The video covers a training session led by a trainer regarding the “defining the solution” phase of business analysis. The session focuses on bridging the gap between a business’s current state and its desired future state.Core Concepts Covered

• Gap Analysis: Defined as the distance between the current state (as-is) and the desired future state (to-be). The process involves identifying these gaps and determining the actions required to close them.
• Business Activity Model (BAM): A conceptual model used to categorize activities into three buckets: those operating satisfactorily, those with issues, and those not in place. It helps identify where stakeholder perspectives align or conflict.
• PUPPET Framework: An acronym for People, Organization, Processes, Information, and Technology. This model provides a holistic view, ensuring all internal business aspects are considered throughout business changes.
• Formulating Options: Business analysts should not “solutionize” but rather provide multiple options (business and technical). Options are categorized as:
  • Basic: A quick, low-cost fix.
  • Extended: A middle-ground solution with more features.
  • Exhaustive: A comprehensive, high-impact, and high-cost solution.
• Design Thinking: A customer-centric approach involving iterative cycles of empathizing, defining, ideating, prototyping, and evaluating. It utilizes the double diamond model, which involves diverging to explore possibilities and converging to focus on the best solutions.

Session Structure

• The trainer conducted interactive breakout sessions, including a “holiday gap analysis” activity to practice identifying gaps and necessary actions for a hypothetical trip to Japan.
• A second activity required participants to categorize various store operational issues using the PUPPET framework.
• The session concluded with a emphasis on the importance of divergent and convergent thinking in developing effective, viable business solutions.