What is a Business Analyst?
by Al Santucci, Holly James and Debbie Gencarelli
The Search for a Business Analyst
Thoughts from a Recruiting Manager
The Casey Group is a professional services firm specializing in custom software development and outsourcing. Our search for Business Analysts led us to the International Institute of Business Analysis and, subsequently, to the Requirements Networking Group. What we discovered was that, while the Business Analyst function has matured over the years into a specialty discipline, it still means different things to different people, employers and practitioners alike. From the standpoint of a staffing manager for a professional services firm, this is how we see it.
What is a Business Analyst?
This proved to be a more difficult question than we thought it would be. And the answer, as for so many things, is “…it depends.” In our attempt to fully define the requirements of the position in order to locate the most qualified individuals, we spoke to hiring managers, Project Managers and Technical Architects. The problem we ran into was that there is not just one concept of a Business Analyst. And even within the Business Analyst function, there are different sub-functions that can evolve as specialties in and of themselves. There is a continuum from a Lead Analyst to an analysis tool expert technician. Sometimes we look for one person who can perform all the functions, oftentimes we need a team.
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Business Analysts not necessarily tied to software development.
Agreed, being too specialized can be limiting, so you do see BA's also doing PM and QA activities; many firms expect it.
But s/w development is not the only vertical activity that BA's work in; Business Process Improvement is one big example, with key resources being a combination of BA and six sigma black belts. The whole area of Business Rule discovery and management is another area where BA skills can be applied.
As for software, it can also be purchased, so someone has to determine what is needed and drive the process to selecting the best product, again a common BA role these days. For me, it has been a number of years since I did requirements for brand new in-house developed software, as packages for even your key buiness functions are getting better and better.
That leaves maintenance/enhancements of existing systems, something everyone spends a lot of time doing but always seems to get the least attention from methodologies and even our own forums like RQNG... seems like a new Forum topic coming...
David Wright
Member, IIBA
"As a general rule the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information."
Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)