WELCOME ABOARD!

Hello! My name is Shardul Parulekar.

I am a Business Analyst with

expertise in Capital Markets,

Core Banking and Risk

management.

Currently I am working in TATA

Consultancy Services for one

of the leading European

Bank. I hold a Bachelor of

Engineering degree from one

of the premium Government

Institutes in India.

My core competencies are

• Requirement Gathering

• Process Modelling

• Gap Analysis

• Process Optimization

• Agile – SCRUM

• Estimations – Function Point

I like to keep myself updated with ongoing changes in Banking as well Information and Technology. Compliances like Basel III, IFRS or SEPA instant payments as well as Business Intelligence or Hadoop are to mention a few. Risk management is one of the focused areas in banking and I find it as a new challenge to master.

Apart from work, I like drawing pencil sketches,

blogging, watching science fiction movies and

cooking.

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Who is a Business Analyst?

Why is he so important?

A business analyst is any person who

performs business analysis activities, no matter what their job title or organizational

role may be.

A Business Analyst is a person who acts as aliaison between business people who have

a business problem and technology people

who know how to create automated

solutions.

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But, what’s exactly does he do?

Analyzing business needs

Gathering business requirements

Analyzing and Refining requirements

Documenting requirements

Communicating requirements

Assisting with implementation of

requirements and many more

Basically, he interacts with many key people

(stakeholders).

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Isn’t it similar to a PM, Yes and No!

Project Manager

• Strong

communication skills

• Understanding of

the SDLC

• Negotiation/

consensus building

• Strong

interpersonal and

client

management skills

Business Analyst

• Strong

communication skills

• Understanding of

the SDLC

• Negotiation/

consensus building

• Strong

interpersonal and

client

management skills

Project Manager

• Ability to see the

“big picture”

for the project

• Directs project

team

• Helps people

(project team) get

things done

• Ensures the

product is delivered

on time, within

budget

Business Analyst

• Detail-oriented

• Listens to people

(SMEs)

• Helps SMEs

describe how and

why

they perform tasks

• Ensures the

product is built right

according to the

requirements

Similarities Differences

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What are the required skills for this job?

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How does BABOK fit in here?

What BABOK isn't

1. A training book

2. A compliance

3. A process (SDLC)

4. A methodology

What BABOK is

1. It identifies knowledge areas accepted as best practices

2. It allows for discussions amongst professionals using

common, agreed to vocabulary

3. It provides basic reference document to all practitioners

4. It identifies fundamental knowledge required of an

effective BA professional

5. It provides basic reference for anyone interested in the

profession of BA

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Knowledge areas

Enterprise Analysis

describes how business analysts identify a business need, refine and clarify the definition of that need, and define a solution scope that can feasibly be implemented by the business. This knowledge area describes problem definition and analysis, business case development, feasibility studies, and the definition of solution scope.

Business Analysis Planning and Monitoring

is the knowledge area that covers how business analysts determine which activities are necessary in order to complete a business analysis effort. It covers identification of stakeholders, selection of business analysis techniques, the process that will be used to manage requirements, and how to assess the progress of the work. The tasks in this knowledge area govern the performance of all other business analysis tasks.

Elicitation

describes how business analysts work with stakeholders to identify and understand their needs and concerns, and understand the environment in which they work. The purpose of elicitation is to ensure that a stakeholder’s actual underlying needs are understood, rather than their stated or superficial desires.

Requirements Analysis

describes how business analysts prioritize and progressively elaborate stakeholder and solution requirements in order to enable the project team to implement a solution that will meet the needs of the sponsoring organization and stakeholders. It involves analyzing stakeholder needs to define solutions that meet those needs, assessing the current state of the business to identify and recommend improvements, and the verification and validation of the resulting requirements.

Requirements Management and Communication

describes how business analysts manage conflicts, issues and changes in order to ensure that stakeholders and the project team remain in agreement on the solution scope, how requirements are communicated to stakeholders, and how knowledge gained by the business analyst is maintained for future use.

Solution Assessment and Validation

describes how business analysts assess proposed solutions to determine which solution best fits the business need, identify gaps and shortcomings in solutions, and determine necessary workarounds or changes to the solution. It also describes how business analysts assess deployed solutions to see how well they met the original need so that the sponsoring organization can assess the performance and effectiveness of the solution.

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Underlying competencies

Analytical Thinking and Problem Solving

supports effective identification of business problems, assessment of proposed solutions to those problems, and understanding of the needs of stakeholders. Analytical thinking and problem solving involves assessing a situation, understanding it as fully as possible, and making judgments about possible solutions to a problem.

Behavioral Characteristics

support the development of effective working relationships with stakeholders and include qualities such as ethics, trustworthiness, and personal organization.

Business Knowledge

supports understanding of the environment in which business analysis is performed and knowledge of general business principles and available solutions.

Communication Skills

support business analysts in eliciting and communicating requirements among stakeholders. Communication skills address the need to listen to and understand the audience, understanding how an audience perceives the business analyst, understanding of the communications objective(s), the message itself, and the most appropriate media and format for communication.

Interaction Skills

support the business analyst when working with large numbers of stakeholders, and involve both the ability to work as part of a larger team and to help that team reach decisions. While most of the work of business analysis involves identifying and describing a desired future state, the business analyst must also be able to help the organization reach agreement that the future state in question is desired through a combination of leadership and facilitation.

Software Applications

are used to facilitate the collaborative development, recording and distribution of requirements to stakeholders. Business analysts should be skilled users of the tools used in their organization and must understand the strengths and weaknesses of each.

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Some important definitions!

DomainA domain is the area undergoing analysis. It may correspond to the boundaries of an organization or organizational unit, as well as key stakeholders outside those boundaries and interactions with those stakeholders.

SolutionA solution is a set of changes to the current state of an organization that are made in order to enable that organization to meet a business need, solve a problem, or take advantage of an opportunity.

Requirement1. A condition or capability needed by a

stakeholder to solve a problem or achieve an objective.

2. A condition or capability that must be met or possessed by a solution or solution component to satisfy a contract, standard, specification, or other formally imposed documents.

3. A documented representation of a condition or capability as in (1) or (2).Stakeholder

A ‘Stakeholder’ is defined as person or group thathas a stake or interest in the success of a project.

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Lets zoom on requirements more!

Business Requirements

are higher-level statements

of the goals, objectives, or

needs of the enterprise.

They describe the reasons

why a project has been

initiated, the objectives

that the project will

achieve, and the metrics

that will be used to

measure its success.

Business requirements

describe needs of the

organization as a whole,

and not groups or

stakeholders within it. They

are developed and

defined through enterprise

analysis.

Stakeholder Requirements

are statements of the needs of

a particular stakeholder or

class of stakeholders. They

describe the needs that a

given stakeholder has and how

that stakeholder will interact

with a solution. Stakeholder

requirements serve as a bridge

between business requirements

and the various classes of

solution requirements. They are

developed and defined

through requirements analysis.

Solution Requirements

describe the characteristics of a solution that

meet business

requirements and stakeholder requirements.

They are developed and defined through

requirements analysis.

1. Functional Requirements

They describe capabilities the system will be

able to perform in terms of behaviors or

operations—specific information technology

application actions or responses.

2. Non function Requirements

capture conditions that do not directly relate

to the behavior or functionality of the

solution, but rather describe environmental

conditions under which the solution must

remain effective or qualities that the systems

must have. They are also known as quality or

supplementary requirements.

Transition Requirements

describe capabilities that

the solution must have in

order to facilitate

transition from the current

state of the enterprise to

a desired future state, but

that will not be needed

once that transition is

complete.

They are developed and

defined through solution

assessment and

validation.

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Trick to read this book; Input, output

and Tasks

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Elements and Techniques

ElementsThe format and structure of this section is unique to

each task. The elements section describes key

concepts that are needed to understand how to

perform the task.

TechniquesEach task contains a listing of relevant techniques.

Some techniques are specific to the performance of

a single task, while others are relevant to the

performance of a large number of tasks (and are

listed in Chapter 9: Techniques).

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Stakeholders

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Where to focus, almost everything!

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It’s a bumpy ride, but you have our help!

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