BUSINESS ANALYSIS AND FINANCIAL POLICY UPSA – LEVEL 300 Mr. Charles Barnor, Mr. Danaa Nantogma and Mr. K. Fosu-Boateng 1

Week 1 Introduction to Business Analysis and Financial Policy INTRODUCTION Week 1 BUSINESS STRATEGY ANALYSIS Week 2&3 INVESTIGATION TECHNIQUES Week 4-5 CONSIDER PERSPECTIVES Week 6 ANALYSE NEEDSWeek 7 CASE STUDY PRESENTATIONS Week 8 INTERIM ASSESSMENTSWeek 9 EVALUATE OPTIONS Week 10 CORPORATE FINANCIAL POLICY DECISIONSWeek 11 DEFINE REQUIREMENTSWeek 12 REVISION Week 13 2

Topic 1 Introduction to Business Analysis and Financial Policy The rationale for business analysis The development of business analysis The scope of business analysis The responsibilities of a business analyst The Business Analysis Maturity Model The competencies of a business analyst 3

Business analysis is 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 will enable an organization to achieve its goals (International institute of business analysis, 2008). The development of business analysis as a professional discipline has extended the role and responsibilities of the business analyst (BA). Business analysts investigate ideas and problems, formulate options for a way forward and produce business cases setting out their conclusions and recommendations. Introduction 4

Business analysts have responsibility for the following areas: Identifying the tactical options that will address a given situation and will support the delivery of the business strategy Defining the tactics that will enable the organization to achieve its strategy Supporting the implementation and operation of those tactics Redefining the tactics after implementation to take account of business changes and to ensure continuing alignment with business objectives The development of business analysis 5

There is a chain of reasoning that leads from the statement of a problem to the implementation of solutions… POST-IMPLEMENTATION Business Analysts feed back to the Owner how well their measure of success has been achieved Owners defines measures of success and $targets …Business Analysts confirm & document Strategists determine the strategy to hit the targets …Business Analysts help do market research, create strategy, challenge & document Sponsors establish a Programme that delivers the strategy …Business Analysts document Programme TOR and help build the Business Case Programme Managers Institute Projects that implement the programme …Business Analysts document the Project TOR Project Stakeholders …Business Analysts specify requirements for Projects (in the Business Model) Design Analysts design solution that satisfies the requirements …Business Analysts write functional specifications, protect requirements & document compromises Project managers Implement solution …Business Analysts help with -Process and data migration -Cutover planning -Rollout Solution Builders & Business test solution …Business Analysts ensure tested against requirements Solution Builders build solution …Business Analysts protect requirements & document compromises Users Accept solution …Business Analysts help with -$MEASURING $BENEFITS $REALISATION Setting the scene: scope of the Business Analyst role $Money! …involving up to 10 groups of people… 6

Chain Of Reasoning: Change Requirements must be assumed to be wrong until they are proved to be right Stakeholders 7

Fundamental Components of Business Analysis 8

All the Links in the Chain Of Reasoning The problems / opportunities that the business face The measures and targets that will enable us to declare the change project has been successful Driver business Objective Change Requirement Business Rule Addressed as measured by Delivered by Enforces Definitions of what changes are required that will affect the measures of success (objectives) sufficiently for the business to be declared successful What rules must be implemented by the changes specified in the requirements Description 9

Business Analysis 10

Business Analysis Purpose: – Identify where the business stands in relation to rivals, etc. – Collect and use data to inform business decision making – Identify strengths and weaknesses in the business – Use information to inform strategic planning 11

Business Analysis Method: Collection of data from a range of sources: Market research Past sales data Market growth data Specialist analyst data Secondary data, e.g. Mintel 12

Data 13

Analysis Range of methods used to analyse data: Trends – Growth rates – Nominal – Average Mean Median Mode – Variance Standard deviation Range – Time series analysis – Scatter graphs Correlation 14

Trends Looking for patterns in data collections Frequency and reliability of trends Impact of external factors, e.g. seasonal variation, random events, cyclical trends 15

Averages Averages are a measure of central tendency – the most likely or common item in a data series Calculated through 3 measures: – Mean – Median – Mode 16

Averages Mean = Sum of items in the series/number of items X = Σx x Median = middle number in a data series – 0.5 (n+1) Mode = the most frequently occurring value in a data series 17

Variance Averages have limitations – measures of data spread used to assess width Range – difference between the highest and the lowest value Standard Deviation – used to measure the variance of the data set from the mean – can highlight how reliable the mean is as being representative of the data set 18

The Standard Deviation S = Σ (x i – x ) 2 n 19

Correlation The degree to which there is a relationship between two or more random variables The closer the relationship the higher the degree of correlation Perfect correlation would be where r = 1 20

Time-Series Analysis Used to analyse movements of a variable over a time period – usually years, quarters, months, etc. Importance of assessing the: – Trend – Seasonality – Key moments – Magnitude 21

Presentation Graphs Charts Tables Index numbers – Method of showing average changes in large amounts of data – Laspeyres – Uses a base period weighting measurement – Paasche – Uses a current price weighting measurement 22

Forecasting 23

Qualitative Focus groups - a group of individuals selected and assembled by researchers to discuss and comment on, from personal experience, a topic, issue or product User groups – similar to focus groups but consisting of those who have experience in the use of a product, system, service, etc. Panel surveys – repeated measurements from the same sample of people over a period of time Delphi method – calls on the expertise and insights of a panel of experts to help with forecasting – seen as being more reliable than data analysis only – Could be drawn together from around the world as there is no need to have people together at the same time In-house judgements – Use the expertise and judgements of those involved in the business in aiding and making judgements 24

Quantitative Makes use of all the statistical data collected by the firm and by other firms/organisations to help inform decision making – Surveys – Sales data – Impact on sales Primary data – collected by the firm themselves Data collected by others and used by the firm, e.g. Office of National Statistics (ONS), Gallup, Mori, Mintel 25

Forecasting Advantages and disadvantages: Data from several years can give accurate guides to future performance Statistical techniques can make the data informative and useful All depends on the quality of the data and the accuracy of the techniques used to analyse the data 26

Q& A THANK YOU 27