The Business Analysis Blog

Erin Brockovich: The Business Analyst

2009-10-20T08:10:00.003+05:30

Recently I saw Erin Brockovich for the nth times (yes I can't remember how many times I have seen Erin Brockovich). It is needless to say that it is a great movie but at the same time it teaches you so much about how to go about your work. How can we Business Analysts learn from Erin Brockovich and perform our tasks better:

When you get a business case or a business problem investigate a bit further, just like erin did.
Talk to people, visit them understand their problem.
If the business is new for you talk to the subject matter experts no matter from where you get hold of them. Talk to them try to understand the business and the industry.
Get involved in the project and keep the positive energy flowing. Be available for others to come and communicate with you.
Always be aligned to the client, even when you are talking about their costs.
Always take time out to build relationships with the client, it pays a lot.
There will be resistance from some people in the client take that in your stride.
Continue doing your good work and the resistance will melt away.
Take good care of your loved ones, take time out for them as they are the ones who are going to keep your lifeline going on. You don't want to lose them.

Tarun Chandel
The Business Analyst

How to stay on top of your work

2009-10-14T11:14:00.001+05:30

As Business Analysts we face some very hectic days, especially at the start of the projects. All of us have seen days when we keep running in and out of Requirement Gathering workshops and meetings with the stakeholders. These workshops and meetings generally last the whole day and the routine continues for days.In midst of all these meetings the Business Analyst is supposed to make sense of the business problems and keep working on the deliverables as well. There are so many things going on that it becomes difficult to stay on top of your work.

Here are some tools that I have been using, it works really well for me. I hope it helps you.

Get Offline and maintain a personal notebook to record all the project related info: Yes it is very important that you get off your laptop. Your laptop is your workstation and it believe it will distract you with so many things like mails, pings from other people, your use cases and other documents and deliverables. It is important that you move away from your laptop to organize your work. Invest in a personal notebook to maintain all the project related information.
Keep calendar marked for important dates and tasks: As there are tonnes of things going around in the project you need to stay on top of the so many different dates. When is the next workshop, whne is the next meeting with the stakeholder, when is the deliverable due dats, when is the date to respond to all the queries, when is your boss visiting you, when is the meeting with the tech team .... Yes the dates will drive you crazy. We do use Outlook for organizing our meetings but it is also very important that we keep an offline record in our notebook. So that we can plan our work accordingly.

Tip: Paste prints of monthly and yearly views of the calendars
Tip: Color code the meetings.

Keep all the important numbers handy: We meet so many new people in a project and you never know who you might need at what stage of your project. Though we all have a phone and you have their number in it but it is difficult to remember all the name (yes it is not easy for me) and unless we have a phone with great search tool (my phone doesn't have it) it is better to have the list of number ready to use.

Tip: Take a printout and paste the list at the start of the notebook.

Divide the notebook into sections: Divide the notebook logical sections. This will help you to find the appropriate information quickly. Also it helps you to better organize the information.
Spend half an hour at the start of everyday to plan your day: This is the most important activity. When you start our day by going through the notebook you get a quick snapshot of the current status of the project. You should start your day with looking at the upcoming important dates and tasks for the day. It will help you to plan your day and keep tab on the day's activities.
Spend half and hour at the end of the day to fill the gaps and updating the work book: End your day with updating the notebook with the learnings of meetings and workshops you attended during the day. You must do this exercise without postponing it to the next day. It doesn't take more than half an hour to complete this activity but it will help you to stay on top of your work.
Carry the book to every meeting and keep taking notes: Do carry this notebook to every meeting you attend and make small notes. This will help you to sync up at the end of the day. Believe me when you are attending more than one meeting everyday it takes a lot out of you and it becomes difficult to remember each and everything. These notes will help you to retain pointers to important decisions or discussions you had in the meeting.
Over the time it will become the most important BA tool: If you maintain the notebook properly it will become the most important BA tool as it is going to help you to do you Business Analysis tasks better.

Points to remember:
Not easy to do, there is a learning curve.
Tip: Keep doing it religiously for a month and it will definitely help you to stay on top of your work.

Tarun Chandel
The Business Analyst

Back with a Buddha Moment

2009-05-05T08:33:00.001+05:30

Alrite it's been a really long time that I have posted anything here. Blame me, curse me but please excuse me for the long absence. I promise I will make up for the lost time in coming months.

I was recently reading a book from the Dalai Lama the leader in exile of Tibet and a quote just got stuck in my head. I modified the quote to make it relevant to the Business Analysis Blog (the embolden words are my modification).

We must ultimately develop more than mere academic knowledge of the Business Analysis. We must integrate the truths of the Business Analysis teaching into the depths of our very being, so that they become reflected in our lives.

Collaboration is of little value if it remains an idea. It must become our attitude towards others, reflected in all our thoughts and actions.

- Modified version of The Dalai Lama's Golden words, taken from his book An Open Heart

Buddha momemt for the Business Analysis blog!

I hope all of you are doing good. There is lot more to say so please keep coming back :)

Tarun Chandel
The Business Analyst

Matt's Journey for a Perfect Business Analysis Role

2009-01-08T05:26:00.000+05:30

Matt was recently looking for a job shift. Matt is a Business Analyst and is open to relocate to any place given that the work he gets should be good and in the profile of a Business Analyst. When Matt started his search on internet job portals he stumbled upon a lot of job openings for Business Analysts. He soon realized that BAs are required almost all over the world be it USA, UK, Rest of Europe, South Africa, Australia, India, Singapore or New Zealand (place he always wanted to visit).

Here are some of the Business Analysis Job Ads that Matt found:

USA	Job Profile and Skills Required
Job Description 1	Ability to lead working sessions with client to capture product requirements and translate those requirements into structured Product Definition Documents Experience developing process flows from high-level concepts Ability to ask the right questions at sufficient detail in order to capture the essence of the product requirements Experience in devloping software under a standard SDLC methodology. Expert in MS Offices tools. Expert in Powerpoint, Visio and Project
	Demonstrates strong interpersonal skills, with team members, clients and counterparts. Builds personal expertise in a business area. Contributes to and/or delivers products that drive client satisfaction by performing tasks such as organizing and preparing business documentation in support of implementation of new business processes/procedures; and gathering and organizing data. Supports own Performance Management Process, including but not limited to, managing own time and expenses involved in work. May serve as a Peer Advisor for newly hired Senior Business Analyst(s). Applies BearingPoint Delivery Framework methodologies to work. Supports business development and proposal efforts by assisting with the development of written material and/or developing cost proposals. Supports, and may contribute directly to, engagement financial management activities. Participates in recruiting activities. Will serve as client representative in briefings, meetings, and conferences. Conduct functional business analyst activities across the systems development life cycle. Produce interface specifications, user documentation, and systems/customer acceptance testing. Conduct client interviews and produce high quality requirements documents. These requirements will include functional capability for DoD disbursing systems and the interface requirements between these systems and SAP and Oracle Financials ERP systems. The qualified candidate will need to possess an understanding of the functional needs of the client. This entails the ability to review and analyze an end-to-end process, understand abstract business concepts and processes, and revise to meet the client's goals. The candidate will need to facilitate the clarification of functional specification and relay those specifications to internal and external stakeholders for review and acceptance. Throughout both the functional and implementation activities, continuously develop and maintain all required and pertinent documents, to include memorandums, agreements, and management plans. Must have at least two years of analytical experience in a business or technical environment, and have demonstrated experience in: preparing and reviewing engineering and technical analyses, reports, change proposals, and other technical documentation; developing white papers, needs assessments, feasibility studies, cost benefit analyses, and flow charts; building and analyzing test plans and strategies. The candidate should posses an understanding of enterprise architecture, different IT frameworks and related principles, as well as software improvement processes. The candidate will not only need problem-solving skills but should be able to see the larger picture and decipher the steps to get the client from problem to solution. Direct experience with business planning and execution for business continuity including implementation, post implementation support, role emphasizing configuration, testing, and project management to develop an integrated system that delivers a strategic business advantage to a client or company. Have experience establishing and updating systems' requirements. Excellent communications skills, including the ability to clearly articulate client and customer requirements and objectives and serve as an on-site representative as requested. Developed Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs), Interface Control Agreements (ICAs), system test strategies and scripts and other system documentation. Experience providing technical implementation support following system "go-live". Experience supporting a project management office (PMO) for a major system implementation.
Job Description 2	Analyzes and evaluates computer and business systems. Supports design, implementation and testing. Performs cost/benefit/risk analysis. Assists in ensuring that the methodology is compliant with information technology guidelines. Works with Program Manager to identify tasks and scheduling. May work closely with or delegate assignments to other members of immediate workgroup. 3-5 years work related experience is required, or an equivalent combination of education and experience. Strong understanding of software architectures, Microsoft products, software lifecycle methodology and information systems development required. Sound problem resolution, judgment and decision-making skills required. Must be able to communicate effectively. Strong technical design and process analysis skills may be required. Strong business related background preferred. Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology or related field required.
	People who delight in discovering the real problems to be solved and defining them in a way that the business community can understand and devising solutions the development community can develop and implement. Business Analyst will lead the analysis, documentation, and management of business requirements and will ensure that requirements are fully understood by the technical team before solutions are designed and implemented. This role will mentor and coach other Business Analysts. You will have experience of formal methodologies (preferably more than one) and will adhere to the established System Life Cycle (SLC) and Computer System Validation (CSV) procedures in facilitating innovative solutions that meet the specified requirements and add value to the business. Modelling the processes and data of the business area Create prototypes and simulations thereby facilitating successful solution design and development Resolve conflicting end-user requirements Model processes to clarify business requirements, and to enhance or re-engineer business processes, prior to, or in parallel with, solution design and implementation Produce and review data/information models and preliminary system architecture, as needed Help manage BA resources in accordance with project schedules Identify initial Business Case requirements and other pre-project activities Work closely with the designated Project Manager to facilitate progress of the project Minimum 5 years experience as Business Analyst Prefer experience in a regulated environment

UK	Job Profile and Skills Required
Job Description 1	Business Analyst, Project Management, scoping and planning, requirements gathering, gap analysis, Documentation, UML, Development / programming knowledge well renowned business. Methodology experience (e.g. Prince2, UML, SSADM) and/or a background within a blue-chip, consultancy or large-scale technical environment (e.g. banking a nd finance) Your main responsibilities as a Business Analyst will include scoping and planning, detailed analysis of requirements, documentation of requirements, managing sign-off with the business managing / looking after other relevant work stream and 3rd parties where appropriate. You will need to be a confident and articulate Business Analyst with excellent all round skills as outlined above in full project delivery from requirements gathering through to implementation and delivery. A knowledge or programming and development is also key as there will be a lot of interfacing with the technical teams however ongoing training and development is available when required. Experience in Business Analysis / Requirements gathering, Documentation, Successful Project Delivery and Development / programming knowledge / experience (due to contact with development teams)
Job Description 2	looking for a Business Analyst who enjoys engaging with end users to gather their requirements and delivering innovative solutions. If you would describe yourself as someone who thinks outside the box this is the role for you!! As a Business Analyst you will be required to analyse and gather requirements, which will involve facilitating meetings and coordinating workshops. Successful Business Analyst / Business Systems Analyst must have demonstrable experience in business process analysis; Proven track record when it comes to gathering requirements, managing stakeholders and dealing with all levels of management within an organisation.
Job Description 3	Managing a team of 3-5 individuals. The overall purpose of the job is to ensure the successful delivery of solutions to business problems. Identify solutions to business problems, defining and documenting the requirements in conjunction with the business and operations, in a clear structured manner to the relevant development teams. Lead initiatives to identify, document and design enhancements to existing services and processes in order to continually improve the business process. Prepare Users Requirements. Documents and functional specifications for new systems and extensions to existing systems. Documentation of business process and data flows Business Process Re-engineering. Prepare and evaluate business cases and cost-benefits analysis. Prepare and execute test plans and scripts Assist with UAT and Implementations Test Analysis Preparation and execution of test plans and scripts. Attention to detail throughout all aspects initiation, specification, testing and implementation. Ability to work and communicate effectively with people from different disciplines, business, technical levels and geographic bases. Ability to implement new process Uses initiative and original ideas to develop, tailor and modify approach, in order to tackle new issues and situations. Self-motivated and confident working across all levels. Experience of methodologies: UML, RUP or Agile preferred.
Job Description 4	Senior/ Lead Business Analyst experience Experience leading a team of Business Analysts Experience working on complex business change projects
Job Description 5	You will be involved in the conception stages by taking time to understand the needs of the clients occasionally visiting them to understand the requirements of the software solution they require. You will then be required to liaise with the IT developers to produce the most appropriate package and pre-empt any design problems, in order to help develop the software in to a user friendly and need related format. On completion of the product you will be required to assist in the testing phase of the product life cycle to help identify any problems with the software and to train new users on the new software as it reaches delivery stage. producing systems specifications

Switzerland	Job Profile and Skills Required
Job Description 1	You will be involved in a variety of projects in the energy trading area, initially in the Credit Risk environment Your remit will be to take an active part in the full life cycle of projects from business requirements through to the design and implementation of business solutions Maintaining and supporting the existing applications will take up about 20% of your working time You should have a working knowledge of technoloiges, particularly .Net/ Access/Excel and VBA You should be an excellent communicator in English, other languaes are a plus You should be skilled at managing expectations and have a good awareness of cultural differences
Job Description 2	To lead and mentor a small team of Business Analysts in their daily work To take a proactive role in the development of new global solutions To liaise across all stakeholders at a senior level, advising, setting expectations and as Project Manager, setting the pace for the whole project lifecycle To take a leading position from the business side working very closely with the technology to create global cutting edge solutions You will be an experienced business analyst with some project management experience You will be familiar with the complex technology that drives a leading investment company You will be interested in setting high standards for your team, mentoring them in business analysis proceses as will as coaching them and using the substantial company resources to ensure they are fully trained for the jobs they need to do You should be a good communicator in English, German would be nice but not essential. You will need to work with colleagues and external vendors at all levels of the business
Job Description 3	As Business Analyst, you will collect and formalize business and user requirements. You will deal with process modeling and improvement as well as functional specification. You will participate to the process or functional track of the analysis and design phases, producing the relevant parts of the deliverables (high-level and detailed process or functional specifications). Business and user requirements collection through workshops or interviews Business process modeling, redesign and improvement Writing of high-level and detailed functional specifications Writing and validation of test scenarios Excellent analytical skills Excellent communication and writing skills Analytical mind OOA/OOD, UML/RUP methodologies Workshop facilitation skills Very good level in English and French or German Industry knowledge in banking, consumer goods, telco or pharma a strong plus Experience with Service Level Management, Business Process Management/Improvement a strong plus Experience of Business Process Modeling with tools such as Mega, IDS Scheer At least 2 years of development experience . At least 2 years in business/system analysis
Job Description 4	Translation of business needs into IT requirements Preparation and definition of IT projects to address business needs Management of alignment of project deliverables with business requirements throughout the project life cycle Understand Business Requirements and Strategic Group objectives, by collaborating with the Business Community to capture business needs accurately Interact with peers to ensure a smooth integration of the processes/unit output with the rest of the IT environment Liaise with other IT stakeholders in project management, architecture, governance to ensure alignment Manage external resources: from finalization of deals with external vendors within authorized budgets (cost and time) to monitor implementation resources and recommending any necessary corrective actions Coach any Application Specialists involved within the implementation project Communicate on projects by issuing regular status updates, and managing communication with Key Account Managers, IT team and Business people Keep updated skills on the most important deployed applications Conduct market research and observations across all concerned specialist areas Secure high business acumen by attending any necessary business oriented training sessions Ensure the compliance of global IT services processes Apply the marketing strategy and process of IT services Provide applications team with functional support to secure compliance with SLA and high customer satisfaction Provide infrastructure team with input on business applications needs within the application domain Understand Business Requirements and finalise Functional Specifications University degrees or equivalent either in Computer Science or Business Management Fluent written and spoken English Min 5 years experience in Business Intelligence applications and tools (implementation and support) Strong analytical and problem solving skills Good project management skills (ability to manage external consultants) Strong communication skills Negotiation skills Coordination capabilities and team spirit (ability to work in a cross-functional team)
Job Description 5	Analysis of business processes in controlling aspects, optimize existing business processes and create new business processes Development of business concepts and specifications in close cooperation with specialists Analysis and handling Change Requests Close collaboration with departments and IT Goal-oriented implementation of solutions Creation of Management Information Reports Quality assurance tasks Several years experience Good technical knowledge of databases and web applications Ideally SQL knowledge Strong analytical and conceptual skills Own initiative, reliability and high operational readiness Dynamic environment Good communication skills Team player You have the opportunity to develop our business, such as support you with our employee development program. Very good German and English language skills

Singapore	Job Profile and Skills Required
Job Description 1	requirements gathering and documentation requirement to product gap analysis functional and business specifications project documentation and help screens test plans and execution liaising with the business, project managers and developers previous BA experience previous exposure to financial markets an IT or business related degree an analytical and detailed approach excellent written and verbal communication cash equities experience middle and back office (settlement) experience exposure to Asian Pacific markets experience with vendor or in-house back office systems technical background favourable
Job Description 2	Assist in execution of all the activities within Client (APAC) workstream’s scope of business transfer. Work with the Cross Business Delivery lead in maintaining visibility and coordination of all required business activities to effect a business transfer (eg. client onboarding execution, ops / tech readiness status, trade novation timetables, etc). Work closely with the Product Integration programmes to understand and help prioritise the various business transfer activities. Facilitate and actively participate in all required (global and regional) business transfer processes. Where required be prepared to conduct detailed analyses as necessary engaging with parties outside the team to further the resolution of issues arising during the course of integration Engage with Product and Country programmes to ensure allotted tasks are understood, are being attended to and that any queries raised are answered. Highly numerical with excellent excel skills including Macro and Pivot table Chase and follow-up with stakeholders on tasks, approvals and other necessary action to facilitate business transfers. Ensure that all business related issues are recorded and actioned in a timely manner. Minimum 5 years of relevant financial markets and banking experience with product knowledge in Banking and Markets; Graduate with a good degree; Understanding of business transfer methods such as risk transfer and novation; Good presentation and communication skills; Understanding of Global Markets businesses; Prior experience in Operations or Middle Office desirable; Must be able to interact with Management; Ability to communicate with all levels of management; Strong problem solving and analytical capabilities; Excellent organisation and coordination skills; Ability to identify root cause of issues and propose solutions based on supporting facts/evidence/analysis; Capable of quickly establishing credibility with business and support areas and be capable of contributing to the overall teams. Able to plan and prioritise projects workload efficiently and effectively; Adaptable and resourceful. Ability to handle change in dynamic environment. Ability to work under pressure to tight deadlines. Good time management skills. Self-starter, inspiring, motivated to achieve excellence. Willingness to be hands on. Ability to be an effective team player and also work independently when required.
Job Description 3	Requirements gathering for pre-existing ISS software products via stakeholder meetings and interviews Requirements gathering for new / custom software solutions via stakeholder meetings and interviews Undertake Business Requirement definition and associated documentation working alongside key business representatives Work with implementation team to ensure alignment of project/product documentation and training materials with software development. Analyzing existing business processes and IT solutions and providing consulting on business process changes/technology enhancements Design of IT Solutions (GUI, Back End, Architecture) Work with implementation team to ensure alignment of project/product documentation and training materials with software development. Production of Functional Specification documentation Facilitation and co-ordination of IT Estimates Provide technical assistance to Development and Testing teams on assigned projects Driving cost effective business outcomes related to assigned projects Degree in software engineering or equivalent Experienced in Microsoft Office suite (Excel, Word, PowerPoint etc.) OO language (C#, C++, Java etc) Web services, HTML, XML, Asp, Asp.net, JavaScript Databases: Oracle, SQL Server Experience in the Process domain (Oil and Gas, Mining, Manufacturing etc) is beneficial
Job Description 4	Scope of responsibility: Product analysis within consumer CFU. Understand, access, manipulate, analyze and provide customer and business insights through applying advance analytical capabilities (statistical, financial and business) through leveraging on Business Intelligence Solutions and Analytics Software. through analysis papers/reports depicting trend analyses, spending and usage patterns of customers, and probability that certain situations may or may not occur. Interface regularly with Product Marketing - team, keep abreast of the activities, new product / service initiatives, promotional activities. Work with Product Marketing team in driving acquisition activities, designing campaign testing on communications, offers and other marketing activities. Prepare analysis on on-going campaigns and / or any marketing initiatives and recommend appropriate course of actions. Prepare post mortem analysis and share finding on completed campaigns and / or marketing initiatives. Work with Data Mining Manager in designing test campaigns pertaining to predictive and descriptive models. A good university degree in Statistics, Business or Finance. Competent in MS Office applications and knowledge in data manipulation language / package (SQL, Cognos, SAS). Minimum 5 years relevant working experience. Telecom industry and pricing experience will be an added advantage. Good knowledge in business and marketing. Effective communication, listening and people management skills. Strong organizational and negotiation skills. Fast learner with a sharp analytical mind and a strong drive to excel. Able to work independently and effectively under minimum supervision and a good team player.

India	Job Profile and Skills Required
Job Description 1	Business Analyst with health care Domain Knowledge. Requirement gathering through client interaction at onsite Use cases Strong Analytical skills- Ability to analyze requirements form client and developer perspective, ability to keep the larger picture in mind. Understanding of entity relationship diagrams/ domain models and process flows
Job Description 2	Exp as Business Analyst in Securities Lending business Excellent Communication and Inter-personal Skills.
Job Description 3	Experience in Solution Design, Business Analyst (BA), Architecture, Consulting Understanding of OSS Business Processes Very Good Understanding of Telecom Networks Excellent Communication and Presentation Skills Very Good Customer-Interaction Very good Analytical and Problem Solving abilities.
Job Description 4	looking for Business Analyst having exposure into Brokarage Applications. Very good analytical and problem solving skills. Should posses in-depth knowledge of the Software Implemenation Life Cycle (SDLC). Hands on exp in Intrenet Technologies Java/J2EE/.NET is mandatory. He/She should possess good communication skills.
Job Description 5	Understand the business requirements and appropriately document the flow, business logic and presentation formats. Liaise with technology team to provide constant business understanding and support Independently structure complex data analysis requirements and professional presentation formats and provide small automation/data management support on ad-hoc basis From time to time involve in various reporting and analysis requirements. Review and suggest improvements to the existing reports and data structures Ensure that all service level agreements (SLAs) with clients are met Provide analysis, recommendations, consultation, and expert advice on improving processes Develop a high level of product and business knowledge for the industry Ensure quality of work meets the department standards by establishing quality control checks into the processes

After going through the Ads Matt found that the Job Description of a Business Analyst role differs at various places. The Business Analysis skills needed at different location varies as well. He decided to make a list of similar qualities that were needed at all the locations, at the same time it made sense to make a matrix of special skills needed depending on the location.

Country	Job Profile and Skills Required
US	Business Analyst will lead the analysis, documentation, and management of business requirements and will ensure that requirements are fully understood by the technical team before solutions are designed and implemented. This role will mentor and coach other Business Analysts. You will have experience of formal methodologies (preferably more than one) and will adhere to the established System Life Cycle (SLC) and Computer System Validation (CSV) procedures in facilitating innovative solutions that meet the specified requirements and add value to the business. Modeling the processes and data of the business area Create prototypes and simulations thereby facilitating successful solution design and development Resolve conflicting end-user requirements
UK	Business Analyst, Project Management, scoping and planning, requirements gathering, gap analysis, Documentation, UML, Development / programming knowledge well renowned business. Methodology experience (e.g. Prince2, UML, SSADM) and/or a background within a blue-chip, consultancy or large-scale technical environment (e.g. banking a nd finance) Your main responsibilities as a Business Analyst will include scoping and planning, detailed analysis of requirements, documentation of requirements, managing sign-off with the business
Switzerland	You should be an excellent communicator in English, other languages are a plus. To lead and mentor a small team of Business Analysts in their daily work To take a proactive role in the development of new global solutions To liaise across all stakeholders at a senior level, advising, setting expectations and as Project Manager, setting the pace for the whole project lifecycle To take a leading position from the business side working very closely with the technology to create global cutting edge solutions
Singapore	Requirements gathering and documentation Requirement to product gap analysis Functional and business specifications Project documentation and help screens Excellent written and verbal communication Work with the Cross Business Delivery lead in maintaining visibility and coordination of all required business activities.
India	Requirement gathering and documentation through client interaction at onsite Use cases Strong Analytical skills- Ability to analyze requirements form client and developer perspective, ability to keep the larger picture in mind. Understanding of entity relationship diagrams/ domain models and process flows Excellent Communication and Inter-personal Skills. Liaise with technology team to provide constant business understanding and support

After reading a bit more about the Business Analysis profession on internet and talking to his Business Analyst friends and seniors Matt realized that these qualities are not really geography specific and the categorization doesn't present the true picture of the Business Analysis practice all over the world. He decided to look at the whole picture from a different perspective, ignoring the geographies for a while. Matt decided to look at definition of Business Analyst, a liaison between the Customer and the Development team. There he found the correct axis for his measurement:

Where is the customer and
Where is the development team?

The role is varying due to location of Customer and the Development team. He decided to classify the responsibilities that a Business Analyst handles at both these ends.

Responsibilities of a Business Analyst at Customer Location:

Lead working sessions with client to capture product requirements and translate those requirements into structured Product Definition Documents.
Developing process flows from high-level concepts.
Ask the right questions at sufficient detail in order to capture the essence of the product requirements.

Responsibilities of a Business Analyst at the Development Team Location:

Liaise with technology team to provide constant business understanding and support.
Serve as a client representative in briefings, meetings, and conferences.

Now things were getting clearer to Matt. Yet he thought that there was something missing. What about the situations where development team is distributed, team is working from more than one location? A very common occurrence in the present world of outsourcing. Matt decided to list down the responsibilities of a Business Analyst from this perspective as well.

Responsibilities of a Business Analyst in case of Distributed team (thanks to outsourcing):

Liaise with offshore and onshore teams to provide constant business understanding and support and keep both the team on the same page.

Matt was happy that the bigger picture was getting clear in his mind. He was now surer that what kind of project setup he would seek at the location of his choice. Though Matt had gained clarity on the responsibilities of a Business Analyst, yet he was not comfortable, he was still missing something. Matt thought and realized soon that the understanding of responsibilities alone is not enough; he needs to understand the different Business Analysis skills that are needed to fulfill the identified responsibilities. Matt decided to list down the Business Analysis skills as well:

Business Analysis Skills needed at the Customer end:

Experience in Solution Design, Business Analyst (BA), Architecture, Consulting
Ability to lead working sessions with client to capture product requirements and translate those requirements into structured Product Definition Documents

Business Analysis Skills Needed at the Development Team location:

Demonstrates strong interpersonal skills, with the members of the Development Team.

Business Analysis Skills needed at with distributed teams:

Excellent Communication and Inter-personal Skills.

Now that Matt had identified the responsibilities and the skills needed for various roles that he could play as a Business Analyst, he had a clear idea of what kind of project setup he was looking for and what were the skills needed to perform his job. Thanks to Matt for sharing his analysis with us and wishing Matt all the luck for his new job :)

Tarun Chandel
The Business Analyst

*With the help of a fictional character Matt I tried to capture the Roles and Responsibilities of a Business Analysts in different situations. I am sure that the list can be extended further, please share your expereinces so that we can have a comprehensive list.

2009 A year of Business Analysis

2009-01-01T16:27:00.000+05:30

I wish may 2009 be the year of Business Analysis!

Wish all of you a Happy New Year!

Business Analysis Meet, London

2008-12-03T23:38:00.002+05:30

Hi fellow Business Analysts,

I am planning a Business Analysis Meet in London in January. Though the date is not yet final but most probably it will be 10th January 2009 (Saturday). The idea is fairly simple, it is going to be a gathering of BAs to discuss the issues and learning in the field of Business Analysis.

I will be adding more details as and when it becomes clear.
Looking forward to meet all the BAs in London.

Update:
Due to lack of time the meeting will have to rescheduled to some later date in the January. We did have a Business Analyst Lunch in Canary Wharf on 18th December. There were 30 odd BAs at the lunch and we had some interesting discussions and a good lunch as well :) I am keen on doing more such small Lunch meetings than having a full fledged Meet of 6 - 7 hours. Drop me a mail or a comment what would you prefer.

Tarun Chandel
The Business Analyst

Business Analysis Tools: Storyboards

2008-09-25T01:16:00.002+05:30

What are Storyboards?
Storyboards are graphic organizers such as a series of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of previsualizing a motion graphic or interactive media sequence, including website interactivity. [Wikipedia]

How Storyboards are used by the Moviemakers and Business Analysts?

Movie makers use the storyboards to illustrate the story better. They break the story into scene and then they work on the details of one scene at a time. It is not necessary that they do the storyboarding of each and every scene. Sometime movie makers do the storyboarding of only few important scenes. In the software industry we learn from a variety of fields and storybording is something that we have picked up from movie makers. As a Business Analyst we try to see the bigger picture of the business problems of the client. To get it right storyboards help a lot. Just like movie makers we break the bigger picture of Business into smaller sections and then focus on one section at a time. This way we enrich our knowledge of client's business piece by piece, section by section. We can easily identify where we need to more research, where we need more analysis. Storyboarding not only helps BA in creating a bigger picture but a High Definition bigger picture where you can zoom to finer details.

Uses and Benefits of using Storyboards:

Helps a BA in identifying the areas where more information is needed.
Helps a BA in identifying the areas where more analysis is needed.
View the bigger picture (in High Definition)
Easy to communicate the understanding to clients
Helps in organizing the work.

Storyboards help a Business Analyst in creating a High Definition Bigger Picture of client's business.

Where do BAs use the Storyboards:

In the Enterprise Analysis Phase, for creating the Business Case.
In the Requirement Elicitation Phase just before the Prototype is created.

Views of other BAs
CGarison: I only use story boards when mapping processes in realtion to new software implementation. Yes, before proto as well. But only for new processes (screens/systems) into existing flows.
Ranjan: I used storyboards after the use cases were written. Prototyping and story boards go in parallel. It can only be done after the detail requirements are written. It takes a lot of skill to do it, MS-Visio is a great tool to use for Storyboarding.

How much should a Business Analyst Storyboard?
Ranjan also shared a very important point that, Storyboards are good only if your project needs it and you have to decide to what extent you want to do it. I completely agree with him on this point depending on the time at hand, the complexity of the business problem, the budget and the resources, you take a decision to go for detailed Storyboarding. You can make your picture as High Resolution as you want but, there is a cost involved to it. So decide in advance when you want to go for detailing. May be you can pick certain areas and go for detailing of those. What I typically do is I use the brown paper wall and story cards to make a quick storyboard and then decide which section to detail right now and which section to pick up later.

Creating a Storyboard on a brown paper wall with help of Storycards and Post-its helps in identifying the right sections to focus on. I use legend post-its (notice pink one) to identify sections where I need to do more analysis (dark pink) and where I need input from the client (light pink). Also I keep myself reminding about the Horizontal Analysis and Vertical Analysis.

Points to keep in mind while Storyboarding:

Keep it simple: Keep the story simple, do not make it complicated.
Break the story into scenes: Breaking the story into scenes or sections will help you to organize the story better. It will also help you in identifying the shortcomings, if any, in the story. While making a Storyboad, do the Horizontal and Vertical analysis of storyboard, that will ensure completeness of the story.
Make it collaborative: The idea behind storyboarding is to make the complete picture clear. To make sure that you have covered every aspect of the story, involve your clients in the storyboarding session. Check the logic flow (“necessary and sufficient” arguments)
Tell a good story: In the end keep in mind to tell a good story.

Tarun Chandel
The Business Analyst

Business Analyst: Face of the Organization

2008-09-09T23:14:00.001+05:30

Business Analyst is the person who interacts directly with the client. Business Analyst is the face of implementation team for the client. As Business Analysta we have to communicate a lot with our client, it's important to keep in mind that we represent the whole team and the whole organization (especially in the current scenario of outsourcing). All our actions will make a difference in the manner client perceives our team or our company. It's the responsibility of a Business Analyst to build the confidence of client in himself and that in process will build the client's confidence in our team and in our organization.

Tarun Chandel
The Business Analyst

Business Analysis Tool: Mindmaps for documenting Brainstorming sessions

2008-09-04T18:42:00.003+05:30

One of the tools that I have recently started using for carrying out my work as a Business Analyst is Mindmaps. It is a simple yet very effective way of organizing your thoughts. I personally find it very useful during the brainstorming sessions. During the brainstorming stage a Business Analyst has tons of ideas flying all around. Mindmaps allow a BA to clearly organize these ideas.

It is not necessary to use a Mindmap software to draw the mindmaps, we can simply use a notepad and a pencil. I personally tend to use the brown paper and stickies to make the mindmaps during the brainstorming session and after the session is over, I quickly make a soft copy of the final map using the software.

As the brainstorming session progresses keep adding the stickies on the brown paper. Keep grouping the stickies as the things get clear.

As the brainstorm session approaches end, arrange the stickies in form of a mindmap. Things get much more clear and missing information becomes clearly visible.

After the brainstorming session is over convert the stickies and brown paper map into a softcopy and mail the same to all the participants.

Is mindmap a deliverable of a Business Analyst? NO, mindmap is not a deliverable. During the time of brainstorming stages BAs do not have to deliver as they are in the process of understanding the business and the issues of the client. Mindmap is a tool that helps a Business Analyst in documenting the brainstorming session better. As a good practice I send a copy of the mindmap as an email attachment to the stakeholders to validate my understanding of the business. Because mindmap is a very small pictorial presentation of the business it hardly takes any time for the stakeholders to go through it and it gives a clear picture of the understanding a BA. This helps me in keeping everyone on the same page after the brainstorming session.

A brainstorming session is a very effective way to get loads of ideas in a short span of time but at the same time it gives a false feeling to the client that they have revealed all the necessary info to you. After a brainstorming session it is necessary that you set the expectations of your client right by letting them know what have you understood and what areas were you focusing on. In case you don't do that it may lead to a situation that the client is under the impression that you know a lot while you are still in the early stages of making sense. Mindmaps is an effective way to let the client know how much you have understood from the session and dissipate the confusion, if any.

Do let me know how do you take down the learning from a brainstorming session.

Tarun Chandel
The Business Analyst

Business Analysis Blog Job Board

2008-09-03T11:39:00.006+05:30

With a lot of Business Analysts visiting The Business Analysis Blog, listing a Job Opening here will give a good chance to find the right Business Analyst for your requirement.

Job Listing on The Business Analysis Blog Job Board:
List the Job openings for Business Analysts for an introductory price of $5 for 30 days.
Please send an email to tarunchandel at gmail.

Tarun Chandel
The Business Analyst

Business Analyst - Why to Stay Updated?

2008-08-26T00:26:00.001+05:30

As a Business Analyst we should always keep ouurself updated with the future plans of our client. If the client is planning to change their strategies for future where can we fit in?

If we don't it may happen that one day we will wake up and project will be over as the client decided to move on to something else. Remember the idea is to be a trusted partner with our client.

Also we should keep your eyes and ears open about the market state of your client. It should not happen that your client is going bankrupt and we are the last one to know about it. We want to make sure that our company has sent the invoice to the client before such calamity hits them.

Follow the KYC Policy (Know Your Customer Policy) it will lead to less surprises and much less shocks.

Tarun Chandel
The Business Analyst

Business Analyst Focus on your Client's Customers

2008-08-05T20:01:00.001+05:30

A Business Analyst should focus on the customers of his client.

I have written about this point a couple of times in past and I got some mails asking me why the Business Analyst should focus on all this?

As a Business Analyst our primary role is to get the requirement for the current project right, no matter what that has to be correct and our complete focus should be on that. As a Business Analyst, while performing our day-to-day tasks we interact a lot with the stakeholders and we get the best opportunity to understand the business of our client. We can use the knowledge that we gather in our day-to-day work, to gain more business from the same client.

You got it; the idea is to get more business from the same client.

If we need more business from the same client, we need to focus on things that are important to their business. The most important thing for any business is the satisfaction of its customers. Bingo, that is where we should focus as well. If we can tell them how our solution will help them serve their customers better we have good chances of getting the business.

Everyone seeks people who can work as partners and treat the problem as their own. While performing the Business Analysis activities, the understanding of business that we gained and relationship with customer that we build, will help us in this area. But, only if we are helping them meet their requirements (back to our primary task of Business Analysis, a vicious circle :))

A Business Analyst’s success should be measured in terms of how he helped the client in serving their customer better. If we can help our customer to create value for their customers, we will never run out of business and will help us beat the 1000s of other IT Solution providers (there’s our appraisal ☺).

What are the things that a Business Analyst should look for when gathering information about the client?

What are the numbers they (client) are interested in?
Who are their customers and what do they serve to them? It is important that you do your share of research. It will help you understand better how your solution is going to help your customer.
How are they better/worse than their competitors? It is important because in case their competitors start eating the market share it will hit you someday.
Who are the decision makers? It is important to know the organizational hierarchy of the customer and at the same time do a RACI mapping of it. That way you will know the exact role everyone plays in the organization. This will help you to target right people to build your bonds with.
How can you help them?

These are some of the things that I could think of right now. Do share your thoughts and experiences on how you gain that extra bit of business from your clients and how you help them achieve excellence.

Tarun Chandel
The Business Analyst

Business Analyst, Build your Credibility

2008-07-29T18:51:00.001+05:30

A Business Analyst acts as a face of Customer to the Development team, most of the time. A Business Analyst should be credible enough and the team should have absolute faith in him. Development team should be able to ask any question regarding the system and they should believe in the answers that BAs provide. If they start having doubts on the answers BAs provide they may get tempted to develop something that is not needed by the business or spend extra time in clarifying the doubt from various sources.

The development team should trust a BA; this was the first lesson that I got from a senior BA. When I asked him how to do it, he told me that you have to figure that out for yourself there is no proven formula. Some of the things that I tried and how they helped me in building a good rapport with the development team.

Interact with the developers regularly and keep asking them if they have any doubts. The idea is not to overdo it as they may get a feeling that you are trying to judge their work. Keep it simple and just make sure that they know you are there if they need any clarifications in the requirements.
Make sure you run the development team through the requirements before they start with the implementation. Do it on module-to-module basis, plan with the Project Managers and Team Leads. Make sure you keep these sessions as informal as possible and try to make them understand the business pain points rather than teaching them (as they may switch off).
Encourage the team to approach you for any clarification in the requirements. When they approach you make sure you clarify their issues or get the issues raised to correct person, if you are not the right one.
It is a good idea to explain the business side to the developers and also let them know about the domain, as you have that knowledge. Have these talks at non-work timings like lunch, coffee or while traveling. Make sure you don't come out as a person who is bragging about his knowledge but as a person who is genuinely helping. Keep it honest; if you are not comfortable don't try it.

I tried these things and they helped me immensely in building a good relation with the development team. Do let me know what works with you and how you achieved it?

Tarun Chandel
The Business Analyst

BA - Business Analyst OR BA - Business Ambassador

2008-07-22T07:30:00.000+05:30

Stephan (name changed), a Business Analyst, was handling a small project. It was in very initial stage and he was interviewing the stakeholders, trying to understand the business problem. Somehow he was not able to link the problems, stakeholders were narrating, to their business. After a lot of interviews he realized that they were trying to automate a very small portion of a complex process. He prodded further and realized that this would solve their problem for just a department and overall time taken to complete the process may not shorten, it may even elongate as the other department will suddenly be dealing with high work volumes. He shared his findings with one of the board member of the client; he had become friend with while interviewing. Board member realized that they have to automate the overall process and not in bits and pieces. Stephen shared his calculations that if they automate the process across the departments then only the delivery time to client's customers will reduce else it will hardly make any difference. Stephen was asked to study the processes across the department and come up with a plan. Stephen studied the overall processes and mailed his findings back to his sales team, realizing that this project can be 10 times of the existing one. One month later Stephen's employer got a project that was more than 10 times of the existing project. Stephen later on got two more projects from the same client.

As the business is getting more and more dynamic, the requirement changes with every passing day. In such a dynamic scenario the role of a Business Analyst is becoming more and more important. With more and more IT solution providers in the market the role of a Business Analyst has evolved from being a mere requirement gathering person to a business ambassador of the IT Solution provider. BA has to use a lot of his soft skills, negotiation skills and social skills to build relations with the stakeholders on the customer side. Strong relations only will not help you to get more business from the customer but it will help you to understand what the customer needs and also what the customers of your customers need. Once you have understood the business needs of your customer, you should map out clearly where you can provide a solution that will help your customer to satisfy his customer better. Remember only having strong relations will not help unless you can provide solution that help them grow.

As a Business Analyst you should focus strongly on:

Building strong relations with the stakeholders
Build a strong understanding of the business of your customers
Learn about the customer of your customers
Keep mapping how your solutions will help your customer to satisfy their customers.

Guess what would have happened if Stephen had just got the requirements for the project he was assigned to? The client would not have been happy and later may have contacted another IT solution provider. A BA is a Business Analyst for the employer but for the customer a BA has to be a Business Ambassador of the employer.

Tarun Chandel
The BA

Multicultured Business Analyst

2008-07-13T20:05:00.003+05:30

A Business Analyst (BA) works with different clients, clients from different cultures and in today's world clients from different geographies. It is imperative that a BA is comfortable working with people of various cultures.

I have faced differences in cultures on three levels:

1. Personal belief: Every individual is different and you need to treat them like that. The best way to handle such clients is not to judge them but accept them as they are, just like we do with friends in real life. In a way a BA needs to replicate a lot of things that he does in real life to the work environment.

2. Corporate culture: Evey organization has its own culture. The one that you will notice very early in your assignment is the hierarchy of the company and how employees treat their co-workers. In Capgemini we follow a very informal way of interacting and address everyone by their first name. But when you are working with your client, they may have a completely different way of addressing. One of my recent client had a culture of addressing people with their second names using appropriate salutation. Calling anyone by first name was considered disrespectful. Then there was another client where every senior was addressed as "sir" or "madam". I was lucky that my friend in the sales team informed me about this before I started my conversations with this client. Now I make it a point that I check this before I start working with any client. A small thing but it helps a lot in making the right connections.

3. Different geographies: This is the most natural difference. You can help yourself by reading about that particular geography. Though personally I have hardly found reading about cultures useful, but this does give you a lot of things to talk about at dinner, lunch or coffee. If you are thinking why it doesn't help to read about the cultures, as we discussed in the first point that every individual is different, so it is difficult to categorize people just by geographies. Try reading about your own culture on internet and you will realize you are hardly like what it states. So do not make perceptions about people depending on their geographies but reading will help you in having great and involved conversations :)

As a BA you should be able to adapt as quickly as possible to different people and places. If you are that kind of a person- great! However if you are not, you should work on yourself. This will help you in the long term and make you a better BA.

Tarun Chandel
The Business Analyst

Business Analysis: Foresight

2008-06-10T23:15:00.001+05:30

The most exciting and yet difficult part of being a BA, is at the start of a project. Let me be more precise, the first time you meet the client. This is the time when client introduces their business and the problems that they want to solve with your help. This is also the time that, you introduce yourself and try to make a good impression on the client. What do you do to be at your best when you walk into that first meeting with the client? To start with, it always helps to do a bit of homework before the meeting.

As a Business Analyst you are involved in understanding the Business Requirements of your client and document them. It is essential for a Business Analyst to understand the requirements and for that it is necessary for a Business Analyst to understand the Business of the client. So it is imperative that you spend time on understanding the business of the client. Here are few steps that you may follow:

Meet people in your organization who have worked with this client before.
Dig deeper into your organization's knowledge base.
If the client is new or there is lack of data, start searching on the internet.
The most important is to read the communication that your organization has already had with the client. Go through the documents that have been exchanged, typically you will get some RFXs. These should give you a good ground to start your research.

As a Business Analyst it will be even better if you can gather knowledge about the market in which your client operates and also about the client of the client. It will help you a lot in doing your work if you are thorough with your homework. The client will have to spend less time to explain each and every thing about his business to you. If you are an informed Business Analyst it will only help you to build the confidence of the client. At the same time you will be able to suggest solutions to some inconsistencies in the Business Requirements of the client or at least you will be able to pin point some inconsistencies.

As a Business Analyst it will be really helpful to you if you can analyze the markets and the business of the client. If you have time at your hand before you start your assignment with the client, you should do a thorough analysis of the client's business, especially in the field of your project. It will be helpful if you can do some analysis about the competition of the client.

All these activities will enhance your knowledge about the client and will help you in carrying out your work better. It will help you to build a foresight about where the business of client is heading and where the system that your team going to develop fit in the bigger picture. Clarity is always good.

Tarun Chandel
The Business Analyst

Business Analysis: Don't Assume

2008-05-24T11:14:00.001+05:30

Aa a Business Analyst you will face a numerous situations when you will have to answer certain questions (sometimes you will be asking these questions to yourself and sometimes others will ask these) for which the answers will look straightforward and logically simple. The natural instincts will be to answer the question then and there with the answer you think is right. As a Business Analyst you should abstain from doing this. As a Business Analyst you should always get the answers from the client, remember you are solving the business problem of your client and he has better knowledge of his business than you. If you want to you should put forward your suggestions to him, in case he doesn't agree with you.

If you are answering questions of the Development team, you should stick to what is there in the Business Specification docs that you prepared during the Requirement Analysis phase. You should never say things out of your mind just because it sounds logical to you, or the Development team makes it sound like that. Remember a Business Analyst is a liaison between the business and technical team and for the development team you are the face of customer. If you say something that is not the Business Requirement you will unnecessarily create confusion and that can lead to chaos. You should always take a look at the docs before making any statement on the issues concerning Business Requirements. As a Business Analyst you should follow this as a Rule of Thumb.

Tarun Chandel
The Business Analyst

Business Analyst: Place in the Team

2008-05-18T11:21:00.004+05:30

One of the basic responsibility of a Business Analyst is, to be the face of customer for the implementation team. Business Analyst is a liaison between the customer and the implementation team. It is very important for a Business Analyst to get into the shoes of customer and build the confidence of the implementation team on himself. The team should have the same faith on the Business Analyst as they would have on the customer. It is the responsibility of a Business Analyst to build that rapport with the team. As a Business Analyst you will be the first person to know about the challenges faced by the implementation team and you have to make sure that all the Business Requirements are first clear and then implemented in the system being built.

As a Business Analyst you will have to spend a considerable time on communicating with the client to understand his concerns and build on your knowledge of his business problem. At the same time Business Analyst needs to spend a considerable time with the implementation team again communicating the Business Requirements of the client. Business Analyst will have to resolve the issues raised by the implementation team sometimes by his prior knowledge of the Business Problem and discussing with the client at other.

Tarun Chandel
The Business Analyst

Welcome to the Business Analysis blog

2008-05-15T21:55:00.001+05:30

Business Analysis is a key function in the process of Software Development. A Business Analyst has to play a variety of roles in a software development project. Through this blog we would like to share the learnings in the profession on Business Analysis. Also through this blog we would like to build a community of Business Analysts. You can follow us on Orkut community, Facebook group, LinkedIn group, Twitter updates and our Group on Yahoo. You can also follow the blog through feeds in various feedreaders. Though most of these are groups are in the starting phase just like this blog but with time we will have lots of discussions on these platforms and on this blog as well.

Stay Tuned!!!

Tarun Chandel
The Business Analyst