We present a new article in the IT Career series. This time we will talk about a business analyst who acts as a link between the customer and the developers.
A business analyst is a specialist who explores a customer’s problem, seeks a solution, and compose his concept in the form of requirements that developers will continue to focus on when creating a product.
Sometimes analysts complain that the customer does not know what he wants himself. Usually, the customer knows for sure, but the analyst simply does not have sufficient analytical skills to understand it. For example, considering this writing service: https://resumesbot.com/professional-resume-writing-service/ Just as a professional writer needs to analyze your story to create a good resume, a good business analyst must analytically solve the problem assigned to him by the client.
How to become a business analyst?
There are 2 main options:
- An IT specialist who is closer to communication rather than writing code. If you made your business analyst resume entry level but understand that pure programming is not your greatest strength, it is your decision. Such an analyst will understand the development process, know the capabilities of the software and see what the developer needs to know for quality work. However, in addition he needs to acquire business knowledge in an area that is being automated.
- A specialist without IT education, who is a professional in a specific area. Such an analyst understands all the nuances of the business and speaks the same language with the customer. But he will have to figure out what exactly is subject to automation and what data developers need to work.
For the work of a business analyst, it is important:
- to know the methodology of the collection, analysis and formalization;
- to know the subject area that needs to be analyzed;
- understand the software life cycle in accordance with various methodologies;
- know the basics of programming, testing, algorithms, economics.
A business analyst must get rid of the narrow focus of the IT specialist’s thinking, be able to see the bigger picture, notice the flaws. The better he manages to go beyond, the more successful his work will be.
With regard to personal qualities, it is necessary:
- have analytical thinking;
- easy to explore an unknown area;
- be able to analyze the current situation in comparison with the past;
- be able to make decisions;
- love to learn and be able to learn;
- have excellent communication skills;
- be attentive to details;
- clearly express your thoughts.
Prospects for a career development of business analytics:
- Improve yourself as an analyst, master a wider range of analytical tasks.
- Go deep into the system component and become a Business or Enterprise Architect
- Develop to build a career in the management or project sector (Project manager -> Program Manager -> Chief technical officer) or business (Product manager).
Tasks and responsibilities of a business analyst
The main task of a business analyst is to identify the problems of the customer’s business and find the most effective solution. To do this, he must have knowledge in the subject area. A business analyst works with requirements at all stages of the software development life cycle and constantly acts as an intermediary between a customer and a team of programmers.
The work of a business analyst includes the following steps:
- To identify the needs of the customer, to understand the problem that he wants to solve.
- Independently or with the help of a team to formulate the concept of a solution.
- Design the concept in terms of reference with specific requirements for a future product. To do this, various techniques of business analysis are used – making the models of processes and structures, prototypes of the user interface, usage scenarios. At the same time, an accurate assessment of labor costs and duration of work is done.
- Detail each requirement in the form of specifications.
- Advise programmers and testers during product development, discuss contentious issues with the customer.
In world practice, the career map of analysts looks standard, although not all projects require a dedicated analyst. There is a reverse situation when the analyst additionally performs the duties of a project manager, quality specialist or technical writer.
The responsibilities of a business analyst include:
- Analysis of the business needs of the customer;
- Drawing up requirements for a future product (communication with interested parties – developers, customers, end users);
- Analysis of requirements (application of various methodologies and notations – prototyping, questionnaires, questioning, brainstorming, analysis of existing documentation, competitors);
- Analysis of problem areas and suggestions for improvement;
- Formalization of requirements (separation of requirements into business, functional, non-functional, writing requirements specifications);
- Requirements management (processing of change requests, analysis and description of the impact on existing requirements);
- Broadcast requirements between developers and the client.
In large projects, the roles of Business Analyst and System Analyst are sometimes shared. The responsibilities of a Business analyst include identifying the business goals of the customer, thinking out the concepts of the solution and forming the requirements. The responsibilities of the System Analyst include formalization and specification of requirements, writing technical specifications at the level of functional requirements and software implementation.
