Development of a decision support tool for selecting Business Analysis methods within agile Software projects

Agile software projects challenge entry-level Business Analysts (BA) with fast-moving contexts and a fragmented landscape of methods.

Hilty, Samuel, 2025

Type of Thesis Master Thesis
Client
Supervisor Giovanoli, Claudio, Re, Barbara
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In practice, method selection is frequently driven by tacit knowledge rather than explicit criteria, producing inconsistent, or suboptimal outcomes. This thesis develops and evaluates a practitioner-oriented Decision Support Tool (DST) that guides novices toward context-appropriate Business Analysis methods for agile software projects.
Using a two-iteration Design Science Research approach, the study consolidated a focused set of 23 methods, defined an influencing-factor-to-method-attribute model for selection, and operationalised multi-criteria decision analysis via TOPSIS. Model parameters were informed by a structured literature review, a practitioner survey (n=27), and interviews in three streams: Problem identification (n=5), Design & Development with attribute ratings (n=8), and demonstration/evaluation with live tool use (n=8). The DST is implemented in Microsoft Excel for accessibility and integrates a factor ratings and weightings, explicit handling of benefit/cost attributes, input and rating normalisation, and relationship-based weighting to balance many-to-many mappings between influencing factors and method attributes. The tool outputs ranked recommendations per application area and complements each recommendation with concise explanations, examples, and learning resources.
Results show that the DST consistently produces plausible, context-sensitive recommendations and supports explainable decisions. Iteration 2 improved onboarding, input clarity, and navigation (e.g., dropdowns, tooltips, focused start page) without altering the underlying algorithm. The thesis contributes (1) a consolidated, novice-oriented method set with relevant attributes and influencing factors; (2) a MCDA implementation (TOPSIS) for BA method selection; (3) an immediately usable Excel-based DST; and (4) an explainability mechanism linking influencing factors to method attributes so users understand why a method fits. The scope is intentionally limited to entry-level BAs in agile projects and a single MCDA technique (TOPSIS).
Studyprogram: Business Information Systems (Master)
Keywords
Confidentiality: öffentlich
Type of Thesis
Master Thesis
Authors
Hilty, Samuel
Supervisor
Giovanoli, Claudio, Re, Barbara
Publication Year
2025
Thesis Language
English
Confidentiality
Public
Studyprogram
Business Information Systems (Master)
Location
Olten