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Last month, I’d written a blog on another one of my sites that details some of the most common techniques that business analysts use. In that blog, I only highlighted two different techniques, but as any good business analyst knows, there are far more methods and techniques available than just two. This is precisely why I’d like to offer a few more commonly used business analyst techniques that can help pave the way for any young and aspiring business analysts.

The MOST analysis
The MOST analysis, while simple, is incredibly effective. It takes a slightly different approach than other techniques in that it allows a company to refocus its efforts. It is also unique in the sense that it has a “top-down” mentality; in other words, it is structured in such a way that every level of the organisation, from the head executives to the employees, have something to do.

  • Mission – Mission is, in short, the business or organisation’s mission statement. It is the ultimate goal of the company. When defining a mission, it is crucial that is be as specific as possible, as that makes setting individual goals and achieving success much easier in the future.
  • Objective – As just mentioned, the objective is the individual goals that are set in place in order for the company to achieve success. There’s another acronym for setting objectives: objectives should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely (SMART).
  • Strategy – Now that you’ve developed a mission and set objectives, your strategy is the actual plan that will achieve those goals. It’s as simple as that. You should be asking yourself, and the entire organisation, what do we need to do in order to achieve these objectives?
  • Tactics – Tactics are simply the basic actions that will achieve your strategies. They should be simple enough that anyone can understand and carry them out, even without a larger understanding of the overall picture.

Brainstorm, brainstorm, brainstorm!
While this might sound like a no-brainer, brainstorming is an incredibly important part of business analysis. Make sure to involve as many people as possible so that you may have a large group of diverse thoughts, strategies and ideas to choose from. While you may have been staring at a problem for hours, unable to come up with a solution, an outsider’s perspective could completely change your mindset. Brainstorming is typically a large part of all methods and techniques described.

Business analysis is a large and rather complex industry. But when these techniques are utilised properly, you can solve even the most difficult problems.