Comments on: Business Analysts, System Architects, and Other Misnomers http://www.brsilver.com/wordpress/2006/04/11/business-analysts-system-architects-and-other-misnomers/ Bruce Silver's blog on business process management Sat, 06 Sep 2008 23:00:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Business Analysis Insight » The BA Role in Organizations http://www.brsilver.com/wordpress/2006/04/11/business-analysts-system-architects-and-other-misnomers/#comment-50 Business Analysis Insight » The BA Role in Organizations Thu, 13 Apr 2006 18:19:17 +0000 http://www.brsilver.com/wordpress/2006/04/11/business-analysts-system-architects-and-other-misnomers/#comment-50 [...] Over on BPMS Watch, Bruce Silver quotes a friend of his as saying: I’d quibble only about the role defs for “business analyst” (a common misnomer in vogue in IT today that should be titled “requirements analyst” since they don’t really analyze the business or assist the business in developing strategies, workplace design, etc.) and “process analyst” (being a technically oriented position - when there are already a bunch of process analysts out here and our primary role is doing all that stuff that the business analyst doesn’t do… more involved with business consulting/planning/operations design, etc.). [...] [...] Over on BPMS Watch, Bruce Silver quotes a friend of his as saying: I’d quibble only about the role defs for “business analyst” (a common misnomer in vogue in IT today that should be titled “requirements analyst” since they don’t really analyze the business or assist the business in developing strategies, workplace design, etc.) and “process analyst” (being a technically oriented position - when there are already a bunch of process analysts out here and our primary role is doing all that stuff that the business analyst doesn’t do… more involved with business consulting/planning/operations design, etc.). [...]

]]> By: Kevin Brennan http://www.brsilver.com/wordpress/2006/04/11/business-analysts-system-architects-and-other-misnomers/#comment-48 Kevin Brennan Tue, 11 Apr 2006 21:13:24 +0000 http://www.brsilver.com/wordpress/2006/04/11/business-analysts-system-architects-and-other-misnomers/#comment-48 For what it's worth, our (i.e. the IIBA's) recent task survey has shown that about half of the business analysts who filled it out are involved in strategic planning and project selection. One of our goals is to help BAs in the IT world start thinking of their job and the skills they need to support it in broader terms. In fact, a lot of BAs do end up doing process analysis, because every time you bring in a new system you affect the processes around it. The problem is that they don't think of it that way and they lack some of the training needed to do it effectively. For what it’s worth, our (i.e. the IIBA’s) recent task survey has shown that about half of the business analysts who filled it out are involved in strategic planning and project selection.

One of our goals is to help BAs in the IT world start thinking of their job and the skills they need to support it in broader terms. In fact, a lot of BAs do end up doing process analysis, because every time you bring in a new system you affect the processes around it. The problem is that they don’t think of it that way and they lack some of the training needed to do it effectively.

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