Business Analysis Frameworks
The Business Analyst's Role
Business analysis identifies business needs and recommends solutions that deliver value. The analyst works across the life cycle: needs assessment (current state, future state, gap), business case and benefits, stakeholder identification, elicitation, requirements analysis, and solution evaluation. Requirements are classified as business requirements (why the organization acts), stakeholder requirements (needs of specific groups), solution requirements split into functional (what the solution does) and nonfunctional (quality attributes such as performance, security, usability), and transition requirements (temporary capabilities needed to move to the future state).
Elicitation and Documentation
Elicitation techniques include interviews, workshops, observation, surveys, document analysis, and prototyping; select based on stakeholder availability, geography, and how well the current process is understood. Requirements must be traced - a traceability matrix links requirements to business objectives, design, and test cases - and prioritized, for example with MoSCoW (must, should, could, won't) or value ordering in a backlog.
Verification versus Validation
Verification asks whether a requirement is documented correctly and consistently. Validation asks whether it represents what the stakeholder actually needs and will deliver value. A requirement can be verified yet still invalid. Traps: confusing a requirement (what is needed) with a design (how it will be built), and gold-plating - adding features nobody requested.
Agile Business Analysis
In adaptive environments a refined backlog and acceptance criteria replace a static requirements document, and analysis is continuous rather than phase-gated.
Rule of thumb: if a statement could be true of any competing solution, it is probably nonfunctional.
Worked example: “The portal must be available 99.9% of each month” is nonfunctional; “the portal must let a customer reset a password” is functional.