Business Analysis And IT Consulting -

Introduction

Sivakumar SUNDARARAJAN,
Assistant Vice President, BNP Paribas
 Ground Rules
• Hand Phone – Silent

• Active Participation

• One discussion at a time

• Respect difference in opinion

 Agenda
• BA – Role & Responsibilities
• Basics of Requirement Elicitation
• Requirement Elicitation Techniques
• Requirements documentation (BRD/FRD)
• Requirements Prioritization
• Requirements Walkthrough & Signoff
• Change management
• Testing
• Case - Online Trading System
• Q&A
Business analyst Role - An Overview
 IT Team
 Project manager

 Business analyst

 Technical architect

 Developer

 Database Admin

 Tester

(Not an exhaustive list)

 IT Team (Contd.)

Role Primary Focus Example

Project Manager Project Budget, Schedule
Business Analyst Business needs BRD, FRD, Gap analysis
Architect Technical solution Technical Specification
Developer Development Software coding
Database Admin Development Database, Tables,
Procedures
Tester Quality assurance Test scenario, Test cases
 Two Roles – One Goal!!!
• PM - The person accountable for delivering a project

• BA - The person insuring the delivery of the right

solution
 Business Analyst – Role

• Work as a liaison between stakeholders in order to elicit,

analyze, communicate, and validate requirements for changes
to business processes, policies, and information systems

• The BA role is multi-functional and highly varied

• The shape of the BA role depends upon project objectives,

client preferences and team’s capabilities

• Develop Stakeholder relationships

 Business Analyst – Role (Contd.)

Analyze &
Design Business
Document
Solution
Requirements
Communicate
Plan & Elicit
Requirements
Requirements
to Stakeholders

Verify Solution
Define Business
& Obtain
Need & Scope
Signoff
 BA Role in SDLC Phases

Phase Role
Planning or Feasibility Study Study Existing system & Analyzing
Analysis Comprehend, and logistically
formalize business requirements,
Elicit & analyze requirements
Design Designing the technical
architecture & models
Development Liaison with the developers
Testing Test Planning & testing
Implementation Train the users on new system &
monitor for initial teething
problems
Maintenance Changing business requirements
 BA role in various types of Projects
• Implementation Projects: Requirements elicitation, studying the existence
system, architecture design, liaison with developers, testing, deployments,
post deployment support.

• Maintenance Projects: Keep the system up to date within the changes in

the clients business requirements and resolve ongoing issues

• Enhancement Projects: In the existing system there is a constant need to

incorporate new functionalities and changes, taking place in the
organization so there are addition of new modules to the new system

• Testing projects: After the development is done, there is requirement

thorough functional testing to be done by people who are expert in
subject matter. So test charters, test planning and testing is executed &
once the business managers (BAs) signoff it is rolled to the client or
business users
 Successful Business Analyst
A successful Business Analyst builds a toolbox of capabilities

Business Process Analysis Simulator/Testing

TOOLS Debugger
GUI designer Prototyper

Agile: SCRUM
METHDOLOGY Iterative: RUP
Waterfall: original SDLC
Business skills / knowledge
Domain (functional) skills
SKILLS Interpersonal & Leadership skills
Technology skills
On-the-job training
EDUCATION Certificate programs
College courses
 Business Vs. IT - BA
• Business side BA normally located in the business
location. Works closely with business users and IT BA
Major responsibilities includes Business
requirements documentation, and User Acceptance
testing

• IT business analyst closely works with IT team and

business side BA
 How to Walk the Ramp!!!

Manager –
Business Analysis

Lead BA monitoring
new BAs

BA in a new project

Perform BA in
current project

Shadow a Senior BA
Sample JD
 Activity 1
Item Author/Contributor
Project Charter
Vision & Scope Report
Business Case
Requirements work plan
BRD/FRD
RFP
Commercial and Legal documents
Gap Analysis document
 Activity 1 - Answers
Item Author/Contributor
Project Charter Contributor
Vision & Scope Report Author/Contributor
Business Case Author/Contributor
Requirements work plan Author
BRD/FRD Author
RFP Contributor
Commercial and Legal documents Contributor
Gap Analysis document Author
Basics of Requirement Elicitation
 What are requirements?

• What requirements are…

– A condition or capability a user needs to solve a problem
or achieve an objective
– The functions a system is expected to perform and the
level of performance desired from those functions

• What requirements are NOT…

– Specifications regarding how a function will be
implemented
 Impact of Writing Bad Requirements

• Requirements-related defects
are typically much more
expensive to remedy. The
relative cost to fix the defect
increases as the defect is
allowed to propagate through
the software life cycle
• Creating good requirements at
the beginning of the project
saves time and money over the
project life cycle

Common Reasons for Project Failure -Incomplete requirements,

Changing requirements
 Guidelines for Complete & Comprehensive Req.

• Concise • Modifiable
• Consistent • Understandable
• Clear • Reviewed
• Measurable • Uses correct terminology
• Verifiable • Complete
• Compliant with template • Detailed
• Goal-oriented • Traceable
• Grammatically correct
 Functional Vs. Non-Functional Req.
Functional
• The product capabilities OR
the thing(s) that the product
must do for its users
• Define system processes and
deliverables that relate
directly to business and user
functionality
• They include data
management and flow,
calculations, reporting,
applying business rules
Non-Functional
• The quality attributes, design,
and implementation
constraints, and external
interfaces that the product
must have
• Non functional requirements
do not deliver business
functionality
• Include usability (UI), security,
performance, availability,
capacity, user training,
documentation, back-up and
disaster recovery
 Activity 2
Item Func/Non-Func
The system must send an email alert to the
traders as soon as the trade got executed
The system must handle up to 100 users
simultaneously
There should be a database mirroring
Trade screen should include price validation
Disaster recovery center should locate 10
miles away from Primary data center
Password should contain at least 1 special
character
User should able to view 25 trade order
details in the single page
 Activity 2 -Answers
Item Func/Non-Func
The system must send an email alert to the Func
traders as soon as the trade got executed
The system must handle up to 100 users Non-Func
simultaneously
There should be a database mirroring Non-Func
Trade screen should include price validation Func
Disaster recovery center should locate at 10 Non-Func
miles away from Primary data center
Password should contain at least one Func
special character
User should able to view 25 trade order Func
details in the single page
Requirements Elicitation, Analysis and
Documentation
 Requirement Elicitation Techniques
• Some common techniques…
– Process flows
– Prototypes & Scenarios
– Interviews
– Document analysis
– Workshop
 Prioritizing Requirements
• Requirements prioritization is critical because it:
– Forces stakeholders to address importance of the
requirements
– Increases stakeholder communication and consensus with
stakeholders which requirements are High-priority/Low
priority
– Enables management and IT to schedule the development
and release of systems
 Prioritization Process

Define Priority  Describe each priority level

Levels  Gain stakeholders buy-in on priority levels

 Prioritize requirements with the

Prioritize stakeholders against vision, scope,
Requirements quality, risk, schedule and budget

 Identify temporary “workarounds” if

Identify
requirements cannot be included in a
Workarounds
specific release

 Confirm that the scope of the

Confirm Scope
requirements is in line with the overall
Agreement
scope of the project
 Requirements Vs. Specifications
Requirements
• Answers who, what, where,
when, how often, and how
much is needed to solve the
problem
• Describes Performance
• Does not mention technology
• Concerned with
process/behavior
Specifications
• Answers how the problem will
be solved
• Describes the technical
solution
• Concerned with infrastructure
and physical architecture
 Requirements Documentation
• Business Requirements Documentation (BRD)
• Functional Requirements Documentation (FRD)
– Introduction
– Functional requirements
• Models/Diagrams - Organizational Model, Location Model, Process
Model
• Use case Model
• UML Diagrams (Use case, Activity, Sequence)
– Data Model
– Non-functional requirements
– Appendices
 Requirements Walkthrough
• To solve interpretation conflicts and find deficiencies
in analysis and documentation
• Includes Author, Sponsor, Users, Developers, Testers
and other needed stake-holders
• Group assessment method
• Defect list is then provided to author for further
action
Requirements Traceability Matrix - Example
Change Management
 Change Control Process / Request
• Receive solution change request
• Determine impact of not implementing change
• Determine impact of implementing change
• Make decision
• Communicate actions to be taken
• Check if actions have been taken
• Changed need to be aligned with projects vision and
scope
• Change needs approval
 Root-Cause Analysis
• To identify the factors that resulted in the nature, the
magnitude, the location, and the timing of the
harmful outcomes (consequences) of one or more
past events;
• To determine what behaviors, actions, inactions, or
conditions need to be changed;
• To prevent recurrence of similar harmful outcomes;
• To identify lessons that may promote the
achievement of better consequences.
 BA Role - Testing
• Unit Testing: Conducted by software developers
• Integration Testing: conducted by QA
• System Testing: conducted by QA, BA
• Business-level testing/acceptance testing (UAT): solution
tested against the BRD requirements, followed by sign-off,
managed by BA
• Stakeholder assessment: Conducted after system has been
deployed

• The BA is responsible for providing assurance to the PM and

the customer that all of the solution testing is adequate

PM Knowledge Areas
• Project Integration Management
• Project Scope Management
• Project Time Management
• Project Cost Management
• Project Quality Management
• Project Human Resources Mgmt
• Project Communications
Management
• Project Risk Management
• Project Procurement Mgmt
37
PM/BA Knowledge Areas
BA Knowledge Areas
• Enterprise Analysis
• Business Analysis Planning &
Monitoring
• Requirements Management &
Communications
+ • Elicitation
• Requirements Analysis
• Solutions Assessment &
Validation
= Success
Case - Online Trading System
Use Case Diagram
 Sample Use Case
Description: Investor can place an order to buy or sell stocks.

Primary Actor: Investor, System Administrator

Pre-condition: Investor is logged into his/her account.

Flow of Events:
1. Investor selects the type of transaction i.e., buy or sell.
2. System prompts for stock name and the number of stocks he/she wants to trade.
3. System checks for the deposit, stock availability in order to process the transaction.
4. If everything is satisfied, system prompts for the order confirmation.
5. Once the investor confirms the order, the order should be available in the investor’s order history.
6. Investor gets the acknowledgement from the system.

Abnormal flow:
1. If the deposit is less than the money needed to buy stocks, system responds with an error message
and cancels the order.
2. If the number of stocks to buy is less than the stock availability, system gives an acknowledgement
and cancels the order.
3. If the number of stocks to sell is more than the stocks available with the investor, system responds
with an error message.

Post-condition: Investor has placed an order and that order is recorded in the database.
Trade Order Screen
Activity Diagram
Sequence Diagram
Q&A
Thank you
 Contact
• E-Mail – siva.mba2@gmail.com
• Cell - +91 94867 84778
• You can also connect me through LinkedIn!!!