Business Analysis Quarter

Business Analysis Quarter (hereinafter, the Quarter) is the second of four lectures of Project Quadrivium (hereinafter, the Quadrivium):

• The Quarter is designed to introduce its learners to enterprise analysis, or, in other words, to concepts related to analyzing enterprise data in order to create enterprise information or, in other words, information needed for enterprise design; and
• The Quadrivium examines concepts of administering various types of enterprises known as enterprise administration as a whole.

The Quadrivium is the first of seven modules of Septem Artes Administrativi, which is a course designed to introduce its learners to general concepts in business administration, management, and organizational behavior.

Lecture outline

The predecessor lecture is Data Gathering Quarter.

Concepts

1. • 1. Statement of work (SOW). A formal document that defines the entire scope of the work that shall be completed in order to implement the proposed change.
2. Enterprise analysis.
   • Analysis.
   • Information.
   • Performance.
     1. Efficiency.
     2. Effectiveness.
   • Enterprise information.
   • Critical path. The longest sequence of activities in a PERT network.
   • Dependence. B's relationship to A when A possesses something that B requires.
3. Data analysis.
   • Data reliability. The trustworthiness of data; this trustworthiness is a result of analysis of (a) content reliability, (b) source reliability, and (c) data intent.
     1. Content reliability.
     2. Source reliability.
   • Data intent. Intention or purpose with which data was created.
     1. Fact-based data. Data created with the intent to provide its users with facts.
     2. Opinion-based data. Data created with the intent to provide its users with opinions.
     3. Agenda-based data. Data created with the intent to provide its users with information desired to accommodate one's business goals or agendas.
     4. Metadata. Data about data; it may include data sources, geolocation, the chronology related to data creation and further movement, data contexts, etc.
4. Business analysis.
   • Business need.
   • Requirement.
   • Strategic portfolio.
5. Stakeholder analysis.
   • Stakeholder.
   • Stakeholder involvement.
   • Stakeholder power
6. Data-analysis tool.
   • Database.
   • Management information system (MIS). A system used to provide management with needed information on a regular basis.
   • Digital tool. Technology, systems, or software that allow the user to collect, visualize, understand, or analyze data.
7. Data-analysis technique.
   • Investigation. The formal or systematic examination of data sources that uses one or more data-gathering techniques and is conducted in order to gather data and/or assess data reliability.
   • Controlling.
   • Benchmarking.

• Structured problem. A straightforward, familiar, and easily defined problem.
• Task force (ad hoc committee). A temporary committee or team formed to tackle a specific short-term problem affecting several departments.
• Task identity. The degree to which a job requires completion of a whole and identifiable piece of work.
• Task identity. The degree to which a job requires completion of a whole and identifiable piece of work.
• Task significance. The degree to which a job has a substantial impact on the lives or work of other people.
• Task significance. The degree to which a job has a substantial impact on the lives or work of other people.
• Task structure. One of Fiedler's situational contingencies that describes the degree to which job assignments are formalized and structured.
• Task structure. The degree to which job assignments are procedurized.
• Unstructured problem. A problem that is new or unusual and for which information is ambiguous or incomplete.
• Procedure. A series of sequential steps used to respond to a well-structured problem.

Practices

The successor lecture is Solution Design Quarter.