In this post you will understand who is Business Analyst and what is the role and responsibility of BA in IT company. A Business Analyst, hereafter referred as BA, plays a vital role in any IT project/company. His role is prominently differs based on the type of the IT company (Product development or Application Development IT companies) he is working in.
In a product based IT company, the BA basically
Understands the product features,
Understands the product domain,
Understands where the product fits in the domain,
Understand the clients requirements,
Understand what customization are required for this product to fit in the Clients' requirements.
In an Application Development IT company, the BA does different tasks along the project life cycle
Pre Project - Helps perform Enterprise analysis and define the business need.
Project Planning - Understands the project plan, performs stakeholder analysis and plans BA approach along with the help of Project manager as required.
Requirement Gathering - Prepares BRD by conducting different requirement gathering techniques or receive a BRD from client. Sort, prioritize and validate the requirements.
Requirements Analysis - Prepares UML diagrams. Prepares FRS from Business requirements, gets help from architects to develop SSD. Finally prepares a SRS from the previously prepared documents. BA also prepares RTM document for which, he is the sole owner.
Design - Does not have much role except for communicating the design and solution documents to the client so as to drive the for UAT
Development - Here BA clarifies the queries of technical team against the diagrams prepared by him. Also conducts regular status meetings between technical team and clients that helps prepare the client for UAT.
Testing - BA alone or with the help of test manager develops test cases, performs high level testing.
Deployment - Helps take sign off on project closure document, shares RTM and end user manuals and conducts training sessions for end users.
The final word is - The BA takes "the ownership of the requirements" along the project life cycle.
