Assignment1-Business Analysis

Business Analysis

Assignment1: Business Analysis & Business Case Statement

Hongyan Zhang

There are two important factors which heavily make influence on the quality of a final solution or product, they are related to the issues of why and how. “Why” is problem which is the rationale why your solution or system is needed. “How”is the approach or method which will determine how well in quality level that your solution or system is. They are the needs that should be determined before system requirement analysis. So , a business case is an opportunity of a project, which is gotten through the steps as follow: problem recognition , objective determination, the best solution choice based on optional approach （solution in general） analysis , feasibility analysis and recommendation making . Those tasks will help determine the rationale why your solution or system is needed. Requirement analysis can’t be started before the rationale of project is determined. System requirement can be treated as a solution to business needs. That is why I designed the assignment1 as the teaching task to enhance your abilities of contract attainment .

There are two parts in this file, part1 is the guidance to conduct you find your opportunity step by step .Part2 is the template to content framework, which tell you what outcomes you should produce and document.

一．The Process of Your Work

Aim

Based on the result of Assignment1, you have clearly defined the organization which was your investigation object , you should start your work of business analysis in order to determine the scope and objectives of business change project ,the problems deeded to be solved ,feasibility of the problem-solving ,the recommended option of the solution ,and the solution documented in business case. Bear in mind that the target audience of the business case is usually the client or senior management who will approve/reject the investment proposal.

Activities

1. Background statement

2. Organization Definition (chosen as the object of your investigation)

3. Analyze the context of Business system and determine the problems , the requirement or expectations of stakeholders for your business change defined in business case.

4. Identify the benefits of the project in terms of measurable organizational value (MOV) --‐ The MOV is the goal of the IT solution and is used to define the values (benefits) that your project will bring to your client. It will also be used to

evaluate whether your project was a success later on. Note: if you have defined the fit criterion for your project well in Assignment 1, they would form your MOV. In general, the MOV should spell out the following:

1) The area(s) of impact: Financial, Customer, Internal Processes, Growth and Learning? Others?

2) The potential value(s) of the IT Solution: Better? Faster? Cheaper? Do More? You should do your value analysis of your potential solution based on every impact area above.

3) Appropriate metric that sets a target and expectation.

4) Time Frame for Achieving the MOV.

5) Summary of the MOV in a Clear, Concise Statement, or Table. The MOV should focus on the organization, not the technology that will be used to build or support the IT solution.

5. Perform research on viable options. To simplify the assignment, your team needs only to research on these solution options: COTS, Open Source, Customizable Package and In‐house development. Keep evidence of your research and submit it as an Appendix (Using the standard of citing you have learnt from information retrieveing) .The outcome of this activity should be a description of the potential solution options (e.g. Package ABC provided by Company XYZ, or

Open Source Framework 123, etc.) that would meet the requirements you have determined in Assignment 1.

6. Perform high--‐level Option Analysis on all options researched in order to eliminate all but one options discovered from Activity 2 above. The criteria you used in performing this step should include, but not restricted to the following factors:

1) Objectives Met

2) Level of Requirements Met

3) Level of Constraints Met

a. Solution

b. Project

4) High--‐level Impact on Stakeholders

5) High--‐level Cost Comparison

6) High--‐level Risk Comparison

7) Key assumptions made in the Comparison

7. Perform a detailed Options Analysis for the remaining solution. To simplify the assignment, your team will consider the ROI and Risk analysis for the option identified in Activity4 above against the base case (of doing nothing --‐ the as--‐is solution).

8. Make a recommendation for your chosen option. You will need to make a strong confident recommendation based on the above analysis as well as any other supporting considerations that are appropriate for your case.

The template of Assingment1 outcomes gives the guidance to document the final outcomes of your analysis. You should learn how to analysis business and how to state your results in industrial standard. The outcome of Assignment1 will be the input of your second assignment—Assignment2: Technical solution. So the quality of this outcome will severely influence on the next assignment. You should carefully chose your problem and clearly define the MOV—your project goal and the scope the areas your solution will support.

二．The Content of Your Outcomes

Outcome Name: Business Case Statement

Executive Summary

Note:a succinct one page summary of the business problem, the key constraints and requirements, the solutions considered, the recommended

solution, and the ROI.

1. Section1 Background

1.1 Background

1.2 Organization Definition

1.3 Context of Business System

1.4 Problem, Requirements & Constrains.

Note: This is where some adjustments to the requirements could be made

2. Section 2 Measureable Organizational Values

2.1. Area(s) of impact

2.2. Potential Value of the IT solution

2.3.Time Frame for achieving the MOV

2.4. Summary of MOV (in a table format)

3. Section 3 Solution Options

3.1. Overview of research

Note: Criteria used, the method used, key guiding criteria (this could be constraints or requirements)

3.2. Option1

3.3. Option2

3.4. Option 3

Note: Here should be description of specific option and not option type (e.g. Microsoft Word 2008,and not off--‐the--‐shelf package)

4. Section 4 High--Level Option Analysis

Note: this should be done for the 3 options identified in Section 3 + the option of doing nothing)

4.1 Objectives Met

4.2 Requirements Met

4.3 Constraints Met

4.4 Impact on stakeholders

4.5 Costs

4.6 Risks

4.7 Summary and conclusion

5. Section5 Detailed Option Analysis

5.1 Base case revenue and cost drivers

5.2 IT case revenue and cost drivers

Note: Make sure all figures are justified—either based on figures obtained from the client organization or reasonable assumptions made

5.3 ROI

5.4 Sensitivity Analysis (optional)

5.5 Conclusion

6. Section6 Recommendation and Conclusion

6.1 Summary of solution

6.2 Summary of ROI

6.3 Recommendation

Note: Be confident in your recommendation.

Appendix Evidence of research on the various options