Confirm the Business Problem Has Been Solved
Steven P. Blais · 2012
This chapter explores the role of a business analyst to confirm that the business problem has been solved. Testing or quality control is a specialized discipline with its own associations, organizations, and certifications. Testers play by their own rules and have their own practices and procedures. Despite that, the business analyst has a strong relationship with the software testers even if the business analyst never meets a single tester. The goal of testing is to prove the product has achieved an acceptable level of confidence that it will behave as expected under all circumstances of interest. To accomplish this goal, the testers need a source of correct behavior, the specification of the circumstances of interest, and what constitutes an acceptable level of confidence. The business analyst supplies that information. There are many levels of confirmation for which the business analyst is responsible, including: establishing the basic criteria against which quality assurance judges the quality of the product; confirming the final definition of correct behavior—the solution document—matches the product being delivered; making sure the product solves the original problem; and proving the solution is effective and stays effective by measuring the results. That is indirectly the role the business analyst plays in assuring the quality of the solution delivered to the business.