The IIBA has broken down business analysis into 6 core bodies of knowledge and some underlying competencies. This hierarchical break down, in theory, should represent the entirety of what it means to be a BA and to do business analysis.

The IIBA (International Institute of Business Analysis) is an international professional association. They release a guide to the industry called the BABoK (Business Analysis Body of Knowledge). In this guide they outline a hierarchical approach to breaking down and understand Business analysis, it’s practice and the specific strategies and tactic used to do it effectively.

Knowledge areas define what a practitioner of business analysis needs to understand and the tasks a practitioner must be able to perform.

They Break down Business Analysis into six Bodys of knowledge;

• BA Planning and Monitoring
• Elicitation and Collaboration
• Requirements Life Cycle Management
• Strategy Analysis
• Requirements analysis and definition
• Solution Evaluation

Each body contains between four and six key tasks. Each task has its own inputs and outputs. The IIBA also define some underlying competencies which are required for effective delivery of BA services.

[!cite] Reference and see also iiba-core-standard.pdf babok_guide_v3_member.pdf

• Planning and Monitoring
• Elicitation and Collaboration
• Requirements Management and communication
• Enterprise Analysis
• Requirements Analysis
• Solution Assessment and Validation
• Underlying Competencies

Each knowledge area is describing a task or group of tasks which the Business Analyst is completing.