Business Analyst has become the new corporate patron and considered as one of the critical pillar of an organization. The term “Business Analyst” is still vague in the IT industry, many feel this position is all about understanding what the “Business” is all about. But in reality it’s much more than what we think and understand. Business Analysis is about having in-depth knowledge of how the business operates, the views, facts of business processes and the key problems and issues associated with it.

Each year, we see organizations across the globe face copious project failure rates, often wasting millions of dollars per failed project. In response to research showing that many organizations have not set concrete requirements and job descriptions. This is where Business Analysts comes into the picture.

The IT industries should explore the essential skills, knowledge and abilities inherent to each competency and during each stage of a business analyst’s career. The role of the business analyst can well be described as the “global conversationalist” – understanding and representing the varied patron outlook in a clear and eloquent manner, assisting business people in the discovery process whereby up-and-coming and uncertain business needs are uncovered, and the real value adding requirements are identified.

Knowledge Area: Key Requirements of Business Analyst

The process of conducting research on the business environment within which an organisation functions and on the organisation itself, in order to verbalize analysis is the role of Business Analyst. At the most basic level, a business analyst acts as a translator or liaison between the customer or user and the IT person or group attempting to meet this user’s needs.

Initially the BA identifies business and client requirements and communicates the requirements to the project team, vendor, organization or outsourcer. The key elements include:

• Prioritize Requirements
• Organize Requirements
• Specify and Model Requirements
• Define Assumptions and Constraints
• Verify Requirements
• Validate Requirements

We at Etag strongly believe that the de-emphasis of the importance of this role is one of the major gaps in many responsive organizations today. In many industries the analyst role is lurched – unable to effectively deliver the value they promise due to organization structure and lack of management support.