In software development companies and every other aspect of the IT industry, technical experts and business analysts play a major role in providing better solutions to their customers.
Some software developer deliver custom solutions to their customers and create custom software by writing custom code with their expertise. However, the actual gap between the client and programmers is wide, and the third party is required to intermediate.
In software development projects, Business analysts are intermediate in client requirements and programmers, helping two sides understand each other better. An analyst “translates” the client goal and vision of his business into the specific requirements for the developers to follow the same.
What would be the Key Aspects of Business Analyst in the Software Development?
1. Customer Requirement Evaluation
A customer request pertains to a particular query, request, or requirement conveyed by a customer to a company or its representatives. It constitutes direct interaction initiated by a customer seeking help, details, or a solution related to a product, service, or overall interaction with the company.
At an early stage, Once the customer comes with his request to the software company, Business analysts collaborate with a sales team. Business analysts evaluate the request and figure out what kind of solution would be the best for the client and how much work and time it will involve.
2. Requirement gathering and analysis
Requirement gathering and elicitation is a main part of the business analyst role, as the success of the whole project largely depends on how well requirements are understood and documented before the development work begins.
To gather the requirements,the business analyst must talk to clients or stakeholders like owners, managers, or sponsors.
Business analysts use multiple methods to understand the requirement including:
- Developing Predefined queries to identify key requirements.
- Sometimes Conducting on site visits with clients to study and analyze business process.
- Preparing scope of work and analysis document based on customer request elicitation.
3. Prepare the Documentation/ Wireframe or Prototyping
When the list of requirements is ready, the business analyst discusses the requirement with the technical expert/developers, project manager, designers, and quality assurance team. Using their expertise, they might find problems or missing parts in the requirements.
Once all the queries are rectified, BA will prepare the requirement document in different representable ways as a graphical representation in terms of a Flow chart and use case diagram.
In order for the customer to better envision how the end product will look and feel, the business analyst might prepare a prototype of the user interface. The business analyst does not design the future product but creates mockups of screens that show its main functionalities.
What are the Key Skills of Business Analyst?
Now that we have a grasp of what a business analyst does let’s explore the key skills necessary for a successful career in this role. As a business analyst, your responsibilities are diverse, so you’ll need a well-rounded set of skills that encompasses both technical and non-technical abilities.
Here, We’ve defined the key skills of a business analyst:
Analytical and Critical Thinking: Thinking is most essential For a business analyst, two important types of thinking are:
- Analyzing: As a business analyst, your job involves looking carefully at what the client wants. Analytical thinking where business analyst can use logical and analytical approaches to understand the client’s business process and requirement. Analytical thinkers
- Critical Thinking: Thinking critically about business models, strategies, partnerships, and understanding business data needs special skills. In reality, aside from data, business analysts play a crucial role in making businesses succeed.
- Critical thinking means being able to analyze and make good judgments based on the information you have. Data and how you use it have become important for businesses to survive. With data, business managers can make smart decisions, predict future trends, and keep up with new technology.
Communication and interpersonal skills:
Effective communication and interpersonal skills are crucial for a business analyst. Let’s dive into what these skills mean:
- Communication Skills: They are all about how well you can talk and understand others. To be good at this, you have to be a good listener, meaning you pay attention, ask questions, and show that you care about what others are saying. It’s also important to be able to explain complex ideas in a simple way that everyone can understand. In a nutshell, clear and easy-to-understand communication is really important.
- Interpersonal Skill: Interpersonal skills are all about how good you are at making friends and working together with others. It’s important for people to trust what you say and believe in your abilities. Building positive relationships when you talk to people is the main thing. When people have different ideas or problems, interpersonal skills help you sort out disagreements and find solutions that make everyone happy.
Problem-solving and decision-making skills:
These skills are critical for a business analyst.
- Problem-solving skill: Every customer has a unique problem. Business analysts must carefully study the issue, consider possible solutions, and suggest the best way to proceed.
- They need to approach problems from different perspectives, considering both the end user’s needs and the technical aspects. Collaboration with developers and ongoing discussions are vital in finding technically viable solutions.
- Decision Maker: The choices made by a business analyst have a direct and indirect impact on the company. Therefore, they must carefully consider all aspects before reaching a decision. A business analyst examines the problem, considers different approaches, tests them, and then decides based on their evaluation.
Cost-benefit and negotiation skills:
- Cost Benefit Analysis: Think of cost-benefit analysis as a way to decide if a project is a good idea or not. Business analysts do this by checking how much a project will cost and what good things it will bring. If the good things outweigh the costs, it’s usually a green light to go ahead with the project when companies are considering new ones.
- Negotiation skill: Negotiation is a bit like finding a fair deal when people have different thoughts. Business analysts use this skill to make sure everyone is happy with what they’re doing. Sometimes, folks have different wishes, and business analysts step in to help them find a solution by talking and making agreements. During a project, negotiation is super important. It’s used to decide what gets included, which requests become must-haves, and how to build the project to meet those needs.
What is the Importance of Agile Business Analyst in Software Development?
In a software company, Agile is a great way to develop and deliver useful software to the business. However, Agile teams need business analysts because they play a vital role in making sure the software benefits the business as much as possible.
Here’s why Agile business analysts are essential:
- Understanding User Needs: We find out what the people in the business actually need and want from the software. This helps us make sure the software is built to meet their requirements.
- Collaboration: We work closely with business users and sponsors throughout the organization to make sure everyone is on the same page. This ensures that the features in the software really add value to the business.
- Connecting the Dots: We take a big-picture view of the software’s features and figure out how they relate to each other. We make sure that all the pieces of the software fit together to improve the entire business process.
- Analyzing Business Processes: We also look at the business processes and help users make the necessary changes to take full advantage of the new software. This should make their jobs easier and more efficient.
- Organizing the Work: We keep the list of tasks (backlog) well-organized. We prioritize the most important tasks and remove or add things as needed. This helps the team know what to work on in the next sprint, making the work smoother and more productive.
In a nutshell, when Agile practices and business analysis work hand in hand, they bring great benefits to a company. This cooperation makes everything much easier and more successful. They work in different ways, such as how long sprints are scheduled, what happens inside sprints, what would be desired outcomes, and how the project team will work inside sprints.
Agile business analysts use these facts and strategies to contribute their ideas and provide value in software development, making customers happy.
Summing Up:
Business analysts play an important role in software development. They help bridge the gap between what customers want and what programmers can develop the solution. Business analysts do this work by understanding customer needs, gathering requirements, providing proper documentation or flow diagrams, and making sure everyone understands each other.
They also help in problem-solving, analysis of requirements, and most in cost-benefit analysis according to requirements. With that, Agile business analysts are also important in software development as they help teams work smoothly, making sure the software is delivered. Also, they keep requirements organized, help analyze business, and work on sprints so each role’s process can be smoother and simpler.
In the end, Elsner Technologies Business analysts provide hands-on experience and expertise to their customer’s requirements and work with both Agile and interactive development processes.They give the project’s details, necessary documents, requirement analysis, tech guidance, and project flow to the development team, customers, and stakeholders
