Forums for the Business Analyst

 
  Modern Analyst Forums  Business and Sy...  General  Business Analyst Roles (and Titles)
Previous Previous
 
Next Next
New Post 11/30/2007 10:09 AM
User is offline Chris Adams
323 posts
5th Level Poster






Re: Business Analyst Roles (and Titles) 

Bjorn,

I think this question has been raise for a few reasons. 

  1. College students or fresh graduates here Business Analyst and wnat to know what that means, is this something they would like to do.
  2. Companies and Recruiters use terms like Business Analyst, Systems Analyst, Business Systems Analyst, IT Analyst, nearly interchangeably.  So having a clear understanding of how you might differntiate the work that each one does (much of whihc obviously overlaps) can remove a lot of ambiguity, so long as sites like this one can educate the industry on when to use which title.

I don't really think it's as much for us the analysts to categorize ourselves, as much as for everyone else to have a unambiguous means of communicating the role that someone would perform for a particular job opening.

Chris


Chris Adams
Core Member – ModernAnalyst.com
LinkedIn Profile
 
New Post 11/30/2007 11:42 AM
User is offline Adrian M.
764 posts
3rd Level Poster




Re: Business Analyst Roles (and Titles) 

Hi Björn,

The reason for this discussion is NOT necessarily to propose a specific classification of analysts but because this classification already exists yet it is very ambiguous. In most large organizations and large projects the division of tasks is much more defined then on a smaller project where the analyst does everything. Sole practitioners may be very used to doing everything, from analysis the business model to creating technical specifications; however most analysts do not have the skills, experience, and competencies to do it all.

I also see junior analysts who are very confused (for a good reason) because when they interview for different positions they are turned down for various reasons. One employer may tell the candidate applying for the "Business Analyst" position: "You don't have enough business process modeling skills?” another employer may tell the candidate applying for a different "Business Analyst" positions: "You don't have enough system modeling skills?".

The poor junior analyst is puzzled and confused: "Do I need to know everything in order to start my career as a Business Analyst?". The answer is NO, you don't need to know everything? That would be impossible and we would have nobody new joining our profession.

What needs to happen is for employers and recruiters to Cleary define the "roles" expected of the analysis position and define the key tasks expected of that job. For example, if the key goal of the position is to analyses, document, and model business processes within the organization then I would give the position the title of "Business Process Analyst/Modeler". If the mail goal is to gather, analyze, and document business requirements then I would use the title of "Requirements Analyst/Engineer". If the goal is to create functional and systems specifications then I would use "Systems Analyst" or maybe "IT Business Analyst".

There are very few instances for which I would advocate using the generic "Business Analyst" term.

Hope this helps answer your question as to why this discussion. ;-)

Best regards,
- Adrian


Adrian Marchis
Business Analyst Community Blog - Post your thoughts!
 
New Post 12/5/2007 2:24 AM
User is offline Craig Brown
560 posts
www.betterprojects.net
4th Level Poster




Re: Business Analyst Roles (and Titles) 
Bjorn raises an interesting point.
 
Another thing I have noticed is that we have hinted at a hierarchy of knowledge. You start with a particular functional skill set (eg business process modelling) and evolve into an end to end project professional (The Business Analyst, no subtitle.)
 
Interestingly at Accenture (whom I have done some work with recently) the BA is a junior role.
 
New Post 12/5/2007 10:36 AM
User is offline Adrian M.
764 posts
3rd Level Poster




Re: Business Analyst Roles (and Titles) 

 craigwbrown wrote

Bjorn raises an interesting point.
 
Another thing I have noticed is that we have hinted at a hierarchy of knowledge. You start with a particular functional skill set (eg business process modelling) and evolve into an end to end project professional (The Business Analyst, no subtitle.)
 
Interestingly at Accenture (whom I have done some work with recently) the BA is a junior role.

I don't think that I'm implying that there is a hierarchy of knowledge.  I'm just suggesting the reality and trying to clarify the labels already in use for analysts.  Let me try to explain by way of example:

I the "old times" the programmer did everything.  They met with the user, did the analysis & design, coded, tested, and delivered to the user.  With the commercialization of software development it was clear that, in order to be able to achieve economies of scale and find enough qualified resources, most companies began to specialize these roles.  That's where we got the Analysis, Development, & QA professionals.  Even when I first got my first job, my title was programmer/analyst and I did everything: requirements gathering, analysis & design, coding, testing, and delivered the software to the client.  As the company/department grew there was a natural evolution of the responsibilities where we had the business analysts and then the programmer/analysts (developers).

Maybe this idea is a bit ahead of its time, but the same thing is happening to the role of the business analysts.  In order to achieve economies of scale the role of the analyst is more granular (at least at larger corporations) and there you will see clear distinctions between a business process analyst, IT business analyst, systems analyst, etc.

That is not to say that there are no business analysis practitioners whose role is to cover all areas of analysis.  This is very common in the big 5 and management consulting firms where the consultant works on a variety of projects and tasks and therefore they are expected to be able to perform all those roles.

And yes, in those companies they do have junior Business Analysts.  Pretty much anybody they hire straight out of college starts as an junior/associate consultant (business analyst).

- Adrian


Adrian Marchis
Business Analyst Community Blog - Post your thoughts!
 
New Post 12/5/2007 1:43 PM
User is offline Chris Adams
323 posts
5th Level Poster






Re: Business Analyst Roles (and Titles) 

I'm very much on board with what Adrian is saying. 

Similarly, when I worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers out of college, I was considered an IT Consultant.  This was considered even more general than many of the Business Analysts at the other Big 5 consulting firms.  As an IT consultant I analyzed the business, gathered requirements, wrote functional specs, wrote test cases, wrote design specs, coded and tested.  One stop shop.  I don't think this is ideal, but it shows how general some roles can be. 

Now, larger and mor emature companies are breaking each of those into separate roles (Business Process Analyst, Requirements Analyst, Systems Analyst, QA Analyst, Designer, Programmer, etc)

Chris


Chris Adams
Core Member – ModernAnalyst.com
LinkedIn Profile
 
Previous Previous
 
Next Next
  Modern Analyst Forums  Business and Sy...  General  Business Analyst Roles (and Titles)

Community Blog - Latest Posts

Fabricio Laguna talks Business Analysis and AI
I recently connected with Fabricio Laguna, aka The Brazilian BA. Fabricio is a passionate and pioneering business analyst from Brazil. During our conversation, we had a thought-provoking discussion on how artificial intelligence stands to shape the field of business analysis in the years ahead. While AI promises to transform many aspects of busines...
Business Architecture, Ontology and More with Terry Roach
It's been a privilege meeting Terry Roach, a visionary in the field of enterprise architecture and business architecture. Terry's insights into the evolution of business models, the importance of ontology in architecture, and the potential of AI to shape our future were not only thought-provoking but also a reflection of his extensive exper...
Today I had the pleasure of chatting to Jignesh Jamnadas, Chief Operations Officer at Mosaic, about his Blueprints for Success. As a Senior Finance and Operations Executive, Jigs (as he is known to many) has a holistic understanding of all facets of business and a flair for managing both people and processes. Having worked with Jigs, I was struc...

 



Upcoming Live Webinars




 

Copyright 2006-2024 by Modern Analyst Media LLC