Business Analysts are the key supporters of every business. They help analyze, promote and operate business data
and guide them to improve their success. Business Analyst Roles and Responsibilities vary from organization to
organization. These agile workers march the gap between IT and businesses to improve the overall functionality
of any business.
A Business Analyst’s Roles and Responsibilities also include engaging with the corporate leaders and the
customers to understand the gap between the product and its makers. This helps them promote actual business
problems in front of the authority to take reasonable actions.
In this article, I am going to discuss the Business Analyst’s Role and Responsibilities.
Business Analyst Roles and Responsibilities
For every Business Analyst aspirant, it’s important to understand the Role of a Business Analyst. As
this will help in preparing oneself to succeed in the role.
Business Analyst term is used to refer to two distinct profiles and that is often confusing for
many. In general, the IT industry is using the term Business Analyst to refer to
- IT Business Analyst or Systems Analyst: We are going to discuss this role in the article
- Business Analyst / Data Analyst / Analytics Professionals/Data Scientists – This role is different than
the IT Business Analyst, even though there are similarities.
It’s pertinent to explain what is business analysis so that we can understand the role of a business analyst in the right context.
What is Business Analysis and Who is a Business Analyst?
The International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) defines Business Analysis as follows:
Business Analysis is the practice of enabling change in an organisational context,
by defining needs and recommending solutions that deliver value to stakeholders.
So Business Analysis is all about solving a business problem/need using the organizational
context and transitioning the organization through the change (implementing the solution).
So, Who is a Business Analyst?
A Business Analyst is a professional who performs one or all of the Business Analysis functions. He
or she may not get involved with all the functions, defined as Business Analysis functions.
A Business Analyst, in general, is agnostic of the method/techniques used to solve a business need/problem. He/she
may use statistical models, machine learning, or software development methodologies to achieve the end goal.
This is one of the reasons why there is the widespread use of business analysts in multiple contexts.
What is the Role of an IT Business Analyst?
An IT Business Analyst works with customers and the technology team on a day-to-day basis. The diagram below
shows a high-level view of an IT Business Analyst role:
Here is the summary of the role of an IT business analyst:
- To interact with customers to understand their requirements
- To convert the business requirements into detailed technical requirements for the technology team
- To co-ordinate with the technology team to explain the requirements
- To validate the developed solution before handing it over to the customer for User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
- To co-ordinate with the customer team and the technology team to facilitate UAT
What is the role of a Business Analyst in Agile and Waterfall?
Before understanding the role of a BA in agile and waterfall, we need to understand what
are waterfall and agile methodologies.
Waterfall methodology is sequential in nature, which means that each step must be completed
before moving to the next. The main steps include requirement gathering and analysis,
solution design, implementation, testing, and maintenance.
Agile methodology is a practice that enables continuous iteration of development and testing in
the software development process. In Agile, development and testing activities occur concurrently.
Requirement Gathering Phase
BA in waterfall
In the requirement-gathering phase, a business analyst in a waterfall
- Gathers requirements from stakeholders formulate a solution and propose it to the client
- Prepare business specification documents to illustrate the project roadmap to the stakeholders
and seek the signoff on the requirements to freeze the project requirement gathering phase
- Hand over project requirements to the development team so that they can start designing
and developing of the project
BA in agile
- BA will create a high-level requirement based on the discussion with project stakeholders
- BA in the development team will work on requirements in priority order refining the next
few week's worths of requirements into enough details just in time for the developers to start working on them
- Lower priority requirements will remain on the requirement list as options until they are the next
priority. In other words, BA collaborate with other team members to determine how much analysis is
needed at the beginning of the project to establish the big picture and during each iteration in
order to establish a shared understanding without creating an extensive requirement inventory
Documentation
BA in waterfall
- Business analysis will create the documentations such as business requirement document,
functional specification, use case, flowcharts etc. These documents will be created based
on project needs and requirements. The development team will refer to these documents
while designing the solution.
Note: Not all documents are required to be created every time.
BA in agile
- Business analysts' major focus is to groom epics which are high-level requirements, users
stories which are slices of high-level requirements add acceptance criteria to user stories
or else walk with the product owner to groom stories and epics.
- The development team will follow user stories and work around the exceptions criteria for
the development in every sprint. Sometimes client also helps in grooming stories.
- Business analysts will create BR and FS depending on the organization or client's working pattern.
Requirement Confirmation and Change Request
BA in waterfall
- Change requests are generally resisted once the development gets started
- BA will seek sign-off on the requirement to freeze the project or to restrict
stakeholders or clients from any change requests. In case stakeholders ask for
a change during the project development cycle then generally the request may
be taken as a new project also called a change control request.
BA in agile
- The change is always anticipated and accommodated anytime during the project development.
This enables timely rectification of any odd queries or questions arising during the cycle.
- During every time box delivery cycle business analysts will take feedback from the
stakeholders, so that they can further modify the project or requirements if needed.
- These time box delivery cycles give a hang of what is getting developed in front of
the client and after 2 to 3 iteration deliveries clients get the clarity of what is
getting built.
- It can briefly help clients and BA on the project inside. This helps his team to develop
further user stories in a more efficient and productive manner.
Iteration
BA in waterfall
- Business analyst has to wait until the solution gets built. It can take weeks or months
time. Client UAT testing, implementation, and training these all will occur post entire
development completion.
- BA will reach out to clients post-completion of the project for a demo and or implementation
of the solution.
BA in agile
- In a short one to two-week period ideally, a team takes a couple of their customer's most important
user stories and build them completely as a running tested software.
- Business analyst will demo, communicate, educate the client to use the time box delivery running
tested software and will take feedback and move further.
Progress Update and Delivery Cycle
BA in waterfall
- Visibility on project development progress is limited for clients as the focus is to build
the complete solution before putting it in front of the client.
- A business analyst needs to verify the end-to-end solution which has been built and then
take it in front of the client and deliver it into their environment post-testing.
- The project gets delivered only when the complete solution gets built and tested. It can
take months as well.
BA in agile
- The visibility of a solution is getting built as high as a business analyst put small running
tested software in front of the client to validate whether the developed solution is meeting
clients' expectations or not.
- After client approval, a project gets delivered in small functional slices in every iteration.
Improvement aspect
BA in waterfall
- Business analysts and teamwork with the whole project on the next cycle.
- Feedback and lessons can be leveraged in future project solutions.
BA in agile
- Business analysts will take feedback at the end of every iteration delivery.
- BA work on improvement areas in coming iterations.
Business Analyst’s Responsibilities
A Business Analyst will be performing one or more of the activities on a day-to-day basis:
These activities are the primary responsibility areas for an Entry-Level Business Analyst. He/she may not
be doing all of them every day. The activities differ based on the stage of the project. Let’s consider these scenarios:
Managing Changes
In case of changes in the existing system (already in use by the customer), a Business Analyst has the following responsibilities:
- Understand and Document Requirements: It is a necessary skill for any
Business Analyst if they are working in corporate culture. Understanding and comprehending the document list
is the most required step after initiating and completing the project. BA’s Roles and Responsibilities include
documenting everything properly, preparing reports, and presenting the final results
to potential clients.
- Create Specifications Document: If any project requires additional inputs from the client’s end, in that case,
the BA’s Roles and Responsibilities include converting them into simpler and understandable forms. Work with the
technology team to assess the impact of the change. Business analysts are supposed to coordinate with the technical
team to monitor and assess the changes done for the project or branding. The factors that require monitoring are cost,
team effort, client requirements, etc.
- Seek Customer Approval: A Business Analyst’s major Role is to coordinate with clients and stakeholders to seek their validation. When customer dealing, BA is responsible to take the charge
and make the changes suggested if any.
- Validate Developed Solution: Business analysts may be called the face of the company. They are responsible for
the overall structuring, validation, and approval of the project.
- Coordinate the UAT: After completing all of the preceding processes, a business analyst's next and most crucial duty
in agile is to put whatever has been planned into action.
New Project
A new project is completely different from an ongoing project. In the case of a new project, a
Business Analyst’s Responsibilities are as follows:
- Understand and Document Requirements: As a Business Analyst, it is his/her primary role to determine
what stakeholders require and communicate these needs to developers, as well as to
communicate the developer’s expectations to stakeholders.
- Create a Prototype or UML Model: A Business Analyst may be considered a member of the software team, but
their primary duty is unrelated to the team’s work. He/She must make certain that he/she determines what a project
requires.
- Develop Data Model: Data modelling is an essential part of any project processing. A Business Analyst is
responsible for developing these models to keep everything in sync which results in proper project delivery.
- Prepare System Requirements Specifications (SRS) Document: Every system has different requirements which
need to be fulfilled on time. The business Analyst is responsible to prepare the blueprint of all the requirements
specifications for various domains.
- Coordinate with the Technology Team: After the product has been developed, it must be tested among users to
determine its operating capacity and quality. According to the role description, the Business Analyst tests the
prototype/interface by involving certain clients and recording their experiences with the model that has been produced.
- Understand the Requirements of the Businesses: The Business Analyst’s primary role is to work with project stakeholders
to understand their needs and translate them into details that developers can comprehend. Furthermore, to interpret the
developers’ emerging query into specifics that stakeholders can learn. The capacity of the Business Analyst to filter the
various messages and the requirements of the project stakeholders or customers into a coherent, single vision is a vital
skill necessary for this part of the process.
- Building a Team: Everyone is born with a unique set of abilities. The Business Analyst’s job is to assemble a
team of people with the various skills required for the project. Not only is hiring essential but so is keeping them.
A well-coordinated and skilled team can do incredible things. Coordination, structuring, and skills are essential in
a superb section inside. A strong team may propel a firm to new heights of success.
Business Analysts play an intermediary role between the customer team and the technology team to ensure that the
right software is developed for the customer.
Conclusion
Although a Business Analyst is a different position inside an organization, its functions and
responsibilities are critical to success. While they must be a strong orator, they must also have
the ability to pull people closer to their team and across the board. Their responsibilities are
not restricted to a single Project Management stage.
They must take one extra step until the end. A Business Analyst’s skills are required from the
beginning phases of evaluation to maintenance.
Becoming a BA requires a lot of struggle and patience because it is one of
the most prestigious journeys in the corporate world.
Do you want to understand the roles and responsibilities of a BA on a deeper level? If yes, then understanding
and gaining the foundational knowledge of the business analysis domain is crucial for you. You can opt for our
ECBA certification training course that helps you become a business analyst.
The key features of this course include JIRA, MS Visio and Pencil Tools, Agile, Scrum and User stories,
SQL Basics, ECBA Question bank (1000+ questions), ECBA Certification preparation, Requirements
Gathering and SRS, UML Requirements Modelling, and Resume assistance
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