Whilst the specific duties of a business analyst will vary from company to company, the prinicpal role is as the communicator between business users and the solution provider. The solution provider can be the internal software development group, a software house or an offshore supplier.

Analyst's Role in the Design Cycle:

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The skills needed by an analyst when communicating with business users include the "soft" skills of client communications and relationship management, investigative and analytical skills to identify problem areas and creative thinking skills to design optimum business solutions to business problems.

To then communicate the business user’s requirements to a supplier, the analyst needs the "hard" skills of process analysis, modelling and design to produce accurate, unambiguous specifications.

The combination of "soft" and "hard" skills means the analyst needs both "how to think" and "what to think" skills.


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To provide business analysts with the core soft and hard skills needed to effectively communicate between business clients and development teams, we recommend:

Requirements Gathering & Specification	Scope the project, set boundaries, agree system targets; write a Terms of Reference (Project Charter); plan and conduct stakeholder interviews establish functional/non-functional requirements; analyse and prioritise the client's requirements; validate for completeness and accuracy; document a Business Requirements specification; present recommendations to stakeholders.
Analysing & Solving Problems	Use a standardised methodology for identifying and defining problems; apply techniques for analysing problems, their root cause and impact; use creative and lateral thinking techniques for identifying solutions; assess solutions based on risk, impact and feasibility; select and justify the recommended solution.
Business Analysis	Describe typical development life cycles; describe milestones and the checkpoint process; model existing systems; produce data and process models of systems; define supporting data in a data dictionary; specify process logic (business rules); apply essential modelling techniques; document business requirements as a functional specification.

These courses can be taken in any order depending on your workplace priorities.

As the analyst gains experience he or she will be asked to take on project management responsibility for part or all of the projects they work on. The Project Management Techniques workshop teaches the fundamentals of good project management - how to define, plan and manage both large and small projects.

If you need to manage relationships – with stakeholders, customers, partners or suppliers – then the Successful Stakeholder Partnerships workshop provides practical training in how to identify and measure your stakeholder’s expectations.

Business analysts may also be asked to take on more technical roles in specific areas. IRM offers a range of specialised course for the analyst including:

• Data Analysis & Modelling

• Modelling Requirements with Use Case & the UML

• Acceptance Testing Workshop

For those seeking additional personal skills training, we also offer Technical Writing Skills.

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All IRM courses are maintained and updated in Australia and every effort is made to keep them relevant and appropriate for Australian organisations. If you have any suggestions or comments about future directions in the business analysis field, we'd love to hear from you. Please contact us with your suggestions, comments or queries.