# Business Analysis Planning

> Plan the business analysis approach, stakeholder engagement, governance, and information management for a project

- Skill: `danhvb/business-analysis-planning` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add danhvb/business-analysis-planning`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/danhvb/business-analysis-planning/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Product & Planning
- Author: danhvb (https://skillmd.com/u/danhvb)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/danhvb/business-analysis-planning

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# Business Analysis Planning Skill

## Purpose
Define *how* the BA work will be performed. Before jumping into requirements, a Senior BA must plan their approach to ensure efficiency and alignment.

## Core Planning Areas

### 1. Plan Business Analysis Approach
**Predictive (Waterfall) vs. Adaptive (Agile)**
- **Waterfall**: Heavy planning upfront, formal docs, formal sign-off.
- **Agile**: Iterative planning, lightweight docs, continuous feedback.
- **Hybrid**: Strategic definitions upfront, execution in sprints.

**Deliverables**:
- Which artifacts will be produced? (BRD? User Stories? Prototypes?)
- When are they due?

### 2. Plan Stakeholder Engagement
- **Who** needs to be involved? (Refer to Stakeholder Analysis).
- **How** will we engage? (Interviews, Workshops, Surveys).
- **Frequency**: Daily standups? Weekly reviews?
- **Authority**: Who has the final sign-off?

### 3. Plan BA Governance
- **Change Control**: How do we handle changes to requirements?
  - *Process*: Submit Request -> Impact Analysis -> CCB Approval.
- **Prioritization**: Who decides priority? (PO, Sponsor).
- **Approval Workflow**: Who approves BRD? FRS? UAT?

### 4. Plan Information Management
- **Tools**: Where do we store requirements? (Jira, Confluence, Server).
- **Traceability**: What level of tracing is needed?
- **Reuse**: Can we reuse existing requirements?

## BA Plan Template (One-Pager)

**Project**: CRM Migration
**BA Lead**: [Name]

**1. Approach**: Hybrid using Agile Sprints for Dev, formal BRD for Data Migration.

**2. Key Activities**:
- Wk 1-2: Discovery Workshops (Sales, Marketing).
- Wk 3: BRD Draft for Migration.
- Wk 4: Sign-off.
- Wk 5+: Sprint Support / User Stories.

**3. Deliverables**:
- [ ] Stakeholder Map
- [ ] Current State Process Flows
- [ ] Use Cases (Migration)
- [ ] User Stories (New Features)
- [ ] UAT Plan

**4. Communication**:
- Weekly BA Status Report to PM.
- Bi-weekly demo to stakeholders.

**5. Tools**:
- Docs: Lark Docs.
- Tracking: Jira.
- Modeling: Figma.

## Assessing Project Complexity (The cynefin framework)
- **Simple**: Best practices apply. Standard approach.
- **Complicated**: Good practices apply. Analysis required.
- **Complex**: Emergent practices. "Probe-Sense-Respond" (Agile ideal).
- **Chaotic**: Novel practices. Act to stabilize.

## Estimating BA Effort
- **Top-Down**: X% of total project timeline (typically 10-15%).
- **Bottom-Up**: Estimate each activity (e.g., 5 workshops x 4h prep/conduct/doc = 20h).

## Best Practices
- **Align with PM**: Ensure BA plan fits the overall Project Management Plan.
- **Get Buy-in**: Stakeholders must agree to the engagement plan (e.g., committing time for workshops).
- **Be Flexible**: Update the plan if the methodology isn't working.

## References
- BABOK Knowledge Area: Business Analysis Planning and Monitoring.