Understand the Problem

Understanding the business problem is the main job of every BA. If a business just wanted the quickest, easiest solution, it would not have invested in a BA. A technology person can always come up with a quick idea for how software and/or hardware can improve the business without investigating the cause of the problem. An experienced analyst will thoroughly analyze the problem and consider possible solutions before jumping to a software fix.

Imagine Possible Solutions

The second step is to brainstorm about possible solutions. Experienced BAs will be imagining possible solutions constantly throughout the requirements elicitation process.

One of the challenges of being a BA is learning not to recommend a solution too early in a project, except during a feasibility study. Although an obvious solution may immediately present itself, many times the most obvious solution is not the best. Also, the most obvious solution may have already been tried. If the answer was that easy, a BA would not really be needed! As you begin to learn more about the business, its people, its processes, and its deliverables, you will see more and more possible solutions. As you learn more, some of your earliest ideas may prove to be inadequate, or you will find yourself refining your ideas, working to find the perfect solution. This is a natural activity for most BAs. BAs refuse to believe that there is a problem that can’t be solved.

Experienced BAs have learned to keep their initial ideas to themselves and focus on listening and learning. Work on your ideas alone; don’t present an idea until you feel confident that it will work. This ability to keep quiet and wait makes a BA more valued in the organization. How annoying is it when someone walks into your area, listens to your problem for five minutes, and immediately gives you the answer? The message that comes across is that your problem must be very simple, and you were not smart enough to solve it as quickly as someone else did. BAs who solve problems before understanding them will not be welcomed back into business areas. This quick-fix mentality is not appreciated.

Case in Point

Suppose a medical insurance company’s claims processing area is having trouble handling the volume of claims. Customers and providers are complaining because it takes too long for a claim to be approved and paid. Even without knowing much detail about this organization or this problem, we can imagine several possible solutions:

• Add more people to process claims. It may be that the processes are very efficient and streamlined and just need to have more people available to perform them.

• Improve the training of the existing claims specialists so that they can do their job faster.

• Decrease the number of claims or the amount of work required for each claim.

• This is a less obvious solution but should be considered. Could individual charges be combined into a single claim? Would that save time? Could policy guidelines be changed, allowing small claims to skip the approval process? Buy or merge with another insurance company that has a stronger claims processing system.

• Outsource claims processing to an organization that specializes in this work or to a location/workforce that is cheaper.

• Automate or more fully automate the process of receiving claims. Are they still coming in on paper? Could they be electronically transmitted? Could they be scanned?

• Automate or more fully automate the approval process. Create a business rules engine or decision support system that could make approvals based on a set of guidelines.

• Automate or more fully automate the payment system. Send funds electronically or combine small payments into a few large ones.

• Purchase a claims processing software package that manages most or all of the entire process.

An experienced BA will not let himself or herself get tied to any particular solution too early in requirements elicitation and analysis. He or she recognizes that any solution idea may be eliminated at any time as more information becomes available. In the above example, the BA may learn that the people approving claims are highly trained medical professionals who use their extensive knowledge and experience to determine if the treatments recommended are appropriate and should be paid. This highly specialized task cannot be automated, even by the most sophisticated software. This quickly eliminates one of the possible solutions.

Brainstorming about possible solutions is an important task that is often overlooked. Many times, the best solution turns out to be a combination of solutions. Maybe 50% of the claim approvals are very straightforward and could be automated, while the rest require highly specialized evaluation. Could the approvers be presented with a clearer, concise description of the claim components to help them more quickly make their decisions?

Maybe after the problem is clearly understood, there will be only one solution that will adequately solve it or other solutions will present themselves. Continue to be open to any solution as long as it is still feasible.