The Role

A business analyst works as a liaison among stakeholders as it relates to requirements where the business analyst works to:

•  Elicit,
•  Analyze,
•  Communicate
•  Validate

These requirements for changes to business process, policies and information systems.

What is a Requirement

In  order to understand the business analyst role, ones needs to understand what is considered a requirement?

A requirement can be defined as:

• A singular documented need of what a particular product or service should be or perform or
• As a condition or capability needed by a stakeholder to solve a problem or achieve an objective.

The condition or capability must be met to satisfy a contract, standard, or specification.

Understanding the requirements of the stakeholder is key to ensuring the solution meets the business need.

What drives the solution is the business need therefore a business analyst does not predetermine the solution.

The solution may have:

• Systems development component
• Bring about improvement to an existing process
• bring about organizational change

According to the Standish Group, Chaos Report (2007) 50% 0f the overall project time is spent on elaborating, gathering, and communicating product requirements.

Where Does a Business Analyst fit in?

The business analyst is the key facilitator within an organization and acts as a bridge between client, stakeholders and the solution team; (and on a project, will work closely with the project manager and assists with project planning) ensuring that the product is well-defined throughout the project and meets the targeted business needs through requirements management, systems analysis, business analysis and requirements analysis.

There sometimes is confusion in a business analyst and people ask what is the difference between a business analyst and a systems analyst?

The difference is a business analyst stops after determining what the system will do and leaves it to the system analyst to determine how to do it.