Have you heard of the SWEBOK?

by David Atkinson

If you are a Business Analyst then you will probably have heard of ‘A Guide to the Business Analysis Body Of Knowledge®’ or BABOK® Guide. But have you heard of the ‘Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge’ or SWEBOK®?

The BABOK Guide and SWEBOK are complementary overlapping reference works. This is because the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA®), publisher of the BABOK Guide, has ensured that it is aligned with the SWEBOK. The SWEBOK is published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and is available from www.swebok.org. The IEEE is a well known and prestigious international body and is a leading developer of international standards.

The SWEBOK deals specifically with software engineering which the IEEE defines as:

1. ‘The application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software; that is, the application of engineering to software.

2. The study of approaches as in 1.’

As such it deals with Business Analysis within the context of software engineering, covering the full software engineering life cycle. Some of the ten knowledge areas superficially resemble parts of the waterfall life cycle however this structure is merely a convenient way to structure the 'body of knowledge'.

The SWEBOK provides a structured framework breaking down each knowledge area into subareas, topics and sub-topics. The objective of this structure is to enable readers to quickly find subjects of interest and then to provide a reference for this knowledge. It also includes further reading and applicable standards. The scope of the knowledge covered is what was deemed to be generally accepted recognising that this excluded specialised, innovative and research type knowledge.

Supplemental knowledge areas are being developed by the IEEE. A draft Software Measurements knowledge area was published in February 2008. Two further supplemental knowledge areas, Security and Web Engineering, are currently under development.

As a reference work the SWEBOK is particularly useful for Technical Business Analysts of all levels of experience. Whilst the whole document is worth browsing the bulk of the relevant material can be found in the Software Requirements knowledge area which covers Requirements Elicitation, Requirements Analysis, Requirements Specification and Requirements Validation. Further relevant information can also be found in other knowledge areas. For example in the areas of Software Testing and the Software Engineering Process.

Other types of Business Analysts will also find it of interest as many Business Analysis activities are not specific to software engineering.

About the Author

David has over 25 years business analysis experience in a wide range of capacities, enterprise through tactical to operational, business and technical, in both the private and public sectors.