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•The objectives of the business units
•The information required to support those business units, and what decisions are made, based on that information
•A list of reports and interactive information displays required
•Data usage, security, availability and data access requirements
•Data analysis and data mining requirements
•Data quality requirements
•Required response times and performance criteria
•Success criteria for evaluating the success of the initiative
Change control is very important in the software industry. There is always a high possibility to change client requirements during the course of the project. This would have an effect on many aspects such as delivery date, cost/price of the product, working hours of the developers etc. BAs need to play an important and crucial role in here and control the change so that he creates a win-win situation for both his and his client’ companies.
To perform their tasks, BAs can use several tools available. Some companies use these while some do not. Anyway, it’s advisable to use tools to at least work with functional testing. Since handling data and information is prominent for this role, data analyzing tools would also be very helpful and productive. Some of the possible tools are listed below.
CaliberRM by Borland
CaliberRM is a collaborative requirements management tool. It is a web based system that supports collaborative development.
Ideascope by Orasi
Ideascope allows you to send surveys to stakeholders, capture their responses, rank and prioritize their ideas and turn them into requirements.
iServer by Orbus Software
iServer is a repository for Microsoft Visio shapes and Microsoft Office documents. The repository allows objects to be reused, shared, and provides an audit trail of changes. It also provides version control.
Rational Team Unifying Suite by IBM
IBM/Rational offers numerous software development tools that integrate to support the full project life cycle. The Team Unifying Suite supports requirements documentation and management, traceability to test cases, and issue tracking.
SmartDraw
SmartDraw is a graphic diagramming tool that includes stencils for ANSI flowcharts, organizational charts, swim lane diagrams and, data flow diagrams.
The field has become very important. Special courses to train BAs have come in to existence while institutes have been formed to represent them. One such organization is the International Institute of Business Analysis (http://www.iiba.com). The purpose of the International Institute of Business Analysis is to be the leading world-wide professional association developing and maintaining standards for the practice of Business Analysis and for the certification of practitioners. IIBA will achieve that goal by:
•Creating and developing awareness and recognition of the value of the BA,
•Providing a forum for knowledge sharing,
•Identifying the required skills and competencies of a qualified Business Analyst,
•Defining training and professional development standards
•Publicly recognizing and certifying qualified Business Analysts.
Finally, after reading through, it should be clear as to how crucial and important a Business Analyst is for a software company. Last but not least, it is worthy mentioning that it is one of the most interesting jobs found in the industry giving immense experience and exposure assuring a great self satisfaction for the holder of the post.
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