Evolution of Business Analyst Role

It is generic tendency to analyze the current year’s trends and arrive at particular direction or decision.

But then do we really compare with previous few years trends and check if the trends evolved or were lost with time? Such Analysis gives us idea if certain trend will flourish in future or will soon be demolished.

Through this blog I have just tried to analyze trends seen in Business Analysis/Analyst over last three years viz – 2012, 2013 and 2014. The consolidated details for the same are as under:

Traffic signals used: 

Project is going Agile, and BA work in Agile “Culture”…….

2012	2013	2014	Growth
Number of projects/ organizations adopting Agile Methodology continued to grow as most adopted Agile framework in the year 2012. Business Analyst had a challenge to adapt themselves for his title in the Agile Framework	New Roles and responsibilities were created in agile Framework of project implementation for Business Analysts. Also few instances involved BA also performing different roles in Agile (e.g. Scrum Master) along with their specialized BA role.	Agile Methodology is now not considered as a Method but as a “Culture”. More and More BAs have started adapting Agile as it helps managing a project in better way.

BAs are Advisers, not Bouncers……..

2012	2013	2014	Growth
Business Analysts were more consider as Note Takers, ensuring that Requirements are well documented and frozen so that no requirement is missed during development. Business Analysts were considered as bouncers to bounce the new requirements coming at later stage of the project as change requests.	From note takers the Business Analyst role evolved as Scribes Business analyst must note details during meetings and requirement sessions, analyze the notes and derive meaningful information.  The information can be in the form of Process flows, wireframes.	BAs role evolved further as per this year trends. Business Analysts are looked as Functional advisers and not bouncers. The advice can be in form of suggested flow, process or proposed software solution after analyzing / understanding business problem.

We as BA are “Core” member of the team and not just an extension

2012	2013	2014	Growth
Business Analyst role as mentioned above was limited in gathering, documenting and freezing requirements. Once the requirements are frozen, the requirements would be passed to implementation/development team for implementation.	Business Analysts being involved right from start during requirement gathering, knows exact objectives business is trying to achieve. This makes Business Analysts play crucial role in prioritize requirements. 2013 trend showed Business Analyst also involved in project development/Implementation	Business Analyst work with stakeholders right from start and hence develop great tuning with them. It is observed that Projects will benefit from having more continuity, and form the opportunities to influence, persuade and lead stakeholders if BA’s are part of the core team.

Want to review and approve requirements, just click here……

2012	2013	2014	Growth
Business Analyst is responsible in taking notes, documenting the same and obtaining sign off from client. Preparing hefty requirement documentation was a core role of Business Analyst.	Due to globalization and increasing importance of Virtual teams the time spent on the documentation was reduced. In some cases Hefty documents were replaced by email MOMs, Requirement Pointers and Email sign offs for approvals. This was more because in few cases BA’s were also entrusted with additional responsibility as PM.	More sophisticated approached are now used for requirement gathering. In few cases web portals are used to: ·   Upload Requirements ·   Review Requirements ·   Approve Requirements ·   Versioning Requirements ·   Complete Trace of change in Requirements.

According to ESI’s research, senior stakeholders such as sponsors, decision-makers and executives are more likely than ever to take a BA course. This is indication that they are realizing that solid requirements are the foundation for a successful project.More educated sponsor on BA, more support a BA can expect during the entire project.

About Author:

Saurabh Kane is a consultant in Systems Plus Pvt. Ltd. Within Systems Plus, he actively contributes to the areas of Technology and Information Security. He can be contacted at: saurabh.k@spluspl.com