Step 1: Compile background data

The majority of the project's foundational work is done in this first step. It's critical for the business analyst to compile a sizable amount of background data about the project, whether it's brand-new or already in progress. The project's conditions that must be decided upon at this time are as follows:

What category does the project fall into? (Money, well-being, energy, hosting, etc.) Is there sufficient data pertaining to the domain? If the response is negative, a business analyst would carry out extra project-related study. The analyst would also get knowledge of the appropriate domain's terms, dos, and don'ts.

Determine the many factors that can have an impact on the project's business plan.

A PESTLE Analysis or Porter's Five Forces framework can be used to achieve this.

PESTLE Analysis: This kind of analysis looks at the effects of external pressures on an organization, such as Political, Economic, Socio-Cultural, Technological, Legal, and Ethical factors, and how they may affect a project or strategy.

The Porter's Five Forces framework, which is founded on the assumption that an organization employs this method, identifies the forces that may have an impact on a project. To ascertain if any external pressures exist, industry competitors, new entrants, substitutes, customers, and suppliers are analyzed.

Step 2: Determine Stakeholders 

The project's stakeholders are the ones who decide and approve specifications and priorities. As a result, it's critical to identify all the stakeholders early on.

You can employ a stakeholder wheel strategy that includes all project stakeholders, such as:

• Owners include any stockholders, trustees, or project sponsors.
• Senior or intermediate managers are in charge of communicating with employees and keeping track of their progress.
• Employees that are in charge of completing the project, such as developers, analysts, or testers

Regulators: Any regulators engaged who keep an eye on how the rules are being followed, such as a regulator who keeps an eye on HIPAA compliance

Suppliers: any API providers or additional service providers the project may require

Partners are people who contribute to a project by offering supplemental or complementary goods or services.

Customers: the product's final consumers

Competitors: a possible group of buyers of rival goods or contributors from the rivals themselves

Stakeholder Matrix, a list of organizations and stakeholders for each classification, is the document at this point.

Step 3: Learn Your Business's Goals

The business analyst and project managers may keep focused on the vision and make course corrections along the way by establishing the business strategy and objectives and writing them down. It will be beneficial when defining the scope.

Using the following methods, project business objectives can be established:

• Benchmarking: comprehending rivals and colleagues who perform at a comparable level; This can be done by using Ansoff's Matrix.
• SWOT evaluation Identifies the advantages and disadvantages.
• Group discussions and brainstorming
• guaranteeing a common vision by articulating and communicating corporate objectives to all stakeholders

Specific: describes a tangible result

Measurable: The result must be quantifiable.

Achievable goals are those that can be attained.

Relevant: must be consistent with the mission statement of the business

Time-bound: able to occur within a specific time period

Step 4: Consider Your Options

Finding the vital path among the different alternatives is crucial for achieving the goal. The procedures for choosing the ideal course are as follows:

• Choose an option – brainstorming sessions and focus groups aid in choosing different possibilities.
• Possible choices consist of:
• Customize or improve an existing solution to meet the desired business outcome.
• acquire a current service or system
• Create a product from nothing
• Integrate with other systems to speed up time to market
• Options that are viable are selected from a large range of potential solutions in a shortlist.
• When focusing on a certain area, take into account the following:
• Feasibility
• Budget and funds at hand
• satisfactory return on investment
• business argument
• Based on the reduced possibilities, a business analyst can create a business case by:
• Cost-benefit analysis examines the costs and advantages of a course of action.

Impact analysis involves finding and presenting acts that have an impact on a project or business that would influence taking a particular course of action.

Analysis of potential dangers before pursuing a course of action

Stakeholders will then be given the business case options and asked to choose a course of action.

A business case document is what is created at this level.

Step 5: Define the scope

This stage sees the scope established in light of the project's goal and a team discussion. Along with a list of things not included in the project, a list of project development objectives is provided. The document outlining the scope may contain:

• Developmental items covered
• Developmental issues not covered
• scope integrations
• Integrations not covered
• A Scope Definition Document is the product of this stage.

Step 6: Develop a business analyst delivery plan

A thorough schedule for delivering the requirements to the development team will be provided by the business analyst and project owner. We'll give you a deadline for the requirements based on things like:

• Participants and their accessibility
• Project horizon
• Project management
• It will be easier to allocate resources and adhere to project schedules if needs are broken down into deliverables and given reasonable deadlines for each of them.

Step 7: Defining Project Requirements

In order to present requirements to the development team, the business analyst must first explain them to the business owner and obtain their approval. You can categorize requirements as functional or non-functional.

A business requirement document that addresses performance, scalability, and security can be used to document non-functional requirements. In the form of use cases, storyboards, prototypes, and wireframes, functional requirements are presented.

The following are a few methods that aid in the requirement collection stage:

Interviewing the interested parties Asking the user what they want to do and when they want to accomplish it will help you determine the requirements.

Techniques for defining requirements Use wireframes, storyboards, prototypes, or case template

The requirements can all be supplied up front depending on the development methodology, such as the waterfall method.

Because it's challenging to handle modifications along the way, waterfall development is avoided by the majority of development companies. Requirements can be supplied per sprint cycle for agile projects. Deliverables will be organized by a business analyst to support development strategies. The differences between waterfall and agile may be found here.

Use cases, functional requirements, and non-functional requirements business requirement documents are all needed at this level.

Step 8: Facilitate Implementation Using the SDLC

To make sure that everything is in line, a business analyst is involved in the technical implementation of requirements.

During this phase, the following steps are taken:

Aligning the technical deliverables with the requirements after reviewing them

Update or repackage requirements to ease implementation based on comments from the development team.

Work with quality analysts to make sure requirements are understood and tested

Manage any requests for adjustments from the business owner once the initial requirements have been supplied and implemented.

Once the requirement is implemented, aid in user acceptability.

Step 9: Analyze the value the project has added.

An ongoing assessment of business results is necessary to maintain the business aim during implementation. Ones to consider asking are:

• Do we have a plan?
  
• Does the solution give the value that was first hoped for?
• Key acts consist of Analyze the actual progress made in relation to the schedule and the company's goals, and update the stakeholders and respond to any queries.

Provide any changes or initiatives needed to realign the implementation phase with business objectives based on the progress and feedback.

Conduct research to support your suggestion and present it to the stakeholders if you believe there is room for more improvements, modifications, or new initiatives.

It is impossible to overstate the significance of the business analysis step. It is essential to give this phase as much detail as you can because it establishes the overall tone for the development project. The smoother the overall development goes, the more time and effort you put into perfecting this stage. A general overview of the business analysis process flow is provided in this manual.