Erin Brockovich: The Business Analyst

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. erin brockovich Business Analysis Blog Tarun ChandelHow 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

{1 comments} / Read More...

How to stay on top of your work

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.
  • Notebook Business Analysis Tool Business Analysis Blog tarun chandel Notebook Calendar Business Analysis Tool Business Analysis Blog tarun chandel Notebook Sections Business Analysis Tool Business Analysis Blog tarun chandel
  • 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

{6 comments} / Read More...

Back with a Buddha Moment

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

{4 comments} / Read More...

Matt's Journey for a Perfect Business Analysis Role

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 
  1. Ability to lead working sessions with client to capture product requirements and translate those requirements into structured Product Definition Documents
  2. Experience developing process flows from high-level concepts
  3. Ability to ask the right questions at sufficient detail in order to capture the essence of the product requirements
  4. Experience in devloping software under a standard SDLC methodology.
  5. Expert in MS Offices tools. Expert in Powerpoint, Visio and Project

  1. Demonstrates strong interpersonal skills, with team members, clients and counterparts.
  2. Builds personal expertise in a business area.
  3. 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.
  4. Supports own Performance Management Process, including but not limited to, managing own time and expenses involved in work.
  5. May serve as a Peer Advisor for newly hired Senior Business Analyst(s).
  6. Applies BearingPoint Delivery Framework methodologies to work.
  7. Supports business development and proposal efforts by assisting with the development of written material and/or developing cost proposals.
  8. Supports, and may contribute directly to, engagement financial management activities.
  9. Participates in recruiting activities.
  10. Will serve as client representative in briefings, meetings, and conferences.
  11. Conduct functional business analyst activities across the systems development life cycle.
  12. Produce interface specifications, user documentation, and systems/customer acceptance testing.
  13. 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.
  14. 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.
  15. The candidate will need to facilitate the clarification of functional specification and relay those specifications to internal and external stakeholders for review and acceptance.
  16. Throughout both the functional and implementation activities, continuously develop and maintain all required and pertinent documents, to include memorandums, agreements, and management plans.
  17. 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.
  18.  The candidate should posses an understanding of enterprise architecture, different IT frameworks and related principles, as well as software improvement processes.
  19. 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.
  20. 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.
  21. Have experience establishing and updating systems' requirements. 
  22. Excellent communications skills, including the ability to clearly articulate client and customer requirements and objectives and serve as an on-site representative as requested.
  23. Developed Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs), Interface Control Agreements (ICAs), system test strategies and scripts and other system documentation.
  24. Experience providing technical implementation support following system "go-live".
  25. Experience supporting a project management office (PMO) for a major system implementation.
Job Description 2
  1. Analyzes and evaluates computer and business systems.
  2. Supports design, implementation and testing.
  3. Performs cost/benefit/risk analysis.
  4. Assists in ensuring that the methodology is compliant with information technology guidelines.
  5. Works with Program Manager to identify tasks and scheduling.
  6. May work closely with or delegate assignments to other members of immediate workgroup.
  7. 3-5 years work related experience is required, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
  8. Strong understanding of software architectures, Microsoft products, software lifecycle methodology and information systems development required.
  9. Sound problem resolution, judgment and decision-making skills required.
  10. Must be able to communicate effectively.
  11. Strong technical design and process analysis skills may be required.
  12. Strong business related background preferred. Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology or related field required.

  1. 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.
  2.  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.  
  3. This role will mentor and coach other Business Analysts.  
  4. 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.
  5. Modelling the processes and data of the business area
  6. Create prototypes and simulations thereby facilitating successful solution design and development
  7. Resolve conflicting end-user requirements
  8. Model processes to clarify business requirements, and to enhance or re-engineer business processes, prior to, or in parallel with, solution design and implementation
  9. Produce and review data/information models and preliminary system architecture, as needed
  10. Help manage BA resources in accordance with project schedules
  11. Identify initial Business Case requirements and other pre-project activities
  12. Work closely with the designated Project Manager to facilitate progress of the project
  13. Minimum 5 years experience as Business Analyst
  14. Prefer experience in a regulated environment


UK Job Profile and Skills Required
Job Description 1
  1. Business Analyst, Project Management, scoping and planning, requirements gathering, gap analysis, Documentation,
  2. UML, Development /​ programming knowledge
  3. 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)
  4. 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
  5. managing /​ looking after other relevant work stream and 3rd parties where appropriate.​
  6. 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.​ 
  7. 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.​
  8. Experience in Business Analysis /​ Requirements gathering, Documentation, Successful Project Delivery and Development /​ programming knowledge /​ experience (due to contact with development teams)
Job Description 2
  1. looking for a Business Analyst who enjoys engaging with end users to gather their requirements and delivering innovative solutions.​ 
  2. If you would describe yourself as someone who thinks outside the box this is the role for you!!
  3. As a Business Analyst you will be required to analyse and gather requirements, which will involve facilitating meetings and coordinating workshops.​ 
  4. Successful Business Analyst /​ Business Systems Analyst must have demonstrable experience in business process analysis; 
  5. Proven track record when it comes to gathering requirements, managing stakeholders and dealing with all levels of management within an organisation.​
Job Description 3
  1. Managing a team of 3-5 individuals.​
  2. The overall purpose of the job is to ensure the successful delivery of solutions to business problems.​ 
  3. 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.​
  4. Lead initiatives to identify, document and design enhancements to existing services and processes in order to continually improve the business process.​ 
  5. 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.​ 
  6. Prepare and evaluate business cases and cost-benefits analysis.​ 
  7. Prepare and execute test plans and scripts Assist with UAT and Implementations Test Analysis Preparation and execution of test plans and scripts.​
  8. 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.​ 
  9. 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.​
  10. Experience of methodologies: UML, RUP or Agile preferred.​
Job Description 4
  1. Senior/​ Lead Business Analyst experience
  2. Experience leading a team of Business Analysts
  3. Experience working on complex business change projects
Job Description 5
  1. You will be involved in the conception stages by taking time to understand the needs of the clients
  2. occasionally visiting them to understand the requirements of the software solution they require.
  3. 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.​ 
  4. 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.​
  5. producing systems specifications


Switzerland Job Profile and Skills Required
Job Description 1
  1. You will be involved in a variety of projects in the energy trading area, initially in the Credit Risk environment
  2. 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
  3. Maintaining and supporting the existing applications will take up about 20% of your working time
  4. You should have a working knowledge of technoloiges, particularly .Net/ Access/Excel and VBA
  5. You should be an excellent communicator in English, other languaes are a plus
  6. You should be skilled at managing expectations and have a good awareness of cultural differences
Job Description 2
  1. To lead and mentor a small team of Business Analysts in their daily work
  2. To take a proactive role in the development of new global solutions
  3. To liaise across all stakeholders at a senior level, advising, setting expectations and as Project Manager, setting the pace for the whole project lifecycle
  4. To take a leading position from the business side working very closely with the technology to create global cutting edge solutions
  5. You will be an experienced business analyst with some project management experience
  6. You will be familiar with the complex technology that drives a leading investment company
  7. 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
  8. 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
  1. As Business Analyst, you will collect and formalize business and user requirements. 
  2. You will deal with process modeling and improvement as well as functional specification. 
  3. 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).
  4. Business and user requirements collection through workshops or interviews
  5. Business process modeling, redesign and improvement
  6. Writing of high-level and detailed functional specifications
  7. Writing and validation of test scenarios
  8. Excellent analytical skills
  9. Excellent communication and writing skills
  10. Analytical mind
  11. OOA/OOD, UML/RUP methodologies
  12. Workshop facilitation skills
  13. Very good level in English and French or German
  14. Industry knowledge in banking, consumer goods, telco or pharma a strong plus
  15. Experience with Service Level Management, Business Process Management/Improvement a strong plus
  16. Experience of Business Process Modeling with tools such as Mega, IDS Scheer
  17. At least 2 years of development experience .
  18. At least 2 years in business/system analysis
Job Description 4
  1. Translation of business needs into IT requirements
  2. Preparation and definition of IT projects to address business needs
  3. Management of alignment of project deliverables with business requirements throughout the project life cycle
  4. Understand Business Requirements and Strategic Group objectives, by collaborating with the Business Community to capture business needs accurately
  5. Interact with peers to ensure a smooth integration of the processes/unit output with the rest of the IT environment
  6. Liaise with other IT stakeholders in project management, architecture, governance to ensure alignment
  7. 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
  8. Coach any Application Specialists involved within the implementation project
  9. Communicate on projects by issuing regular status updates, and managing communication with Key Account Managers, IT team and Business people
  10. Keep updated skills on the most important deployed applications
  11. Conduct market research and observations across all concerned specialist areas
  12. Secure high business acumen by attending any necessary business oriented training sessions
  13.  Ensure the compliance of global IT services processes
  14.  Apply the marketing strategy and process of IT services
  15.  Provide applications team with functional support to secure compliance with SLA and high customer satisfaction
  16.  Provide infrastructure team with input on business applications needs within the application domain
  17.  Understand Business Requirements and finalise Functional Specifications
  18. University degrees or equivalent either in Computer Science or Business Management
  19. Fluent written and spoken English
  20. Min 5 years experience in Business Intelligence applications and tools (implementation and support)
  21. Strong analytical and problem solving skills
  22. Good project management skills (ability to manage external consultants)
  23. Strong communication skills
  24. Negotiation skills
  25. Coordination capabilities and team spirit (ability to work in a cross-functional team)
Job Description 5
  1. Analysis of business processes in controlling aspects, optimize existing business processes and create new business processes
  2. Development of business concepts and specifications in close cooperation with specialists
  3. Analysis and handling Change Requests
  4. Close collaboration with departments and IT
  5. Goal-oriented implementation of solutions
  6. Creation of Management Information Reports
  7. Quality assurance tasks
  8. Several years experience
  9. Good technical knowledge of databases and web applications
  10.  Ideally SQL knowledge
  11. Strong analytical and conceptual skills
  12. Own initiative, reliability and high operational readiness
  13. Dynamic environment
  14. Good communication skills
  15. Team player
  16. You have the opportunity to develop our business, such as support you with our employee development program.
  17. Very good German and English language skills


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

India Job Profile and Skills Required
Job Description 1
  1. Business Analyst with health care Domain Knowledge.
  2. Requirement gathering through client interaction at onsite
  3. Use cases
  4. Strong Analytical skills- Ability to analyze requirements form client and developer perspective, ability to keep the larger picture in mind.
  5. Understanding of entity relationship diagrams/ domain models and process flows 
Job Description 2
  1. Exp as Business Analyst in Securities Lending business
  2. Excellent Communication and Inter-personal Skills.
Job Description 3
  1. Experience in Solution Design, Business Analyst (BA), Architecture, Consulting
  2. Understanding of OSS Business Processes
  3. Very Good Understanding of Telecom Networks
  4. Excellent Communication and Presentation Skills
  5. Very Good Customer-Interaction
  6. Very good Analytical and Problem Solving abilities.
Job Description 4
  1. looking for Business Analyst having exposure into Brokarage Applications.
  2. Very good analytical and problem solving skills.
  3. Should posses in-depth knowledge of the Software Implemenation Life Cycle (SDLC).
  4. Hands on exp in Intrenet Technologies Java/J2EE/.NET is mandatory.
  5. He/She should possess good communication skills.
Job Description 5
  1. Understand the business requirements and appropriately document the flow, business logic and presentation formats.
  2. Liaise with technology team to provide constant business understanding and support
  3. Independently structure complex data analysis requirements and professional presentation formats and provide small automation/data management support on ad-hoc basis
  4. From time to time involve in various reporting and analysis requirements.
  5. Review and suggest improvements to the existing reports and data structures
  6. Ensure that all service level agreements (SLAs) with clients are met
  7. Provide analysis, recommendations, consultation, and expert advice on improving processes
  8. Develop a high level of product and business knowledge for the industry
  9. 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.

CountryJob Profile and Skills Required
US
  1. 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.  
  2. This role will mentor and coach other Business Analysts.  
  3. 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.
  4. Modeling the processes and data of the business area
  5. Create prototypes and simulations thereby facilitating successful solution design and development
  6. Resolve conflicting end-user requirements
UK
  1. Business Analyst, Project Management, scoping and planning, requirements gathering, gap analysis, Documentation,
  2. UML, Development /​ programming knowledge
  3. 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)
  4. 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
  1. You should be an excellent communicator in English, other languages are a plus.
  2. To lead and mentor a small team of Business Analysts in their daily work
  3. To take a proactive role in the development of new global solutions
  4. To liaise across all stakeholders at a senior level, advising, setting expectations and as Project Manager, setting the pace for the whole project lifecycle
  5. To take a leading position from the business side working very closely with the technology to create global cutting edge solutions
Singapore
  1. Requirements gathering and documentation
  2. Requirement to product gap analysis
  3. Functional and business specifications
  4. Project documentation and help screens
  5. Excellent written and verbal communication
  6. Work with the Cross Business Delivery lead in maintaining visibility and coordination of all required business activities.
India
  1. Requirement gathering and documentation through client interaction at onsite
  2. Use cases
  3. Strong Analytical skills- Ability to analyze requirements form client and developer perspective, ability to keep the larger picture in mind.
  4. Understanding of entity relationship diagrams/ domain models and process flows
  5. Excellent Communication and Inter-personal Skills.
  6. 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:
  1. Where is the customer and
  2. 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:
  1. Lead working sessions with client to capture product requirements and translate those requirements into structured Product Definition Documents.
  2. Developing process flows from high-level concepts.
  3. 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:
  1. Liaise with technology team to provide constant business understanding and support.
  2. 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):
  1. 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:
  1. Experience in Solution Design, Business Analyst (BA), Architecture, Consulting
  2. 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:
  1. Demonstrates strong interpersonal skills, with the members of the Development Team.
Business Analysis Skills needed at with distributed teams:
  1. 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.

{2 comments} / Read More...

2009 A year of Business Analysis

I wish may 2009 be the year of Business Analysis!
Wish all of you a Happy New Year!

{1 comments} / Read More...

Business Analysis Meet, London

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

{4 comments} / Read More...

Business Analysis Tools: Storyboards

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:

  1. Helps a BA in identifying the areas where more information is needed.
  2. Helps a BA in identifying the areas where more analysis is needed.
  3. View the bigger picture (in High Definition)
  4. Easy to communicate the understanding to clients
  5. Helps in organizing the work.
Storyboards The Business Analysis Blog Tarun Chandel
Storyboards help a Business Analyst in creating a High Definition Bigger Picture of client's business.

Where do BAs use the Storyboards:
  1. In the Enterprise Analysis Phase, for creating the Business Case.
  2. 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.

Business Analysis Tools Storyboards Tarun Chandel Business Analysis Blog
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:
  1. Keep it simple: Keep the story simple, do not make it complicated. 
  2. 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.
  3. 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)
  4. Tell a good story: In the end keep in mind to tell a good story.
Tarun Chandel
The Business Analyst

{5 comments} / Read More...

Business Analyst: Face of the Organization

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

{4 comments} / Read More...

Business Analysis Tool: Mindmaps for documenting Brainstorming sessions

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.

The Business Analysis Blog Mindmap Brainstorm Tarun Chandel
As the brainstorming session progresses keep adding the stickies on the brown paper. Keep grouping the stickies as the things get clear.

The Business Analysis Blog Mindmap Brainstorm Tarun Chandel
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.

The Business Analysis Blog Mindmap Brainstorm Tarun Chandel
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

{11 comments} / Read More...

Business Analysis Blog Job Board

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

{0 comments} / Read More...

Business Analyst - Why to Stay Updated?

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

{3 comments} / Read More...

Business Analyst Focus on your Client's Customers

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?
  1. What are the numbers they (client) are interested in?
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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

{6 comments} / Read More...