all right so let's talk about strategy analysis strategy analysis is chapter six of Babic and
one of the things we need to talk about first is strategy so strategy really defines the most
effective way of applying capabilities to an enterprise in order to reach a desired set of
goals now the strategy analysis knowledge area is basically the work that we do to collaborate with
stakeholders in order to basically identify the need which is considered tactical or strategic and
then enable that the enterprise to address those needs and this includes focusing on defining the
future and transition States needed to address the business need the strategy analysis provides
the context into requirements analysis and design definition right so this is giving us the inputs
in order to be able to create requirements and designs it also allows stakeholders to make the
determination of whether or not that need is addressed now the image below basically gives
a spectrum of value according to the guess the states of business analysis so we're in
the analysis knowledge area value is potential right we don't know what it is we're basically
assuming or making educated guesses on what the value could be if we implemented a solution so
we're identifying needs and the solution scope at this point and the further we get
into requirements analysis and design definition and solution evaluation with things like proof
of concepts and prototypes pilots and beta testing and then full operational deployments that's where
we start seeing some actual value this is where resourcing the actual change and we're able to
monitor it and measure those changes two things to note about strategy is that when the future
is predictable the future state really is all about you know defining a clear strategy that
can be planned out but if we have something unprecedented and is difficult to predict the
focus may need to be on mitigating risk and testing different assumptions or hypothesis
until the change strategy is actually you know able to reach a specific business goal now the
strategy analysis has four tasks including analyze analyze current state define future
state assess risks define change strategy now I analyze current state this is where we're trying
to understand the business need that's one of the most key roles of the business analyst is
to identify and articulate the business need and also how it relates to the way the enterprise
functions today the defined future state task is defining the goals and objectives that will
demonstrate that the business needs or the needs have been satisfied and it also defines what parts
of the organization needs to change in order to meet those goals and objectives assess risks is
where we understanding the uncertainties so Babic considers risk anything that's unknown
or uncertain about a situation and so we're trying to understand the uncertainties around
the change and consider the effects of those uncertainties also we're trying to recommend
actions to address any risks that are identified the defined strategy this is our actual plan to
transition into the next or the future state so define change strategy is where we're performing
a gap analysis between the current and the future state and then assessing options for achieving
the future state so we're assessing them and then we're going to make a recommendation of
the approach that has the highest value now the core concept model is discussed in relation to
how it applies to each of the six knowledge areas so again my recommendation is to get
a good understanding of each of the knowledge areas and the tasks within them and then come
back and go over the change I'm sorry the core concept model to see how each of these concepts
relate to that specific knowledge area and overall for this knowledge area your inputs are going to
include needs internal and external influences the stakeholder engagement approach unfirm elicitation
results as well as confirmed elicitation results prioritize designs and prioritized requirements
so again our tasks include analyze current state define future state assess risks to find
change strategy and our outputs for this entire knowledge area is going to include the current
state description the business requirements the business objectives future state description
potential value the risk analysis results the change strategy and the solution scope