BA and Testing

If you are a BA, please let me know where you fit in the testing cycle. Do you test alongside QA during their execution phase? Do you test after QA approval received; alongside UAT? Do you provide verification by working with the Developer in unit testing?

Is there not one BA out there who also performs testing? Someone who either wears multiple hats (BA/QA) or who tests in lieu of pulling in one or more of your business stakeholder for User Acceptance? I am very interested in hearing from you.

Cara in Largo, Florida said: Is there not one BA out there who also performs testing? Someone who either wears multiple hats (BA/QA) or who tests in lieu of pulling in one or more of your business stakeholder for User Acceptance? I am very interested in hearing from you.

I have been in Senior Test Lead/Analyst roles for the last few years and am now moving into a more business requirements focussed BA/PM role. In my experience the Test Analyst performs most of the function of a BA in following up with the customer and/or stakeholders to ensure that what is being tested is what was actually intended in the first place; I guess my approach is always to validate my requirements and assumptions before diving into testing.

I think that more and more now I am being asked to perform roles where the BA/Test line is extremely grey, perhaps because I come from a support background and am not happy to operate in a silo; rather I want to get my fingers into every bit of the project to ensure that what is delivered is not only fit for purpose but useful to the business. Nothing pisses me off more than to be in a test role isolated at the end of the SDLC with no visibility of how the initial spec was created, you just know that what you end up testing will be miles apart from what is needed.

As a BA I sit alongside the tester in UAT to see the end result, I also input into the unit/feature test process to help guide testing to ensure that I am happy with test coverage.

Interesting - thanks very much, Steve, for your response. Much Appreciated.

Cara in Largo, Florida said: If you are a BA, please let me know where you fit in the testing cycle. Do you test alongside QA during their execution phase? Do you test after QA approval received; alongside UAT? Do you provide verification by working with the Developer in unit testing?

Hi,
BA could be like a bridge between the tester and the client.
He is like a techno functional person who will understand the tester needs and the clients requirement and cater to the same and expect maximium results.
Yes we do QA as well. All the application has some sort of domain attached to it, this is where the BA would use his skills and take it to the tester on how they would be going around testing.
This involves.
1. Writing businees spec.
2. Having meets with the business to review the specs.
3. Knowledge transfer of the application and the expectation out of testing
4. Making small changes to the spec's
5. Reviewing the test cases created by the testers, to see if all the scenarios are created.
6. After the release test the application on a smoke level and if required on test cases basis.
7. Raise defects most which could be unscripted ones.
8. If required also do a UAT.

If u have any queries mail me to dsatghre@gmail.com

Dash

BAs tend to be involved in all stages of the project lifecycle, so perform a multitude of tasks. Testing being only a subset of those tasks.

They tend to be involved in everything from requirements engineering through to system/unit testing and onto UAT, and end user training.

I need advice. My background has been in healthcare claims on the payer side for almost 20 years and I have some healthcare software testing experience.
I have a second job interview for a BA/Configuration Analyst position for a major insurance payer. I am trying to figure out the best way to express how my skill set is relevant to the job. I don't have configuration training but due to my claims/testing background I am very knowledgeable on the business side. I can provide you with more information off board. All advice is appreciated. Thank you kindly in advance.