Hi , all. I attended a BA Special Interest Group held by Australian Computer Sociey. quite interesting. ..   lets do the poll here as well, need your participation

What is your background as a BA

1 Numerical analysis
 Aka data analyst, knowledge worker
 Focus is Business Intelligence, calculations, quantitative methods

2 Support a product on site
 High business knowledge in that subject area, in that organisation.
 Focus is administration, operational data & user issues, once the system is in production.
 Works with a maintenance team for analysis of changes needed over time.
 Training, change management, Regression & User Acceptance Testing of changes

3 Implementation support
 Business knowledge in that subject area, across organisations.
 Software product focus & knowledge. Implement/ customise the package for each client.
 Work for software vendor/ implementer or specialist contractor
 Proposals, configuration, customisation, System Testing
 Mould user procedures & training to fit the package.

4 Procedures analyst
 O&M, BPM – may be manual procedures. User focus entirely.
 Sequence of tasks with decision points & waiting points.
 Process flow – bottlenecks, efficiency – minimise number of steps.
 Conducts workshops such as JAD sessions with the workers to map out processes.
 Models the processes in some way – diagrams, work flow tools.
 Gradually acquires business knowledge about different organisations.

5 Infrastructure analyst

6 System development analyst
 Aka systems analyst, technical BA
 Requirements elicitation, analysis, modelling – business processes & data.
 Interfaces between ‘the system’ and the outside world.
 Detailed business requirements and non-functional (quality) needs.
 Business solution alternatives.
 Gradually acquires business knowledge about different organisations.

7 Pre sales Support Analyst
 Solution/ Package evaluation and selection
 Solution alternatives, e.g. customisations that are possible. Gap analysis.
 Works from very high level business needs.

8 Enterprise analyst
 Aka strategic analyst, enterprise/ business architect
 The big picture – end to end processes, across functional boundaries, linking to outside organisations.
 Has some grey hairs – experience in different types of organisations.
 Looking to the future – alternatives, what is needed to get to the desired future.
 Cultural change management. A wider view than management, who only know their own silo.

9 Other  (pls specify)

Claire

I would say 4, 6 and 8 for me.

• Process, Systems and (business) Architecture

In more detail;

1 Numerical analysis

Not so much as a main focus, more in supporting project business cases.

2 Support a product on site
I have spent about 5 months in this role.

3 Implementation support
Have done this on almost every major project I have worked on.  I am usually there at the end and seeing the implementation through to benefits realisation.

4 Procedures analyst
Have worked as a process analysts (both early on and recently) and have managed a business process team.  Always incorporate this into the projects I work on (which are usually BPR via automation, sales channel or product development projects.)

5 Infrastructure analyst

Only in the context of projects bringing new systems and infrastructure requirements.

6 System development analyst
Plenty of this – several years experience.

.

7 Pre sales Support Analyst
No – I m working for the client

8 Enterprise analyst
Yep. More so recently.  For me this is related to the process analysis stuff and has been integrated into all the project work I have ever done.  And I am focused on the business structure - org units and processes more thant IT systems.