Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Gap AnalysisIn business and economics, gap analysis is a business resource assessment tool enabling a company to compare its actual performance with its potential performance.
If a company or organization is under-utilizing resources it currently owns or is forgoing investment in capital or technology then it may be producing or performing at a level below its potential. This concept is similar to the base case of being below one's production possibilities frontier.
This goal of the gap analysis is to identify the gap between the optimized allocation and integration of the inputs and the current level of allocation. This helps provide the company with insight into areas that have room for improvement. The gap analysis process involves determining, documenting and approving the variance between business requirements and current capabilities. Gap analysis naturally flows from benchmarking and other assessments. Once the general expectation of performance in the industry is understood it is possible to compare that expectation with the level of performance at which the company currently functions. This comparison becomes the gap analysis. Such analysis can be performed at the strategic or operational level of an organization.
'Gap analysis' is a formal study of what a business is doing currently and where it wants to go in the future. It can be conducted, in different perspectives, as follows:
Organization (e.g. human resources) Business direction Business processes Information technology Gap analysis provides a foundation for measuring investment of time, money and human resources required to achieve a particular outcome (e.g. to turn the salary payment process from paper based to paperless with the use of a system).
Note that 'GAP analysis' has also been used as a means for classification of how well a product or solution meets a targeted need or set of requirements. In this case, 'GAP' can be used as a ranking of 'Good', 'Average' or 'Poor'. This terminology does appear in the Prince2 project management publication from the OGC.
If a company or organization is under-utilizing resources it currently owns or is forgoing investment in capital or technology then it may be producing or performing at a level below its potential. This concept is similar to the base case of being below one's production possibilities frontier.
This goal of the gap analysis is to identify the gap between the optimized allocation and integration of the inputs and the current level of allocation. This helps provide the company with insight into areas that have room for improvement. The gap analysis process involves determining, documenting and approving the variance between business requirements and current capabilities. Gap analysis naturally flows from benchmarking and other assessments. Once the general expectation of performance in the industry is understood it is possible to compare that expectation with the level of performance at which the company currently functions. This comparison becomes the gap analysis. Such analysis can be performed at the strategic or operational level of an organization.
'Gap analysis' is a formal study of what a business is doing currently and where it wants to go in the future. It can be conducted, in different perspectives, as follows:
Organization (e.g. human resources) Business direction Business processes Information technology Gap analysis provides a foundation for measuring investment of time, money and human resources required to achieve a particular outcome (e.g. to turn the salary payment process from paper based to paperless with the use of a system).
Note that 'GAP analysis' has also been used as a means for classification of how well a product or solution meets a targeted need or set of requirements. In this case, 'GAP' can be used as a ranking of 'Good', 'Average' or 'Poor'. This terminology does appear in the Prince2 project management publication from the OGC.
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