The Tool Experts

Business Analysts - Become a Business Analyst and be the indispensable part of any business. An analyst in a business is expected to analyze and critique the various business functions including finance, marketing, IT etc to improve the productivity and efficiency of an establishment. A professional in this position also helps the company to optimize its day to day operations and evaluate the structure of its business. Business analysts are generally hired by companies to solve business problems, to streamline their business practices and to gain an edge over their competitors. It is the analyst's job to scrutinize the various operational procedures of the company and find solutions, which will help the company to function efficiently. In some companies analysts are also expected to focus on the issues concerning the major stakeholders of an organization; they have to routinely write reports with specific recommendations. The workday of business analysts includes the following tasks: Scheduling clients: Whether you hold a job in an organization or work as an independent contractor, you will need to spend a lot of time talking to the business and IT operations teams. Also, you will need to frequently schedule projects for different clients. Observation: An analyst spends the majority of his time observing the day to day operations of the various departments. He will spend a lot of time each day observing the requirements of the organization, business process flow, the various systems available to the staff and how these are being used to optimize the workings of a department. Additionally, you may also have to spend a significant amount of time studying the client procedures and policies. Review and Analysis: The data procured through observation, meetings and discussions is then compiled and analyzed. Also, the analyst will have to review previous reports that help to understand the issues afflicting the day to day operations of the company. The analysis phase will finally lead to the solution phase wherein the analyst will be expected to provide solutions to streamline the business process. Preparing Reports: Once the problems have been analyzed and solutions have been devised, an analyst has to put it all down in black and white, in the form of a report. Business analystswill have to provide detailed reports on the various solutions proposed by him and how each of these help to solve a specific problem. Financial estimates will also be part of such reports Client meetings: Business analystswill also need to spend a considerable amount of time interacting with the internal or external clients.

Techniques Available
Six Sigma - A discipline whose goal of virtually zero defects can transform a business. For many companies, the six sigmas process has been utilized as a way to improve the process quality of their operations. If you are unaware of what 6 sigma is, this article has been designed to give you a complete and accurate look at what it entails. You will also gain an understanding of 6 sigma certification and why it is important. When it comes to 6 sigma, we find that this is the process that is used to produce work that is free from defects. To qualify as a six sigma company, it is required that there is a perfect score of at least 99.9997%. The 6 sigmas represent 6 standard deviations on a normal distribution. But the process does go deeper than simple defects. Many companies have implemented procedures to utilize these standardized tools and statistics as a way to improve the overall effectiveness of the company's operations. The tools include analytical processes and problem solving techniques. With these processes in place, your company will achieve both performance increases as well as improved profits, with a reduction in waste as well. To understand why this is so important, we should understand how companies normally operate. Many of the top companies in the world will operate at around 99% efficiency. While this number might seem high to you, it translates to about 10,000 defectives for every million units created. This can quickly add up over the course of time. Since a 6 sigma company will only produce 3.4 defective units in this same production line, this results in a savings of at least a quarter of a million dollars in savings each year. If a company achieves black belt status, this could become multiples of that. Margin And Markup - How to determine how much you are making on each of your products. Every product you sell should be profitable and make enough money for it to be worthwhile. Margin and markup are important concepts for any business selling a product. It is a number that defines the amount of gross profit you are making off of each product. You can use the values of margin and markup as guides for setting the prices of your products. Unless there is a strong reason, you should set a fixed markup for every item that you sell. Some reasons why you wouldn't set a fixed markup are using a loss leader to attract traffic, competitor's pricing, very high or very low volume sales, higher sales costs, etc. Margin is simply the difference between the cost of a product and the price you sell it for. If you had a widget that cost $8.00 to produce and you sold it for $10.00, you would have a $2.00 margin in that product.

Markup can be calculated based on price or cost. Using the example above, the markup based on cost is 25%. The markup based on price is 20%. This simple calculator gives you the markup, calculated both with price and cost:
Cost Markup Based on Cost Markup Based on Price
100.00 120.00

Price
0

Markup

100.00

120.00

When you know the markup of all the products you sell, you will know which products are making you money and which aren't. You will want to change the pricing or eliminate the product that is not making you money. Your adjustments should bring all of your products up to a level where they are profitable and are worth your effort. Learning Curve Spreadsheet - Learn what learning curves are. Use the provided spreadsheet to calculate them. This learning curve spreadsheet will give you a way to calculate the numbers for your situation. This is all about human learning. We tend to improve our performance as we repetitively do a task. Learning curves quantify that improvement. This method can be applied to any activity that is repeated many times (tasks and units of production are used interchangeable). Typical industries using it are manufacturing and service, although there are applications in many others as well. You may wonder why we are discussing a spiritual factor with learning curves. We are not talking about religion, but we are talking about having the faith to improve. Improvement over repeated performances is a scientific fact. However, a negative attitude or lack of faith that one can improve, can leave progress at a standstill. In other words a positive attitude has a shorter learning curve than a negative attitude. The formula for learning curve is: Tn=time required for nth item produced C=constant, which is equal to the time to produce the 1st unit s=slope constant, always negative This spreadsheet will calculate the slope s and the common term of percent of time required for a doubled number of units of production. This is calculated from your input of the 2 points of production. An example would be the 40th unit and the 92nd unit produced and the times required to produce them. The second step which relies on the results of the 1st step, predicts the time required for an nth unit of production.
Unit
40 92 20.0 16.0

Time

s= -0.286
83.1%

Learning Curve

Prediction Unit
125 190 14.7 13.2

Time

This learning curve spreadsheet can help you predict the gradual reduction in time required to complete repetitive tasks. Only limited experience with the task is needed to permit accurate predictions.

Business SWOT Analysis - How to use Strengths, Weaknesses Opportunites and Threats to help in your decision making.

This sample SWOT analysis is based on the relatively new concept of SWOT. The definition of SWOT analysis is to evaluate the qualitative (non-number) aspects of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of a company or organization. The purpose is to determine if your organization is capable of taking advantage of an opportunity that has presented itself. The answer is only yes if you decide that your strengths are greater than your weaknesses and the opportunity is greater than the threats. The SWOT analysis sample shown here goes a step farther than the traditional SWOT analysis. It requires that you put numbers to these very nebulous concepts. Let's assume that you are a small janitorial firm with 6 employees. Your company has been servicing 20-25 small business buildings in a suburban area. You have recently found out that a large office building nearby is looking for a new janitorial service. It would be a very lucrative contract, but you would have to triple the size of your company overnight to handle it. You don't want to jeopardize what you already have. Here is your SWOT analysis of the situation:

Strengths 1. What are your organization's core strengths? 2. What unique resources are available? Know how to do janitorial work well

Have close relations with another janitorial company. Could contract with other janitorial companies 3. What strengths can be acquired? to meet the load. Weaknesses 1. What are the perceived weaknesses? Not experienced servicing large facilities. 2. What resources are inadequate? Not enough manpower. 3. What weaknesses cannot be overcome? Time conflicts with current contracts. Opportunities 1. What is the value of the present The contract would be very lucrative. opportunity? 2. Is value enhanced by evolving marketThere are many new office buildings being technology conditions? constructed. 3. Is value enhance by your organization's

core strengths? Threats 1. Are there market-technology conditions that There are a limited number of available reduce the value? workers. 2. What is the level of competition? Competion is moderate. 3. Will your weaknesses limit your success? Must be able to find additional workers.
After you have answered each of the questions, it is necessary to put a score or value to each answer. Pick a number from 1-10 that corresponds with your feeling of the value of each of the answers. These numbers are then entered on the calculator below. The result is a number that represents your judgement of the value of the new opportunity. Obviously the larger the number the more attractive the project is. Please remember that you are making subjective judgements of the values. The final number should be used as a guide for comparison with other projects and not an absolute. Project Score = Strengths - Weaknesses + Opportunities - Threats

SWOT ANALYSIS
Fill in the boxes below to perform analysis

STRENGTHS
1. What is the value of the present opportunity? 2. What unique resources are available? 3. What strengths can be acquired?

WEAKNESSES
1. What are the perceive weaknesses? 2. What resources are inadequate? 3. What weaknesses cannot be overcome?

Score(1-10) 1. 2. 3. Total

Score(1-10)

8 7 7 22

1. 2. 3. Total

6 6 8 20

SW Total

02

OPPORTUNITIES
1. What is the value of the present opportunity? 2. Is value enhanced by evolving market-technology conditions? 3. Is value enhance by your organization's core strengths?

THREATS
1. Are there market-technology conditions that reduce the value? 2. What is the level of competition? 3. Will your weaknesses limit your success?

Score(1-10) 1. 2. 3. Total

Score(1-10)

9 8 8 25

1. 2. 3. Total

8 6 9 23

OT Total Project Score

2 4

It is a simple manner to use the above sample SWOT analysis to your project. First answer the questions in the above sample. Score each answer in light of subject opportunity. Enter the scores in the sample calculator above. Print out the results. When you attach the answers and details of the project, you will have a basic assessment of whether you

will likely succeed in your new endeavor. If you have several opportunities available, you can compare each of them using the above steps. You should then eliminate the weaker ones. The strong ones remaining can propel you to the success that you want. This SWOT analysis example has shown you the value of this approach. The example showed that answering some simple questions about your situation and your opportunity can help you come closer to making a good decision. This process will work for you, because you can make small incremental judgements that add up to your overall assessment. Using this simple logical approach to evaluating new opportunities can help you better make wise decisions that grow your business.

Build Your Own

How To Write A Business Plan - A business plan sets a goal for a new business. It can be a guiding star that shows you the way to success. If you want to learn how to write a business plan, you need to analyze your business idea. You need to determine the elements that will give you the best chance for being successful and make them a part of your written plan. A good solid business plan will guide you to success. The approach to writing a business plan used by the SBA (Small Business Administration) is detailed below. How To Write A Business Plan Preliminary? You need to prepare before you begin to write your business plan. Following are four questions that you should answer before you start: Who is your audience for your business plan? Is it for your use only, as a tool for obtaining financing, or a document to unite business partners in a common goal? What service or product does your business provide and what needs does it fill? Who are the potential customers for your product or service and why will they purchase it from you? How will you reach your potential customers? Where will you get the financial resources to start your business? How To Write A Business Plan Structure? What goes into a business plan? Consider these four elements: Description of the business - What is the business all about and what is its structure? The more details about your new business the better. Marketing - A marketing plan within the business plan is appropriate. Your plan should detail the way you are going to sell your product or service. You should have done market research that shows what the demand is. A matching competitor survey will give you how much supply there is. With a grasp of supply and demand you will be able to know if there is enough unfullfilled demand to support your business. Finances - You know that your new business will not be making money immediately. It takes time for any new business to get going. That time takes money. In addition there will likely be other start up costs such as equipment, inventory, facilities and manpower. You need to plan for the initial expenses and make an estimate of how long it will take you to get to break even. That initial capital must be either borrowed or provided out of personal funds. An important part of the business plan are your projections of what money is needed for the startup and revenue past the point of break even. Management - Have you ever managed a business before? If not, who is going to manage your new business? If you are planning on doing everything yourself, then you need to include in your plan some training. Most small businesses fail. Try to put the odds in your favor.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

1. 2.

3.

4.

Constructing Your Business Plan Sometimes it is hard to get started constructing your business plan. It is often easier when you have a starting point to work from. Finding out how to write a business plan is very important. You must plan to succeed. Having no plan is a plan for failure.
How To Start A Business From Home - A tutorial on how to start a new business. It relies heavily on the business plan described above.. When you start a business from scratch, you must perform all of the steps. The steps that are necessary for your success are as follows: 1. Decide on the business idea or concept to pursue. You can get help with this by using the following tools: Decision Making Model In Five Steps andDecision Matrix. 2. Make a business plan. See Business Plan for help on how to do this. Your plan should include a market study(supply and demand), a marketing plan(how you are going to make sales and who you are going to sell to) and a financing plan (how much money will you need and were will it come from?) 3. Execution. If you have spent the time to prepare a good plan this part will be relatively easy. You already have a blueprint. ====================================================================================================


MS MS MS MS

Tools used by Business Analyst

to gather requirements.

Word(to gather Requirements) Visio(To depcte the flows) Excel(To represent Data) Power Point(To do presentations)

STORY BOARD
Apart from these there BA use the following tool to gather requirements and to depict the flows IRise Manager(This is an excellent requrement Gathering tool, goto www.irise.com to get more info about this) Rational Suite(used to gather requirements and depict the flow, goto ibm.com to get more information on this) Mercury Quality Centere - Testing tool used by BA/QA to get the test Requirements, Test Cases, Test Scripts. Every area of practice in IT has a set of specific tools that supports the standard work of technology professionals. Data analysis is the capturing of data requirements, developing models that reflect those requirements and creating a design to store the data. You can accomplish this with a pencil, paper, and the right skill-set. But it can be done much more quickly and consistently if the process is automated. There are hundreds of individual software tools and tool-suites that support different facets of data analysis. When Modern Analyst asked me to prepare an article on data analysis tools, I decided to provide a list of questions that Ive found useful in filtering the requirements of a tool selection exercise. The alternative, providing a laundry list of tools, did not seem as helpful as equipping you to make your own decision. Ill also provide references to other locations on the internet that Ive used when searching for tools myself. In order to organize this list of questions I thought about how I accomplish data analysis. Most engagements for me fall into a consistent workflow. First I need to listen and to collaborate with a person or group providing requirements. Next I document those requirements a combination of text and picture to refine and reflect back the understanding of the business needs for information. Presenting back work products can be necessary for a variety of reasons: executive overview, validation by the business user, and peer-review. Finally, the deliverables need to have sign-off and be passed on to the resources that will take the design and create the physical structures and implement the application. Because communication and collaboration are critical, the best choice is one that is consistent with any existing standards or tools being used in a company. I believe that even if there are new tools with fancy functionality, being able to share work products easily between groups is a high priority item. If there is no current investment in data management tools, going through a request-for-information (RFI) is a great approach to finding the right solution for your needs. Treat this as you would any commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) package evaluation. Ask about the vendors company, the size of the user base for the tool, the technical platform on which it was developed, the support staff, the release strategy, and all of the other questions that typically come into play with a software purchase. Make sure that it fits in the technical architecture that your firm has established. For the specific functionality around data analysis, I suggest that you include the following categories of questions. ILLUSTRATE Can the tool draw an Entity-Relationship (ER) Diagram easily? The technique of creating a picture that includes lines, boxes, and connectors is the bread-and-butter of data modeling. The tool should allow the data analyst to move objects around the diagram easily. Can it switch between different notation styles?

The pictures and the objects that make up the picture can follow many different standards. Depending on the structure of your department and the standards that are used by your company, one notation may be a higher priority than another. Over time, there is huge value in the ability to switch notations. Analysts from different backgrounds can review models with equally clear understanding of the meaning and purpose of the structures reducing the learning curve of bringing on new data modeling staff. Can it draw both Relational and Dimensional style ER diagrams? In recent years, different techniques have been developed for modeling in on-line transaction processing (OLTP) databases and data mining oriented on-line analytical processing (OLAP) databases. Star-schema designs require different physical orientations for the data structures in an entity-relationship diagram. It is useful to have a tool that is able to display using either approach. Can it represent Conceptual Data Model (CDM), Logical Data Model (LDM), and Physical Data Model (PDM) levels of diagram? Different levels of model are more appropriate for each type of audience. During a scoping exercise, executives and business users tend to be more comfortable with the CDM. Actual data requirements and business rules can typically be best displayed in a LDM. Database Analysts, Quality Assurance, Development and Production Support staff frequently refer to the PDM, since it is a visual representation of the actual tables, views, columns and indexes that are directly accessed through the application systems. Is the diagram easily transportable to other tools in multiple formats? A picture can be worth a thousand words. A well structured diagram can be in user manuals, online help, in test-case documentation or even sales literature. Can the diagram be enhanced with colors, fonts, non-model text, and/or graphics? During development, when the picture is actively being used to illustrate new or changed structures, color and font can bring attention to the appropriate portion of a model. After implementing system, annotating the picture to describe the structures or special situations makes the data model diagram a valuable tool while the structures are in active use. Can the tool represent graphically an existing system through an automated mechanism? In some programs there is as much existing system enhancement as new system development. Deriving a model of the existing data structures is a critical success factor in maintenance projects. For others, comparing the documentation to the actual physical implementation ensures that modifications are implemented properly. Many tools offer support in automating this comparison, saving time and reducing the opportunity for manual errors.

DOCUMENT Can the tool generate documentation about a data design? A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a picture without words will become unusable! And data without a name is completely useless 4

2 1 30 1 8 300 ... means less than Estimated Pieces per Pound Apples Bananas Coconuts Dates Eggplant Fig Grapes 4 2 1 30 1 8 300

Information that describes the meaning, purpose, and details of a data structure is crucial to consistent understanding. Documentation created during a project has to be easily available to anyone using that data structure in the future. You should include any assumptions on which the data design was based. If one of the assumptions changes because of a shift in the business environment, this impact can be more easily assessed at a logical level. Is the data definition information, metadata, rich enough to completely describe data objects? There are basic pieces of information that are captured in most data modeling tools, name, definition, attributes, data type, and optionality come immediately to mind. But some projects require more; they may need data stewardship, ownership or privacy classification characteristics that are not typically out-of-the-box. The assessment should identify whether the tool is expandable, allowing you to define new characteristics as required. Can business rules be documented easily in a structured way? Most requirements for data are surrounded and bounded by business constraints. Having those constraints associated directly to data objects and relationships in a model can provide a two-fold benefit. Firstly, it can help describe access and update logic around the information. Secondly, it can be the basis from which to build both test cases and a standardized set of test data. Can the tool accept bulk text updates from other sources? Frequently, tools that support data analysis and design are built with only one type of input mechanisma human in front of a screen. Metadata management tools that have the capacity to load definitional information through an automated mechanism have a distinct advantage. Does it have the ability to generate metadata reports for a variety of delivery mechanisms (Wiki, .xml, .rtf, .PDF or .xls for example)? The main goal of any data design and model should be to communicate, and different audiences may need the information in different formats. RESEARCH Can your modeling tool allow access directly to the data?

This ability is rare in a modeling tool, more frequently data inspection is done through data access tools or data profiling tools. Can the tool allow access to multiple data sources through the same interface? Many projects require data input and outputs to be on different technology platforms. For example a data warehouse may gather information from Oracle, DB2, Sybase, Informix, and flat files, and then undergo a match/merge process through an extract/transform/load (ETL) tool for final storage in a data mart on a completely different technology. Having to use multiple tools with a variety of interfaces to all of these sources in the same project would require you to have a much wider range of knowledge than having a single tool with the ability to connect to multiple sources. Can data inspection, to validate assumptions, be performed with a minimum of technical knowledge of the physical implementation platform? Some Business Analysts understand how to code native SQL. If that is not your strength, look for a tool with a more automated GUI which generates the SQL in the background. The best tools support the modification of that generated SQL to perform the most complex inspection scenarios. Can data be analyzed using statistics? Data quality can have an enormous impact on the type of business rules and coding requirements. If you have the ability to scan and assess sets of data to identify data issues during discovery, you will save that time and more during the requirements definition. Can the results of the analysis be delivered in more than one format? Outlier data can be more easily identified through a graph:

But sometimes you need the metadata to decide whether the outlier is valid or an indication of a data quality issue:

PRESENT Can the diagram and text documentation be combined into a well-formed deliverable that can be structured for audiences at multiple levels? At the end of the data analysis and design phases, a final deliverable should be generated in an appropriate format for each audience that it needs to inform. A tool that allows the generation of a document will allow you more time to focus on the content than the presentation. Typically, the executive sponsor does not need to see the physical table design, but the database administrator (DBA) does. Can sample data be associated easily with design deliverables? A good set of data that includes examples of correct values as well as error situations can enhance your ability to explain the details for both business user and technology professional. FOR ALL TOOLS Is the tool available for multiple simultaneous users on the same work product (for large project support)? Can the work-product be leveled into multiple subsections, and then if worked on in the subsection, is the work reflected in the overall picture? Can the work-product be versioned in the tool? Can you roll-back easily to a previous version? Is training easily available? Can it be delivered online on-demand? No single tool is the best; but given your environment, there might be a tool or set of tools that is the best-fit for you and your company.