8.4.7 Business Analyst
In earlier Skill Categories the point has been made that not all organizations have the same
structure, and that as a result, the Business Analyst often finds they are needed to perform
roles and responsibilities of other functions. If there is no project manager, the BA may need
to fulfill those responsibilities. If there is no test manager or project liaison, BA may be doing
that work. Regardless of this work, the responsibilities of the BA are:
• Participate in the creation of the overall project and test plan and assist with the
necessary maintenance to reflect changes to the overall project plan
• Plan for and participate in early life cycle verification activities such as
requirements inspections and early development and inspection of use cases
• Plan for and participate in functional, regression, stress, security and performance
test execution, analysis and defect tracking as needed, with specific attention to
those aspects of acceptance testing that are essential to the successful
implementation of the finished product
• Support the resolution of issues resulting in the failure to meet the schedule, budget,
functionality or quality criteria throughout the testing life cycle of the project
• Participate in the completion of end of project activities, including the decision to
implement, test reports, implementation and post implementation reviews.