Resources for Business Analysts

In response to a recent BA Tip on tools for the job, Jason Greenley sent me some information about tools he likes to use to support writing requirements, UML diagrams, requirements management, and version control:

I have used a product called IBM Workbench V4.2.4 that does 3 out of the 4. You can produce process flow using the graphical Activity Decision Flow. Once an activity is added you can then specify the cycle time, role repsonsible for the activity (and the associated resource cost be it salary / hr, week, year), the associated technology tools used at that activity (Applications) and their costs per use as well as the data flow and fields between activities. Then when you have an activity defined you can write the human procedural steps of that activity to be used later in requirements communication and training. In addition, once all this data is available Workbench 4.2.4 will simulate the flow based on scenarios that define input rate and volume to include variable receipt rates (4/minute between 10 and 11am and 25/minute between 12 and 1pm) that outputs cost, cycletime, and resource utilization data- ALL BEFORE ANY CODE IS WRITTEN. If the design does not meet ROI expectations you can tweak (optimize the process design to achieve greater return / Decrease Cycle time / Increase Quality etc… The you give the design to IT for Coding…

Then you would ask “what about a User Interface for the task?”. Thats when you pull out the xform designer which allows you to create a mockup of the user interface and then associate it with the activity.

IBM Workbench 4.2.4 also allows for the export of the data fields and process flow to be exported to IBM Rational XDE as Class diagrams, UML Sequence, State, Activity, and Use Case Diagrams.

I only tell you about Workbench 4.2.4 because I have not had an opportunity to use its most recent invcarnation IBM Websphere Business Modeler 6. Here’s a link to pique your interest

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/integration/wbimodeler/advanced/

Any of the 12 or so market leaders in the BPM (BUsiness Process Management) space offer BPM Suites that are designed to bridge the gap between Business and IT.They all attempt to combine the 4 features you mention.

Thanks Jason! I always like to hear about new tools in the marketplace. IBM announced end-of-life for Rose XDE this past June, but I believe they have added UML modeling to the Websphere tools. I don’t use Websphere myself, so I’m just repeating what I’ve seen on the IBM site. There are many changes going on in the Rational products. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on the new Rational Suite version 7 (released Nov. 2006) and see what has changed. IBM is really enthusiastic about the Eclipse platform, so that has changed a few things.

Anyone else like to comment? What tools do you like to use in your role of Business Analyst?

Geri