The role of the business analyst is to understand the business goals,
objectives and strategies of an organization and to use that knowledge to
help design and implement new business systems that align with the
business vision.
Using a variety of communication skills (e.g. interviews, meetings, and
facilitated sessions) and by analyzing business processes, data and systems,
the business analyst develops a series of business and system “models” that
are used by the business to better understand itself and to plan and
design a future state business model.
The business models that are produced by a business analyst describes the business from very different but related perspectives:
- Planning Perspective – depicts an “executive summary” of the
business vision
- Business Perspective – depicts a detailed, conceptual understanding
of the business
- Design Perspective – depicts a non-technical design for the future
state business model
- Builder Perspective – depicts a technical solution for achieving
that vision
Although, in general, the business analyst takes a “top-down” approach
that helps ensure that he/she is in alignment with the business vision, goals and objectives, there is
sometimes a need for “bottom-up” analysis to better understand problems
areas and areas of particular complexity.
