Business Analyst

Many project managers and business analysts seem to have a difficult time grasping the difference between project and product scope. For example, a Project Manager understanding how to integrate their skills with a Business Analyst, not to essentially have them as one role but two roles that work together as opposed to two roles that work independent of one another and then have to figure out how to integrate their efforts.

Business analysts bring a wide range of business analysis skills including requirements engineering skills: 1) elicitation, 2) analysis, 3) documentation, and 4) validation. Once the business requirements are complete and fully approved, the document is handed-off to the technical systems area (IT), to document the project impacts to the system.

Where the organization is not big enough to isolate those roles (most companies?), Product Managers take on the analysis role as part of their work. Each team will include all Solution Development Team roles and cover all their responsibilities. The Scrum Master works with the Product Owner and the development team to ensure the team members can move forward with development with no impediments, and that the Scrum practices are carried out.

They work at a distance but within the organisation - they will work with the project team throughout the lifetime of the project but will be unlikely to be involved in day to day Scrums. Business analyst and project manager are both primarily responsible to study and oversee the efficiency within a certain facet of an organization.

The purpose of the solution scope is to conceptualize the recommended solution in enough detail to enable stakeholders to understand which new business capabilities an IT business solution will deliver. The business analyst is going to be responsible for free learning helping to turn a business need into a real solution.