Friday 30 July 2010

Requirements Capturing Tools and Online Applications

There are lots of Requirements Gathering/Capturing Tools and many many discussions on the right one.

ModernAnalyst.com LinkedIn Group Discussion

But the main tools of a Business Analyst still remain... a Word Processor and a Spreadsheet (normally MS Word and Excel, but could be any other suite, i.e. OpenOffice)

However, is there online alternatives?

As discussed on For What Activities Can We Use a Web Based Project Management System? by Mena Alex there are online alternatives to Project Management tools, but what about for BA's?

Well, Google has Google Docs which has online Word Processor and Spreadsheet so there is a good start!

Adriana Beal suggested Wiki's as a good requirements gathering tool for multiple user collaberation. (Using a wiki to improve the requirements management process)

There is also Gliffy an online Visio alternative.

So can a BA work exclusively online?
Is there one suite of online applications that can be used or would it need to be a mix and match of sites?
Can the different applications work together?

Maybe I will look into this later.

Bye for now!

Thursday 29 July 2010

2WTX and ModernAnalyst.com

More useful resources and recommended books from:

2WTX Consulting: http://ba.2wtx.com/

And Adriana Beal has posted many comments on the ModernAnalyst.com group on LinkedIn

ModernAnalyst.com is another website that provides great list of resources... but the thing I love about this site is actually the Humour section.


Bridging the Gap

Think I will be revisiting this site quite a lot.

http://www.bridging-the-gap.com/

Great site for resources and information on:
  • Becoming a Business Analyst / Getting Started as a BA
  • Career Progression
  • Training and BA Courses, CBAP, IIBA etc
  • Contracting as a BA
  • Networking and Marketing Yourself
  • Interviews with other Business Analysts
  • eBooks
  • and more...
BIG THANKS to Laura (Brandau) Brandenburg for this site... think I'll be treating myself to some of her books!

Demand for Business Analysts in Glasgow

The following website gives a great indication of the demand for a Business Analyst role advertised in the Glasgow area:
Looking at the following image, I have become a BA at the right time (Applied Nov 2010):
Please Note the image updates and therefore is current not related to time of post



Althought the Contract rate is tempting:

First Steps

OK, blogging has been about for a long time now, but I have just never had anything to say on a blog and didn't want to blog for the sake of blogging!

With my recent move into a Business Analyst role I have been doing more research on the subject.

INFORMATION OVERLOAD!!!

There is too much to take in at one time... therefore, this blog was born! Information I find I am listing here for quick reference wherever I am.

And you never know, someone else might find it useful!

Enjoy my blog...

David
Business Analyst
Ceridian