Business Analyst Fundamentals

As the Business Analyst roles and responsibilities are different from those of a Project Manager, the skills required to fulfill those positions are also different.

The Business Analyst thoroughly evaluates the project using test cases. The Business Analyst reviews the test results and finds out bugs. The Business Analyst works on the business requirements in a more detailed way. He/she breaks down the process and distributes that work among developers.

Whereas, the Project Manager is responsible for monitoring the project in this phase. The Project Manager prepares the schedule for developers and stakeholders to communicate, and along with that, he/she works on the risk management plan to avoid all the upcoming risks in the project.

The Business Analyst and the Project Manager pull together the ideas and views and then implement the project plan. Both professionals will make sure that the work is done on time with zero errors. The Control phase is for reviewing the final results.

Business analysts identify business areas that can be improved to increase efficiency and strengthen business processes. They often work closely with others throughout the business hierarchy to communicate their findings and help implement changes. Tasks and duties can often include:

The business analyst position requires both hard skills and soft skills. Business analysts need to know how to pull, analyze and report data trends, and be able to share that information with others and apply it on the business side. Not all business analysts need a background in IT as long as they have a general understanding of how systems, products and tools work. Listed below are some bullet points that can be used in a Business Analyst Job Description:

• Create requirements and specifications for business solutions

• Conduct business analysis and research to identify key metrics and opportunities for improvement

• Develop processes and procedures to ensure business solutions meet strategic goals

• Ensure business processes are running in accordance with Agile methodologies

• Consult with key stakeholders to determine business objectives and success factors

• Collaborate with team members to collect, analyze, and evaluate information from multiple sources including

• Present findings and recommendations to stakeholders

• Write and document business requirements, functional requirements, and design specifications

• Work with information technology professionals to develop a solution that meets business requirements

• Continuously improve existing business processes and strive to develop new ones to improve efficiency

Short-term vs Long-term

One of the key points to understand with any Business Analst role is that these positions typically are short-term in nature. Having a Business Analyst as a permanent position isn’t always the best fit, because many of these types of projects are short-term in nature. In that, once many of the Firm ‘problems’ get fixed, what is left for the Business Analyst to do? Does this really warrant a full-time position? A Business Analyst works for efficiently as a temporary role because it allows someone to take an objective look at the Firm, provide support for the engagement, and then slowly transition out of the Firm, all the while educating the participants as to the ‘hows & whys' of the processes that were created. 

Dumping Ground

Subsequently, one of the problems with having a full-time business analyst on staff is that when/if certain issues arise at a Firm, employees tend to get ‘lazy’ and offshore all of their problems (big or small) onto the Business Analyst to solve. I’ve seen this many times where employees tend to ‘dump’ all of their unwanted problems onto the Business Analyst to fix, which a) creates a lack of accountability at the Firm, and b) a tendency for employees to become ignorant about the functions they are actually performing.

Transitory in Nature

My theory is that a Business Analyst analyzes the problem with the requester and provides support. However, it is then important for the Business Analyst not to ‘take on’ all of the functions, but yet transition those back to the requester, while educating them on how to correct the problem if/when it arises in the future. Too many times I have asked Firm employees, ‘why do you do this?’ and most of the time, the answer is “I don’t know why, but it is what I was told to do.” Education is important in this process, for employees need to be educated as to the hows/whys of what they are doing so they can become involved in the process.