What is the role of a business analyst and their primary job?
Their role is to be a mediator between the business (or user) and IT.
Their primary job is to understand the business’ (or the user’s) needs and translate it to something a developer can understand.
The different tools we use are different means to communicate the needs.
What are the 5 steps in the business analyst process?
- Collect information using documentations, interviews and observations.
- Start modelling processes and business rules.
- Understand the new processes and model them through interviews and workshops
- Document the final requirements.
- Talk to a developer how requirements should be implemented in a solution.
What are the sub processes to the 1. step in the BA process - collecting information?
- Identify relevant stakeholders.
- Look at current documentation of processes and existing systems.
- Do interviews with stakeholders and observations of users.
What are the sub processes to the 2. step in the BA process - Analyze and modelling?
- Model as-is processes
- Get an overview over the current problems with the as-is situation.
What are the sub processes to the 3. step in the BA process - to-be processes?
- Do interviews or workshops to understand the new processes.
- Model the new to-be processes.
What are the sub processes to the 4. step in the BA process - writing final requirements?
- Identify the gap between the as-is and to-be processes.
- Write the requirement specification.
What are the sub processes to the 5. step in the BA process -
- Sparring with a developer how requirements should be understood and realised.
- Continuous sparring with the business and user, when unresolved issued comes up.
What are the 3 most common context a business analyst can work in?
- Organization got their own systems and develop their own systems.
In this context the BA work agile with the key stakeholders and the developers.
- Privat organization needs external system with external development and implementation.
The BA have to make very specific requirements with the business and user.
- Public organization need external system
The BA has to follow legal requirements and there is limited communication with supplier.
What is the output of the business analysis?
When a BA conduct a business analysis they will deliver a requirement specification.
What are key skills required by a business analyst?
- Stakeholder engagement and collaboration
- Analytical thinking
- Innovative thinking
- Technical literacy
- Business knowledge and process understanding
- Value creation
- Problem solving
What is a project charter and the purpose of it?
It’s a document that formally authorizes the existence of the project and provides a reference source for the future how the project is carried out.
What are the main components of a project charter.
- Goals
- Costs and benefits
- Scope
- Risks
- Stakeholders
- Dependencies
- Technical requirements
- Milestones
- Budget
What is a project scope?
It outlines the work that needs to be done to accomplish the project goals and establishes the project’s boundaries by specifying what is included and excluded from the project
Eksample:
The scope is to develop a program that automatically translates verbal sentences from English to Russian.
What are the 3 things you try to balance when working with scope?
The scope:
* features
* functionality
* performance
* quality
Cost:
* Ressources
* Budget
Time:
* Schedule
* Production rate
What is scope creep?
Scope creep refers to the uncontrolled expansion or addition of features, requirements, or tasks to a project beyond its original scope. It occurs when there is a continuous and unauthorized growth of project deliverables, objectives, or expectations, often without corresponding adjustments to the project’s timeline, budget, or resources.
What are different types of stakeholders?
- Partners
- Suppliers
- Regulators
- Employees
- Managers
- Owners
- Competitors
- Customers
Keep in mind the stakeholders has varying importants. A business owner is usually more important than a pizza man, but they might both be a stakeholder.
How do you rate how important a stakeholder is?
You do this with the power/interest matrix.
Low power/ Low interest:
You shouldn’t spend much effort on these stakeholders.
Low power/ High interest:
Show consideration in their interest and keep them informed.
High power/ Low interest:
Meet their needs and keep them satisfied.
High Power, High interest:
These are key players and you should engage closely with them.
What are the 4 different stakeholder responsibilities?
- Responsible - The one who is responsible for a task gets done
- Accountable - The one who gets in trouble if a task is not done
- Consulted - The one who should be consulted and helped in some way.
- Informed - The one who should just be informed about progress etc.
What is the difference between direct and indirect risk?
Direct risk:
The project has a large degree of control
Indirect risk:
The project has a little or no control
How do you evaluate a risk?
You evaluate a risk based on what are the chances that the risk occurs and if it does occur how severe is the consequences?
What are 3 main ways to respond to a risk.
- Try to avoid it
- Try to mitigate it
- Just accept it.
What steps are there in the information gathering process?
- Collect information
- Analyze documentation and models. You will find new questions.
- Collect more information and validate documentation and models.
- Repeat step 1,2 and 3 until you got sufficient information and validation.
What techniques are there to collect information from relevant stakeholders?
- Interviews
- Observations
- Workshops
- Focus groups
How do you document and model the things you’ve analyzed?
Experience map - Visualizes qualitative data. What actions to perform and what that actions makes that person think, feel and pain point.
