Books Guide: Business Analysis

In this book, a team of IBM's leading information management experts guide you on a journey that will take you from where you are today toward becoming an "Intelligent Enterprise."

Bridging the Communication Gap is a book about improving communication between customers, business analysts, developers and testers on software projects, especially by using specification by example and agile acceptance testing. These two key emerging software development practices can significantly improve the chances of success of a software project. They ensure that all project participants speak the same language, and build a shared and consistent understanding of the domain.

In Multisite Commerce, Lev Mirlas–the architect who pioneered the concept of a shared multisite platform with IBM® WebSphere® Commerce–introduces best practices and methodologies for implementing and managing multiple e-commerce sites efficiently and cost-effectively.

Ten years ago, groupware bundled with email and calendar applications helped track the flow of work from person to person within an organization. Workflow in today's enterprise means more monitoring and orchestrating massive systems. A new technology called Business Process Management, or BPM, helps software architects and developers design, code, run, administer, and monitor complex network-based business processes.

For more than twenty-five years, An Introduction to General Systems Thinking has been hailed as an innovative introduction to systems theory, with applications in computer science and beyond. Used in university courses and professional seminars all over the world, the text has proven its ability to open minds and sharpen thinking.

The toughest challenge in building a software system that meets the needs of your audience lies in clearly understanding the problems that the system must solve. Advanced Use Case Modeling presents a framework for discovering, identifying, and modeling the problem that the software system will ultimately solve.

In a fundamentally new approach, this comprehensive two-volume set teaches all the techniques a modern analyst needs. The authors explain all the methods, models, and techniques of analysis, and simulate an actual project executed for a British television company. The reader is guided through each step of the project by exercises and the authors' advice.

This book presents, in clear and sometimes entertaining language, a basic background useful for understanding software. It explains why we should be cautious about introducing software into systems, and suggests criteria we might use to evaluate proposals to do so.