Not really and that’s good news. Let us understand who a business analyst is.
A business analyst is someone who analyzes, designs organizational systems, assessing the business model and its integration with technology to achieve a certain objective.
Hence a business analyst should not be technology illiterate, but at the same time, they are not expected to be an expert in any programming language as such.
That’s Indeed Great News
However, as business analysts, we need to be comfortable with certain software tools. Let us understand the top 10 software concepts and tools for business analysts.
- Software Engineering Methodologies like SDLC e.g. Waterfall, Iterative (Agile/Scrum)
We should be aware of the concepts related to methodologies like waterfall and iterative. Business analysis approaches differ as per SDLCs followed and being knowledgeable on SDLCs helps us to plan our activities better. - High-Level Technology like Database structure, OOP
As business analysts, we need to have some flair for technology like OOPS, Database concepts. A good understanding of database concepts is a great skill for all business analysts. - Reporting Tools
Another great area of interest for Business Analyst is Reporting tools, BI and reporting mechanisms etc. - UML Modeling Tools
Modeling tools are something like a paintbrush for an artist; we are going to color our canvas with this skill. So get yourself conversant with this tool today if you have not. The popular ones in use in industry are Rational Rose, Star UML (Free software) and Enterprise Architect. - BPM Tools
BPM Tools like MS Visio and BizAgi (free software) are great tools to depict the process map in a visual manner. Visual representations are great ways to communicate the process flow. The beauty of this is it makes the whole process comprehendible in few mins by having a quick look at the process flow diagram. - Testing Tools
Testing tools are ultimately going to be the one which is going to make or break the release of the system/application. Business analysts are testers on behalf of the most stakeholders and sponsor for the application to see the light of the day. - Requirements Management Tools
As business analysts, we are going to be the owner of the requirements of the applications/projects that we are part of. Few popular requirements management tool in the market are OSRMT – Open source Requirements management tool, DOORS, Rational Requisite Pro. - Mindmap
As business analysts, we are expected to explore details about a particular situation or solution. Mindmap is a very helpful technique to elaborate any concept. - Prototyping tools
Prototypes are great ways to evaluate and collect feedback on requirements and features.
Prototyping tools such as Pencil, iRise, SmartDraw are few popular prototyping tools. Of which Pencil is a free plugin whereas iRise and SmartDraw are licensed products. - MS Office
Last but not the least, it may sound very generic, however as business analyst s at any point of time we will have to be fairly proficient on the MS office tools like MS Excel, MS Word, and MS PowerPoint. These office tools are going to be handy for all our life, hence definitely worth to invest some good time with these tools.
Keeping one abreast of upcoming technologies, trends and practices in the area of interest or domain are going to keep one in demand.
You can get access to the best of the industry toolkit and templates for business analysis and requirements engineering here.
These templates and toolkits have been designed by experts based on hundreds of years of industry experience in this domain.