BABOK® Guide V3
Shaping the global direction of Business Analysis…
BABOK Guide, a globally acclaimed standard for the practice of Business Analysis is a core product of IIBA. The “Business Analysis Body of Knowledge” (BABOK) reflects the collective knowledge of business analysis community over the globe. From its inception in 2004, it has come a long way as a platform that defines the skills and knowledge required by the Business Analysis professionals.
Purpose of BABOK Guide
The foremost objective of the BABOK® Guide is to define the Business Analysis profession by encompassing a common set of BA practices. It enables practitioners get acquaintance with the knowledge and skills necessary to perform various business analysis tasks effectively and efficiently. It is recognized as a standard platform of which employers take benefit to test the right skills and expertise of the BA practitioner while hiring the same.
The entire BABOK® guide comes with a well-defined structure which includes Knowledge Areas specifying a set of related tasks, Business Analysis Key Concepts, Underlying Competencies, Techniques, and Perspectives.
Knowledge areas cover the core-content part of the BABOK® guide. Each section of knowledge areas includes a set of related tasks that specifies a particular activity needs to be performed to accomplish the accompanied task. Whereas, the other sections like the Key concepts, competencies, techniques, and perspectives assist Business Analysts to perform their tasks efficiently.
The Brand New BABOK® Guide V3:
BABOK® V2 and BABOK® V3 are the two versions of BABOK® guide by far. Among these, the BABOK® V3 is the newly launched version which has emerged out of V2 with some major and minor changes.
Let’s have a look at these changes to understand BABOK® better.
Changes in BABOK® Guide Version 3
The major changes in Version 3 include:
- The addition of the Business Analysis Core Concept Model
- The expanded scope of the role of business analysis
- The addition of Perspectives
- The addition of new and expanded underlying competencies
- The addition of new techniques
- Business Analysis Core Concept Model (New Addition)
The Version 3 of BABOK® Guide comes with a brand new Business Analysis Core Concept Model. The model defines the conceptual framework for the BA profession and includes six core concepts namely Changes, Needs, Stakeholders, Solutions, Context, and Value. Each core concept mentioned here is an ideal fundamental having equal importance as other BACCM concepts have.
The newer version highlights three major responsibilities of Business Analyst, they are:
- Prepare organizations and stakeholders for changes
- Provoke changes to meet business needs
- Prevent change when it is not desired.
- Perspectives (New Addition)
In a bid to use more focused and precise approach to the business analysis tasks and techniques, perspectives have been incorporated in the BABOK® Guide V3.
The perspectives that are added with the new version of BABOK® Guide are as follows:
- Agile
- Business Intelligence
- Business Process Management
- Information Technology
- Business Architecture
- The Knowledge Areas:
Major changes have been done to this section. Let’s understand these changes in a more precise form.
| BABOK® Guide V2 | BABOK® Guide V3 |
| Business Analysis Planning and Monitoring | Business Analysis Planning and Monitoring |
| 2.1 Plan Business Analysis Approach | 3.1 Plan Business Analysis Approach |
| 2.2 Conduct Stakeholder Analysis | 3.2 Plan Stakeholder Engagement |
| 2.3 Plan Business Analysis Activities | 3.3 Plan Business Analysis Governance |
| 2.4 Plan Business Analysis Communication | 3.4 Plan Business Analysis Information Management |
| 2.5 Plan Requirements Management Process | 3.5 Identify Business Analysis performance Improvement |
| 2.6 Manage Business Analysis Performance |
| BABOK® Guide V2 | BABOK® Guide V3 |
| Elicitation | Elicitation & Collaboration |
| Prepare for Elicitation | Prepare for Elicitation |
| Conduct Elicitation Activity | Conduct Elicitation Activity |
| Document Elicitation Results | Confirm Elicitation Results |
| Confirm Elicitation Results | Communicate Business Analysis Information |
| Manage Stakeholder Collaboration | |
| Requirements Management and Communication |
| Prepare Requirements Package |
| Communicate Requirements |
*The two parts of Requirements Management and Communication section namely, “Prepare Requirements Package” and “Communicate Requirements” have been inculcated into Elicitation & Collaboration knowledge area of BABOK® Guide V3.
| BABOK® Guide V2 | BABOK® Guide V3 |
| Requirements and Management | Requirements Life cycle Management |
| Manage Solution Scope and Requirements | Trace Requirements |
| Manage Requirements Traceability | Maintain Requirements |
| Prepare Requirements Package( migrated to Elicitation part) | Prioritize Requirements |
| Communicate Requirements( migrated to Elicitation part) | Assess Requirements Changes |
| Approve requirements |
| Requirements Analysis |
| Prioritize Requirements |
*One part of Requirement Analysis section namely, Prioritize Requirements has been moved to Requirements Life cycle Management section in BABOK® Guide V3.
| BABOK® Guide V2 | BABOK® Guide V3 |
| Enterprise Analysis | Strategy Analysis |
| Define Business Need | Analyze Current State |
| Assess Capability Gaps | Define future State |
| Determine Solution Approach | Assess Risks |
| Define Solution Scope | Define Change Strategy |
| Define Business Case(migrated to Requirement Analysis and Design Definition) |
| Requirements Analysis |
| Define Assumptions and Constraints |
| Solution Assessment and Validation |
| Assess Organizational Readiness |
| Define Transition Requirements |
*The “Define Assumptions and Constraints” part of Requirement Analysis has been moved to Strategy Analysis area of BABOK® Guide V3.
*The two parts of Solution Assessment and Validation section namely, “Assess organizational Readiness” and “Define Transition Requirements” have been inculcated into Strategy Analysis area of BABOK® Guide V3.
| BABOK® Guide V2 | BABOK® Guide V3 |
| Enterprise Analysis | Requirements Analysis and Design Definition |
| Determine Solution Approach | Specify and Model Requirements |
| Define Business case | Verify Requirements |
| Validate Requirements | |
| Requirement Analysis | Define Requirements Architecture |
| Prioritize Requirements(migrated to Requirements Life cycle Management) | Define Design Options |
| Organize Requirements | Analyze Potential Value and Recommend Solution |
| Specify and Model Requirements | |
| Define Assumptions and Constraints | |
| Verify Requirements | |
| Validate Requirements | |
| Solution Assessment and Validation | |
| Assess Proposed Solution | |
| Allocate Requirements |
*The Enterprise Analysis and Solution Assessment & Validation Area of BABOK® V2 merges together to impart changes into BABOK® V3.
| BABOK® Guide V2 | BABOK® Guide V3 |
| Solution Assessment and Validation | Solution Evaluation |
| Assess Proposed Solution(migrated to Requirement Analysis and Design Definition) | Measure Solution Performance |
| Allocate Requirements(migrated to Requirement Analysis and Design Definition) | Analyze Performance Measures |
| Assess Organizational Readiness(migrated to Strategy Analysis) | Assess Solution Limitations |
| Define Transition Requirements(migrated to Strategy Analysis) | Assess Enterprise Limitations |
| Validate Solutions | Recommend Actions to Increase Solution Value |
| Evaluate Solution Performance |
- Techniques and Competencies
There are 15 new techniques that have been added in the BABOK® Guide V3.
They are as follows:
New Techniques
- Backlog Management
- Business Model Canvas
- Collaborative Games
- Concept Modeling
- Balanced Scorecard
- Business Capability Analysis
- Data Mining
- Process Analysis
- Business Case
- Roles and Permission Matrix
- Decision Modeling
- Financial Analysis
- Mind Mapping
- Prioritization
- Stakeholder List, Map, or Personas
The names or focus of some of the techniques has changed. Brief of which is given below:
Techniques (Changes)
- Benchmarking and Market Analysis (renamed as Benchmarking in BABOK® V2)
- Data Dictionary (renamed as Data Dictionary and Glossary in BABOK® V2)
- Glossary (renamed as Data Dictionary and Glossary in BABOK® V2)
- Reviews (renamed as Structured Walkthrough in BABOK® V2)
- Risk Analysis and Management (renamed as Risk Analysis in BABOK® V2)
- Use Cases and Scenarios (renamed as Scenarios and Use Cases in BABOK® V2)
- Workshops (renamed as Requirements Workshop in BABOK® V2)
- New Competencies
- “Conceptual Thinking” and “Visual Thinking” in the Analytical thinking and Problem Solving Competency
- “Personal Accountability” and “Adaptability” in the Behavioral Characteristics Competency
- “Methodology knowledge”, “Non-Verbal Communication”, and “ Listening” in the Behavioral Business Knowledge Competency
- “Negotiation & Conflict Resolution” Competency in the Interaction Skills Competency
- “Communication Tools & Technology” in the Tools & technology Competency
Removals and Additions in Competencies
- Personal organizations renamed as Organization and Time Management
- Business principles and Practices renamed as Business Acumen
- Oral Communications renamed as Verbal Communication
- Facilitation and Negotiation split and renamed as Facilitation
- Software Application (in BABOK® V2) renamed as Tools and Technology (in BABOK® V3)
- General purpose Applications renamed as Office productivity Tools and Technology
- Specialized Applications renamed as Business Analysis Tools and Technology
- Other Changes:
The definition of “Business Analysis”, Requirement, and Design concept has been updated as per given below:
| Term | BABOK® Guide V2 | BACCM BABOK® Guide V3 |
| Business Analysis | Defined 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” | Defined as “the practice of enabling change in an organizational context by defining needs and recommending solutions that deliver value to stakeholders” |
| Requirement | Defined as:1. A condition or capability needed by a stakeholder to solve a problem or achieve an objective.2. A condition or capability that must be met or possessed by a solution or solution component to satisfy a contract, standard, specification, or other formally imposed documents.
3. A documented representation of a condition or capability as in (1) or (2).
|
Defined as:a usable representation of a need
|
| Design | Not defined | Defined as:a usable representation of a solution |
About the Certification,
With the release of BABOK® Guide V3, aspirants are eagerly waiting for the revised certification that IIBA offers. Earlier the certifications provided by IIBA for various Business Professional Exams were based on BABOK® Guide Version 2. But now, it has been announced that from 30 September, 2016 the revised certification will be implemented. The certification exams based on BABOK® V2 will last till September 22, 2016 and there will be a black period from September 23 to September 29, 2016.
This simply means, IIBA will hold no exam between these dates and a fresh certification exam will be framed on September 30, 2016 which will be based on Guide BABOK® V3.
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