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A business analyst (BA) is a person who processes, interprets and documents business processes, products, services and software through analysis of data. [1] [2] [3] The role of a business analyst is to ensure business efficiency increases through their knowledge of both IT and business function. [4]
Some tasks of a business analyst include creating detailed business analysis, budgeting and forecasting, business strategising, planning and monitoring, variance analysis, pricing, reporting and defining business requirements for stakeholders. [2] The business analyst role is applicable to four key areas/levels of business functions – operational, project, enterprise and competitive focuses. [4] [5] Each of these areas of business analysis have a significant impact on business performance, and assist in enhancing profitability and efficiency in all stages of the business process, and across all business functions. [5]
Business analysis has been defined as "a disciplined approach for introducing change to organization" [1] through management, processing, and interpretation of data in order to "identify and define the solution that will maximize the value delivered by an organization to its stakeholders". [1]
A business analyst's job description tends to include "creating detailed business analysis, outlining problems, opportunities and solutions for a business, budgeting and forecasting, planning and monitoring, variance and analysis, pricing, reporting, and defining business requirements and reporting back to stakeholders". [3]
There are many business activities which the business analyst is involved in. Some areas in which business analysts can have an important role are in financial analysis, quality assurance, training, business policy and procedures, market analysis, organizational development and solution testing. [4] More specifically, business analysts are required to use the data which is gathered for the purpose of analysis and interpret greater meaning for the business. [6] This can then be used to improve business performance through identifying areas for potential growth, cost reduction, understanding customer behavior, and observing economic trends and forecasts, and then reacting appropriately. [7] [3]
Successful business analysts should influence the business environment by providing reliable guidance in decision making for the future through observing data which reflects the behaviour of the business in the past. [4] Business analysts are essential at all levels of a business, as both tactical and strategic planning require analysts who help with "incremental improvements to products, business processes, and application". [4]
Business analysts have an increasing need to provide a business with sustainable solutions. The Business Analyst "plays a key role in making sustainable choices, providing direction to business and influencing demand for specific technologies". [8] Business analysis practices have the opportunity to use business data in a positive way, which can lead to the transition of a sustainable world. [9]
Due to the range of applications a business analyst can have, there are specific areas in which they can function. Kathleen B. Haas describes the requirement of business analysts in four areas of business – operations focus, project focus, enterprise focus, and competitive focus. [4]
Business analyst skills can be applied to a variety of roles within business processes. [1]
Business analysts can also work in areas relating to project management, product management, software development, quality assurance and interaction design. [1]
These skills are a combination of hard skills and soft skills. A business analyst should have knowledge in IT and/or business, but the combination of both of these fields is what makes a business analyst such a valuable asset to the business environment. As a minimum standard, a business analyst should have a "general understanding of how systems, products and tools work" in the business environment. [2]
Some IT employees may transfer from the area of IT into a business analyst role, as their skills are often applicable in both. [3]
There are broader categorized skill sets which business analysts require in the work place.
There are a number of qualifications that can lead to a career as a business analyst.
The combination of all these skills and qualifications provides the business environment with deeper understanding into the behaviour of markets, products, competitors, economies, and operations within and around a business.
A successful business analyst requires access to large amounts of data, and in the process of using this data they must be aware of challenges relating to data privacy, careful management of analytical resources, team success, and effective communication of results to external parties. [19] Considering all these factors into their tasks reduces the risk of inaccurate conclusions being drawn. [19]
Data privacy is an increasingly common issue, as social media and Big Data are becoming more prominent, and hence it is important for businesses to ensure that they handle and distribute only the necessary data to the appropriate employees. [20]
Management of analytical resources is necessary for business analysts to consider, as there are many ways in which a business can implement high initial costs in the process of analysis of data, and hence resources should be carefully managed so as to not lose business profits. [19]
Team functionality and success is important in all areas of business, and business analytics is no different. Business analysts work best in environments where group dynamics are balanced and teamwork is maximised to ensure the best conclusions are drawn from the data. [19]
Effectively communicating to external parties is an important challenge for business analysts. The language a business analyst uses in their every-day job is likely to be difficult for other groups within and beyond the business to understand. Hence, it is essential that the business considers how they communicate their conclusions to others. [20]
Customer relationship management (CRM) is a process in which a business or other organization administers its interactions with customers, typically using data analysis to study large amounts of information.
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is the integrated management of main business processes, often in real time and mediated by software and technology. ERP is usually referred to as a category of business management software—typically a suite of integrated applications—that an organization can use to collect, store, manage and interpret data from many business activities. ERP systems can be local-based or cloud-based. Cloud-based applications have grown in recent years due to the increased efficiencies arising from information being readily available from any location with Internet access.
Business intelligence comprises the strategies and technologies used by enterprises for the data analysis and management of business information. Common functions of business intelligence technologies include reporting, online analytical processing, analytics, dashboard development, data mining, process mining, complex event processing, business performance management, benchmarking, text mining, predictive analytics, and prescriptive analytics.
Marketing research is the systematic gathering, recording, and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data about issues relating to marketing products and services. The goal is to identify and assess how changing elements of the marketing mix impacts customer behavior.
A management information system (MIS) is an information system used for decision-making, and for the coordination, control, analysis, and visualization of information in an organization. The study of the management information systems involves people, processes and technology in an organizational context.
Marketing management is the organizational discipline which focuses on the practical application of marketing orientation, techniques and methods inside enterprises and organizations and on the management of a firm's marketing resources and activities.
In systems engineering, information systems and software engineering, the systems development life cycle (SDLC), also referred to as the application development life cycle, is a process for planning, creating, testing, and deploying an information system. The SDLC concept applies to a range of hardware and software configurations, as a system can be composed of hardware only, software only, or a combination of both. There are usually six stages in this cycle: requirement analysis, design, development and testing, implementation, documentation, and evaluation.
In industry, product lifecycle management (PLM) is the process of managing the entire lifecycle of a product from its inception through the engineering, design and manufacture, as well as the service and disposal of manufactured products. PLM integrates people, data, processes, and business systems and provides a product information backbone for companies and their extended enterprises.
Manufacturingresource planning is a method for the effective planning of all resources of a manufacturing company. Ideally, it addresses operational planning in units, financial planning, and has a simulation capability to answer "what-if" questions and is an extension of closed-loop MRP.
A technology roadmap is a flexible planning schedule to support strategic and long-range planning, by matching short-term and long-term goals with specific technology solutions. It is a plan that applies to a new product or process and may include using technology forecasting or technology scouting to identify suitable emerging technologies. It is a known technique to help manage the fuzzy front-end of innovation. It is also expected that roadmapping techniques may help companies to survive in turbulent environments and help them to plan in a more holistic way to include non-financial goals and drive towards a more sustainable development. Here roadmaps can be combined with other corporate foresight methods to facilitate systemic change.
Business analysis is a professional discipline focused on identifying business needs and determining solutions to business problems. Solutions may include a software-systems development component, process improvements, or organizational changes, and may involve extensive analysis, strategic planning and policy development. A person dedicated to carrying out these tasks within an organization is called a business analyst or BA.
A chief data officer (CDO) is a corporate officer responsible for enterprise-wide governance and utilization of information as an asset, via data processing, analysis, data mining, information trading and other means. CDOs usually report to the chief executive officer (CEO), although depending on the area of expertise this can vary. The CDO is a member of the executive management team and manager of enterprise-wide data processing and data mining.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to business management:
Governance, risk management and compliance (GRC) is the term covering an organization's approach across these three practices: governance, risk management, and compliance.
Operational intelligence (OI) is a category of real-time dynamic, business analytics that delivers visibility and insight into data, streaming events and business operations. OI solutions run queries against streaming data feeds and event data to deliver analytic results as operational instructions. OI provides organizations the ability to make decisions and immediately act on these analytic insights, through manual or automated actions.
Business analytics (BA) refers to the skills, technologies, and practices for iterative exploration and investigation of past business performance to gain insight and drive business planning. Business analytics focuses on developing new insights and understanding of business performance based on data and statistical methods. In contrast, business intelligence traditionally focuses on using a consistent set of metrics to both measure past performance and guide business planning. In other words, business intelligence focusses on description, while business analytics focusses on prediction and prescription.
Information Framework (IFW) is an enterprise architecture framework, populated with a comprehensive set of banking-specific business models. It was developed as an alternative to the Zachman Framework by Roger Evernden.
In information systems, applications architecture or application architecture is one of several architecture domains that form the pillars of an enterprise architecture (EA).
Hybrid transaction/analytical processing (HTAP) is a term created by Gartner Inc., an information technology research and advisory company, in its early 2014 research report Hybrid Transaction/Analytical Processing Will Foster Opportunities for Dramatic Business Innovation. As defined by Gartner:
Hybrid transaction/analytical processing (HTAP) is an emerging application architecture that "breaks the wall" between transaction processing and analytics. It enables more informed and "in business real time" decision making.
A human resources management system (HRMS) or Human Resources Information System (HRIS) or Human Capital Management (HCM) is a form of Human Resources (HR) software that combines a number of systems and processes to ensure the easy management of human resources, business processes and data. Human resources software is used by businesses to combine a number of necessary HR functions, such as storing employee data, managing payroll, recruitment, benefits administration, time and attendance, employee performance management, and tracking competency and training records.
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