101 Must Techniques for BAs

Business Analyst is like a two-sided coin, on one side he possesses the Business Analysis
skill set composed of tasks and techniques and on the other side he possesses certain
underlying competencies to succeed in his profession. Both are very vital to make a complete
business analyst. In this post, I would like to put in perspective why do a BA needs
techniques and how many of them should a BA know to perform above optimal.

Technique is a method to collect, understand, analyze and present information and data in a
useful form in business analysis activities. For any given activity, a Business Analyst may
have several techniques at hand, but experience helps in determining which has to be

deployed. Techniques are helping business analysts to perform a business analysis task in a
more effective way.
From my experience as a practitioner and faculty of Business Analysis over 20+ years, I have
shortlisted the following 101 techniques as the minimum techniques a business analyst should
know to succeed in BA profession.
1. Acceptance and Evaluation Criteria Definition
2. Activity Sampling
3. Ansoff' Box/Matrix
4. ARCI Charts
5. Background Reading/Research
6. Balanced Scorecard
7. Benefit - Cost Analysis
8. Benefits Management
9. Benefits Realization
10. Benchmarking
11. Brainstorming
12. Boston Box
13. BCG Matrix
14. Business Process Modeling Notation 2.0
15. Business Rules Analysis
16. Business Activity Model
17. Business Case
18. Business Event Analysis
19. Business Process Triggers
20. CATWOE
21. Class Modeling
22. Concept Maps
23. Conceptual Model
24. Conscious Competence Model
25. Constraints Analysis
26. Context Diagram

27. Critical Success Factors

28. CRUD Matrix
29. Cultural Analysis
30. Data Dictionary and Glossary
31. Data Flow Diagrams
32. Data Modeling
33. Decision Analysis
34. DMAIC
35. Document Analysis
36. Estimation
37. Entity-Relationship Diagrams
38. Entity-Relationship Modeling
39. Ethnographic Study
40. Facilitated Workshops
41. Feasibility Analysis
42. Force-Field Analysis
43. Four-View Model
44. FMEA
45. Focus Groups
46. Functional Decomposition
47. Gap Analysis
48. Hothousing
49. House of Quality
50. Interface Analysis
51. Interviews
52. Impact Analysis
53. Influence / Interest Grid
54. Investment Appraisal
55. Joint Application Development Workshops
56. Joint Requirements Planning Workshops
57. Kolb Cycle
58. Kurt Lewin's Model of Organizational Change

59. Learning Cycle

60. Learning Styles
61. Logical Activity Model
62. Logical Data Modeling
63. McKinsey's 7-S
64. Mind Maps
65. MOST Analysis
66. Lessons Learned Process
67. Metrics and Key Performance Indicators
68. MoSCoW Analysis
69. Non-functional Requirements Analysis
70. Observation
71. Organization Modeling
72. Object Class Modeling
73. Options Identification
74. Organization Diagram
75. PARADE
76. PDCA
77. PEST Analysis
78. PESTEL Analysis
79. PESTLE Analysis
80. PESTLIED Analysis
81. Porter's Five Forces Framework
82. Power / Impact Grid
83. Power / Interest Grid
84. Problem Tracking
85. Process Modeling
86. Prototyping
87. Requirements Workshops
88. Risk Analysis
89. Root Cause Analysis
90. 5-Whys

91. Scenarios and Use Cases

92. Scope Modeling
93. Sequence Diagrams
94. State Diagrams
95. Structured Walkthrough
96. Survey/Questionnaire
97. SWOT Analysis
98. Time Boxing
99. User Stories
100. Vendor Assessment
101. Voting
Though there are much more techniques available, mastering these 101 techniques will give a
solid foundation to business analysts where these techniques are more than sufficient most of
the times.
About Author
Mr. Venkadesh Narayanan is the Principal Consultant at Fhyzics Business Consultants Private
Limited. He is a Mechanical Engineer and an MBA with over 20 years of experience in
Consulting, Business Analysis and Process Improvement. Mr. Narayanan is a former member of
Indian Civil Services [IRAS 2000 Batch] and served at Indian Railways, Larsen & Toubro
ECC, Siemens (USA), Euro-Pro LLC (USA) and Latex International (USA) prior to joining
Fhyzics. LinkedIn Profile: http://in.linkedin.com/in/venkadesh
He is also a member of several professional bodies and holds the below certifications:
Certified Business Analysis ProfessionalTM (CBAP), IIBA, Canada

Certified PMI - Professional in Business AnalysisSM (PMI-PBA), USA

Certified Professional in Requirements Engineering (CPRE-FL), IREB, Germany
Certified Business Process Professional, ABPMP, USA
Certified in Lean from Society of Manufacturing Engineers, USA
Certified in Six Sigma from Motorola University, USA
About Fhyzics:
Fhyzics is a leader in providing business analysis services and business analysis training. Fhyzics
helps organizations to establish Business Analysis Centre of Excellence (BACoE) and to build
business analysis capability. We are an Endorsed Education ProviderTM of International Institute
of Business AnalysisTM (IIBA), Canada and Registered Education Provider of International
Requirements Engineering Board (IREB), Germany.