Category: Business Analysis

Business analysis is usually a precursor to starting a project. Get clear on your goals before you start!

Here are key phrases and focus areas for effective business analysis:

Requirements Gathering:

• “What are your business objectives?”
• “Can you walk me through your current workflow?”
• “Who are the key stakeholders involved?”
• “What regulatory requirements must we consider?”

Process Analysis:

• “Where are the bottlenecks in your current process?”
• “What manual steps could be automated?”
• “How do different departments interact?”
• “What’s the current approval/review process?”

Data Analysis:

• “What data sources are you currently using?”
• “How is data currently collected and stored?”
• “What reports do you need to generate?”
• “Who needs access to which information?”

Risk Assessment:

• “What are potential points of failure?”
• “How do you currently handle exceptions?”
• “What backup systems are in place?”
• “What security concerns need addressing?”

Cost-Benefit Analysis:

• “What’s the expected ROI?”
• “What are the implementation costs?”
• “How will this affect operational costs?”
• “What’s the anticipated maintenance cost?”

Change Management:

• “How will this affect current staff roles?”
• “What training will be required?”
• “How will you communicate changes?”
• “What resistance might we encounter?”

Technical Considerations:

• “What systems need to integrate?”
• “What are your scalability requirements?”
• “What technical constraints exist?”
• “What performance metrics are critical?”

Future State:

• “How should this solution grow with your business?”
• “What features are needed for phase two?”
• “How might industry changes affect requirements?”
• “What’s your long-term vision for this solution?”