You may have heard the term BA, and how companies all over the world highly recommend them. So, what is a BA, and what benefits do they bring? Let’s find out!
A Business Analyst (BA) analyzes the needs and problems of a business and provides solutions to improve the performance, processes, or products. A BA acts as a bridge between the business stakeholders and the technical team, ensuring that the requirements and expectations of both sides are met. A BA also helps to define the scope, objectives, and deliverables of a project, as well as to monitor and evaluate its progress and outcomes. Their ability to interpret data, problem solve, and communicate are what make them an asset to a business.
That might sound similar to a Project Manager (PM), so what’s the difference, and is there overlap? While both a BA and PM play leadership roles – they focus on different aspects. They work closely together, collaborate, and are essential to the success of the project, but the
BA specifically ensures the solution meets the business need, and
the PM ensures the solution is delivered on time, on budget and in scope.
They both look at the same project in different ways.
The BA research to understand the business and their processes at an operational level, so will have the in-depth knowledge about potential risks, or impacts to the timelines, scope and budget which may impact the PM’s delivery. Though a PM usually has a good understanding of the business, if a project is large, they may only have a high-level understanding, which is where your BA comes in. Having both a BA and PM are subject to the size and complexity of the business need.
What kind of skills do they have? They have a combination of technical, analytical, and interpersonal skills. Most BAs are certified and go through multiple levels of training and certifications. These can include oral and written communication, eliciting requirements, process modeling, basic project management, facilitation, and documentation.
Communication is one of the critical skills a BA needs. Since they liaise between the business and technical stakeholders they must actively listen to the business and have a good understanding of the issue to determine the business’ needs. Experienced BA’s ask the right questions at the right time to confirm their understanding. Clear concise communication builds trust with the stakeholders and allows the BA to find the root problem. This skill also helps in facilitating workshops, documenting processes, and clarifying procedures.
A BA is the key person when it comes to identifying the business needs and putting those needs into requirements. A good requirement is clear, concise, feasible, traceable, and verifiable. Poor requirements lead to system issues, and become costly, because they are usually found after development and during testing. Or after a solution has been implemented. Here is an example of how a BA helps identify the business need, and make it a requirement:
Business Problem: “We keep receiving negative reviews about our call center, and our ratings are now at a 3 out of 5”
BA: “Why?”
Business: “Our call volumes have increased since the pandemic, so our customers have to wait up to an hour to speak to our staff, and our staff can’t take their breaks leading to staff burnout”
BA: “What calls specifically?”
Business: “Health benefit calls”
BA: “How many calls do you get per hour today, and how many do you want in the future?”
Business: “We get 50 an hour today, and we want to reduce that to 25 per hour”
Business Requirement: Reduce health benefit calls from 50 to 25 per hour, so customer wait times are under 5 minutes, staff are able to take 3 scheduled breaks per shift, and our review ratings increase to a 4 out of 5.
This is a clear, concise, specific, and measurable requirement.
Though it’s a very simple example, it still requires many questions and communication between the BA and the business.
Businesses know when there is a problem, but not necessarily why it’s occurring or the correct solution for the need.
The BA will help prompt all the questions that the business might not be thinking of, since they are on the outside. We all know having a fresh set of eyes involved is always a good idea. This discovery opens the conversation about what data is available, how we are going to measure the volumes, who are the callers, and what other resources are available.
For technical solutions (like implementing a phone tree system in this example) the BA works with the technical team to come up with solutions now that the requirement or need is known. Since the BA has a good understanding of the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC), they will now work with the technical team of developers, and testers to stay on track with a technical release. During this technical delivery and implementation, they will likely help with testing, identifying problems, and keeping the business involved where needed. They will also create test plans and facilitate User Acceptance Testing (UAT) with the business to validate the technical changes. This again is how the BA builds the relationship with both business and technical stakeholders.
If there isn’t a technical change, and it’s simply a new, or change in process, the BA helps develop the materials and strategy to implement these. This could be enhancements to a website, an advertising strategy, social media videos, or even training materials. They can adapt easily into a change management role since they already have operational knowledge. Also, they have built trust and a relationship with the business so a BA can naturally fil this need.
No matter what type of solution, technical or non, the BA will help steer the business to the most optimal solution for the business need. Solution options can easily lead to scope creep where one requirement turns into five, and suddenly the project is jeopardized. This usually happens at the solution stage because our minds start to take the solutions to the next level and too many ‘what if’s’ sneak in. BA’s should be strict on scope items, unless time, and money aren’t issues!
With a good set of requirements, a BA can document these in a Business Requirements Document (BRD) which clearly identifies the requirements, solutions, risks, current and future state processes, gap analysis, impacts, assumptions, constraints, dependencies, and scope. This becomes the document that both the business and technical stakeholders can use throughout a project. These can also be extremely detailed, or high level.
Another key role the BA can assist in is creating long-term strategies for continuous improvement. You may have implemented a new process, or training materials, and find that in a year they need to be updated. A BA can help a business with simple strategies to make future assumptions and put in place a continuous improvement plan. This overtime will help a business stay current and not get left behind.
So, you probably have a few ideas by now on how they add value, buts let’s look at exactly what a BA can do:
- Skilled in identifying and analyzing business problems and finding solutions to improve business operations.
- Help businesses streamline their processes and operations, making them more efficient and effective.
- Improving business operations and processes, business analysts can help businesses increase their profitability, and reduce costs.
- Help businesses manage change by identifying the impact of proposed changes and developing strategies to implement them successfully.
- Help businesses improve their customer satisfaction by identifying customer needs and developing strategies to meet them.
- Provide businesses with data-driven insights to support decision-making.
- Act as a bridge between different departments, facilitating communication and collaboration.
- Help businesses identify and manage risks, reducing the likelihood of negative outcomes.
- Help businesses develop and implement strategic plans, supporting long-term growth and success.
- Projects will have a better chance of being on time, on budget, and in scope, by implementing a solution for the need, not a want.
- Provides thorough documentation for easy traceability.
These may seem simple enough, but having a dedicated professional carry out these tasks can make a huge difference in a business’s day to day operations.
In summary the Business Analyst can prove to be very valuable – they help identify business needs, by utilizing data and strategic thinking, to provide wholesome solutions and documentation which creates multiple business efficiencies and, in the end, value!
