COIT20251 Knowledge Audits for Business Analysis Paper Editing Service

COIT20251 Knowledge Audits for Business Analysis Paper Editing Service

Assessment 1: Part A

1. The core competences as a Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK)

Synopsis:The journal reflects the core competencies of a Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK). It is known as the world class recognised standard for business analysis practices. It shows the skills and knowledge required for a business analyst while performing duties in the organisation.

Reflection:The business analyst should have critical thinking skills and problem solving attitude so that effective judgements can be made in the critical situations in the organisation. The other skills include communication and interaction skills.  It helps in building effective relationships with the participants in the business and establishes an understanding between them (Rush, 2015).As per my personal experience as a business analyst in IT field, I learned that Business analyst has the responsibility to understand the process and content. It helps in producing better results which further assist in developing the relationships with all the stakeholders increasing the chance of business success. The business analyst needs to gather business knowledge and application of that knowledge in order to understand the strength and weakness of each process in the business (Moon, 2010).

Critique: The article lacks deeper understanding of the role of business analyst. It shows the core competencies and how they should be used but lacks in the real world application of the core competencies. The article could have been better if the actual cases would have been discussed. This is to be noted that the requirements of a business analyst may differ as per the industry or organisation.

2. The critical skills that organisations need a business analyst to possess in order to successfully design and develop a new technology or for technological redevelopment

Synopsis:The journal article reflects that what all qualities and skills are needed in the business analyst so that he can develop a new technology or redevelop the technology well. These qualities are discussed from the point of view of the organisations because they look for these qualities in order to get successful.

Reflection:  A business analyst needs to be critical in terms of judgement in every situation in the organisation. In order to develop a new technology or for redevelopment of technology, the business analyst should have transferrable skills which can be adjusted and adaptive as per the different technologies. For the same, the business analyst needs to have good skills to work as an intermediary between the customers and the development team (Wick, 2012).The technical skills and know how should be good in order to understand the technology well and develop it for the organisation. As per my own experience, an organisation needs adaptability, initiative and responsibility in a business analyst while developing a new technology or for redevelopment of technology. The business analyst needs to be such which aims in improving the productivity, efficiency and profitability of the organisation (Bennett, 2014).

Critique:The article could have included more practical examples showing how a business expects these qualities from a business analyst. It is bit theoretical which shows mere understanding of the topic.

3. The models that can be used for strategy formulation analysing the external and internal environment

Synopsis:The journal article includes the discussion about the models which are used in formulating the strategies for internal and external environment analysis. These tools or models are widely used by the organisations to plan their future business plans.

Reflection:  The models for analysing the environment of business for develop strategies includes the identification of data and analysing it to use it for further strategy development. These models include SWOT analysis, PEST analysis, Porter’s five forces analysis, value chain analysis and more. These models are applied to answer the questions asked by the companies. When these models are applied properly, they may take time but they provide significant results (Olsen, 2017).These results of analysis help in getting the success for business in the future. There are two types of environment of any business, one is external business environment and another is internal business environment. It helps in assessing what is happening externally and internally with the business which affects its future success plans. It helps in knowing the strengths and weaknesses of every competitor and of itself. It helps in assessing the driving forces of business too. It finally shows the business that what it takes them to be successful in the industry or market (Olsen, 2017).

Critique:The shortcomings of this article are that it does not include how these models work for the business. It does not explain its functions and how they use it to make business successful.  The article should have includes a real example to explain the same.

4. Relationship between organisational strategy and knowledge audit plan

Synopsis:The knowledge audit is a kind of audit in qualitative terms. It is a kind of investigation which works on identifying and evaluating the health of the organisation. The reflective journal focuses on the relationship between the strategies of organisation and the knowledge audit plan.

Reflection:Knowledge audit helps in assessing the capabilities of the organisation. The relationship between the organisational strategies and knowledge audit plan is that the knowledge audit helps in identifying the gaps in the available knowledge and the objectives of the organisation. In an organisation, first of all a strategic plan is developed which includes the plan to achieve the overall objectives of the business. Then, the analysis of Strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities of the business is done. After the analysis, knowledge audit is done in which the need of the knowledge is identified which will be based on the SWOT analysis (Gourova, et. al., 2009).It shows what knowledge is needed by the business on priority. The knowledge audit plans is made as per the strategies of the business. For e.g. the company needs to develop new technology and its strategy is to launch the same in the coming year. For this the company needs to analyse its available knowledge on the technology and the required one. Once it is done, the gap is analysed which is to be fulfilled for making the strategies work (Gourova, et. al., 2009).

Critique:The article lacks the practical implementation of the analysis of relationship between organisational strategy and the knowledge audit plan.

Assessment 1: Part B

1. Leadership and Team building skills required by a Business Analyst

Synopsis:The journal includes the discussion about the leadership and teambuilding skills of a Business Analyst. It shows how a Business Analyst has to play multiple roles in an organisation. It also shows how he communicates and cooperates with everyone in his team to win their trust and achieve the common goals together with the team. The managerial skills are found in the business analyst because he manages every resource, time and cost of the processes in which he is involved.

Reflection:As perWick (2012), a business analyst is required to have different kinds of skills which help in organising the business and its resources. For a business analyst, it is very important to have team building skills and leadership skills because they need to establish relationship between different stakeholders of business. A business analyst is required to form a team so that they can easily achieve the objectives of the organisation with the full support of the team members. The business analyst is required to have relationship building skills so that trust can be built and the business analyst can lead a team to fill up the gaps between the team and the company or among the team members. This shows that the business analyst is expected to push people for deriving the results in favour of the organisation (Bennett, 2014). As per my experience, a business analyst should be one from which people get influenced. It is the leader which shows direction to the whole team. A business analyst, in an organisation has multiple roles to play. Team work is one integral quality or skill to Business Analyst. It needs to cooperate with people, delegate roles and responsibilities to them and building better understanding among the team members. It is the duty of business analyst to make work interesting for its team. The business analyst needs to know how the conflicts can be managed and resolved which contributes in the team building and leadership skills. A business analyst do this by following the process of planning, directing, handling the problems of the team members, keeping budgets in mind and get the project completed within the given time and budget (Bennett, 2014).

Critique:It is seen that the article discusses about the team building and leadership skills of the Business analyst. How the business analysts play this role is very well explained. The article lacks in thepractical implementation of the leadership and team building skills of Business Analyst. There is no example provided to explain how a business Analyst shows its different skills while performing own duties in the organisation. A business analyst can effectively apply and practice various skills while managing the business process and the systems. A business analyst can hold on meetings at regular intervals so as to maintain good relationships with the team and should consider their valuable suggestions as well. He should also play a role to bridge a gap between the technology, models and the stakeholders of the business so that the business can run smoothly (Wick, 2012).

Key processes involved in understanding the business context

Synopsis:The journal incudes the steps which are to be taken in analysis of business. It includes the main processes which are involved in understanding the context of business. The process is explained in sequence which will develop an understanding on how the business analysis process can be made effective.

Reflection:Business analysis can be referred as to the practice which identifies the needs of the business so that the suggestions can be given for improving the business values and the value of stakeholders. Business analysis follows a process which flows as per the size and complexity of the project of the company. These steps are required to be followed in order to analyse the business effectively and to make business strategically strong. The business analyst needs to collect information about the project and the technology in which he is going to deal within (Cadle, et. al., 2010). He has to clear the vague conditions and clarify the scope and requirements of the project. It is important so that a clear direction in the project can be made. The Business analyst has main responsibilities in this step is to clarify the deliverables of the project, determining the primary stakeholders of the company. The project history is to be revealed so that the decisions can be made for the future. In the further step, the business analyst needs to identify the primary business objectives of the business. Achieving these objectives shows that that the project is successful. For understanding the business context, the expectations of the stakeholders need to be identified and actions are planned for meeting these objectives. The next step includes defining the scope and then the Business Analysis Plan is formulated. The requirements of the business are detailed in the next step. It involves asking the questions and filing the gaps. The technologies are implied to get positive results of the business. The value is assessed in the end which will help in taking up more projects (Kluy, 2014).

Critique:The practical application is not explained in the e- journal. The process is explained in the sequence but it is not applied in the real situation or case in the organisation. The journal can be improved when examples will be provided for the professional practice of business analyst in the organisation. It will help in knowing that how the business analyst can take up the processes in the organisation for effective analysis of the business. The knowledge of key processes of analysis have been explained which enhances knowledge about the same. However it lacks in setting the understanding in details.

Briefly describe the suitability and appropriateness of four of the investigation techniques in requirement elicitation

Synopsis:The e- journal is about the comparison of different investigation techniques in requirements elicitation on the basis of their appropriateness and suitability. Different techniques are to be used so that the requirements can be covered and effective elicitation can be done. Before using any technique, one should have proper and complete knowledge about the technique

Reflection:As perYousuf & Asger (2015), there are different ways and procedures to get the requirements of the user and to implement them so that the requirements of the stakeholders can be met. Every technique is suitable in different situations and because of that the different techniques are selected in different situations. The factors which are responsible for the selection of techniques includes procedures of business, availability of resources, type of project and priority given by the individual. The first technique discussed is Interviews. Interviews are the most common method of elicitation between two people face to face. Interviews are suitable when the topic is complex because the information is obtained in details. It helps in clarifying the confusions and provides an overall overview.

The second method of elicitation is questionnaires. These are suitable when the availability of funds is low and lack of time is there. It helps in collecting the information when there is huge group of people. It is appropriate when the response is to be collected on a single question from large no. of people (Chen, 2012). Observation is another form of technique for investigation and it is most suitable when the investigator has to make social analysis. This technique is appropriate when combination of different techniques are to be use like for e.g. with interviews. Observations are reliable and inexpensive method. It is suitable for the times when interference is not required in the user’s environment. Another method is Brainstorming. Brainstorming is a kind of discussion with everyone in the group to share the views and ideas. This type of method is most suitable when new and creative ideas are required. It is appropriate when the budget is less and creativity is needed. It is easy to implement and every participant gets an equal chance to keep their views. It is also suitable when the conflicts are to be resolved.

Critique:It can be said that the e- journal lacks in evaluation of the techniques. The effectiveness of techniques is explained but the real examples are not given. Also, the cons of each and every technique are not given which also plays an important part in selection of the most suitable technique in elicitation. The ejournal explains clearly that how each technique is suitable and appropriate in different situations and conditions in business. It helps in selecting the most suitable one. However, it lacks in proper evaluation of techniques which could have been improved.

References

Bennett, T., 2014, “8 Business Analyst Skills for Success”, Udemy Blog.

Cadle, J., Paul, D. and Turner, P., 2010, “Business Analysis Techniques”, The Chartered Institute for IT.

Chen, Y., 2012, “Requirement Elicitation Techniques”. [Online] Available at :http://www.umsl.edu/~sauterv/analysis/6840papers_f12/Chen/index.html[Accessed 20.03.17]

Gourova, E., Antonova, A., Todorova, Y., 2009, “Knowledge audit concepts, processes and practice”, WSEAS Transactions on Business and Economics.

Kluy, V., 2014, “Business Process Management”, Business Process Management within Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industries.

Moon, J., 2010, “UCD Teaching And Learning/ Resources”, Learning Journals and Logs.

Olsen, E., 2017, “Internal & External Analysis”, On Strategy.

Rush, G., 2015, “Why Can't a Business Analyst be Facilitative?”, LinkedIn.

Wick, A., 2012, “The Top 10 Business Analysis Skills For 2012”, BAtimes.
Yousuf, M. & Asger, M., 2015, “Comparison of Various Requirements Elicitation Techniques”, International Journal of Computer Applications, Volume 116 – No. 4.