What a business analyst does
A business analyst (BA) helps an organisation understand a problem or opportunity, work out what is needed, and describe it clearly so that others can build or change something. Titles and duties vary, so some terms below are used differently from one employer to another.
Requirements terms
- Stakeholder: a person or group affected by, or interested in, the work.
- Requirement: a stated need that a solution must meet.
- Business requirement: a high-level need of the organisation, such as reducing order errors.
- Functional requirement: something the system or process must do, for example “send an email confirmation”.
- Non-functional requirement: a quality the solution must have, such as speed, security or ease of use.
- Elicitation: gathering requirements through interviews, workshops, surveys or observation.
- BRD (business requirements document): a document that records business needs.
- FRD (functional requirements document): a more detailed description of how a system should behave.
- Acceptance criteria: the conditions that must be met for work to be accepted as done.
- Traceability: linking each requirement to its source and to the work that delivers it.
- Prioritisation: ranking requirements by importance. A common method is MoSCoW: must have, should have, could have, won’t have (this time).
Analysis techniques
- SWOT analysis: reviewing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. See the business environment.
- Gap analysis: comparing the current state with a desired future state to identify what is missing.
- Feasibility study: assessing whether a proposed solution is practical, affordable and worthwhile. It differs from a plan, as explained in business plan vs business proposal.
- Cost-benefit analysis: weighing expected costs against expected benefits.
- Business case: a document that justifies an investment or project. See business case vs business plan.
- Root cause analysis: looking for the underlying cause of a problem rather than its symptoms. Tools include the five whys and the fishbone (cause-and-effect) diagram.
- Benchmarking: comparing performance with other organisations or standards.
- KPI: a measure of progress toward a goal.
- ROI: return on investment.
Process and modelling terms
- Business process: a series of steps that produces a result, such as processing an invoice.
- Process modelling: drawing a process to understand or improve it.
- BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation): a standard set of symbols for drawing process diagrams.
- Use case: a description of how a user interacts with a system to achieve a goal.
- User story: a short statement of need, often written as “As a [user], I want [goal] so that [benefit]”.
- Business rule: a policy or constraint that governs how the business operates.
- Data dictionary: a catalogue of the data items used and what each means.
- ERD (entity relationship diagram): a diagram showing how data entities relate.
- Current state / future state: how things work today versus how they should work after the change.
Agile and delivery terms
- Agile: an approach that delivers work in short cycles and adapts to feedback.
- Scrum: a popular Agile framework with defined roles and regular events.
- Sprint: a short, fixed period of work in Scrum, commonly one to four weeks.
- Backlog: a prioritised list of work to be done.
- Product owner: the person responsible for the value of the product and the order of the backlog.
- Scrum master: the person who helps the team follow Scrum.
- Waterfall: a sequential approach where each phase finishes before the next begins.
- Hybrid: a mix of Agile and Waterfall practices.
- Prototype: an early sample used to test ideas.
- UAT (user acceptance testing): testing by real users to confirm the solution meets their needs.
Project and governance terms
- Scope: what is and is not included in the work.
- Scope creep: uncontrolled growth in scope.
- Project charter: a document that formally authorises a project and sets out its goals.
- Change request: a formal proposal to alter scope, schedule or cost.
- Change control board (CCB): a group that reviews and approves change requests.
- RACI matrix: a table showing who is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed for each task.
- Risk register: a log of identified risks and planned responses. See risk assessment vs business impact analysis.
- Issue log: a record of problems that have already occurred.
For project cost and schedule measures, see earned value management terms. The broader vocabulary is in our management terms list, and process-improvement ideas such as the five whys are expanded in lean management terms.
How the terms fit together
A typical flow: a business need is identified, a business case and feasibility study test the idea, requirements are elicited from stakeholders and prioritised, processes are modelled, the solution is built (Agile or Waterfall), and UAT checks the result. Changes along the way pass through change control.
Common questions
What is the terminology used in business analysis?
Mostly words about requirements, analysis techniques, process modelling and project delivery, as grouped above.
What skills does a business analyst need?
Sources vary. Frequently cited skills include communication, analytical thinking, problem solving and stakeholder management.
What are the stages of business analysis?
There is no single universal list. A common sequence is understanding the need, gathering requirements, analysing and documenting them, validating with stakeholders, supporting delivery and evaluating results.
What is a BA in business terms?
BA usually means business analyst, or sometimes business analysis. In other contexts it can mean “business administration”.