Business Analyst

 

Customers (end-users and business units) don't always know how to express what they need, or how to make the whole system and the requirements hang together.

 

To provide, this necessary ingredient, teams can place Business Analysts between the customer, architects and programmers.

 

Business Analysts translate the business requirements into clear defined goals and objectives that can be measured, tracked and designed.

 

-- The key is requirements and trace ability, not solutions. --

 

Typical tasks:

• Business Requirements Specification (BRS), this document outlines the requirements of the business either on a high level or on a detailed level. <examples>. -- Define the "AS IS" and the "TO BE" --
• Functional Requirements Specification (FRS), translates business requirements into functions. Outlines step by step what the requirement should do. <examples>

Both documents will describe the "WHAT" and not the "HOW".

 

Roles

• Strategist, focus on the strategic direction of the organisation.
• Architect, introduce change to solve the business problems.
• System analyst.

--Business Analysts should work as aides to the customer, not as an interface between customer and programmer.--