Benefits of Having a Business Analyst in a Company

Business Analysis is the practice of enabling change in an enterprise by defining needs and recommending solutions that deliver value to stakeholders. Business Analysis enables an enterprise to articulate needs and the rationale for change, and to design and describe solutions that can deliver value.

Activities of Business Analyst are collected within knowledge areas as Follows

1. Strategy definition
2.  Management of Business Analysis process
3. Requirements Engineering in Business Analysis
4. Solution evaluation and optimization

The activities of the Business Analyst may vary depending on his role and scope of responsibility. A Business Analyst working at the organization level is typically responsible for collecting insights and business needs and opportunities from the business environment (customers, competitors, organization’s assets) and proposing new, often innovative, business solutions.

Business Analysis tasks may differ depending on the product life cycle.

During initial phases of a product life cycle, a Business Analyst is typically responsible for establishing business needs and proposing a solution,

During solution development A BA’s activities are concerned with helping the team to build the right solution. When the product is released and working in production, typical BA tasks include monitoring and improving its efficiency, and introducing changes where necessary.

Meaning of different types of requirements 

Business requirements The highest level of requirements, developed during Strategy Definition activities. Business requirements define the high-level goals, objectives and needs of the organization.

Stakeholder requirements Elaboration of business requirements, defining the needs of stakeholders and how they will interact with a solution

Solution requirements The most detailed type of requirements describing the solution characteristics that will be needed to meet the higher-level business and stakeholder requirements

Functional requirements The capabilities that a product must provide to its users

Non-functional requirements Quality attributes, design and implementation constraints and external interfaces that must be possessed by the product

Transition requirements The solution capabilities required to transition from the current to the future state and are no longer needed once the transition is complete

The Business Analyst often acts as a bridge between business stakeholders and the solution delivery team, identifying, negotiating, and achieving a consensus between the needs of the various representative individuals and groups.

The Business Analyst needs the following competencies to effectively understand and work within the defined environment:

• Analytical thinking and problem solving skills

• Behavioural characteristics

• Business knowledge

• Basic technical knowledge

• Interaction skills

• Communication skills

• Negotiation skills and diplomacy

• Some level of managerial skills

• Creativity