After Requirements: Is the BA Done?

By: Cathy Brunsting, Business Analysis Manager, US Cellular Tuesday February 20, 2007 What is the role, if any, of the Business Analyst BA!, on"e the re#uire$ents are done% What ha&&ens after 'ee(s or $onths ha)e been s&ent eli"iting and analy*ing re#uire$ents for the &ro+e"t% ,o"u$ents are finished- re)ie's are "o$&leted- a&&ro)als are re"orded- the re#uire$ents are .done/0 But, is the BA done% 1ot if you 'ant high #uality, "ost2effe"ti)e solutions0 The role of the BA after re#uire$ents )aries fro$ "o$&any to "o$&any and fro$ &ro+e"t to &ro+e"t0 ,ifferent de)elo&$ent $ethodologies and &ra"ti"es lead to 'ide )ariations0 3o'e)er there are se)eral (ey roles that are "riti"al to the su""essful deli)ery of a &ro+e"t 2 $anaging re#uire$ents "hanges&arti"i&ating in the design and test re)ie's- and ensuring that there is tra"eability in both the design and test artifa"ts0 Change Management Process What ha&&ens 'hen the re#uire$ents "hange% And, they do "hange on any signifi"ant &ro+e"t 4 the business sta(eholders find ne' fun"tionality that they must ha)e, but forgot about during the long re#uire$ents sessions- the design tea$ hits a roadblo"(, unable to "ontinue 'ithout additional detail or further "larifi"ation- or the tea$ dis"o)ers that so$e of the re#uire$ents are infeasible to i$&le$ent or so "ostly that they 'ant to re)isit the re#uire$ents 'ith the business re#uestor0 There are )arious te"hni#ues that "an redu"e the nu$ber of "hanges to re#uire$ents, but don5t be fooled into thin(ing that they "an be eli$inated0 Change ha&&ens 2 it is i$&ortant to be &re&ared to deal 'ith it0 The BA &lays a (ey role in "hanges that affe"t re#uire$ents, re$aining the "onduit bet'een the business and the te"hni"al tea$ s!, &erfor$ing fun"tions su"h as:

,o"u$enting the ne"essary "hanges, 6re)enting 7 redu"ing unne"essary "hanges,

8)aluating the ris(s of re#uested "hanges,

Assessing the i$&a"t that the "hange has on the &ro+e"t0

Without the &arti"i&ation of the BA, the "hange $anage$ent &ro"ess "an tor&edo a "riti"al business &ro+e"t0 Design Reviews 3o' does your "o$&any ensure that the design really $eets the re#uire$ents% The BA has a "riti"al role in this &ro"ess0 While in"luding the business sta(eholder is also i$&ortant, the BA often has a better understanding of the tradeoffs bet'een the business &ro"esses and the te"hnology solutions than the business sta(eholder0 And, the BA "an hel& the business understand 'hat is $eant by the &ro&osed te"hni"al solution and hel& the te"hni"al staff understand 'hat the business is a"tually trying to a""o$&lish0 ,o"u$ented re#uire$ents "an only go so far in &ro)iding this needed infor$ation0 There is no substitute for the $ulti2fa"eted "on)ersation that o""urs during the re)ie' &ro"ess0 The BA5s e9&ertise is also "riti"al to the design re)ie' &ro"ess in ensuring that: :0 20 All design "o$&onents tra"e ba"( to a re#uire$ent 2 that is, guaranteeing that no e9tra, unneeded fun"tionality is added during the design of the solutionAll re#uire$ents ha)e been a design "o$&onent 2 that is, there are no ga&s in the design 'here re#uire$ents ha)e been $issed0

Without the BA5s &arti"i&ation, (ey fun"tionality "an be $issed or unne"essary and often "ostly fun"tionality "an be introdu"ed to &ro+e"t0 Test Reviews Soft'are testing is used to identify that the de)elo&ed syste$ is "orre"t, "o$&lete, se"ure and of the a&&ro&riate #uality0 But, ho' does the test tea$ a""o$&lish this% 1o "o$&any "an test e)ery &ossible as&e"t of a soft'are solution0 The BA is a (ey &layer in ensuring that the suitable a$ount and "orre"t ty&e of testing is a""o$&lished0 When re)ie'ing the test &lan and test "ases, the BA5s uni#ue blend of business and te"hni"al (no'ledge enables the$ to "riti"ally e)aluate the effe"ti)eness and "o$&leteness of the tests0 The BA5s (no'ledge of ho' the business user intends to use the ne' fun"tionality enables the$ to &ro)ide (ey insights in:

8nsuring that the &ri$ary fo"us of the testing is on fun"tionality that is $ost i$&ortant to the business sta(eholders0 3el&ing to li$it testing in areas that are less "riti"al and ha)e less )alue to "o$&any0

With the BA5s &arti"i&ation, the test &ro"ess "an be be0tter fo"used and $ore "ost2effe"ti)e0 User Acceptance Testing Beyond the re)ie' role, 'hat is the role of the BA in User A""e&tan"e Testing UAT!% While UAT ulti$ately needs to be the res&onsibility of the business sta(eholders5 'ho 'ill be using the syste$, the BA "an &lay a )ital "onsultati)e role in this &ro"ess0 The BA "an hel& lead ine9&erien"ed sta(eholders through a syste$ati" a&&roa"h to UAT0 And, be"ause of their (no'ledge fro$ design and test re)ie's, the BA "an ensure that high2ris( "o$&onents of the solution are fully "he"(ed out by the business0 ;n $any "o$&anies, the BA a"tually &erfor$s the UAT 2 though this a&&roa"h has its dra'ba"(s0 The BA is generally not the user of the syste$ and "an, therefore, not e9er"ise the solution in the sa$e 'ay that the end user 'ill use it0 But, often users are una)ailable, so the BA "an fill this ga& 'hen ne"essary0 While this o&tion is not ideal, sin"e the BA generally hasn5t been in)ol)ed in the "oding of the solution, they "an re$ain an inde&endent set of eyes, able to find errors that de)elo&ers and testers, 'ho are less (no'ledgeable about the use of intended solution, $ay o)erloo(0 So, in "on"lusion, the BA5s role re$ains "riti"al throughout the solution life"y"le 'hen #uality and "ost2effe"ti)eness are i$&ortant, as the BA "ontinues to balan"e the te"hni"al and business needs of the &ro+e"t0 Cathy is a Business Analysis Manager at US Cellular where she leads a team of business analysts for IS projects. She is also the President of the Chicagoland chapter of the International Institute of Business Analysis . She has a BSc in Computer Science from Iowa State Uni!ersity. Cathy has o!er twenty years e"perience in all aspects of business analysis# systems de!elopment and project management# from project inception to customer acceptance. She is s$illed in the analysis of business problems# as well as the design# implementation# testing# and on%going support of technical solutions. &er areas of e"pertise include Interacti!e Solutions# e%Business Solutions# 'inancial Systems# (aming and )ottery Systems# *elecommunications +,perator Console# -oice .ecognition# and Call Processing/# ,rder 0ntry1Subscription Ser!ices# and 2atabase 2esign.