Chapter: 6 Strategy Analysis

The Strategy Analysis knowledge area describes the business analysis work that must be performed to collaborate with stakeholders in order to identify a need of strategic or tactical importance, enable the enterprise to address that need, and align the resulting strategy for the change with higher- and lower-level strategies. 

This area includes the following tasks:

• Analyze Current State
• Define Future State
• Assess Risks
• Define Change Strategy

1. Analyze Current State:  It understands the business need and how it relates to the way the enterprise functions today and also understands the reasons why an enterprise needs to change some aspect of how it operates and what would be directly or indirectly affected by the change.
    a) Inputs

• Elicitation results: These are used to understand and define the current state.
• Needs: The problem faced by an organization often launches business analysis work to better understand these needs.

    b) Outputs

• Current State Description: It is the context of the Organization’s scope, capabilities, resources, performance, culture, dependencies, infrastructure, external influences, and significant relationships between these elements. 
• Business Requirements: The problem, opportunity which is defined based on an understanding of the current state.

2. Define Future State: Its purpose is to determine the set of necessary conditions to meet future needs. Moreover, it defines goals and objectives that will demonstrate that the business needs have been satisfied and defines what parts of the enterprise need to change in order to meet those goals and objectives. 

    a) Inputs

• Business Requirements: The problems, opportunities, or constraints that the future state will address.

    b) Outputs

• Business Objectives: It describes the direction in which the business wants to follow to acquire its goals and objectives.
• Future State Description: The future state description includes boundaries of the proposed new, removed, and modified components of the enterprise and the potential value expected from the future state.
• Potential Value: The value that may be realized by implementing the proposed future state.

3. Assess Risks: It describes the uncertainties around the change consider the effect those uncertainties may have on the ability to deliver value through a change and recommends actions to address risks where appropriate. 

    a) Inputs

• Business Objectives: It describes the desired direction needed to achieve the future state can be used to identify and discuss potential risks. 
• Elicitation Results: It is an understanding of what the various stakeholders perceive as risks to the realization of the desired future state.
• Influences: These are the factors inside of the enterprise and factors outside of the enterprise which will impact the realization of the desired future state.  
• Potential Value: It describes the value to be realized by implementing the proposed future state provides a benchmark against which risks can be assessed. 
• Requirements: It depends on their priority, requirements will influence the risks to be defined and understood as part of solution realization.

    b) Outputs

• Risk Analysis Results: It is an understanding of the risks associated with achieving the future state, and the mitigation strategies which will be used to prevent those risks, reduce the impact of the risk, or reduce the likelihood of the risk occurring.

4. Define Change Strategy: It performs a gap analysis between current and future state, assesses options for achieving the future state, and recommends the highest value approach for reaching the future state including any transition states that may be required along the way.

    a) Inputs

• Current State Description: It provides context about the current state and includes assessments of internal and external influences to the enterprise under consideration. 
• Future State Description: It provides context about the desired future state.
• Risk Analysis Results: It explains each identified risk and exposure to each risk.
• Stakeholder Engagement Approach: understanding stakeholders' communication and collaboration needs can help identify change-related activities that need to be included as part of the change strategy.

    b) Outputs

• Change Strategy:  It is the approach that the organization will follow to guide change. 
• Solution Scope: It is the solution scope that will be achieved through the execution of the change strategy.