IT Business Analyst

Position: IT Business Analyst

Duration: 2 years

Location: Olympia, WA (Mostly Remote with some ON-SITE work)

The primary scope of work for this contract is to procure an IT Business Analyst Contractor to provide business analysis and software quality assurance for the Turbo Plan Modernization project. This resource will collaborate closely with Product Owners, Scrum Team members, and stakeholders to ensure that business requirements are effectively gathered, documented, and translated into actionable user stories. This business analyst will also support software quality assurance activities to ensure the delivery of high-quality solutions.

Ecology would like to avoid duplication of work by having only one (1) person perform the work to maintain project continuity, although Ecology may consider a team of two (2) people providing one (1) person has lead responsibility.

The business analysis and software quality assurance functions are highly interconnected. If these responsibilities are divided among a team of two (2) people, a high volume of ongoing knowledge transfer and some duplication of work may be required.

The Contractor will work with Ecology's Turbo Plan Modernization Project team to perform the following work requirements:

Requirements Analysis and Documentation

• Engage with business stakeholders to elicit and document requirements.
• Work closely with Product Owners to define and refine user stories with detailed acceptance criteria.
• Maintain and update the product backlog in coordination with the Product Owners to ensure alignment with business priorities.

Business Process Mapping and Improvement

• Analyze current business processes and identify areas for improvement.
• Develop process models and workflows to document as-is and to-be states.
• Provide recommendations for optimizing business processes and increasing efficiency.

Functional Analysis

• Conduct gap analysis to determine differences between current and desired functionalities.
• Collaborate with developers, product owners, and stakeholders to validate functional requirements.
• Participate in technical discussions to ensure feasibility of requirements.
• Assist in the creation of prototypes or wireframes to support functional analysis and design discussions.

Backlog Prioritization and Management Support

• Assist the Product Owner in reviewing and prioritizing backlog items.
• Communicate backlog prioritization decisions with the Scrum Master.
• Support the development and maintenance of schedules based on backlog priorities.
• Ensure backlog items are well-defined, appropriately detailed, and aligned with project goals.

Software Quality Assurance

• Design functional test cases and test scripts.
• Assist with the execution of test cases and test scripts.
• Document and manage bugs in close coordination with the technical team and product owner.
• Conduct functional testing and document defects.
• Coordinate and support User Acceptance Testing (UAT) with business stakeholders.
• Ensure requirements traceability from user stories to test cases.

The Contractor will produce the following deliverables:

1. User Stories and Related Work Items with Acceptance Criteria Detailed user stories prepared in collaboration with Product Owners and subject matter experts. Epics, features, and other areas of the product backlog may also require creation or modification.

2. Process Maps and Workflow Diagrams Visual representations of current and future business processes.

3. Functional Specifications Documentation of system functionalities required to meet business needs.

4. Test Plans and Test Cases Documents outlining testing strategies, scenarios, and expected outcomes.

5. Test Scripts Scripts for automated or manual testing to validate system functionality.

6. User Acceptance Testing (UAT) Plan and Test Results Structured plan for user acceptance testing and a summary of results.

7. Backlog Management Information Sharing Periodic updates on backlog items and prioritization recommendations.

Ecology requires the Bidder to provide the expert level business and technical staff to perform the work necessary to meet the requirements outlined in this Work Request.

1. Mandatory Bidder Qualifications and Experience:

Bidders who do not meet the following mandatory qualifications will be rejected as non-responsive and will not receive further consideration. The following are required to be responsive to this Work Request:

a. Contractor has been in business in the State of Washington for a minimum of three (3) years.

b. Staff completing the work must have a minimum of five (5) years of experience in business analysis, including requirements gathering, process modeling, and functional analysis for custom software solutions.

c. Staff completing the work must have a minimum of five (5) years of experience in software quality assurance, including test planning, test case development, functional and regression testing, and defect management for custom software solutions.

d. Staff completing the work must have a minimum of five (5) years of experience working within a Scrum or other Agile methodology framework, collaborating with Product Owners, Scrum Teams, and stakeholders.

e. Staff completing the work must have demonstrated experience and expertise in using Azure DevOps for backlog management, user story tracking, test case management, and bug tracking.

1. Highly Desired Qualifications and Experience:

The following will be taken in consideration for evaluation purposes, but are not required to be responsive to this Work Request:

a) Familiarity with public sector operations, particularly in the State of Washington, including knowledge of government processes and regulatory environments.

b) Familiarity with State of Washington major IT project oversight requirements and processes.

c) Experience working with environmental, scientific, or hazardous waste information systems, including regulatory compliance and data management solutions.

d) Experience and familiarity with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and testing web applications for accessibility against WCAG 2.1 or later standards.

Experience and familiarity with Power BI, .NET Core, and other Microsoft technologies, including their use in reporting, analytics, and enterprise application development