What are the basic requirements of a business analyst?

A business analyst is the bridge between the client and the technical team. In simple words a business analyst the person who takes the requirement from the client converts in the language or the form that is easily understood (by the technical team) and passes it to the developers.

So to be a good BA these are the basic skills or requirements one must possess:-

• Knowledge of different SDLC methodology: A BA must have the basic understanding different SDLC Methodologies as it will help him/her understand the software development process better. He/She will also able know to know different terminology associated with like what is MVP, what is agile, what is sequential, what is evolutionary also when and why should one use the specific methodology. One will able to understand all this only when he has knowledge about the SDLC methodologies.
• Knowledge of various elicitation techniques: The main job of the business analyst is to gather the requirements. To gather the requirements he must about the different elicitations techniques. How to conduct the sessions, in which condition the specific elicitation method should used, etc question like this will be answered when he has thorough knowledge about the different elicitation methods.
• Knowledge of all the documents used: Documents are very important part of the SDLC methodology also BA is responsible for the maintaining and handling of the documents therefore he should know What is BRS, FRS, RTM, Closure document and how they are made and what should be done with the document after the project is completed. It is also important from point of view compliance.
• UML : UML or unified modular language is a visual development language used to show a standard way to see or visualize a system design. It is BA duty to convert the requirements in the form that is easily understood by the developers and hence he should know about UML.
• Knowledge of essential tools used: There are numerous tools a BA use in his daily work. A BA use JIRA to trace bugs and for ticketing purpose, MS Visio to draw charts and workflow, Balsmiq and Axure to create wireframes also Power BI and Tableau for data visualization hence BA needs to know the basics of these tools.

Following the soft skills that a Business Analyst must possess:-

• Communication: BA is the medium through which client communicates to the developing team. He is the person who is responsible for driving the various requirement elicitation techniques. Therefore, BA should be very strong in terms of communication.
• Problem solving: Problem solving is the skill where one goes to root of the situation or from where the problem arise and justifying what is right and wrong in such a way all the parties are satisfied.
• Listening: BA is the requirement gatherer and to gather the requirement he need to be a good listener so that he could understand what stakeholder actually wants from the application or product.
• Time Management: Time management is also essential skill for BA as he the face of the company and time delivery of the product is important to maintain the goodwill.