Hi Eric,

In Canada (and from what I've seen in the US), a Data Analyst is a specialized role that is different and separate from a BA role. One job description summarizes the Data Analyst role quite nicely as providing "expertise to acquire, manage, manipulate and analyze data, and report on results". The focus of this role is querying and analyzing data, data mining, statistical analyses, and data quality. You may also see extract / transform / load (ETL) experience listed for this role. Data modeling may be a part (particularly understanding and interpreting data models), but is usually not the central purpose. Dimensional modeling and metadata modeling are often part of this role as well. 

In Canada, a Data Analyst type role is often found in larger organizations under an Information Management department or in the data warehousing / Business Intelligence department.  You might actually find more results by searching under other job titles such as Business Intelligence Analyst, Data Quality Analyst or Information Analyst.  Most provincial and federal government ministries in Canada use these other titles rather than Data Analyst, for example. Depending on which province you're in, you may be able to look up the provincial government organizational structure online - look for Information Management or Data Management departments and check the job titles of individuals in those areas.

A data analyst may participate on projects as a stakeholder or subject-matter expert, rather than the typcial BA role. A BA could move into a Data Analyst position - but generally need to have solid data querying (SQL, TOAD, etc.) and data analysis / reporting skills to move into the Data Analyst / BI Analyst role. Smaller companies may not have a specific Data Analyst role, but may combine these responsibilities with various other roles (I've seen this job done by a range of roles - from BA to developer to DBA to Application Architect). But the true Data Analyst role such as described in the article you found is referring to a separate, specialized role.  And definitely one that tends to be higher demand for people with these specific skills and experience.

Sandy

Hi,

I have been working for Aureus Analytics as a business analyst..but I can give a rough idea about how these postion works in the organization.

The terms business analyst and data analyst are often used interchangeably. In smaller organizations, these positions are indeed the same, and "business analyst" becomes the generic title for tasks that involve data or system analysis. In larger organizations, though the roles sometimes blur in that analysts in both categories access data, what the analysts do with that data is quite different. Their skill-set, and sometimes, even people with whom they work, are also sometimes different.

When the roles are segregated, you'll find differences in the skillset the analysts employ and people with whom they interact. As the bridge between the business and company's information system department, business analysts interact with system developers and computer system users, hence the reason they are often called system analysts. Data analysts use their skillset to help the company's management interpret data and test hypotheses. They use their reports and analyses to help management make decisions and set goals. Business analysts and data analysts must be proficient in modeling, but while business analysts model company infrastructure, data analyst model business data structures.

If you still have any doubts, feel free to contact me.