Business requirements analysis is a critical practice that adapts to various industries, each with its unique challenges and objectives. Whether it’s banking, healthcare, manufacturing, or retail, the role of a business analyst (BA) is to identify, document, and ensure that the requirements align with business goals. Let’s explore comprehensive examples and case studies from different sectors to see how requirements analysis functions in real-world scenarios.
Real-World Examples Across Industries
1. Banking and Financial Services
Example: Implementing a Mobile Banking App In the banking sector, customer expectations for fast, secure, and user-friendly services are high. When a financial institution decides to develop a mobile banking app, a BA’s requirements analysis ensures that user needs are met while maintaining regulatory compliance.
- Functional Requirements: The app must support functionalities like account balance checks, funds transfers, bill payments, and mobile deposits.
- Non-functional Requirements: The system should handle peak usage loads efficiently, providing high availability and a response time of fewer than 2 seconds for key features.
- Regulatory Requirements: Compliance with data protection regulations such as GDPR or CCPA must be considered.
Case Study Insight: A leading bank in the U.S. faced challenges integrating two separate mobile platforms post-merger. The BA team conducted extensive stakeholder interviews and workshops to identify gaps in user experience and data flow. The result was a consolidated app that retained the most-used features while improving speed and security.
2. Healthcare
Example: Implementing an Electronic Health Record (EHR) System Healthcare projects often involve complex, multi-stakeholder environments where requirements analysis is essential for patient safety and operational efficiency. Introducing an EHR system touches on patient data privacy, usability for medical staff, and interoperability with existing systems.
- Functional Requirements: The system must support patient data entry, retrieval, prescription management, and appointment scheduling.
- Non-functional Requirements: The EHR must meet HIPAA compliance and provide secure, role-based access to ensure patient confidentiality.
- Usability Requirements: The system should have an intuitive interface for medical professionals, reducing training time and enhancing daily use.
Case Study Insight: A regional hospital network struggled with disparate patient data systems that complicated cross-departmental communication. The BA team performed a thorough process analysis and conducted focus groups with nurses and physicians to gather insights on workflow pain points. This led to requirements emphasising seamless data transfer between departments and real-time updates to patient records.
3. Retail and E-Commerce
Example: Launching an Omnichannel Customer Experience Platform Retailers often aim to provide a consistent customer experience across in-store and online platforms. A BA plays a pivotal role in aligning business and customer needs when launching an omnichannel experience.
- Functional Requirements: Customers should be able to view their purchase history, earn and redeem loyalty points, and access personalised promotions regardless of the platform.
- Integration Requirements: The system must sync with inventory management and point-of-sale (POS) systems to reflect accurate product availability.
- Performance Requirements: The platform should handle high traffic during peak shopping seasons without performance degradation.
Case Study Insight: A global retailer launching its omnichannel solution found initial user engagement to be low. The BA team analysed user feedback and identified the need for a single sign-on (SSO) feature across all customer touchpoints. By revising the requirements to include SSO and improving the mobile app’s loading time, customer engagement increased by 40%.
4. Manufacturing
Example: Implementing an Automated Inventory Management System Manufacturers need precision and efficiency in inventory management to reduce downtime and optimise resource use. Business analysts are essential in analysing existing workflows and defining the functional and non-functional requirements of an automated system.
- Functional Requirements: The system should provide real-time inventory tracking, automatic order reordering when stock reaches a predefined threshold, and detailed analytics on stock movement.
- Scalability Requirements: As production scales, the system should maintain optimal performance.
- Compliance Requirements: Adherence to industry-specific regulations, such as those governing safety stock levels and hazardous materials, must be maintained.
Case Study Insight: A mid-sized manufacturer faced recurring stockouts that disrupted production lines. The BA team mapped the current inventory workflow and conducted interviews with warehouse staff and supply chain managers. They defined requirements that automated reorder triggers and provided visibility into shipment timelines, ultimately reducing stockouts by 60%.
5. Government and Public Sector
Example: Developing a Citizen Services Portal Government agencies are increasingly looking to digital solutions to improve public service delivery. The role of a BA in these projects is to ensure that all stakeholders’ perspectives—from agency employees to the public—are considered.
- Functional Requirements: The portal should offer services such as tax filings, license renewals, and public record searches.
- Accessibility Requirements: The platform must be compliant with accessibility standards like WCAG 2.1 to serve all citizens effectively, including those with disabilities.
- Security Requirements: Given the sensitive nature of data handled, stringent cybersecurity measures must be included to protect against breaches.
Case Study Insight: A city council embarked on creating an online services portal to reduce the backlog in manual applications. The BA team used surveys and public consultations to gather user input, which revealed that mobile-friendliness and real-time service status updates were top priorities. By incorporating these findings into the requirements, the final solution enhanced user satisfaction and reduced application processing times by 50%.
Techniques Used in Industry-Specific Requirements Analysis
Stakeholder Workshops: This technique is particularly effective across industries where multi-stakeholder input is necessary. For example, in healthcare, workshops with nurses, doctors, and administrative staff help gather holistic insights for an EHR system.
Document Analysis: Analysing existing policies and records is crucial, especially in government projects. Reviewing current documentation ensures no regulatory requirements are overlooked.
Prototyping and Wireframes: For retail and e-commerce platforms, creating wireframes helps stakeholders visualise customer journeys and refine requirements early in the development cycle.
SWOT Analysis: Manufacturing projects benefit from SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis to understand internal capabilities and external market conditions before defining requirements for new systems.
Business requirements analysis is a dynamic practice, adapting to the needs of different industries and projects. By studying comprehensive examples and using tailored techniques, business analysts can deliver value, align stakeholders, and drive project success across diverse sectors.