UST jobs - Associate III - Business Analysis

An Associate III – Business Analysis is good enough if they can understand the frequently used techniques from the below list: a. Brainstorming b. Business Cases c. Document Analysis d. Business Rules Analysis e. Prototyping f. Data Mining g. Estimation h. Financial Analysis i. Functional decomposition j. Interviews k. Item Tracking l. Lessons Learned m. Process Analysis and Modelling n. Reviews o. Root Cause Analysis p. Risk Analysis and Management q. Survey/Questionnaire r. Workshops s. Mind mapping t. Scope Modelling u. Stakeholder maps v. Metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) w. Benchmarking & Market Analysis x. Interface Analysis y. Data flow diagrams z. Use cases aa. User Stories bb. Backlog Management cc. Estimation dd. Prioritization ee. Acceptance and Evaluation criteria ff. Business Model Canvas gg. Concept Modelling hh. SWOT Analysis ii. Organizational Modelling jj. Vendor Assessment Knowledge Examples: Skilled in various BA knowledge areas (recommended by IIBA or any other professional organization for Business Analysis). Be able to use common techniques while performing various BA tasks 1. Business Analysis Approach

Tailor the business approach based on the audience’s known preferences/

needs by adapting the preferred verbal & non-verbal communication style to the needs of the situation and the individual,

use active listening and discovery skills to understand “real” issues/ needs and build rapport

Determine the appropriate level of formality that is required for the business analysis approach.

Identify the required business analysis activities.

Consider the timing of business analysis work within the context of the overall change.

Assess the complexity and size of the change and the overall risk factors for the change.

Demonstrate capability in multiple analysis methodologies. 2. Stakeholder Engagement

Perform stakeholder analysis.

Define the level of stakeholder collaboration that will be required to support the change.

Identify appropriate stakeholder communication needs to support the change.

Ensure key stakeholders understand and agree to the business analysis approach.

Facilitate stakeholder meetings 3. Business Analysis Information Management

Identify an effective decision making process.

Invite feedback and opinions from others on the process.

Develop an effective change control process for requirements and designs.

Plan an effective prioritization process for requirements and designs.

Plan an effective approval process for the deliverables that will be produced

help others make the best decision based on appropriate criteria - business need, opportunities, risk, compliance, and the ability to achieve the desired outcome.

Determine the appropriate level of abstraction for business analysis information for each stakeholder

Use appropriate business analysis tools for managing business analysis information 4. Requirements Elicitation

Understand scope of elicitation effort and select appropriate elicitation techniques for stakeholders

Prepare supporting materials and set up required logistics for elicitation

Prepare stakeholders in advance of elicitation sessions to ensure activities run smoothly and everyone works toward a common goal

Organize activities and manage time efficiently to consistently adhere to commitments and changing priorities

Facilitate elicitation activity and capture elicitation outcomes

Adapt verbal and non-verbal communication style to the needs of the situation and the individual

Put all the pieces together to elicit information relevant to the change

Adapt to and embrace changing situations as an opportunity, rather than an

Obstacle

Compare elicitation results against source information and other elicitation results �� Resolve conflicts and negotiate to reach agreements.

Demonstrate well prepared, stakeholder-focused written communication.

Validate that the elicitation results match the intention of stakeholder needs 5. Communication and collaboration - provide relevant information to stakeholders in a timely manner. Effectively work with stakeholders to ensure delivery of required outcomes.

Use different methods to document and communicate information, based on stakeholder level of involvement and needs.

Communicate the appropriate level of detail so stakeholders can understand the information

Provide the forums for stakeholders to ask questions and/or raise any concerns

Demonstrate well prepared, stakeholder-focused written communication

Set stakeholder expectations to ensure activities will run smoothly and they work toward a common goal.

Gain agreement for required stakeholder commitments

assess stakeholders’ level of participation and focus, and raise attention to high risk behavior (such as diversion to other work, delayed approvals, or lack of involvement)

encourage the free-flow exchange of information, ideas, or innovation

promote an atmosphere of shared effort to resolve problems and achieve desired outcomes Encourage teamwork by working in collaboration with others to achieve goals and objectives 6. Requirements Life Cycle Management

Leverage appropriate business analysis tools to align requirements and designs and effectively manage changes

Identify the relationships to track to effectively manage traceability

Put all the pieces together to align requirements and designs and effectively manage changes.

Ensure approaches used to trace requirement relationships are acceptable norms by stakeholders

Maintain requirements so they remain correct and current after an approved change.

Ensure that the content and intent of the requirement is maintained.

Ensure approaches used to maintain requirements are understood by stakeholders.

Manage requirements and attributes so they can be easily stored and accessed.

Manage requirements in such a manner they can easily be reused in the future

Leverage appropriate business analysis tools to identify and maintain requirements and designs for reuse

Ensure that the basis of prioritization is followed, as agreed upon by relevant stakeholders. 

Guide stakeholders through the challenges of prioritization.

Re-evaluate priority with stakeholders as new information becomes available.

Resolve conflicts and negotiate to reach agreements, during prioritization

Execute the defined change control process; Complete impact analysis activities, as needed. Facilitate impact resolution activities

Understand stakeholder roles and authority levels in approving requirements and designs

Track and communicate approval and implementation decisions for requirements and designs.

Maintain audit history of changes to requirements and designs 7. Strategy Analysis

Understand the organization's: o capabilities and processes, o utilized technology and infrastructure, o policies and business rules, o business architecture, and o internal assets.

Understand external influencers

Articulate business goals and objectives.

Determine the solution scope.

Identify constraints and assumptions

Identify:

potential changes to organizational structure and culture required to support the desired change,

new or modified capabilities and business processes that will be required to support the change,

new or modified technology and infrastructure that will be required to support the change

new or modified organizational policies and business rules required to support the change

Identify unknowns and quantify the impact of risk factors

Perform gap analysis to understand missing or improved capabilities required for the change

Define solution scope to understand which new capabilities the change will deliver

Develop appropriate transition states and complete release plans 8. Analysis and Design - analyze, synthesize, and refine elicitation results into requirements and designs.

Model requirements and designs.

Analyze requirements and designs.

Identify key information for requirements and designs, and their attributes

Ensure the requirements meet the characteristics to support quality requirements and designs.

Perform verification activities throughout the work.

Use appropriate checklists for quality control

Identify assumptions and utilize them to manage risks.

Define measurable evaluation criteria to assess the success of the change.

Evaluate alignment with solution scope to support value delivery

Make effective use of requirement viewpoints and views.

Leverage templates to develop the requirements architecture.

Ensure that the set of requirements is complete; it is cohesive and tells the audience the full story

Ensure that requirements relate to each other by identifying requirement relationships

Put all the pieces together to ensure that the requirements collectively support one another to fully achieve the objectives

Develop design options aligned with the desired future state

Put all the pieces together to define the solution approach, identify business improvement opportunities, allocate requirements across solution components, and develop design options that achieve the desired future state

Identify costs associated and benefits of a solution option

Determine the value of a solution to key stakeholders.

Assess design options and recommend the appropriate solution 9. Solution Evaluation - define performance measures and assess the data collected to evaluate solution effectiveness

Identify the appropriate measures to use to assess solution performance.

Validate the performance measures selected with key stakeholders

Demonstrate proficiency in using office applications to document, track and

communicate performance measures and the data collected to evaluate solution effectiveness

Leverage an understanding of the organization to identify the most effective means of implementing a change

Highlight risks identified through assessing the performance measures.

Assess performance measures to identify relevant trends.

Test and analyze performance measures to ensure their accuracy.

Identify performance variances, their root cause, and recommend appropriate actions to reduce variance.

Propose alternative solutions to problems or opportunities, and informed recommendations based on evaluation of the solutions’ merits

Identify internal solution component dependencies.

Perform problem analysis to identify the source of solution limitations.

Perform impact assessment activities to quantify factors that affect solution

Performance

Assess enterprise culture and how a solution impacts the organizational structure.

Perform an operational assessment on processes and technology

Ensure appropriate solution performance measures are being used. Provide substantiated recommendations. 10. Demonstrate an understanding of the organization’s nuances and how to get things done. 11. Analyze and use a holistic view of people, processes and technology to understand the enterprise 12. Demonstrate an ability to learn quickly and willingly. 13. Demonstrate the ability to incorporate business and industry knowledge into work