Business Analysis – Competencies, Techniques and Tools

Business analyst will have to use many techniques and tool to perform his role in business analysis domain. These techniques and tool support or enhance his performance. However, merely using techniques and tools will not make one a successful business analyst as one needs clear concept about business need and possible solution. The usage of these techniques and tool to either elicit or present the information(or requirement) will only help everyone involved understand the issue better…

Business Analysis Techniques:

• Behavioral and personality related 
• Analytical and Cortical thinking skills 
• Communication 
• Relationship building 
• Influencing / Leadership 
• Team player / management 
• Political awareness / understanding of Organizational dynamics. 
• An eye for details 
• Self-confidence to able to convince using data and facts 

IT knowledge

• Project management 
• Requirement engineering 
• System Analysis 
• Data Mapping 
• Data Dictionary 
• Test cases / Test Scenario 
• Data Modeling 

Strategy Analysis

• Impact Analysis 
• Business Technology Optimization 
• Catwoe 
• Consensus Modeling 
• Force Field Analysis 
• Six Thinking Hat 
• Business Change 
• Business Capability Analysis 
• Current State & capability (As-IS) 
• Future State and ability (To-Be) 
• Gap Analysis (To-Be – As-Is) 
• Benchmarking and Market Analysis 
• Financial Analysis /Business Case 
• Define solution and its Scope 
• Scope Modelling 
• Stakeholder List, Map, or Roles and Responsibilities 
• Interview 
• Workshop 
• Business Process Modeling 
• Concept Modelling 
• Brainstorming 
• Business Rules Analysis 
• Organisation structure and modelling 
• Document Analysis 
• Risk Analysis and Management 
• Focus Groups 
• Decision Analysis 
• Traceability Matrix/Item tracker 
• Balanced Scorecard 
• Reviews 
• Data Dictionary 
• Functional Decomposition 
• Mind Mapping 
• Acceptance and Evaluation Criteria 
• Backlog Management 
• Estimation 
• Prototyping 
• Prioritisation Techniques 
• Glossary 
• Role Change 
• Collaborative Games 
• UML(Use Cases, Activity Diagram, State Diagram, Class Diagram & Sequence Diagram) 
• User Stories 
• Observation 
• Lessons Learned 
• Business Model Canvas 
• Process Management 
• Data Modeling (ER Diagram / Class Diagram / Data Flow Diagram) 
• Non-Functional Requirements Analysis 
• Metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) 
• Roles and Permissions 
• Interface Analysis 
• Prototype 
• Survey or Questionnaire 
• Decision Modelling 
• Functional Decomposition 
• Vendor Assessment 
• Communication policy and standards 
• SWOT Analysis 
• Root Cause Analysis 
• Solution Assessment 
• Vendor Assessment 
• Change Management 
• Requirement Management 
• Templates 
• Competency Assessment 

Business Analyst Tools

• Basic Tool – MS Office, MS Visio and MS Project 
• Note Taking – MS OneNote and Evernote 
• General Modelling – Lucidchart and Creately (in absence of MS-visio) 
• EPC Modelling – ARIS 
• BPMN Modelling – System Archit 
• Data Modelling – ErWin, MS-Visio, Click chart and other free tools 
• Wireframing – Balsamiq 
• Invision – combined with Balsamiq (or designs) to make playable demos 
• Prototyping – Flinto, proto . io and iRise 
• Confluence and JIRA 
• Data Extract – Microstrategy ETL, Talend Open Studio, SQL, MongoDB Shells 
• Reporting – Jaspersoft, Tableau 
• Analytics – Google, KISSmetrics etc 
• Dashboarding – Microstrategty, Dashthis 
• (IBM) Rational Toolset (it is expensive and not used widely) – ReqPro , Clearcase, Architect, Rose, XDE 

These are some of the Business Analysis Techniques available for Business Analyst. The Business Analyst must select the technique based on his and other team members’ (involved in particular activity) comfort, convenience and organisation culture.

There are many more free as well as licensed tool are available depending on your need and comfort.

Business Analysis – The Question And Answer Book. it is way you can understand all… over 200 questions and elaborated answers.

India Order link https://www.amazon.in/dp/B074PRQQ5V or Global Order link https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074PRQQ5V

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