Types of Business Analysis Tools
The Business Analyst tools for BA can be broadly classified based on the following functions that they address:
Business needs assessment tools
Every Business Analyst working on business requirements and elicitation needs some specialized tools to analyze these requirements. The area of analysis can be document analysis, identifying business gaps, SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) and PESTLE (Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological, Legal and Environmental) analysis, cost-benefit analysis, affinity diagram, or the RACI (Responsibility Assignment) Matrix.
Analysis tools for Business Modelling
The Business Analyst tools for BA can be further classified into tools required for modeling and diagrammatic representation. A Business Analyst has to translate user requirements into use cases and diagrams for solution design and business model building. The popular Business Analyst tools available today, help Business Analysts create user stories effectively, define use cases, build various Entity-Relationship (ER) diagrams, create a feature model, and efficient prototyping.
Requirement-related Business Analysis Tools
An entire process flow, which often comprises use cases in which each instance defines specific functionality, may have several requirements for a project. As a result, the business analyst must update any related requirements if a use case changes. It is now quite challenging for a human to remember all the criteria and use application adaptations. Even though the requirement dramatically rises, a tool can readily preserve these linkages. In general, requirement managerial activities like requirement monitoring and requirement description can be completed using Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel. The complete task can be managed using these tools, but they are not always impactful. Software tools for provision management may be beneficial.
Modeling Tools
Words are less powerful than a picture can convey. Therefore, when a diagram expresses a business process specification, its interrelations across various functional elements appear to be better created. Additionally, it lessens the likelihood of misunderstandings. Therefore, to depict the business relations pictorially, the business analysts utilize top business analysis tools like MS Visio for UML or Business model development.
Collaboration tools
The working frame of a business analyst utilizing business analyst tools and skills is not an easy job. The critical role of any Business Analyst is also effective in stakeholder management and collaboration. Every Business Analyst needs to use some best-of-breed tools to ensure effective collaboration for meeting business and project goals. Hence, for every change that the BA makes in requirements, the same must be seamlessly communicated to connected teams like development and project management.
