more convenient; |
the need for the product may be replaced by meeting a different need; |
it is possible to decide to ‘do without it’! |
high competitive rivalry
There may also be high competitive rivalry when: |
there are many competing firms |
buyers can easily switch from one firm to another |
the market is growing only slowly or not growing at all; |
the industry has high fixed costs and responding to price pressure is difficult |
products are not well differentiated or are commoditised so there is little brand loyalty; |
the costs of leaving the industry are high. |
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Rationale for Business Analysis
Root causes not symptoms
- To distinguish between the symptoms of problems and the root causes
- To investigate and address the root causes of business problems
- To consider the holistic view |
Business improvement not IT change To recognise that IT systems should enable business opportunity or problem resolution To analyse opportunities for business improvement To enable business agility |
Options not solutions To challenge pre-determined solutions To identify and evaluate options for meeting business needs |
Feasible, contributing requirements not meeting all requests To be aware of financial and timescale constraints To identify requirements that are not feasible and do not contribute to business objectives To evaluate stated requirements against business needs and constraints |
The entire business change lifecycle not just requirements definition To analyse business situations To support the effective development, testing, deployment and postimplementation review of solutions To support the management and realisation of business benefits |
Negotiation not avoidance To recognise conflicting stakeholder views and requirements To negotiate conflicts between stakeholders |
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