Business Analyst Tools (Tools I Use as a Generalist Business Analyst)

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Every practice has its own tools and business analysis is no exception. You might be surprised to find that the tools that we generalist business analysts need for most of our daily work are actually quite simple.
This is my video response to the community question that came to us from one of the aspiring business analysts in our community 2 weeks ago: "What are some of the tools that you use as a generalist BA in real life".
The bottom line is to focus on becoming effective with the simplest tools possible.
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[@BABLOCKS]

Start learning business analysis today 👉 bablocks.com/start/

[@toddkoehler2487]

I tried signing up for the free event a couple times, but I'm not receiving any kind of email confirmation. Is this normal? Am I doing something wrong,

[@BABLOCKS]

Hi Todd, we see your registration on July 3. Emails will be going out next week. See you there on day one.

[@toddkoehler2487]

Thank you so much!

[@GloryJoy1]

I guess I came late

[@FeanorsBest]

If you are adopting an agile methodology such as Scrum, than two of your key artefacts become product backlog and sprint backlog, and you definitely need a tool to manage, prioritise and trace your requirements for efficient management of your team and project/product. For this, I have experienced Jira. It is very effective in terms of visibility, provides right set of metrics such as velocity, burn out charts, control chart, eports such as Issue created vs Resolved Issues, etc. There are other similar tools in the market, and they have become increasingly important in your IT projects. Visio is very effective, but there are also alternative and easier tools to learn and apply, such as LucidCharts. If you know and become familiar with one particular software, it is easy to switch to another. Kudos for the video, by the way 👍🏻

[@BABLOCKS]

Excellent insights Korhan. The basic tools described here are enough to get a BA to start producing some of the main artefacts, but they are definitely not enough to help manage the many other aspects of a project (Agile or Waterfall). Thanks for highlighting this fact.

[@beatricekemoi7386]

@@BABLOCKS can you teach me Visio

[@beautifullifewithrichathak918]

Can you tell me where can i get visio tool.. Is it a freeware

[@navneetpandey9531]

​@@BABLOCKS ❤

[@afrochic68]

You have essentially described how to use Visio like Miro! Brilliant! So simple! I have struggled with Miro… but really good with PPT.

[@AbrewOfMusic]

Love the canvas vs. tab reasoning and completely agree, this is my big concern with tools like Notebook.

[@fredrickandrew798]

Thanks for your advice. Apparently it is very helpful and constructive to my future understanding of business analysis.

[@d11i37n31]

Thank you for this tutorial! Very well organized and straight to the point. Well done. Thank you.

[@AymanHaidar]

Brief and straightforward. Glad to see that I am very well accustomed to using these tools. Maybe I should pursue a career in Business Analysis. Thanks a lot.

[@BABLOCKS]

Feel free to join us inside our community at BABLOCKS.COM Ayman. There is plenty of material and support there to help you decide if the profession is right for you.

[@anggafebrian2279]

Thank you very much sir.... This Video Very Important for me, Regards From Indonesia.

[@2sweet2be4got10]

I like the centered area approach

[@OluwatosinOladipo-pj4ue]

Thank you so much, this is so insightful and helpful. I just started my Business Analysis Career, I would really appreciate your advice and help on Visio and other tools. Many thanks.

[@pasof]

Just amazing to see how you work so efficiently. Thanks

[@BABLOCKS]

Thank you. Being able to produce output more in less time is a key part of increasing your value as a BA.

[@BolaAdesope]

Good stuff Emal. Clean, clear and concise video. Let’s chat over the phone

[@julie_chen]

i am glad to have come across your channel.

[@Diiiiiiiiiime]

Awesome Video! Do you have any videos explaining how to perform this one-pager method in Visio?

[@BABLOCKS]

No, sorry, we dont have a video on how to set this up yet, but we plan to make this type "Tpis & tricks" for Visio, Word, PPT, Excel, etc avaialble in the new platform we're launching in 2025.

[@asmamiah4352]

Very Helpful. Thank you!

[@thuynh7961]

Great intructor! Very easy to understand and organized!

[@norpriest521]

Great video. I got a job as insurance business analyst (for digital solutions) Please recommend me where to learn end to end process/project in insurance domain Thanks a lot sir 🙏

[@alexypolivany7148]

Some Visio alternatives- Miro and lucidchart. Tanks for the video

[@BABLOCKS]

Thanks for sharing Alex. These alternatives do exist, but Visio tends to be the standard tool that's required in many enterprise environments. This is the reason that it still appears in most BA job applications as a required skill. Regardless of the tool, an analysts ability to deliver with the tool is the ultimate determining factor in whether a BA will be successful or not.

[@weedosutra]

Thank you!

[@marianomedina07]

very useful, thank you!!

[@The_Cry_Baby1]

Thank you sir for this interesting presentation. Could you please propose some interesting Books about How a business analyst should generally do his job? This could be very useful for me as i am currently learning the basics of the job.👍😁

[@rasein]

Good video for a BA learner, Question - What is Canvas & how to build it, is it MS Word or you build using Power apps

[@BABLOCKS]

The canvas is in Visio itself. When you first open up visio, the blank white space you see is called the Canvas. You can expand that canvas to go from a regular 8.5x11 size to any size you need. Expanding the canvas like this lets you keep all your diagrams in the same place.

[@rasein]

@@BABLOCKS Thanks for you reply, this really helps.

[@abhijeetsingh3285]

I see a lot of BA talking about SQL, modelling with R/python, and some visualisation tools say Power BI or tableau. How essential is to have those skills? Are these pre requisites for a fresher, in getting a job as BA?

[@BABLOCKS]

Hi Abhijeet, It depends on whether you are aiming for a BA role or a business analytics role. Generally speaking, SQL will benefit business analysts, but getting into analytics will require R/Python/PowerBI etc. This video will give you a better sense of the skills you'll need for each role: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lWekoXaGbNZ4gdk

[@wyntamaxwell2766]

that's more on the data analytics side of things. if you working a project that require projections or say aggregation of massive data then it might be required

[@nellyyanto7791]

Da7w 0v9s

[@myprojectanalysis]

Thanks

[@alyzachangco]

Thank you so much for this!

[@BABLOCKS]

You're very welcome.

[@cgourdin12]

Really great content! Thanks so much for this.

[@siddharthratra6541]

Excellent

[@michaelchurch494]

Excellent!

[@tarunupadhyay2355]

Emal, I would like to request you, Can you please make a video for any banking domain project tutorial(As a BA) ?

[@BABLOCKS]

Hi Tarun, This may be something we handle inside our community. We'll try to secure time with a banking domain expert to help us understand the banking industry. This may take some time to achieve, but it's definitely part of the plan.

[@maxinechantel8361]

Really helpful! Thank you

[@linhledieu5403]

Nice tips, thank you

[@josephojo5185]

I would like to learn how to create Entity Diagram, and High-Level Document Designs. Do you have videos on them?

[@mtumishiishmaelakitch6824]

Very useful for me

[@shashikanthmicheals3473]

Hello BA Blocks, very nice Video and explanation But i Just want to know that is Business Analyst easy to learn than other software fields.

[@BABLOCKS]

Generally speaking, most non-technical people find business analysis easier than learning how to code/program. There are, however, some technical people who find it easier to code than to work with business people to help them understand their needs. It really depends on what type of person you are.

[@pontusnellgard8706]

Awesome video. Short and to the point. I have a somewhat unrelated question. Is that a tv behind you or how did you have such a smooth way of interacting with your screen? I have tried several times but often encounter issues when filming a presentation against a tv-screen.

[@sapnagupta6394]

Hi very nice and crystal clear information, one question though, what if the org you work for doesn't buy the license for their people to work on visio, how to learn it then, coz everyday practice make a huge impact on your learning right

[@BABLOCKS]

Hi Sapna, MS Visio licenses are not that expensive if you choose to purchase a subscription. If you're interested in learning the tool, you can subscribe to it for a few dollars per month and use it on your own.

[@acheronregyri9398]

I would love to hear more from you about how you build your flow charts and effectively diagram your Visio canvases. Please reach out or do a video on that.

[@BABLOCKS]

Here is a short demo showing how visio can help you produce process maps quickly. kzbin.info/www/bejne/d4akfJmjj6h9b8k If you're interested in learning more, you can see our full course on this at: bablocks.com/visio-for-business-analysts/

[@souvikpal7382]

This is great!

[@wizofaffect]

How do I create a gigantic canvas on Visio?

[@victorwestmann]

What about MS Project? Do you think it matters as well? One other question... what do you think are the top 5 diagrams needed for a BA in the day to day? Just want your opinion on this. Thanks!

[@zahrabeyrami4442]

it was very useful

[@Baidaba.la.strada]

Loved your video, you have a new subscriber... I learnt python, power bi, SQL, excel and now I'm thinking about azure... but the road map is not as clear as I would like it to be. I want to land a job as a bussines analyst but I'm a little bit lost. This video is 4 years old, is visio still relevant? or should I learn other tools in order to land a BA job? Thanks

[@citizenphaid1880]

I work for a finance company working on the implementation of new products and features for the workforce. We typically use DevOps to detail and plan out the User Stories etc but I find this to be a constraint having used Requirements and Solutions documents in the past to evidence what the ask and the delivery is. Does anyone else have to co tend with this scenario?

[@BABLOCKS]

Hi Citizen, yes, it is nearly impossible to use Azure DevOps on its own for this purpose without accompanying it with a word document or wiki page (Azure's wiki is currently not as strong as confluence so MS word may be a better option for now). Breaking items into user stories works when you have little to no cross cutting universal items to describe. On larger projects it's nearly impossible to do user stories without supplementary material.

[@ultra332211]

Brilliant

[@livelifeoutdoors182]

As a BA. how much tech skills do you need to be successful? As in understanding coding languages, and computer science? Surely, if you're telling businesses what to do with their IT systems, you must need to be quite confident with IT?

[@BABLOCKS]

There are some business analysts who require close to no technical skills (e.g. business process analysts), and then there are other analysts who require quite a bit of technical skills (e.g. business system analysts). Whether you need technical skills or not depends on what type of BA role you're aiming for. This article can give you a better idea of the different types of BA roles: learn.ba/three-ba-archetypes-business-analyst-skills/

[@felicitemurebwayire2078]

So interested, I want to pursue this specialization. I'm just a beginner BA BLOCK is there any guidance that can help me?

[@makarand1985]

Great Video !!!

[@rachanasahas1899]

HI ,CAN EXPLAIN WHAT IS THE ROLE OF BUSINESS ANALYST IN REGARDS TO AZURE DATA FACTORY, ETL TOOLS

[@BABLOCKS]

Business system analysts typically support the ETL process by performing data mapping, and partaking in the data cleansing initiative by performing data extracts, cleanups, and imports using SQL. Business analysts without these technical skills must rely on a developer to do the heavy lifing through SQL. I hope that helps.

[@mercyadaga5923]

I'm interested in learning how to maximize my use of visio

[@BABLOCKS]

Hi Mercy, We have full course to teach business analysts how they should be running their workshops using MS Visio. Take a look here: bablocks.com/visio-for-business-analysts/

[@shasNem]

You got a new subscriber

[@BABLOCKS]

Welcome to the channel Shashank

[@jayrawr2147]

Great video! Love the insight. Keep it up! 👍🏼

[@BABLOCKS]

Thank you. Will do. We'll be releasing more videos regularly here, but the videos we post on KZbin are just a small sample of the materials inside our community. Our membership is sitll free of charge. Consider becoming a member: bablocks.com/membership/

[@lauranewlin6441]

Good video!!

[@BABLOCKS]

Glad you found it helpful Laura.

[@urbanmetal7802]

Do you recommend requirements management software for a product development team with a few BAs, UX designers and QAs?

[@BABLOCKS]

Requirements management tools tend to be very cumbersome and are rarely used by companies in practice. I'd recommend patching together a tool-set that works best for you and your team. I use Visio + Word for most of my own work, but there are many other tools available that you can use. For wireframes, see balsamiq.com/. For process design, see www.lucidchart.com/.

[@normallife3045]

Google docs, sheets and Zoho tool set are also good than MS.

[@BABLOCKS]

Those tools can work well until your documents get a little larger. But the tools you use are less important than how you use them. Thanks for sharing your perspective.

[@YUNGMONEY5423]

Do you have a course for these tools as well as different techniques for a BA in one?

[@BABLOCKS]

We have a Visio course that covers the workshops overall, but no single course that teaches all the tools in one. You can find more details here: bablocks.com/courses/

[@mayursharma2278]

I do all this stuff in Confluence + draw.io

[@BABLOCKS]

Yes, if you have no other choice, then you must use whatever tools are avaialble to you. There are benefits and drawbacks of using MS Office vs the tools from Atlassian.

[@adewuyicatherine1307]

Great video! Is there a free version of visio for download?

[@vaishnavibollaboina6620]

Hello how to master visio could you suggest any resources or plz make videos on it

[@vishalbv8763]

May I know the Job role of BA in ERP Business.And technical knowledge required?

[@sahilsingla5493]

And if we know only c++,is there any role of c++in business analysis???

[@BABLOCKS]

There's no direct role for c++ in business analysis but c++ being an object oriented language gives you the object oriented design foundation you need to perform deep requirements and data analysis work.

[@varunmistry7590]

I'll be studying Business analytics(more data-oriented) and project management-IT. Can I work as a business analyst(management role) upon completing these courses? as I'll have knowledge of data and management?

[@JMJ-rb2ze]

Thank you for this… also for a Business Analysts is it essential to learn Power BI and Tableau along with MS excel and MS Visio? Which one is more important Tableau or PBi?

[@BABLOCKS]

Hi RM, No, those tools are not required for business analysis unless you are working on an analytics project. This is usually the skillset required of business analytics and data analyst professionals.

[@JMJ-rb2ze]

@@BABLOCKS I c. Thank you. May I get a list of requirements to become a BA in a top company as a fresher? What makes me eligible to apply for this role? Also do you offer MS visio training courses?

[@moneymitch6790]

just a copy paste to move from visio to word?

[@BABLOCKS]

Yes sir, you can just copy directly from Visio (CTRL+C) and paste into Word (CRTL+V). It's as simple as that.

[@cityboy-zo3hk]

Please how can I be connected to you ?

[@divyamsoffical]

Hi Sir, I want to upgrade myself from Test engineer to Business analysts.. your videos help me a lot. Thankyou. Can you please tell me that can I buy macbook air M1 and will it be compatible to use for business analysts tools, sql, power bI and tableau , because I see windows apps not compatible with mac. So Eagerly Waiting for your reply.

[@2sweet2be4got10]

To an extent it hardly understand entity models (so creating it sometimes leaves me with questions) which makes me have a lot of issues preparing databases as well....something just doesn't click for me and I neeeeeeed to get it together

[@BABLOCKS]

Entity modeling is a little more abstract than some of the other BA skills so it can take some time. With some effort and good training, you'll eventually pick it up.

[@bankoledada]

is visio still a thing - i think miro and mural has taken the shine off miro. I have visio but hardly ever use it as its not a progressive tool my stakeholders like to see

[@BABLOCKS]

Hi Bankole, Small businesses are switching to Mural and Miro, but Visio is still the dominant tool in enterprises because of Microsoft's ability to sell into enterprise (Office 365, Sharepoint, Azure, Visio). Going from Visio to Miro and Mural is quite easy as many of the shortcuts are the same. I hope that helps.

[@jaszzy26]

Sba?

[@DAIO12345]

You sound so Canadian

[@BABLOCKS]

Eh!?

[@fragranceconnoisseur325]

Putting everything on one sheet confuses everybody, zooming out in scrolling left to right

[@BABLOCKS]

It may seem that way at first, but you'll never go back to the old way of doing things once you've mastered MS Visio. Consider this course to help you get there: bablocks.com/visio-for-business-analysts/

[@rishabhkhare3656]

Hi, I am working in retal Banking domain. I want to do business analysis, but while going through online job opening they are demanding experience and background from IT CS engineering. Kindly guide is business analysis worth for me.

[@roshanvannam]

in short....USE KISS principle...."Keep It Simple Stupid" :P

[@BABLOCKS]

Very wise words. Thanks for sharing Roshan.

[@Stuck313]

Yeah, but now you have to navigate this mess of a canvas to find what you are looking for..

[@BABLOCKS]

Give it a try. You'll never go back to using tabs ever again!

[@abhijeetsingh3285]

I see a lot of BA talking about SQL, modelling with R/python, and some visualisation tools say Power BI or tableau. How essential is to have those skills? Are these pre requisites for a fresher, in getting a job as BA?

[@johnwig285]

SQL & a visualisation tool yes, but the rest nope because that is more of a Data Analyst rather than Business Analyst