An introduction to Business Analysis

I worked in my first job for a couple of years then I changed jobs and went to work in a another company.

It was in that job that I really discovered the wonderful world of business analysis.

But lets take a step back here, I keep talking about business analysis, but who is a business analyst ?

A business analyst is someone who discovers, incorporates and analyzes information from different of sources within an enterprise, regardless of their job title.

The business analyst is responsible for eliciting the actual needs of stakeholders which usually involves investigating and clarifying their expressed desires in order to determine underlying issues and causes.

Some of the activities that business analysts perform include:

1. Understanding enterprise problems and goals
2. Analyzing needs and solutions
3. Devising strategies
4. Driving change
5. Facilitating stakeholder collaboration.

But one of the most interesting things about business analysis is that you might be a business analyst and not even know it.

Business analyst are called by many titles such as:

1. Business systems analyst
2. Business architect
3. Data analyst
4. Enterprise analyst
5. Management consultant
6. Process analyst
7. Product manager
8. Product owner
9. Requirements engineer
10. Systems analyst.

So as you can see, business analysts work in a diverse range of roles in various organizations.

They may be called different names but they all play a role in aligning the designed and delivered solutions with the needs of stakeholders.