Now let's look at what a business analyst does

Business analyst

Now let's look at what a business analyst does. There is a fundamental work in the world describing the professional standard / set of rules for business analysis, which is being developed by the International Institute of Business Analysis ( IIBA ) under the name BABOK (Business Analysis Body of Knowledge). I propose to take from there an understanding of the role of a business analyst.

A business analyst is an employee of a company or a project participant who identifies the needs for changes in the organization (organizational development), summarizes them, records, classifies and recommends decisions on changing the structure of the company's activities (processes), justifies these changes for management and participates in detailed development and implementation of changes. Of course, in general, these changes are needed by the company to generate more profit, i.e. fulfillment of business goals. The business goals themselves can be born both within the company and under the influence of the external environment and changes in the market in which the company trades. At the same time, the business goal is the benefit for the company that it will receive after the implementation of the new solution. Simply put, the business analyst has a finger on the pulse of the company's internal business development and responds to changes in the pulse. External factors that affect the company's business are recorded or studied by the marketing direction. At the same time, marketing can act as sources for the formation of business needs. Thus, the business analyst identifies the needs of the business and can always explain the reason for a particular change.

The line between business analyst and systems analyst is often so thin that the functions of a systems analyst are attributed to business analyst and vice versa. For example, if we look at the definition of “business analyst” in the 2014 book by Carl Wigers and Joy Beatty (Designing Software Requirements), we see that in their terminology “business analyst” can have a lot of names, including including the name "system analyst". But, despite the "floating" name of the role of a business analyst, his task is also understood - he must find out why users need a new system desktop support analyst.

Take, for example, a business that most people understand - selling goods in a store. The store owner acted as a marketer. He analyzed the market and realized that in modern society people try to spend a minimum of time on routine purchases. They do not have the desire and time to constantly go to the store, drag purchases on themselves and even look for them on the shelves. The market began to offer to buy through the online store. It is convenient, saves time and often money. Also, our store owner has formed the current need of his business - "to maintain and increase profits." Further, he must formulate "business requirement: increase sales by expanding the ways of selling goods" and make a decision on the implementation of the business requirement, ie "Selling goods online", and as a way to implement this solution chose "online store", not telephone sales, for example. The rationale for this choice is simple - the store sells household appliances, and the percentage of household appliances sold in the city of our store owner is much higher than in ordinary stores. And so our owner calls a business analyst for help and tells him his problem: profits fell and he decided to open an online store. 

A business analyst, understanding the need of the business, analyzes all the internal business processes of the store and comes to the conclusion that sales are falling even from the fact that “fashionable” and necessary goods for the market do not appear in the warehouse on time. And yet, for example, they steal from a warehouse. At the same time, a business analyst is trying to understand how to integrate a new sales process through an online store into the current business processes. and the percentage of household appliances sold in our store owner's city is much higher than in conventional stores. And so our owner calls a business analyst for help and informs him of his problem: profits fell and he decided to open an online store. A business analyst, understanding the need of the business, analyzes all the internal business processes of the store and comes to the conclusion that sales are falling even from the fact that “fashionable” and necessary goods for the market do not appear in the warehouse on time. And yet, for example, they steal from a warehouse. At the same time, a business analyst is trying to understand how to integrate a new sales process through an online store into the current business processes. and the percentage of household appliances sold in our store owner's city is much higher than in conventional stores. And so our owner calls a business analyst for help and tells him his problem: profits fell and he decided to open an online store. A business analyst, understanding the need of the business, analyzes all the internal business processes of the store and comes to the conclusion that sales are falling even from the fact that “fashionable” and necessary goods for the market do not appear in the warehouse on time. And yet, for example, they steal from a warehouse. At the same time, a business analyst is trying to understand how to integrate a new sales process through an online store into the current business processes. A business analyst, understanding the need of the business, analyzes all the internal business processes of the store and comes to the conclusion that sales are falling even from the fact that “fashionable” and necessary goods for the market do not appear in the warehouse on time. And yet, for example, they steal from a warehouse. At the same time, a business analyst is trying to understand how to integrate a new sales process through an online store into the current business processes. A business analyst, realizing the need of the business, analyzes all the internal business processes of the store and comes to the conclusion that sales are falling even from the fact that “fashionable” and necessary goods for the market do not appear in the warehouse at the time. And yet, for example, they steal from a warehouse. At the same time, a business analyst is trying to understand how to integrate a new sales process through an online store into the current business processes.