Tools Required for a Business Analyst : Business Analysts and System Analysts FAQ

The modeling of a business and strategic planning of the entire project gains much of the attention in huge projects. When it comes to an organization with widespread reach into technologies and various requirement sets it is often the job done by the Business Analyst that makes handling of the project simple and maintenance of project easy through time. Since the job of the Business Analysts involve lot of actions over data in terms of the inferences, versions, tracking and communication with a lot of other people, there has to be some way to make the process more intuitive and easily organizable. This is where the software tools come in. They are in essence the window for the B.As to observe the entire situation. Here we will be seeing some of the most useful software tools and suites that can come in handy for the Business Analyst.

Microsoft Word:

There is no denying that the Word generated documents are the communicating link between the customer and Business Analyst. The requirements are always given in with adequate pictures and information in form of the Word Document. Marketing or specific SRS are managed as MS Word documents with versions and comments from either side, developing organization and the customer. So its undeniably the no.1 tool that every B.A has to have in his computer.

UML and Use Cases:

The representations of flow of access and direct representation of customer’s requirement as Use cases help the understanding of concept and logic very clearly. It is maintained as the point of reference through both development and testing stages. A great tool like Microsoft Visio can make life much simpler for the Business Analyst by giving the most comprehensive tool set for UML and Use Case representation/generation. There are also other similar tools like ConceptDraw etc. The choice is subjective to one’s convenience.

The requirements can also be managed according to specific development methodology and there are specific tools which are suitable for each methodology. There is the Requisite Pro, IRise manager and IBM’s “Rational suite” each of which have their own style of implementing the different methodologies like Rational Unified Process etc. A research on the tool set and usage analysis will be useful and may give the Business analyst the best management tool to get his requirements organized.

Presentations and other Customer Interactions:

The Microsoft PowerPoint is one software that all the Business Analyst has to use most during a project. Be it in the initial design plan elicitation or in the conclusive test phase roll out, the Business Analyst showcases the entire picture of the product through the slides. A slide is really worth 10 pages of detailed document, as it gives a better understanding through face to face presentations. In case of the testing phase, the testing script, overall results, performance and quality assurance figures are to be well-managed and easily accessible. For this phase the Business Analyst’s knowledge in Database management can come in handy. Some QA/Traceability tools like Mercury Quality centre and Test Director can come in really useful.

There are many tools that are out there for doing each of the above specified task, but it is really the B.A’s intellect and management skills that comes out through the effective usage of the tools. These tools are just the perfect add-ons that can make the efforts of management much effective and really fruitful.