Different tools used by Business analyst

Business Analyst role includes multiple analytical & documentation work. It is the responsibility of Business Analyst to represent the requirements and the solution to overcome the requirements. Business Analyst has to deal with multiple stakeholders and document all the details. If any requirement has to be addressed, organizations look to Business Analyst as it responsibility of Business Analyst to do so. Business Analyst does the Stakeholder Analysis, Requirement gathering using different elicitation techniques, creating multiple documents like Business Requirement Document (BRD)/ Functional Requirement Document (FRD)/ Non-Functional Requirement Document (NFD) and so on.

To work on different parameters and document all the gathered details, Business Analyst need multiple tools as a single tool cannot be used for this procedure. Business Analyst needs Documentation Tools, prototyping tools, Timesheet Tools & so on. Multiple tools usage needs a skilled Business Analyst as using multiple tools on a single project needs lots of experience and patience. All the data created inside the tools has to be represented in front of Client & developer team. The data should be visibly clear and understating to work upon. Therefore it is responsibility of Business Analyst to use the tools in appropriate way and present the data accordingly.

The tools used by a Business Analyst are as below:

• Microsoft Visio
• Balsamiq
• Axure
• JIRA
• Power BI

We will discuss the purpose, use & result in details below:

• Microsoft Visio: Microsoft Visio is a diagrammatic presentation tool. It is a Drag & Drop tool. Business Analyst uses Microsoft Visio to create multiple diagrams required for better understanding of process flow, creating multiple diagrams required for developers.

Microsoft Visio is very easy to use application with easy to understand UI. All the components required for creating the diagrams are sorted as per the diagram type.

Below are some of Diagram which can be created in Microsoft Visio:

• Use Case Diagram
• Sequence Diagram
• Activity Diagram
• Data-Flow Diagram

• Balsamiq: Balsamiq is a User-Interface design & presentation tool. It is a tool used to create the design for the presentation. It gives the power to Business Analyst to show the desired design to the client and basic flow of the application. Using this application, we can create clickable actions in the diagram.

User-Interface of this application is very easy to use & easy to understand. This is also a Drag & Drop application just like Microsoft Visio with some components. We can create a complete application overview from start to end with making the clickable actions as desired or as required at the any corner. Balsamiq will let you create application overview of a web-based tool or a mobile application as required, both of which are widely used in recent time.

• Axure: Axure is also a User-Interface design & presentation tool just like Balsamiq. It is used to create application for desktops and Mobiles. It is also a Drag & Drop tool which is widely used by UX developers.

From simple prototype to more complex wireframe which can be functional as well as realistic, all can be created in the Axure tool. Axure is a feature reach tool where parameters can be set to the Text Boxes or buttons, which can only be activated or accessed once the preset criteria is met. This kind of features enhances overall presentation and understanding experience, resulting more realistic use.

• JIRA: JIRA is team & task management Tool. It is used to create and manage the task assigned to the team. The task assigned to the team can be checked into this application real-time. All the User stories and Task generated from User stories can be directly updated into this tool.

JIRA tool is used in scrum methodology. The user stories created and updated in the JIRA can be further divided into Task & then into Subtasks as needed. All can be done into this one tool. Further communications are done in JIRA where all the developer team members, Testers can communicate.  The same can be used by Product Owner to instruct developer if any additional changes are required, which are not pre-determined. Product Burndown & Sprint Burndown reports can be generated from this tool directly using built-in feature of reports.