THE IMPORTANCE OF NICHE TECHNOLOGIES IN BUSINESS ANALYSIS

- Kat Okwera Jan 2019

THE IMPORTANCE OF NICHE TECHNOLOGIES IN BUSINESS ANALYSIS

- Kat Okwera Jan 2019

HEY THERE – I’M A BA TOO!

Programmer

Business Analyst

Consultant

Web DeveloperSystems Designer

Graphic Designer

Kat Okwera

Project ManagerE-Learning Developer

A BIT ABOUT ME

10 years of BA workSome past clients:

Technologies:SharePoint

WordPress

MySQL

Axure

Adobe PhotoshopAdobe Illustrator

HTML / CSS/ PHP / Javascript / SQL

Learning Management Systems

Excel

PAST PROJECT EXPERIENCE

Communication Portals

Process Automation

Forecasting Portals

Learning Management

Systems

WebsitesReporting Solutions

Data Collection Platforms

HR Policy Tools

Training Development

SEODatabase

DesignData Analyses

WHAT IS A BUSINESS ANALYST?

An Agent of Change

Business analysis is a disciplined

approach for introducing and

managing change to organizations

THE REALITY OF BUSINESS ANALYSIS

What you probably think a BA is

• Someone who helps advise the design of solutions to help how organizations work

What companies often expect a BA to be

• Admin Support

• Requirements Gathering

• Project Managers

• Note Takers

• Client Managers

• Quality Assurance People

• Light Weight Tech Specialists

• Technology Subject Matter Experts

WHAT A BA REALLY NEEDS TO BE:

•People Person

•Client Manager

•Requirements Gatherer

• Strong Communicator

• Technically Savvy

• Tester

•Advisor

Conduit

between

stakeholders

and the

implementers

WHY IS TECHNOLOGY SO IMPORTANT?

A FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION

What tools will you use to solve your business

problem?

THE BASIC STEPS OF SOLUTIONS DESIGN

AnalysisDesign

Plan

Maintain

Deploy

WHERE A BA FITS IN

AnalysisDesign

Plan

Maintain

Deploy

You may help

create the

business case /

plan

You may even

maintain / evaluate

the solution

You develop /

gather requirementsYou will help the

development team

create a design

You will facilitate

rolling out this

solution

THE BIG QUESTION

What technology

to use and why?

WHERE TECHNOLOGY FITS IN

AnalysisDesign

Plan

Maintain

Deploy

What tools will

you use

communicate

your plan / work

with your team?

What tech will you use

to track success?

Will you use any

technology for

requirements

gathering?

What tech will be

used to develop the

solution and track

the progress?

What tech will

you use to help

users to use the

solution

HOW TECHNICAL DO YOU NEED TO

BE?

TECH SAVVY NOT TECH MASTERY

Technology

Capabilities

Limitations

Integrations

Costs

Understanding the

strengths and

weaknesses of a

platform is critical to

being able to analyze

a solution.

HOW WILL YOU INTERFACE WITH YOUR TEAM?

Requirements Gathering

Technical Guidance

Technical Translation

Expectation Management

Quality Assurance

COMMON CATEGORIES OF “BA” TECH TOOLS

1.Requirements Gathering

1.Team Tools1.Collaborative

Platforms

1.CRMS1.Workflow

Engines

LET’S TALK ABOUT REQUIREMENTS GATHERING

Wireframes Mockups Discovery

Documents

Technical

Specifications

Dependency

Documentation

What technology will you use to generate these?

REQUIREMENTS GATHERING

Wireframes Mockups UX / UI VignettesRequirements

Gathering Documents

Technical Specifications

Tools

Axure

TEAM COLLABORATIVE

Technologies to support how you work with your teams

COLLABORATIVE CLIENT PLATFORMS

• Technologies clients may use to run their organizations

INDUSTRY SPECIFIC PLATFORMS

•Each industry may have technologies that are specific to them.

•Knowledge of these is useful when trying to support these industries.

CRMS

Tools that help organizations manage their

customer relationships

WORKFLOW ENGINES

How will you implement your business processes?

PROGRAMMING / SCRIPTING LANGUAGES

Ruby Python PHP JavaScript Java

CSS HTML XML SQL Jquery

What languages does your environment require?

THERE ARE MANY TOOLS TO GET THE JOB DONE

•What tools will you use?

•How will they increase your effectiveness?

•How will they guide your planning processes?

COMPANIES HAVE TECHNOLOGIES THEY PREFER

THE MANY WAYS NICHE TECHNOLOGIES ARE PART OF BA WORK

Requirements Gathering

Team Collaboration

Client / End User Platforms

Project Management

Evaluation

WHICH TECHNOLOGIES WILL YOU KNOW?

Your level of understanding of technologies will guide your functions as a business analyst.

WHAT DOES ALL OF THIS MEAN FOR A BA?

Choose some platforms companies use to have expertise.

You can’t analyze a solution if you don’t

understand the environment.

You are an asset to a project when you

understand all angles of a solution.

QUESTIONS?

CONTACT INFORMATION

Email: Kat@CapeNexis.com

Phone: 678 379 9531

Web: www.capenexis.com

Linkedin:

www.linkedin.com/in/nkatekookwera/