Business Analyst (BA): what they do, why you need them, and how they save budget
Queries like “what does a business analyst do”, “BA in IT”, or “do I need an analyst” usually appear after pain: fuzzy requirements, wrong implementations, drifting estimates, growing change requests.
Short version: a BA turns ideas into testable requirements. This reduces rework and makes delivery more predictable.
1) What a BA actually does
BA work typically includes:
- requirements elicitation (interviews, workshops)
- user stories / use cases
- roles and permissions
- scenarios and states
- integrations and data
- acceptance criteria (definition of “done”)
- terminology alignment (shared glossary)
2) Why timelines drift without analysis
Common failure modes:
- requirements like “make it convenient”
- no scenarios -> no estimation
- roles/permissions discovered late -> admin rework
- integrations hand-waved -> weeks of webhook debugging
- no acceptance criteria -> “almost done” forever
3) BA deliverables that matter to clients
Minimum set:
- scope (in/out)
- scenario list (user stories)
- roles/permissions (RBAC)
- integrations + events/webhooks
- acceptance criteria
Optional:
- process diagrams
- UI prototypes
- data model diagrams
4) BA vs Product vs Project Manager
- BA: requirements, scenarios, acceptance criteria
- Product: value, priorities, metrics
- Project Manager: process, schedule, coordination, delivery risk
Roles can be combined, functions cannot be skipped.
5) When BA is especially valuable
- many roles/permissions and admin workflows
- heavy integrations (payments/CRM/logistics)
- multiple stakeholders
- compliance/security/PII concerns
- you need a real estimate, not a guess
FAQ
Do I need BA if I have a spec?
If your “spec” is an idea-level document, BA is still needed to produce scenarios and acceptance criteria.
Is BA just extra overhead?
No. It is cheaper than rework and misalignment later.
Can we skip BA?
Only for small, stable projects. Even then you need scenarios and acceptance criteria.
If you want, I can help you set up requirements work: user stories, acceptance criteria, and an executable backlog.