Role of a Business Analyst
Before you get into understanding the steps on how to become a business analyst in India,
it is of utmost importance to clearly understand the responsibilities carried out by a
business analyst. Different organizations have different meanings & understandings of
business analysis roles and hence the responsibilities also differ as a result. The responsibilities
may also differ based on the type & size of the initiative, the methodology being followed, and various other
factors.
Understanding the Role of BA in SDLC
The software development process starts with Strategic planning like any other project whether it's building a factory
or building a highway. It requires you to start with building a plan, then the next task which is
possibly the most critical task is to understand what does the customer want and convert them
into a set of details, which the tech team can then take it forward. Let’s take a look at the
SDLC and the role that a business analyst has to play in SDLC.
Requirements Development
Requirements Development is the first step. This is basically about systems analysis and understanding
everything about what is to be done. In this phase, the role of a BA is:
- To capture the requirements correctly and represent them in a way that is easier for
people to implement them.
- It is important to ensure that there is clarity and there is consistency as the chances
of the software being the correct one is very high.
Systems Design
Then comes the process design and how it will be done, so deciding on how you can develop that solution using different kinds of technology platforms, tools,
hardware and various other tech components so that it becomes the most efficient solution.
- In the Design Phase, the work is done by the Development Team and the Business Analyst works
as a ‘Consultant’ who is responsible to provide clarifications if needed.
Coding
Then comes the final coding work and business model analysis where the coding and testing is conducted so that then the software application can be given to the customer.
- In the coding phase, the Business Analyst acts as a consultant and makes sure the technical
architect or the solutions team is able to understand the briefs properly before they
initiating the work.
UAT (User Acceptance Test)
Finally, the Customer Testing - The Client itself has to test to understand whether the solution meets the requirement
or not, this is called UAT or User Acceptance Test.
- In the UAT phase, the role of a BA is to act as a coordinator and ensure that all the
questions of the client are answered.
Some other standard responsibilities of a Business Analyst:
- 1. Identify and
understand the core business needs which may involve a business problem or an opportunity
and recommend solution options.
- 2. Elicit business, stakeholder, solution and transition requirements specific to the solution
to be created to address the business need.
- 3. Create requirement documents in the formats as stipulated by the required authorities.
- 4. Communicate requirements to all pertinent stakeholders getting a buy-in from them and
ensuring that the business & technical team is on the same page. Also, ensuring that there
are no gaps and any issues are dealt with by liaising among all stakeholder groups.
- 5. Playing an active part during the implementation phase by clarifying any issues/concerns
from the implementation team and holding discussions with business teams as required.
- 6. Managing the requirements life cycle
by maintaining, prioritizing and tracing and assessing any changes to requirements. Ensuring
that requirements are accurate, complete and up-to-date.
- 7. Carrying out solution assessment to ensure that the implemented solution features are in line
with the requirements and underlying business needs.
- 8. Creating user manuals/guides and fulfilling any training needs for the end users.
Skills needed to become a Business Analyst
Now the question is - What do you need to be a business analyst? or to be able to perform these
activities? There are several skills needed to become a BA.
Some of them are needed at the Entry-Level and some of them are not needed at the Entry-Level. Functional knowledge is one
that is something which is not mandatory at the entry-level but it's a mandatory skill for anybody at some point in time as you have
to get into domain knowledge and without that, the scope of work will be very limited.
Business Analyst Skills Framework
So we have developed something called a craft framework which is basically four key skills which are needed
to become a business analyst or needed to perform your responsibilities as a business analyst. Here are the 4 skills that are included
in our BA skills framework.
1. Soft skills
The first framework is soft skills as you can see the role of a BA involves connecting and
interacting with a lot of people and a lot of stakeholders. Therefore, the soft skills for a
business analyst include the following:
2. Core BA skills
Then comes your core BA skills - the fundamental skills of a business analyst. You can call them technical
skills as here you need to learn UML user stories, agile waterfall, and JIRA MS ratio.
These are the things which you need to learn as fundamental BA skills. Therefore, this framework
includes the skills required for the following:
3. Functional knowledge
Functional knowledge is not necessarily an entry-level skill but you have to pick it up at some
point in time in your business analysis career. It refers to the knowledge of the industry and
the business as a whole. For example, if you are working on a banking project, then it is
important that you must know about the basic terminologies, processes, and concepts.
Having the functional knowledge will allow you as a business analyst to comprehend the project
requirements better and incorporate the same for good outcomes. You can leverage the
domain training courses offered by
Techcanvass for added advantage.
4. Functional testing
Finally, in the testing part as you have seen we have a stage where the client conducts the UAT at that point in time.
Before you go to your client for your software to be tested you also need to feel confident about it, you don't want to hear from
the customer about surprises so you want to ensure that everything is in order. For this, you need to have some bit of skills to test things
more like end-to-end testing more like process testing rather than an individual screen test. This framework includes:
- The ability to conduct system testing
Step by step approach to become a Business Analyst
Here are the steps you need to take to become a Business Analyst. Steps are similar for IT as well as non-IT
professionals.
Note: This article is based on my book
How to Become a
Business Analyst: With Business analysis basics tutorial available on Amazon.
Step 1. Conduct skills gap analysis
You need to evaluate your skills against the required skills for an entry-level Business Analyst. Which are these skills? We have created
a CRAFT framework to map the top 4 skills for becoming a Business Analyst.
You can download this Competency Evaluation Matrix to conduct a Skills Gap Analysis.
Step 2. Plan to upgrade your skills
Once you have completed skills gap analysis, you would know the skills you need to acquire. Now it’s time to
determine the approach you would like to take to acquire these. What do you need to consider:
Acquiring the Business Analysis skills
- Business acumen: Good understanding of finance, accounting, and core business principles to better comprehend business issues.
- Industry knowledge: Gaining industry’s business and functional knowledge through different means to analyze business needs better & devise most suited options.
- Requirements analysis and modeling: Learning tools & techniques for elicitation, requirements specifications, visual modelling and collaboration.
- Core IT methodologies (IT BA): Understand the various core software development methodologies like Agile, Waterfall, DevOps etc. to adapt business analysis activities within the specific methodology.
- Skills for hybrid roles (BA cum Tester): Understand the fundamentals of software testing considering business analyst has a big role to play in system testing and user acceptance
testing to validate the solution.
Acquiring the soft skills
- Communication skills: Strong verbal & written communication and listening skills to communicate effectively with stakeholders.
- Analytical thinking & problem solving skills: Ability to absorb the core problem and analyze deeply to identify the most fitted solution that delivers the desired value to stakeholders.
- Facilitation & negotiation skills: Act as effective facilitators & negotiators to ensure desired participation and avoid/resolve any conflicts among stakeholders.
- Inquisitive and detail oriented: Natural inquisitiveness to probe all possible aspects and analyze fine details to ensure clarity and completeness of information.
- Getting a Business Analysis Certification
Step 3. Skills acquisition plan
Your skills acquisition plan must include a certification. The most reputed entry-level Business Analyst certification is
IIBA ECBA Certification.
You can plan to go for a self-learning approach or an instructor-led training approach. Do keep in mind the gaps in your skills. Your learning approach must include those specific gaps.
You can also read about the ECBA Preparation approach.
One must hold a bachelor’s degree related to the business analysis domain. Secondly, a
master’s degree in business administration is also recommended for business analysts as it will
help in enhancing the knowledge and helping you crack the interviews easily.
However, it is important to note that a bachelor’s degree is a necessity when it comes to
becoming a business analyst.
Therefore, attaining a bachelor’s or master’s degree or any other form of advanced education not
only helps in acquiring some essential skills. It also helps meet the mandatory eligibility
criterion of business analysis openings. Bachelor's degree in fields like finance, computer
science, information management, or a similar field. For instance, It can prepare you for
business analysis-specific job openings. So, a Master's degree in business administration,
computer science, information management, or a similar field could help enhance your skills &
knowledge, and give you a competitive advantage in the job market.
Timelines: Our experience suggests that you should plan for 100-110 hours of study to achieve your goal. So if you are working or
having an extra workload you need
to plan accordingly. A 7-10 weeks plan works for most people.
As specified previously, earning a certification can help you acquire & enhance these skills and
potentially increase your eligibility for business analyst positions. Below are some highly
recognized certifications in the field of business analysis offered by the International
Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) –
Certifications
- Certified
Business Analysis Professional (CBAP) – Since, It is for seasoned BA professionals
with 5+ years of business analysis experience and is a testimony to the fact that one has
extensive know-how, skills and experience in the field of business analysis and is well
equipped to work on most complex business initiatives.
Step 4. Action time
The next step is obviously to get started and start learning. Focus on learning the concepts first and then apply them to your area of work. That will help you in relating
to the concepts better and will also lay the foundation for the interview.
Also, do practice and visualize. For example, Once you have learned use cases,
create use cases for your projects/area of work and get
it checked. That will give you a lot of confidence.
Communication and presentation skills are also important. If you feel you need to improve in that area, it’s a good time
to work on that as well. Join a course.
Basically, you need to put in the effort for all the skills to reach the desired level.
One good way to test your knowledge in a fun and interactive way is by participating in our
Skillster gaming platform. It is
a quiz for business analysts and PMP professionals that revolves around 4 domains, namely- Agile/Scrum, Business
Analysis, Project Management, and BABOK/CBAP. It has three levels and with each level, you will earn points, which
further can be used to earn cash rewards if you clear all levels.
To get started, you can simply sign up on the gaming platform and shortly after, you will receive
a confirmation mail.
Step 5. Work on projects to gain practical Business Analysis skills
While you are in the process of acquiring skills or have already put in the best of your efforts, there is no better way to apply the learnings
and even enhance the acquired skills than working on a practical project initiative. If you are already a working professional, try in order to explore the
possibilities of gaining useful experience by performing a business analysis role or assisting a full-fledged business analyst. Hence, as you work on a real project,
you are learning and practicing essential soft skills and hard skills that are required to perform business analysis in an effective manner.
Therefore, when you enroll for the
ECBA certification training course, you will get a chance to
implement your knowledge and skills on real-life projects such as Online Vehicle Exchange
Portal – Carexchange.com and Retail Banking System – Domestic & Internal Transfers. With the help of these projects, you
will be asked to use all what you have learned throughout the course training.
Data suggests that obtaining an ECBA certification can improve job prospects and earning potential, with
certified professionals reporting an average salary increase of 20% over non-certified counterparts. Are
you currently planning to get into business analysis? If yes, then enrolling for our ECBA certification
training is an ideal option for you.
This ECBA certification is a useful educational journey that can help you learn all the important skills
of becoming a successful business analyst. We can help you to meet the eligibility criteria by providing
fully equipped classrooms and offering practical learning experiences.
A unique aspect that candidates can enjoy after enrolling for the ECBA training is the interview preparation sessions that will allow them to easily crack
the most difficult interviews on their first attempt.
Step 6. Reshape your resume
Resumes are windows to you and your personality. Make it count. An employer looks at the resume
first in order to evaluate you. A good resume will help you in getting shortlisted for the interviews.
What should your resume include?
- Business analysis core skills
- Customer management/handling skills
- Problem solving skills
- Certifications
- Instances/projects where you have used these skills
Build your LinkedIn profile as well. Employers look at your LinkedIn profile these days.
Why should you have a LinkedIn profile? Don’t forget
to provide the link for your LinkedIn profile in
your resume. Upload your resume to the job sites and start applying.
Step 7. Prepare for the interviews
In the software industry, we use the term Dry Run. A dry run is used to refer to trials before the
actual go-live day. You should also use a dry run of interviews. Use a couple of
interviews as dry runs. Use the experience to assess your preparedness.
I always used these strategies while searching for jobs. Believe me, it is very effective to
prepare you for your best day.
Moreover, you can also leverage the Techcanvass business analyst interview questions and answers book specially written to aid
aspiring business analysts to crack the interviews on their first attempts.
In this book you will find the most asked or common interview questions that you might be asked
in your interview. You can get instant access to the book, where you can enjoy the answers written by industry experts.
All the best for your Business Analyst journey.
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