Strategy Analysis
Focuses on identifying the business need, gaps in current capabilities, the desired future state, the risks involved, and the change strategy needed to move from current to future state.
Defines the gap between today and tomorrow, and recommends how to cross it.
Strategy Analysis is the BA's seat at the executive table. It is where the change is justified, scoped, risked, and turned into a strategy that the rest of the work can deliver against. Without it, projects start in the middle of the story and never quite recover.
In practice
The BA describes the current state honestly (capabilities, performance, pain), defines the desired future state in measurable terms, names the risks of the gap and of crossing it, and proposes a change strategy: scope, sequencing, governance, and the criteria the change will be judged by.
Relationships with other knowledge areas
- →Sets the boundaries that BAPM plans within and that RADD specifies against.
- →Feeds RLCM the prioritisation criteria that flow from the change strategy.
- →Provides Solution Evaluation with the measures that 'success' will be checked against.
- →Anchors Elicitation in the right business problem instead of the loudest one.
Where this lands on the exam
BACCM touchpoints
- Need. Frames the underlying need at enterprise level.
- Change. Defines what the change is, and is not.
- Context. Names the internal and external context the change must fit.
Language to listen for in scenario stems
When a stem talks about business case, current vs future state, scope, risk, or how to choose between approaches — it is Strategy Analysis.
Key concepts
The ideas that anchor everything else in this knowledge area.
A problem worth solving or an opportunity worth pursuing — the 'why' of the change.
An honest description of how things work today and a credible picture of how they should work tomorrow.
The chosen approach for moving from current to future state — including transition states, risks, and trade-offs.
The set of capabilities the solution must deliver to meet the need — the boundary that everything else is measured against.
Common pitfalls
Patterns that frequently cost initiatives — and exam points.
- ⚠Jumping to solutions before the need is clearly understood.
- ⚠A future state that is aspirational but not achievable.
- ⚠Ignoring transition states — assuming go-live is the only state to design for.
- ⚠Optimistic risk assessment ('we'll figure it out').
Tasks
The 4 tasks that make up this knowledge area. Click any task to expand its inputs, outputs, techniques, and guidelines. Technique tags are clickable.