Who is a Business Analyst?

Who is a Business Analyst?

I have been a business analyst for quite some time. But when it comes to telling people what I do, people find it hard to get a clear picture. Some People compare this line of work with project management, while others think it is another term for a data analyst. Therefore, I decided to write this article to spread awareness about Who is a Business Analyst? What is their role in an organization? What skills do they possess to make it one of the highest-paying jobs?

Business analysts are in charge of translating information into usable, actionable decisions. They are an executive of the management of a business unit, accountable for the strategy, organization, and performance of a business. This person will perform activities such as taking market measurements and planning and analyzing data related to the interest of the stakeholders. Business analysts are often in charge of identifying business problems and suggesting solutions for these problems.?

In Layman's terms, Business analysts (BAs) are responsible for bridging the gap between IT and the business using data analytics to assess processes, determine requirements and deliver data-driven recommendations and reports to executives and stakeholders.?

What do they do?

The work of a Business Analyst is often misunderstood. Most people think the job consists of just sitting around and writing reports. However, this is far from the truth! The following steps will help you understand what your role as a Business Analyst entails:

Identify

First, you need to identify the stakeholder: who is the person or group with whom you're working? What are their requirements? How can you find out more about their challenges and required outcomes??Then, you need to understand the problem: what is it that needs solving to achieve your goal? What is it specifically? And how will this problem affect the people affected by it? You'll also have to consider what could happen if this problem remains unsolved—what would that mean for everyone involved???

Finally, Analysing some corner cases and rare scenarios that might not come up very often but could still occur: these are problems that are unlikely to happen anymore but have happened before, and they might lead to other issues in the future.?

Gather

After all key things are identified and taken into account, it is prominent to sit down with the stakeholders and understand why a product or a service is needed, what problem it is going to tackle and what would be the perfect solution if there was no restraint whatsoever. This stage requires ample documentation. It is crucial to note down every single requirement regardless of its importance.

Once you have collected all these requirements, it's time to create a detailed business plan. It is crucial to ensure that the document is easy to read and understand by any stakeholder involved in the project.?It is also required to write down each requirement and justify their necessity within your business plan so that you can present yourself as a reasonable person who cares about their customers as much as they do about themselves.

Process?

Once you've gathered all the information needed for your project, it's time to process it. A Business Analyst can also be considered a part-project manager during the project development stage. They are responsible for ensuring that all the requirements are fulfilled and the right product is developed. At the same time, they also have to make sure that the work is done efficiently without any waste of resources, time, or money, while at the same time keeping in mind all possible constraints like budget or time frame to ensure a win-win partnership for both parties involved in the project.?

Test

When developing a product, it is the responsibility of the BA to make sure that each component meets the client's requirements. Only when approved by the BA, the solution will be considered accepted and ready for trial by stakeholders. The BA directs the whole development process and can also be considered a stakeholder because it is a mixture of their vision with clients' visions that leads to product development.?

Delivery?

After testing, the Delivery team steps in and works alongside the BA to oversee the timely delivery of the project. Together they ensure there are no issues with the requirements. Quite often, BA is responsible for providing training material and are required to create user manuals and other supporting documents to provide end-to-end support to the client.?

What are the Different Techniques of Business Analysis?

There are a handful of varying business analysis techniques—brace yourself for a flood of acronyms.

• CATWOE (Customers, Actors, Transformation Process, World View, Owner, and Environmental Constraints). This technique identifies the key parties and processes potentially affected by any action the business undertakes. This technique helps business analysts thoroughly evaluate how a proposed action will affect a collection of different parties and elements.
• MOSCOW (Must or Should, Could or Would).?This process prioritizes requirements by presenting a framework where every single demand is evaluated compared to other requirements. Is it a must-have or a should-have? Is it something that could improve the product or something that would be an ideal future element?
• MOST (Mission, Objectives, Strategies, and Tactics).?Business analysts use these elements to conduct a detailed and complete internal analysis of an organization's goals and how to handle each one.
• PESTLE (Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological, Legal, and Environmental).?Business analysts use the PESTLE model to evaluate the various external factors that can potentially affect their company and how best to address them.
• SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats). This technique identifies a corporate structure’s areas of strength and weakness, translating them into opportunities and threats. The knowledge gained helps determine proper resource allocation.
• Six Thinking Hats.?This analysis process directs a group’s line of thinking by brainstorming alternate perspectives and ideas. The ‘six hats in question are White (focus on your data, logic), Red (uses gut feelings, emotions, intuition), Black (potential negative results, what can go wrong), Yellow (focus on positives, optimistic), Green (creativity), and Blue (process control, the big-picture overview).
• The 5 Whys.?Commonly found in Six Sigma and business analysis techniques, this series of leading questions, all posed with “Why?”, helps business analysts identify a problem’s origin by asking why a situation exists, then raising another “why?” question to the answer, and so on.

Essential Skills for Business Analysts

Business Analysts ensure the products or services their company offers are as functional and useful as possible. They are responsible for evaluating new ideas and helping to decide what products should be developed in the future or what will be the efficient way of tackling a problem. According to the?Institute of Business Analysis, a good analyst needs the following skills and knowledge:

• Analytical thinking and problem solving
• Communication skills (oral and written)
• Interpersonal and consultative skills
• Costs benefit analysis
• Facilitation skills
• Detail-oriented and able to deliver at a high level of accuracy
• Organizational skills
• Processes modeling
• Knowledge of business structures
• Stakeholder analysis
• Requirements engineering
• Understanding of how networks, databases, and other technologies work

To conclude, a Business Analyst is a good career path and can fetch excellent compensation. In the USA, many platforms like glassdoor.com report an average salary for an entry-level Business Analyst of roughly $75,000. It is estimated to reach a high of 120,000USD with 5yrs of relevant experience. The same goes for India, where you can secure an average compensation of 5Lakhs-11Lakhs per annum as an entry-level professional with Salaries up to 25Lakhs per annum for an experienced person. (5 years of relevant experience)

However, it requires you to be quick on your feet, a good hustler, and most importantly proficient at communication and persuasion skills, along with being knowledgeable about various technical and business disciplines.