I've have held 3 different positions all called Business Analyst, none of which required me to handle BRD's UML (Lots of items discussed on this forum) etc. I've interviewed clients to come up with solutions, but most of the time I am told what to do. Even while I was senior BA I found myself building reports, developing automation tools and proof of concepts. On the flip side if you aren't technical they usually utilize you as some type of financial analyst. Working with reporting data and financials, weighted averages, forecasting, invoicing/po analysis, failure to supply and other supply chain and financial functions.
Is this common place, I honestly don't know of any Business Analyst that the CBAP speaks off, and I know a lot of people who are in these roles (by title). Are these mythical creatures that only exist in textbooks and frameworks?
Not to be disrepectful to anyone who may be in these roles, but I swear for the life of me I can't find one.
Thoughts?
You're right, the term "Business Analyst" is frequently misapplied to a variety of tasks, sort of a catch all for anything that's not actual coding. However, in my current job at a university, my title is Senior Business Analyst and that's exactly what I'm doing; interviewing users, defining use cases, documenting processes and data flows. When I look at the CBAP definition of Business analysis, Systems analysis, Requirements analysis or management, Process improvement and Consulting, I find I do all these things.
So they do exist.
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