Category: Business Analysis Techniques

Let us discuss and observe what are the Business Analysis Techniques used by the Business Analyst to understand the requirements.

What is RACI Matrix?

I want to discuss about RACI Matrix, what RACI Matrix is and what the advantages are by using this in this article.

What is RACI Matrix
What is RACI Matrix

Topics Covered in this Article:

  1. What is RACI matrix?

  2. What is a RACI chart?

  3. What does RACI stand for?

  4. RACI definitions

  5. Advantages of a RACI chart

  6. When to use a RACI matrix

  7. How to create a RACI matrix: Example & template

  8. RACI matrix rules

What is RACI matrix?

I will try to explain in simple words, when we are working in an organization or in a project, we should know who Responsible is for what tasks and who is Accountable. It helps to track the project that particular task is pending with whom or assigned to whom. So to understand that,  will prepare RACI chart.

What is a RACI chart?

A RACI chart is a simple matrix used to assign roles and responsibilities for each task, or decision on a project. By clearly mapping out which roles are involved in each project task and at which level, you can eliminate confusion and answer the project question,  who’s doing what?

What does RACI stand for?

RACI stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed. We can observe each letter represents the tasks responsibility.

RACI definitions

  • Responsible: Team member does the work to complete the task. Every task needs at least one Responsible member, but as per project we can assign more.
  • Accountable: This member assigns the work. And this member reviews the completed task before delivery. On some tasks, the Responsible party may also serve as the Accountable We should ensure to each task should assign to one Accountable person.
  • Consulted: These members provide inputs based on their domain experience or knowledge.  They can also provide inputs on how it will impact on future project.
  • Informed: These team members simply need to be marked in the loop on project progress.

Advantages of a RACI chart

  • A RACI matrix helps us to set clear expectations about project roles and responsibilities.
  • It helps us to avoid multiple people work on same task.

When to use a RACI

If you want to know who is performing which task then RACI will help you to understand easily. It avoids the confusion in team.

  • The decision-making or approval process could hold up the project.
  • There’s conflict about task ownership or decision-making.
  • The project workload feels like it’s not distributed evenly.

And please understand we need to create RACI matrix based on the project and team. This is not same for all the projects and teams. We need to assign the roles as per our requirement and our project.

How to create a RACI 

We can create a RACI matrix easily and quickly with using Excel. We need not to learn any new software or technology to create RACI matrix. However we need to understand the roles and who is going to own that particulars tasks to prepare.

  1. Enter all project roles or team member names across the top row.
  2. List all tasks, milestones, and decisions down the left column.
  3. For each task, assign a responsibility value to each role or person on the team.

RACI chart Example

RACI Matrix Definitions

RACI Rules.

Once your RACI chart is complete, review it to be sure it follows these simple rules:

  • Every task has at least one Responsible person.
  • There’s one (and only one!) Accountable party assigned to each task to allow for clear decision-making.
  • No team members are overloaded with too many Responsible tasks.
  • Every team member has a role on each task.
  • If we have a lot of Consulted and Informed roles on our matrix, then we can share the common link to access the project.

What are wireframes?

Topics Covered in this Article:

1.       What are wireframes?

2.     When wireframes to be created?

3.       Some of the advantages of wireframes?

4.       How to create wireframes?

5.       Why wireframes are required?

What are wireframes

1.        What are wireframes?

In simple words we can say wireframe is a diagram, Team use this diagram to understand how the developed product should be.  It helps to internal and external stake holders to understand the same.

 If we have good skills, then we can create mockups and proto types also for better understanding and it provides clear picture to the team.

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2.       When wire-frames to be created?

The wireframes or mockups or prototypes should be created before the software development is started. It helps to minimize rework and save the resource time.

If we are following waterfall methodology then wireframes should be created before development stage.

It does not matter how we are preparing the wireframes but ensure it is important that the wireframe designer (UI/UX designer), understands the information that has to be displayed on the screen.

The designer or UI developer has to really understand how the user will interact with the system. If they understand clearly what is the requirement then only they can prepare the wireframes.

So it is very important that requirements should be gathered properly before creating wireframes.

As we discussed in previous articles requirements can be gathered with using multiple elicitation techniques and same will be documented in relevant artifacts.

As requirements will be updated as User Stories or use cases, same will help to        design the wireframes.

3.      Advantages of Wire-frames.

a.      By using wire-frames we can prevent the rework.

b.      It saves resources time.

c.       Wire-frames are easy to use and understand.

d.      It avoids the confusion and misunderstanding within the team members.

e.      Wire-frames are used by the team to have a share understanding of the same information.

f.        Wire-frames are used to help design the user interface.

g.      Coding (Technical) skills not required. 

4.      How to create wire-frames?

There are tools available to create wire-frames. Some of the tools are free and open source; we can use the same to create wire-frames.

And even with using paper and pencil also we can design the wire-frames; or by using white board and pen also we can create the wire-frames, the ultimate goal to create wire-frame is make developers to understand what and how the screen should be.

But using software also has advantages such as data storage, data retrieval and wire-frame reusability. If we use software then we can use this wire-frames in future also when ever required.

To properly create the wire-frames, we need to understand what the buttons to be available in screen are and what the functionality is. And we need to understand what fields to be available on the screen.

By using some open source tools we can create the wire-frames even if you do not have the coding skills.

5.      Why wire-frames are required?

There are so many ways to document the requirements and make development team to understand, but wireframes will help to understand the requirement clearly. Wireframes are easy to draw and easy to understand.

FAQ’s

What are wireframes in design?

The designs you received are called wireframes (sometimes called wires, mockups, or mocks). A wireframe is a schematic, a blueprint, useful to help you and your programmers and designers think and communicate about the structure of the software or website you’re building.

What is the use of wireframe?

A wireframe is commonly used to lay out content and functionality on a page which takes into account user needs and user journeys. Wireframes are used early in the development process to establish the basic structure of a page before visual design and content is added.

What are wireframes and mockups?

A mockup is a static wireframe that includes more stylistic and visual UI details to present a realistic model of what the final page or application will look like. A good way to think of it is that a wireframe is a blueprint and a mockup is a visual model.

What should wireframes include?

A wireframe is a two-dimensional illustration of a page’s interface that specifically focuses on space allocation and prioritization of content, functionalities available, and intended behaviors. For these reasons, wireframes typically do not include any styling, color, or graphics.

What are the different types of wireframes?

There are three main types of wireframes: low-fidelity wireframes, mid-fidelity wireframes, and high-fidelity wireframes.

Is Wireframing UX or UI?

Wireframing is a practice used by UX designers which allows them to define and plan the information hierarchy of their design for a website, app, or product. … Without the distractions of colors, typeface choices or text, wireframing lets you plan the layout and interaction of your interface.

What is an API or Application Programming Interface ?

What is an API? (Application Programming Interface)

What is an API
What is an API

API is the acronym for Application Programming Interface. In simple words we can say it is the communicator between two software applications. It allows software applications to talk each other.

Every day we are interacting with the multiple applications which are integrated with other applications. Example : Amazon, Flipkart, Phonepe etc.. It means every day we are using an API but the thing is we do not know that this is API.

Let us try to discuss and understand what an API with using some examples. I feel by using examples we can understand what is an API is.

For example some applications will allow you to login and use application with using gmail account. And for some applications which will allow you to login and access the application by using your Facebook account.

It means that applications have integration with gmail and Facebook. Here these two applications talk each other and how the request should be and in which format they are expecting request from the sender.

We will discuss in detail with another example to understand what is an API? :

What Is an API and Example?

For example I want to book train tickets, to book train tickets I need not go to IRCTC portal. If you observe by using other applications also we can book the tickets. So here we can understand these two applications are talking each other to execute your request.

Here the main concept is to understand is “Request and Response” How we need to pass the Request and how we are going to get response.

Or how we will give the response and how we are expecting request to give correct response.

If you observe our website, if you register with your email id you will get the immediate response or message. To send email messages I am using some other applications means I am using API to pass values as per their request.

Let us observe one more example which we are using on daily basis to make you understand what is an API in detail.

Here is a real-life API example. We will search for flights online to check the availability and all.  We will have a multiple options to choose from, including different cities, departure and return dates, and more.

Let us imagine that you’re booking you are flight on an airline website. You choose a departure city and date, a return city and date, cabin class, as well as other variables.

In order to book your flight, you interact with the airline’s website to access their database and see if any seats are available on those dates and what the costs might be.

However, what if you are not using the airline’s website–– and you are using some other applications to book the tickets. As all you know now days we are using multiple applications to book flight tickets or some other needs.

The travel service, in this case, interacts with the airline’s API. The API is the interface that,, can be asked by that online travel service to get information from the airline’s database to book seats, baggage options, etc.

The API then takes the airline’s response to your request and delivers it right back to the online travel service, which then shows you the most updated, relevant information.

Software developers or organizations are using below API’s

  1. SOAP Service (API)
  2. REST API (Service)

Developers will write code and use json format or .xml format to form request and response.

As a Business Analyst you need not have deep knowledge on this like how to write code and how developers frame request and response in json or .xml format.  But you should have at least knowledge to how to understand the request and response. It helps you to understand based on the response received.

For example any application or website down usually we receive message as “404 error” based on this response or message we can understand website is down.

I hope it helped you to provide a overview about what is an API?

If you want to know more about what is an API and how to develop API, you can browse on google to understand. Enough material is available in google and youtube.

For Business Analyst perspective it provides overview on what is an API ?

What is Root Cause Analysis (RCA) ?

What is Root Cause Analysis?

What is Root Cause Analysis

Root Cause Analysis is very important it helps us to understand on below. You may have the doubt that what is root cause analysis and who performs the Root cause Analysis, Let us observe below.

  1. What is the issue?
  2. How to prevent these types of issues in future?
  3. Why this issue occurred?
  4. What steps could be taken to not to occur this issue?
  5. What are the preventive actions?
  6. Getting into the roots helps in removing the main cause of the defects.
  7. The RCA helps in getting the exact reason of the problem?

What is a Problem?

An incident which impacts the smooth flow of the process is termed as Issue. And same issue is occurring again and again and impacts the smooth functioning of the application and impacts the business then it termed as problem.

Then we need to perform Root cause Analysis to identify why this issue is happening again and again. Sometimes client also expects RCA document from us.

Usually RCA document contains below.

  1. What is the issue?
  2. Why it happened?
  3. How you fixed that Issue?
  4. What preventive steps to be taken to not to repeat the same issue in future?.

When RCA or RootCause Analysis is required?

Usually RCA is needed when same incident is happening again and again and it is impacting the smooth functioning of the application.

For the smooth functioning of the processes, it is necessary to identify the Root cause of this particular issue and how to prevent the same issue in future.

RCA should be performed as soon as issue or defect identified so that it helps to avoid major problems in future.

Depends on the issue and situation it is suggested to involve the stake holders while conducting the  RCA. Because sometimes issue may occur due to misunderstanding of the application functionality.

Stake holders help in getting away from the fictionalization of the facts.

Below Techniques can be used for RCA.

  1. 5 Why Technique
  2. Tabular Method
  3. Fishbone Diagram

What is Feasibility Study and why it is important?

What is feasibility study?

What is feasibility study
Before accepting or committing any requirement, as a Business Analyst, first we need to do the feasibility study, during (feasibility study) analysis we need to concentrate on below.

  1. The requirement is feasible or not.
  2. Whether it will impact any existing functionalities.
  3. Whether this requirement may cause to any performance issues.
  4. Whether this requirement fits in the current system or not.
  5. What are the dependencies on this requirement?
  6. What are the integration points?
  7. Any impact on integration points?

You can discuss with internal and external stakeholders to understand the requirement clearly, if we not understand requirement clearly, then there is a chance to miss out some functionalities. It may lead to system issues/ bugs or client escalations.

If we delivered defect product then client will not happy and they may lose confidence on us.  So it is very important to understand the requirement clearly before committing to client.

A Analysis  is a preliminary analysis of solution alternatives or options to determine whether and how each option can provide an expected business benefit to meet the business need or requirement.

A Analysis  may address either a business problem to be resolved or a business opportunity to be exploited.

We can do the feasibilitystudy based on the resource and data available with us.  Some tools also can be used to do the feasibility study.

The feasibilitystudy is an integral part of formulating a major business transformation project.  Eg. Re-engineering a core business process and supporting  technology, establishing a new line of business, increasing market share through acquisition, or developing a new product or service.

What is GAP Analysis and why it is important?

What is GAP Analysis?

What is GAP Analysis

What is the GAP Analysis and why it is important? GAP means the difference between Current state and future state.

Who performed GAP Analysis?

This is a process performed by Business Analysts and Project Managers. The difference between the current process and future process is known as GAP. This help us to understand where we are (Current State)  and where do we want to be (Future State)?

This helps us to measure investment of time, money and human resources required to achieve a particular outcome or desired outcome.

There is no formal method to conduct (GAP) Analysis. It depends on organization to organization and process to process. A simple excel sheet can be used to for this purpose. The main objective of the (GAP)analysis is to provide difference between current state and future state or desired state.

Key Points :

  • Good understanding of the current process.
  • All the business affecting factors must be well defined.
  • GAPanalysis is an assessment tool used to find the deviation or gap between what exists versus what is needed or desired.
  • No ambiguity in the requirements and future prospects.
  • Document the gaps using graphs, charges and images.
  • Ensure to include the feedback from the stakeholders.
  • Ensure to inform to all the involved parties or stakeholders about the identified gaps.

Different stages in GAP Stages

  • Review System
  • Develop Requirements
  • Comparison
  • Implications
  • Recommendations

This is one of the best procedures followed by any organization to improve the process and recognize the processes which needs improvement.

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What is Use Case Diagram with Example

How to draw Use Case diagram

Business Analysis – Use Case Diagram

UseCase Diagram

UseCase diagrams plays very important role, these diagrams help to understand the relationship between user to user and user to system. Like what is the relationship with the user and what are the actions done by the User and how user wants to interact with the system.

The focus of this diagram will be on “how external interfaces” (End users, Support systems, Database and internet connectivity to third party) will be interacting with the Proposed IT System.

Use Case Diagram contains below:

  1. Use Case will be as below:

Use Case

        2. Actor:

Use Case Actor

        3. Use Case System Boundary.

Use Case System Boundary

        4. Lines to match the Activity with the user:

Relationships between Actors and Use-Cases

Use-cases could be organized using following relationships −

  • Generalization
  • Association
  • Extend
  • Include

Where and Why Use Case Diagrams can be used:

  1. Describe the functionality of a System
  2. Describe the user Actions
  3. Use case diagrams represents only positive flow.
  4. Should not use for alternate flow, like if any error happens what to be done.
  5. To describe how user interacts with the system.
  6. To describe how external interfaces, interact with the proposed system.
  7. Actor and use case play important role.
  8. Lines represent the relationship between Actor and Use Case (Oval Shape).

Information which we should not use in use case diagrams.

  1. Technology Names (Java, .Net Mainframes)
  2. Brand Names ( Lenovo, Sony etc..)
  3. Data Base Names (SQL, MySQL, Oracle etc..)
  4. Networks (LAN, WAN etc.,)
  5. Architectures (2 Tier, 3 Tier etc..)
  6. Name of the systems (Laptop/ Desktop)

Actor :

  1. Actor stay away from the system boundary.
  2. Primary actor initiates the system to work.
  3. System depends on secondary actor for information.
  4. Reusable actors will be placed right side of the system boundary.

How to draw Use Case diagram

  1. Write all sequence of Actions.
  2. Differentiate information against Actions.
  3. Try to find out which actor is performing which action.
  4. Try to find out some modules with respect to functionality or usage.
  5. Try to draw the relationships between the identified Actors and use Cases

Once completes the Use case diagram then we will prepare use Case Specification Document. This is also called as Use Case description Document. This document helps to provide the clear picture of the Use Case Diagram.

UseCase Specification document contains below.

  1. Name of the Use Case
  2. Description of the Use Case
  3. Actors
  4. Primary
  5. Secondary
  6. Basic flow
  7. Pre-Conditions
  8. Post conditions
  9. Assumptions
  10. Dependencies
  11. Constraints
  12. Input and output
  13. Miscellaneous information.
  14. Alternate Flow.

We can’t tell which use case diagram is correct and which use case diagram is wrong. It depends on the project and stakeholders.

How to Derive Test cases.

  1. UseCase Diagram
  2. UseCase Description Document
  3. UseCase specification document will have, Basic flow, Alternate flow and description of the use cases.
  4. We can identify the scenarios from these flows.
  5. Try to identify 3 to 5 valid test data from each scenario.
  6. Then try to write the test cases from the gathered test data and scenarios.

To Know more about UML Diagrams.

What is JAD Session?

Business Analyst – JAD Session

JAD Session

J

JAD sessions is also one of the important elicitation technique used by the Business Analyst to gather and understand the requirements.

Let us see what is JAD session, Joint Application Development (JAD) is a process used to collect business requirements while developing new Software systems for a organization. The goal of a JAD session is to gather in subject matter experts/Business analyst or IT specialist to bring out solutions.

A Business analyst is the one who interacts with the entire group or different teams and gathers the information/ Requirements, analyses it and brings out a document. He plays a very important role in JAD session.

Why JAD Sessions required?

Meeting and collaborating with Business and Technical team, JAD sessions are very common in Business Analysis Role.  Particularly when we are working in Agile Methodology.

For example, Technical team need some more clarity on Business Requirements then JAD sessions are required, in the same way if Business team needs more clarity on technology then JAD sessions are required.

Advantages :

  • It helps to clarify the doubts: As all the required staked holders joins the session, all doubts will be clarified in this session. Based on the requirement, Business Analyst may conduct multiple sessions with all the required stake holders.
  • Understand the requirements clearly: helps to understand the requirements clearly without any ambiguity.
  • Provide solution with less time. As all the stakeholders joins in this session, will get the solutions for the problems (requirements related issues or problems) in the same session.
  • Client satisfaction: As client is involved throughout the development process he knows what is happening and how project is going on. And as he gets the updates on project client also happy.
  • Development team also happy as all the teams joined in meeting their doubts or issues get clarified by the SME’s or client without delay.
  • It helps to faster delivery.
  • JAD Session enables customers and developers to quickly come to an agreement on the basic scope.
  • If any requirement is not feasible or any challenges to deliver the requirement, then they think for alternative approach. As the entire stake holders are part of this meeting, they can take a decisions accordingly.

Prerequisites:

  • Business Analyst should have clear agenda before scheduling the JAD Session.
  • Ensure to join all the required stakeholders (SME/ Dev.Team, internal and external stakeholders)
  • Ensure to discussion is going on in right track.
  • Ensure to conduct the meeting on stakeholders convenient time. As all the required teams to be joined in this meeting, it is the responsibility of organizer to collect all the teams and convenient time ensure to join all the teams in meeting.

Who all are participate?

Executive Sponsor

They normally are from higher positions, who can take decisions and drive the project.

Subject Matter Expert

These are the business users and subject experts. The subject matter experts are the backbone of the JAD session. They help to understand the functionality and they are required to fill the functionality gaps.

Facilitator

He/ She organizes the meeting; he/she identifies issues that can be solved as part of the meeting. The facilitator does not contribute information to the meeting.

Using for an iterative approach

FAQ’s

What is the purpose of a JAD session?

JAD is used as a technique for developing business system requirements and is typically used in the early stages of a systems development project. The purpose of JAD is to bring together MIS and end users in a structured workshop setting; to extract consensus based system requirements.

How do you perform a JAD session?

Define the JAD Session Objectives. The first task for the facilitator, together with the project leader and other key individuals, is to define the session objectives. …
Prepare for the Session. The facilitator has primary responsibility for JAD preparation. …
Conduct the JAD Session. …
Produce the Documents.


What is Invest

Let us discuss what is INVEST in Agile 

What is Invest

The test for determining whether or not a story is well understood and ready for the team to start working on it is the INVEST acronym:

  • Independent — The story should be independent.
  • Negotiable — Can this story be changed or removed without impact to everything else?
  • Valuable — Does this story have value to the end user?
  • Estimable — Can you estimate the size of the story?
  • Small —Is it small enough?
  • Testable — User story should be testable.

FAQ’s

What is invest in Scrum?

Coined by Bill Wake in his book Extreme Programming Explored, INVEST is an acronym that defines a simple set of rules used in creating well-formed user stories. An effective way to ensure testability is to define user acceptance criteria for all user stories. …

What is invest in user story?

Bill Wake came up with the INVEST acronym to help us remember guidelines for writing effective user stories: Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimatable, Small, and Testable.

What are 3 C's in user stories?

Whether you are a newbie or a seasoned veteran, the 3 C’s of User Stories help keep the purpose of the user story in perspective.
The first C is the user story in its raw form, the Card. …
The second C is the Conversation. …
The third C is the Confirmation.

What are the 3 pillars of Scrum?

The three pillars of Scrum that uphold every implementation of empirical process control are:
Transparency.
Inspection.
Adaptation.

Elicitation Techniques used by Business Analyst.

Requirement Elicitation Techniques

Requirements Elicitation Techniques

As a Business Analyst we need to understand the requirements clearly, to understand the requirements as a Business Analyst we need to use techniques to understand the requirements. Let us observe Business Analyst elicitation techniques.

Elicitation is the process of digging out the information from the stakeholders. Requirements Elicitation serves the foundation in documenting the requirements.

Elicitation Techniques

Let us see here below:

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FAQ’s

What are requirement elicitation techniques?

Requirements elicitation practices include interviews, questionnaires, user observation, workshops, brainstorming, use cases, role playing and prototyping. … Before requirements can be analyzed, modeled, or specified they must be gathered through an elicitation process.

What techniques do business analysts use?

S.W.O.T. stands for Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats. This is the most important technique used in business analysis. It is conducted by a group of people with different mindsets and perspectives in the company in order to access a changing environment and react accordingly.

What is elicitation in business analysis?

Requirements Elicitation. A Project’s Foundation

Requirements elicitation is the set of activities where information is given by stakeholders, users, and customers to be applied to the design of the initiative or the solution. Elicitation is a perpetual process during a project development.

What are the three main techniques of business analysis planning?

List of Best Business Analysis Techniques
SWOT Analysis. The term SWOT stands for its four elements– …
MOST Analysis. The term MOST stands for its four elements – …
Business Process Modelling (BPM) …
Use Case Modelling. …
Brainstorming. …
Non-functional Requirement Analysis. …
PESTLE Analysis. …
Requirement Analysis.

Which requirement elicitation is most popular?

Having said that, brainstorming, document analysis, interviews, prototyping and workshops are the most widely used requirement elicitation techniques.

Why is requirement elicitation a difficult task?

Why is Requirements Elicitation a difficult task ? Explanation: Users specify unnecessary technical detail that may confuse, rather than clarify overall system objectives. … Explanation: Requirements traceability provides bi-directional traceability between various associated requirements.

What is elicitation in teaching?

Elicitation is a technique by which the teacher gets the learners to give information rather than giving it to them. A teacher elicits the rules for the structure of the first conditional by asking learners to look at some examples, then writing ‘We make the first conditional in English with…?’ on the board.

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