Business analysts are essential to firms' efforts to undergo digital transformation. As a result, BAs are required to be knowledgeable about fundamental business analysis principles and adept at using a variety of tools and strategies for gathering, evaluating, and managing requirements. The BA is anticipated to have a set of competencies in order to enable the five core duties of a business analyst, convey requirements, and evaluate solutions.
A BA is expected to possess the 6 key competencies outlined by BABOK®. There are various sub-competencies within each competency group, which are covered below.
1. Analytical Thinking & Problem Solving
The BA must be able to understand and decipher the requirements elicited and be able to devise solutions to overcome problems faced by customers. These are fundamental thinking skills where the individual works on breaking down the large problem into smaller, more manageable parts. The BA must logically reason and make judgments based on evidence and assumptions. This competency group consists of the following competencies.
2. Creative Thinking
A business analyst (BA) is expected to look at stakeholders' needs from different perspectives and suggest unorthodox solutions. Creative thinking may be facilitated through brainstorming, mind mapping, and lateral thinking. It is important for the BA to be a creative thinker as he is expected to be a change agent who facilitates innovation in an organizational context.
3. Decision Making
Decision-making ability in the context of business analysis refers to the analyst’s ability to make a selection of a course of action or to be able to facilitate such a thinking process. It is a cognitive process where the BA must guide key stakeholders in making decisions by providing an adequate and accurate amount of information in a format suitable for making necessary comparisons of options. The BA may need to make decisions on which tools or techniques to use, which stakeholders to consult, which solution options to take, and so on.
4. Learning
The BA is not expected to be ‘A master of all trades’. The BA must instead be able to listen, observe, learn and understand whatever is required to facilitate the process of providing solutions for problems and opportunities.
5. Problem Solving
Often BAs are expected to face many a problem during the lifetime of a project. A BA's role is to understand customer problems and be able to recommend suitable solutions. Problem-solving requires mental skills that must be analytical as well as creative.
6. Systems Thinking
Systems do not refer only to software systems. In system thinking, the BA is expected to consider every element in the context within the scope as an interacting system when determining solution options. Hence, the software system being developed or the process being studied, stakeholders interested or impacted, interfacing systems, and elements in the environment all form the context. The BA is expected to look at this bigger picture when performing his or her tasks.
Behavioral Characteristics
Ethics
A BA becomes a powerful individual within a project context as he or she gains access to processes and information that may even be highly sensitive to a particular organization or stakeholders. The BA is thus expected to hold the highest regard to the security and safety of accessing or using such information thus working with the highest level of integrity.
Personal Organization
BAs are often deployed to work in high-pressure environments. They are expected to liaise with multiple stakeholders, facilitating high value workshops to elicit requirements and then produce documents listing down the findings. In order to produce the requisite deliverables on time and to the expected level of quality it is imperative that a BA is self-organized and meticulous in his or her way of work.
Trustworthiness
Organizations and stakeholders provide access to information, systems, and other high-value assets sometimes even placing their entire business at risk. The BA is thus expected to uphold the trust placed on him by the stakeholders and ensure that due diligence is given in defining and devising solutions to satisfy customer needs.
Business Knowledge
Business Principles & Practices
Business principles and practices are characteristics that are common across all organizations with a similar purpose and structure. Functions and capabilities such as HR, Finance, IT, Marketing & Sales that are needed by any organization are examples of such practices. Although not mandatory, it is good for a BA to be familiar with such practices so that they can consult and advise customers with relevant requirements.
Industry Knowledge
Many a competitive force shapes industries. BAs are required to understand these forces such as competitors, suppliers, buyers, substitutes etc. so that they can identify commonalities and differences that may influence business requirements.
Organizational Knowledge
Organizational knowledge refers to an understanding of the business architecture of the organization being analyzed. This includes understanding the business model adapted by the organization, the structure and relationships in place, people, data, technology and other aspects of the organization in place. Enterprise analysis frameworks such as ZACHMAN and POLDAT help in this case.
Solution Knowledge
Business analysts must attempt to relate and apply learning from other projects or programs to solve current business problems at hand without re-inventing the wheel. Hence, an understanding and familiarity of existing solutions (custom made or commercially available) gives BAs an added advantage.
Communication Skills
Oral Communication
It is important for a BA to be able to verbally express ideas, information or other matters. In addition to be able to express thoughts in a clear manner, the BA must also be able to actively listen to ensure that ideas generated by stakeholders are clearly understood.
Teaching
Business analysts are expected to communicate requirements to team members and provide guidance on scope. Thus, they must train to be good teachers who are capable of understanding different learning capabilities of individuals and be able to adapt and customize learning material and experience accordingly. The BA must be able to cater to auditory or visual learners with appropriate use of training material.
Written Communication
Proper command over language in terms of vocabulary, grammar and style, and use of other terms is essential to ensure that written text is correctly and adequately understood.
Interaction Skills
Facilitation & Negotiation
A key element of a BA job role is to moderate group discussions and enable participants to effectively articulate their thoughts and ideas. The BA must be able to define a proper process based on the audience and be able to guide the participants along the process so that the session leads to the attainment of expected outcomes.
Leadership & Influencing
The BA’s role in defining and communicating requirements places a key leadership role in any project or group. Hence, the BA is expected to work together with the team in guiding them in terms of project scope, motivating them to reach shared goals and objectives for the team as well as the client stakeholders. The BA would be in the best position to be able to discuss sensitive and pertinent matters with the sponsor, client stakeholders, users, and the implementation team and guide them in the decision-making process.
Teamwork
Business analysts are most often than not part of a team. It may be a project team, a team of SMEs, or sometimes even as part of a client stakeholder team. The BA is expected to have good skills in developing personal relationships, avoiding conflicts, and working towards a common end goal.
Software Applications
General Purpose Applications
A business analyst is expected to have knowledge of applications that help carry out day-to-day project tasks. This includes MS Office suite, requirements management tools such as JIRA, and communication tools such as Skype, Email client, etc.
Specialized Applications
The BA must also be capable of using specialized tools such as document management systems, content management systems, sales force automation systems etc. which are built specifically for different purposes. This may depend on project requirements.
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