Business Analyst Blog with tips, techniques and resources for every BA.
How can BAs ensure requirements are practical, achievable and in line with the strategy and capabilities of the business?
The Business Architecture offers a starting point.
Read MoreWhile there’s nothing like having some experience under your belt, Business Process Management (BPM) certifications can aid analysts in some key ways: they serve as concrete evidence of business process management knowledge; offer the opportunity to learn new concepts /best practices; and benefit from the experience of trainers/mentors.
Read MoreWhen elicitation focuses on identifying exceptions and failure points, it’s a form of risk management. The idea is to find potential solutions to these questions and include them as part of requirements to reduce the probability of missing out on critical requirements.
Read MoreThe relentless pace of technological progress drives businesses to work on increasingly more complex projects. With this increased complexity comes new challenges and roadblocks that business analysts must learn to overcome.
Read MoreBusiness Analysts play a pertinent role in determining what functionality a system should or should not have. If you can ask these questions of every requirement, the implemented solution will have a higher possibility of acceptance:
Read MoreAre you having a hard time influencing management or selling your business recommendations to the powers that be?
This article outlines 8 approaches to get management’s approval for just about any project:
Read MoreIn preparing a business case, the business analyst is often required to conduct some measure of cost analysis. When highlighting the benefits associated with an initiative, it is extremely important to also indicate the costs that will go along with implementing the initiative. Information regarding costs is particularly important in making go or no-go decisions when deciding which projects to implement. The business analyst should work with the project manager to identify these costs and arrive at realistic estimates.
Read MoreManaging stakeholder expectations is essential to business projects' success. If you know ahead what stakeholders “expect” the system to do, you can advise them of this well ahead of time to avoid disappointments further down the road.
Read MoreAccording to Stephen Ward & Chris Chapman in their piece, Stakeholders and uncertainty management in projects, “Stakeholders are a major source of uncertainty on projects and this uncertainty stems from whom these stakeholders are, their motives, and how they can influence a project.”
It is this uncertainty that constitutes risks to the project. BAs should relate with other project stakeholders to overcome this uncertainty by improving their ability to convince stakeholders to see things their way, thereby influencing the course of the project.
Read MoreBAs can learn a lot from UXers, that much is certain. But perhaps the most valuable thing the two disciplines can learn from each other is working together. Both roles have the same ultimate aim—to produce a product that has business value and meets users’ needs. The approaches may differ but are far from conflicting: BAs create value by delivering good features and functions, UXers by delivering good experiences. Guest Post by Cassandra Naji
Read MoreThis post is a compilation of websites with resources that can boost your technical skills, and help you become better at work. If yours is one of those organizations that have cut back on training programs; you've been assigned to a new project or perhaps it's just out of your pure interest in the world of techies, you’ll certainly find these websites useful.
Read MoreIt’s best to select a small number of key attributes and establish a system that allows us to add more requirements attributes as we go along, depending on the nature of the project and which attributes are deemed necessary.
Read MoreAs development practices change, so do the reasons why we write requirements and the level of detail we go into with Requirements Specification Documents. Even seasoned business analysts have at one point or the other asked themselves, “What level of detail is enough?”. The answer to this seemingly simple question is inseparably intertwined with the reason why we write requirements in the first place: so that they can be read, understood, and implemented.
Read MoreOne of the main goals of business analysis is to uncover unknown risks and requirements during the requirements discovery phase. But as many business analysts will surely attest to, sooner or later, the problem of scope creep inevitably arises, unless concrete steps are taken to prevent it.
Read MoreThis post comprises a list of free training that business analysts can use to gain the knowledge and experience of what to do when practising business analysis within the context of business intelligence.
Read MoreIt's that time of the year again and here is a list of the most popular 2016 posts, as determined by BAL readers. This list is based on the number of page views received by each post.
Here it goes:
Read MoreWe make hundreds if not thousands of decisions every day. Some more important, others less so. With each decision we make, we shape our future and possibly, come closer to the attainment of our goals. One of the most effective ways to increase productivity and make better choices during requirements elicitation is by organizing facilitated sessions among stakeholders.
Read MoreDocumentation of software requirements should not be seen as optional, but a necessity. While the level of detail may vary depending on the approach adopted, be it Agile or Waterfall, it’s important to keep in mind why documentation is needed in the first place, before one goes too far in the wrong direction.
Read MoreNeeds Analysis is similar to business analysis especially in the sense that it is used to determine the needs of the business, and is centred on understanding the issues and opportunities faced by the business with the objective of finding resolutions, defining approaches to resolving issues and exploiting opportunities. In summary, it’s about:
Regardless of size and complexity, the goal of the business case remains the same: to convince decision-makers to approve a proposal. Here are some of the things a business analyst must keep in mind for a winning business case. Guest post by Shuba Kathikeyan
Read MoreThis business analyst blog contains practical insights into business analysis, software testing and business process management. I will be sharing business analyst tips, CBAP Certification tips, lessons learnt and insights into all the things I've learnt during my BA career.
