Career Spotlight — Business Analyst

Business Analyst (BA): A person who identifies the business needs of clients and stakeholders to determine solutions to problems.

• Responsible for developing and managing requirements for project needs.

• Acts as a bridge, negotiator, liaison, or facilitator between the client, stakeholders, and the solutions team.

• Works alongside Project Managers, Developers, QA Analysts, clients, and solutions teams.

Common Job Titles

IT Business Analyst Tech Business Analyst Systems Analyst Business Process Analyst Companies that need Business Analysts- Consumer products

Common Vocab & Skillsets

Communication, negotiation, and problem solving skills top the list of those necessary to land a Business Analyst position, but here are a few more hard skills you may want to check off your list before your job search. As-is & To-be Business Process — This is a common business process used by Business Analysts to determine the current (as-is) process and decide what changesare needed for it to become  the future (to-be) process. Business & Data Modeling — Business Analysts often use modeling as a way to balance or identify the relationship between data objects used in a business. Gap Analysis — In Gap Analysis, comparing the potential performance and the actual performance will show a Business Analyst the amount of change needed to meet goals. Cost/Benefit Analysis — In Cost/Benefit Analysis, a Business Analyst will find the cost of adding a particular amount of benefits to a project to see if it is worth the added expense based on that benefit. Risk Analysis — This is a Business Analysts assessment of the potential harm a given action could cause to a project and its stakeholders. Mapping out all of the possible dangers is a proactive risk-management procedure used by many Business Analysts. Agile Methodology — Agile is an adaptable software development methodology that encourages collaboration and better change management through various in-project tests and check ins. Basically, you are not waiting until the end to come up for air. Mock-ups/WireFrames — Like an architect would build a small and simple model, a Business Analyst will use a mock-up or wireframe to visually map the project so the team and client know where the project is headed. Use Cases — This is a software engineering scenario process of determining how the system will respond to certain actions by the user.