Business analysis of Tesco PLC

Business analysis skills require an understanding of the step-by-step processes inside your department and between departments.

Business analysis skills require you to compare the cost of doing something right, to the cost of doing it wrong. Knowledge of labour, materials, and overhead costs are essential to decision making.

Business analysis enables you to learn what your organization does, and how it does it. Analysing work processes involves highlighting each step and determining which steps can be improved. Determining the cost of each step bring the seriousness of doing things right to the fore. The business analyst must be a leader to increase the likelihood of achieving department targets and team goals.

Monitoring critical performance indicators is essential to keeping employees focused and for allowing the determination of how many employees are needed. For instance, in a retail outlet like Tesco it is essential to monitor the queue of customers at the till across the course of a day. Only then can you match an appropriate number of employees to the variation in customer throughput.

Business analysis tools are essential in today's retail marketplace. Being able to inform team members that “small” mistakes costs the company a specified amount of money will get more results than a vague request to do better. It is essential to understand and teach work flow and work flow variances, Then the team will have the knowledge to attack the real problems. Team scorecards can be used to motivate team members and, in many cases, eliminate problems before they happen.

Mastering computer applications, like spreadsheets and project management software, is likely to strengthen your business analysis skills more than anything else. To gain continuous improvement in these areas you would be wise to seek out training in analysis procedures. These can most easily be obtained online through the internet, although arranging in house courses for you and your colleague would gain you Brownie points for initiative.

There are several business analysis techniques that are useful in companies like Tesco. These include:

• SWOT analysis
• PESTLE analysis
• Porters five forces analysis
• Gap analysis
• Accounts receivable analysis

Any business analyst requires a more than superficial understanding of these techniques. Again, it is important to seek out as much training in these procedures as you can find. The internet provides some great free resources in these areas, some available from this website. But you should also seek out books and computer training packages when more detailed knowledge is required.