In a typical IT/ITES project, a Business Analyst has to work with an average of 8 different types (read roles) of stakeholders with each one of them having diverse work profiles, responsibilities and expectations.
For an Analyst to effectively engage and coordinate with all these diverse sets of stakeholders, he/she has to employ a specialized strategy for each one of them.
In this article, we shall elaborate on who are these different types of stakeholders, what roles they assume, what are the key responsibilities they are expected to fulfill, what are their interests on the project and finally, what can a BA do to be indispensable for each one of them?
Developers
Associated Roles: Software Engineer, Software Developer, Computer Programmer, Programmer, Coder
Responsibilities:
- Innovate and develop high-quality technology solutions, softwares, and technical interfaces
- Fix defects found in the code
Interests: A developer likes unambiguous requirements captured in a crisp, easy to understand document. Also, they need efficient systems with the required softwares installed.
How a BA could help: Help them understand the functionality around the requirements they are expected to develop, clarify their functional doubts, encourage them to ask questions and you could be a BA that the team loves!
Testers
Associated Roles: Software Tester, IT Tester, QA, Quality Assurance Analyst
Responsibilities:
- Develop test cases and test the solution functionality for defects and issues
- Carry out regression testing every time changes are made to the code to fix defects
- Ensure all the defects are properly fixed by meticulously tracking them to their closure
Interests: Availability of testable application/software containing all the functionalities listed in the requirements documents as per the project schedule. Also, they appreciate clearly documented project requirements for them to make test cases.
How a BA could help: Ensure project requirements (user stories, use cases, BRD/SRS, RTM) are documented on time and are signed off by the required stakeholders. Additionally, a BA should assist the testers in creating the test cases and review the same for functionality and accuracy.
Support
Associated Roles: IT Support Engineer, IT Support, Technical Support, Help Desk, Network Technicians
Responsibilities:
- Provide technical assistance by installing software’s and required tools
- Researching technical/network/infrastructure-related issues & snags and handling maintenance related problems
Interests: Challenging work environment and prospects to work on the latest technologies, tools and softwares.
How a BA could help: Assist by providing them a background of the issue and details of the non-functional requirements (throughput, usability, speed) expected of the system. Another important thing – since even they are trying to do their job properly, they would appreciate it if you can exercise some patience in case things are taking more time than expected.
Team Lead
Associated Roles: Technical Lead, IT Lead, Technical Head, Lead Programmer
Responsibilities: A team lead has a lot in its kitty. Take a look:
As the direct head of developers, they are responsible for mentoring the technical team and provide technical assistance to the fellow members
Track technical progress of the project and make sure the development is as per the agreed-upon schedule
- Resolve project bottlenecks by taking feasible technical decisions and hold responsibility for the overall technical stack of the project
Interests: Sufficient requirements details (business case, vision, requirements artifacts, future prospects) for designing the backend and frontend technical system of an application, and a super-efficient development team.
How a BA could help: Provide them with all the required documents, information and details on time and give them a heads-up if you foresee a technical risk. Also, distill their technical jargon into a non-technical language in case they are required to present and discuss a technical concept with the business users.
Subject Matter Expert (SME)
Associated Roles: Technical Architect, Data Architect, Solution Architect, Enterprise Architect, Application Architect
Responsibilities:
An expert in a particular domain or technology and designs the high-level application design and architecture
- Oversees best practices and mentors the Developers and Team Leads
- Final authority in taking technical decisions
Interests: Well written requirement documentation, defined system/application boundaries, consistency of architecture through the application that is to be architectured.
How a BA could help: Provide them with the business case & business needs, challenges associated with the business requirements and clarify business process flows.
Also, ensure availability of all the functional/non-functional, security and technical information and details while assisting them with anything they need to create the IT solution.
Regulator
Associated Roles: Assessor, Regulatory Body, Auditors
Responsibilities: Define and enforce the standards for the project – which could be corporate standards, quality standards, government-imposed standards and/or legal standards.
It should be noted that regulators could be both internal to the organization (like Quality Auditors, Quality Assurance Personnel) and external as well.
Interests: The project should follow the relevant standards and comply with the quality, legal and other compliances
How a BA could help: Be well aware of the organization’s standards, procedures and policies and enforce them while carrying out the project-related discussions, documentation, and other tasks. To add on, a BA should also encourage fellow colleagues and team members to follow suit.
PS – Auditors will be delighted if you, based on your experience within the project can suggest a couple of process modifications/process improvement suggestions to them.
Project Manager
Associated Roles: Scrum Master, Team Manager, Technical Manager
Responsibilities:
- The PM is responsible for overall project Project planning and execution while making sure it conforms to all the requirements and details stated in the project documents
- Balances the project constraints like scope, time, cost quality, risk, etc.,
Establishes that the company’s specific processes and standards are followed throughout the project and in-general be responsible for Overall project delivery
Interests: The project should complete on time and within the cost & scope boundaries. Especially there should be no scope creep and the project’s risks should be contained.
Additionally, the Quality of the deliverables should be excellent and the project team should be high performing and motivated.
How a BA could help: Elicit and document all requirements as per the project statement of work (SOW) and prevent requirements slipping off the cracks. Make sure you get your client’s consensus/approval on the requirements gathered to prevent any future disagreements.
Additionally, given an analyst’s deep understanding of the project’s scope, he/she should assist the PM in the creation of project plans, metrics, and other artifacts.
Upper Management
Associated Roles: Senior Leaders, Program Manager, Delivery Manager, Executives
Responsibilities:
- Oversee several projects at once and are responsible for on-time delivery and quality of the projects they head.
- Be the project champions &sponsors and while authorizing and controlling project budgets
- Provide leadership and operational support to their teams
Interests: The projects within their portfolio should be successfully executed. The organization should get profited by the project lead by them. The project should run smoothly and there shouldn’t be any escalations from the client.
How a BA could help: You should capture the complete and accurate project requirements that are in-line with the discussed and agreed upon scope (read signed-off).
In addition to this, requirement documentation, modeling, sign-off, review, and walkthrough are the duties of a BA and he should do it well. Now, since a business analyst is so closely involved in the project, they should give an early heads-up if they identify any risk or foresees any issues within the project.
Customer
Associated Roles: Client, Consumer, End-user
Responsibilities:
- Provide clear requirements
- Evaluate and test the project/solution created by the development team
- Establish the contractual rights that the development organization should follow
Interests: The clients wish that the very need of the business should get fulfilled by project execution. The project should be able to effectively solve their problem, should be completed on time and should have the specified quality, Well, they also don’t want to have any surprises regarding any project constraints.
How a BA could help: A Business Analyst should carefully analyze all the aspects and dependencies of the requirements and manage them. They must constantly liaise with customers, and maintain amicable relations. Lastly, they should facilitate project implementation by sorting and balancing the customer’s wants with projects need and you could be the client’s favorite Business analyst!
Conclusion
A Business Analyst is undoubtedly the only role in an IT/ITES project that gets to interact with almost all the other roles.
For an analyst to efficiently carry out his responsibilities and fulfill each of his stakeholder’s expectations, it’s important he/she learns to wear many hats while remembering the interests of each of the stakeholders and accordingly switching the hat !!