What is the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge?
A Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® (BABOK® Guide) is a globally
recognized standard for the practice of business analysis. Th BABOK® Guide describes
business analysis areas of knowledge, their associated activities and tasks, and the skills
necessary to be effctive in their execution.
Th primary purpose of the BABOK® Guide is to defie the profession of business analysis.
It serves as a baseline that practitioners can agree upon in order to discuss the work they
do and to ensure that they have the skills they need to effctively perform the role, and
defies the skills and knowledge that people who work with and employ business analysts
should expect a skilled practitioner to demonstrate. It is a framework that describes the
business analysis tasks that must be performed in order to understand how a solution
will deliver value to the sponsoring organization. Th form those tasks take, the order
they are performed in, the relative importance of the tasks, and other things may vary,
but each task contributes in some fashion, directly or indirectly, to that overall goal.
Ths chapter provides an introduction to key concepts in the fild of business analysis
and describes the structure of the remainder of the BABOK® Guide. Chapters 2 through
7 defie the tasks that a business analyst must be capable of performing. Chapter 8
describes the competencies that support the effctive performance of business analysis,
and Chapter 9 describes a number of generally accepted techniques that support the
practice of business analysis.