A waterfall model is a very old and traditional model in IT industries. It is a progressive implementation of the projects which is divided into different phases of SDLC.
As waterfall models have few limitations, still it was used earlier on a wide range.
Later agile methodology took over the focus of the IT industry. But again it depends on the type and integrity of the project, which software model has to be followed.
Coming to the waterfall model and the BA s role in the process, we will discuss the phases and the corresponding role of BA in detail.
Software development is taking place in phases under the Waterfall Model
- Requirement gathering and analysis
- Designing
- Coding
- Testing
- Deployment
- Maintainance
Requirement gathering and analysis:
From the initial stage, there is an involvement of the business analyst.He/she is the person who is responsible for preparing the BRD (business requirement document).
Artifacts: Functional specification document. Business requirement document.
Designing: In this phase, the architect will start designing the system based on the business analyst’s inputs and requirement documents. The business analyst helps him to clear his doubts about the requirements.
Artifacts: Design documents and UML diagrams get ready in this phase.
Coding: This phase is quite lengthy as the core development starts in this phase. Developers start product development based on the requirement document prepared by BA. Developers may ask questions to BA regarding the requirement and he needs to answer their questions as and when required.
Artifacts: Code
Testing: After coding, the testing phase will start. In this phase, business analysts help the testing team to understand the requirements so that they will build proper functional test cases. Business analyst has to review whether the test cases covering the whole functionality.
Artifacts: Test cases and test results
Deployment: Once the code is developed and tested, it is ready to deploy in the production environment. The business analyst will verify the product is delivered as per the requirements and it is meeting the business need.
Artifacts: Implementation Review document
Maintenance: Once the implementation is done the team has to give support by installing patches, handling change requests, etc. A business analyst is a person who knows every nook and corner of the project. So every change request has to reviewed by him and based on his inputs and reports the team will respond.
Artifacts: User satisfaction review. Change request review.
The business analyst is a core part of the team and he knows all in and out of the project. So at any point in time, in any phase, he must be able to clarify the doubts by team members.