Network Analysis Application to Analyze the Activities and Artifacts in the Core Business Analysis Cycle

Abstract

For the last ten years, leading professional associations and institutes have developed a set of practice standards in business analysis and requirement engineering. The best-known standard is a guide to the business analysis body of knowledge version 3 (BABOK), created by the International Institute of Business Analysis. The article is aimed to identify the core business analysis cycle's central elements via network analysis and understand the main directions of the business analysis model development. The focus is set to dependencies of tasks, deliverables, and work products to highlight the core activities and artifacts of the BABOK. The influences and linkage tasks and artifacts significantly impact pre-project analysis, requirement analysis, and business solution evaluation. This work allows rethinking the scope of business analysis by creating a conceptual model and defining the most influential business analysis tasks and artifacts that business analysts should concentrate on.