Mathieu Gouanou's Foreword:
The Business Analysis definition under IIBA® BABOK® v3.0 compared to the IIBA® BABOK® v2.0 definition
BABOK® v2.0 defines Business Analysis as:
“The set of tasks and techniques used to work as a liaison among stakeholders in order to understand the structure, policies, and operations of an organization, and recommend solutions that enable the organization to achieve its goals.”
BABOK® v3.0 defines Business Analysis as:
“The practice of enabling change in an organizational context by defining needs and recommending solutions that deliver value to stakeholders.”
This new definition clearly shows that the new business analyst is now serving as a facilitator for business change and transformation. The bolded words in the new definition come from IIBA’s Business Analysis Core Concept Model or better known as BACCM.™ BACCM™ is a tool for analyzing change at any level in an organization including setting organizational strategy to implementing a single feature or component on a small maintenance project.
At the foundation of BACCM™ are six core concepts: change, need, solution, context, stakeholder, and value. All of the concepts are equally necessary and no one concept can be fully understood until all six are understood. The six core concepts are presented in the diagram below.
The BACCM was first conceived in May 2011 when the IIBA® BABOK® v3.0 team first met. The model was first presented publicly at the BBC conference in 2011. It was presented again by IIBA’s Kathleen Barret and Julian Sammy at the 2012 BBC Conference in Florida.
At first glance, this model appears very simple, but its implications and use are immense. Expect to see much more of this model in the future.
The IIBA has a new tagline “Helping Business do Business Better.” I agree and like this new tagline, and believe it reflects the real purpose of Today’s business analyst. The modern business analyst is much more than the person that defines functional requirements for IT systems.
