As we’ve discussed in the past, the overarching goal of quality assurance is to build constituent satisfaction through the provision of uniformly excellent goods and/or services. The practices and skills of business analysis (BA) are uniquely applicable to quality assurance because they are driven by a systematic, proven, industry-agnostic approach to excellence.

In this post, we’ll examine some of the core knowledge areas, tasks, and frameworks of business analysis to better understand how BA translates into QA.

Solution Evaluation and the BABOK

A Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® (BABOK® Guide), published by the International Institute on Business Analysis (IIBA), is a collection of best practices, knowledge, and skills needed for effective execution of BA. The BABOK Guide contains six knowledge areas (KA) that represent specific BA expertise and tasks. The knowledge areas are interrelated as an organization undergoes a change:

• BA Planning and Monitoring – organizes and coordinates BA efforts, then provides outputs that layout the approach that will be used for the specific effort
• Strategy Analysis – focuses on defining the future and transition states needed to address the need and the BA’s role in these activities
• Requirements Life Cycle Management – makes sure that requirements and designs are in alignment and met by the final solution
• Elicitation and Collaboration – describes tasks performed to get information from stakeholders and to confirm the results
• Requirements Analysis and Design Definition – focuses on structuring and organizing the requirements and recommending a solution
• Solution Evaluation – analyzes the actual solution, looking at the value being delivered

While quality is embedded throughout each KA, the Solution Evaluation knowledge area is a critical point of overlap between BA and QA. During Solution Evaluation, the techniques and perspectives of business analysis are brought to bear when evaluating a solution’s efficacy. Solution Evaluation focuses on assessing a solution’s performance and the value that the solution delivers. Through these tasks, business analysts also recommend the removal of barriers or constraints that prevent the full realization of value. Value is defined by the stakeholders.

Solution Evaluation may include any combination of performance assessments, tests, and experiments. Business analysts may combine both objective and subjective value assessments to evaluate the solution. They may also evaluate the value of a solution at several different stages of development:

• components, in development, or final and implemented
• prototypes or proofs of concept
• pilot or beta releases
• operational releases

These stages are certainly familiar to quality assurance testers. In fact, QA testing and BA solution evaluation often look similar, if not identical.

How QA Fits into the BA Value Spectrum

It is helpful to think about the stages of business analysis along a spectrum from Potential Value to Actual Value. Quality assurance most often occurs at the right-hand end of the spectrum, where value is realized.

Value spectrum adapted from IIBA

• At the left-hand “potential” end of the value spectrum, a Strategy Analysis helps to identify the needs and solution scope required of a change
• In the middle of the spectrum, Requirements Analysis and Design Definition (RADD) outlines the specific requirements and design plan for the change
• And at the “actual” end of the value spectrum, Solution Evaluation occurs just before actual value is realized and includes proof of concept or prototypes, pilot or beta testing, and testing for operating releases

Strategy Analysis focuses on what could be, and Solution Evaluation focuses on what is. RADD provides the link between the two, where value is beginning to be realized, but the full business need has yet to be answered.

Solution Evaluation Tasks Contributing to QA

There are five separate tasks in the Solution Evaluation knowledge area of the BABOK, all of which collaborate to assure the quality of the outcome:

Task #1: Measure Solution Performance: Determines the most appropriate way to assess the performance of a solution, including how it aligns with enterprise goals and objectives and performs the assessment. You may assess performance through key performance indicators (KPIs), enterprise measures, goals, and objectives for the effort, process performance targets, or tests for a software application.

Task #2: Analyze Performance Measures: Examines information regarding the performance of a solution. During this task, business analysts will seek to understand the value a solution delivers to the enterprise and stakeholders and determine whether it meets current business needs. Performance measures need to be accurate and relevant. They may be qualitative or quantitative. In addition to common measurement sources such as business goals, objectives, and processes, an enterprise may have measures sourced from third parties, including vendors, government, or other regulatory groups. These measures are analyzed for risks to solution performance, pronounced and repeated trends such as time-specific errors, and solution results that are reproducible and repeatable.

Task #3: Assess Solution Limitations: Investigates issues within the scope of a solution that may prevent it from meeting current business needs. This task identifies the causes for under-performing and ineffective solutions. It’s closely linked to the next task, Assess Enterprise Limitations, and they are frequently performed simultaneously. This task focuses on internal factors limiting the solution. Business analysts may assess solution limitations at any point during the solution’s life cycle. The assessment can be done on a component, the entire solution before release, or an existing solution.

Task #4: Assess Enterprise Limitations: Investigates issues outside the scope of a solution that may prevent the organization from realizing the full value of a solution. The sister task to Assess Solution Limitations, this task focuses on external factors that restrict solution value. Enterprise-level limitations may include culture, operations, technical components, stakeholder interests, or reporting structures. There may also be environmental factors that are external to the enterprise itself.

Task #5: Recommend Actions to Increase Solution Value: Identifies and defines actions the enterprise can take to increase the value delivered by a solution. The task asks: what can the organization do with the limiting factors identified? During this activity, business analysts focus on understanding the aggregate of the assessments conducted and identifying alternatives and actions to improve performance and increase value realization. Recommendations could include replacement, retirement, or enhancement. The long-term effects and contributions of the solution to stakeholders will also be considered. These recommendations may include organizational adjustments to allow for maximum performance, value realization, and quality assurance.

The BA Core Concept Model and Quality Assurance

The final BA element that we’ll explore in relation to quality assurance is the Business Analysis Core Concept Model™ (BACCM™). The core concept model describes the conceptual framework for business analysis. The model relies on a non-hierarchical circle of six concepts – changes, needs, solutions, stakeholders, value, and context. It encompasses all BA tasks, regardless of perspective, industry, methodology, or level. The six concepts are equal and necessary. Within the BACCM, each concept is related to the others, so if one concept shifts for a given change, all others should be reviewed for potential shifts.

When the core concept model is applied to Solution Evaluation, it contributes to QA by asking the following questions of the solution:

• Changes – Are any changes needed to the solution to better realize the value?
• Needs – How well does the solution meet the business’ needs?
• Solutions – Does the solution work? Does it deliver value? If not, why?
• Stakeholders – Have the stakeholders participated in testing? How well do they think the solution performs and delivers value?
• Value – Is the solution delivering value? If not, why?
• Context – How does the context of the effort impact the solution? Is the context limiting the value?

Why Involve a Business Analyst in Quality Assurance?

What is the best reason for involving a business analyst in quality assurance? Business analysts are, by definition, exceptionally knowledgeable about the business environment across a spectrum of sectors and industries. They are uniquely positioned to assess the value of a given solution, recommend meaningful adjustments, and help ensure that all stakeholders are satisfied with the goods and/or services provided to them.

With the completion of more than 200 successful projects using an approach to business analysis based on the BABOK Guide, Momentum has produced and retained a library of various practices, tools, and templates to assist clients in meeting their needs. This gives us a unique opportunity to pull these practices, tools, and templates from our existing library and, if necessary, customize them to align with any existing methodology. To learn more, subscribe to Momentum’s news and blog portal.

This post was adapted from a Momentum training on Solution Evaluation. If you are interested in training on the BABOK Guide or other topics, please contact us to see how we can meet your training needs.