business analysis

August 31, 2005 6:44 AM

I have an internal job change opportunity (Business Analyst) and need advice.

There is a current job opening for a Business Analyst at my employer (for-profit online education). I have applied for the position and have had various colleagues give high regards to my ability that have lead back to both the CIO and Director of Application Systems. I have never done business analysis before in a work setting, however, the Senior Business Analyst is helping me and will most likely take me under his wings. I will be specifically working as an analyst between our Marketing and IT departments (enrollment is part of marketing and that is the department from which I will be moving). If anyone has any valuable feedback, I am happy to read it.

posted by mic stand to Work & Money (9 answers total)

I'm not sure what you're looking for, exactly, as your question is quite broad. I am a business analyst, however, so I can offer some thoughts.

First of all, it's not a role that's very well defined at this point. I find myself doing everything from process reengineering to test management and it's all part of the job.

It's a growing area of practice, though, and one that's not likely to be off-shored because it's a very face to face practice, so the long term prospects are much better than for, say, programmers.

When people ask me what I do, I say that I translate - my clients speak business and need stuff, and my programmers speak geek and do stuff, and I stand in the middle and tell the programmers which of the stuff that they do is the stuff the clients need.

I got into the role from a similar perspective that you did - I came from the client organization, with all the knowledge in the world of what they needed, and am gradually building my hard skills in BAdom, understanding the processes and tools and templates that we use in that job. I have a background, though, in computer science which helps my ability to speak geek to the programmers tremendously.

If you have specific questions, ask them here or shoot me email (it's in my profile) and I'll try to help.
posted by jacquilynne at 7:37 AM on August 31, 2005

Right-o... that's what I've been doing for the last 7 years! (Mostly by chance, straight from uni into an admin role, then y2k stuff, which kind of evolved into a whole BA department...)

A business analyst is typically someone who sits outside any other operation department within a company - they're not a tester, they're not a project manager, they don't only work on new computer systems, they don't only work on process changes within the Admin teams.
Basically, a BA has a finger in as many pies as possible - which makes it extremely interesting, as you see virtually every aspect of the business - from low-down and menial, through to senior manager and director .

Generally, I work on stuff implementations of new systems, introductions of new products, changes to processes, etc.

The two most useful skills are (a) interview techniques (i.e. listening, understanding, probing, etc.) and (b) clear writing (e.g. you'll have to write a document that summarises the requirements of the originator - e.g. Marketing - in a way that both Marketing and IT can understand and agree).

You'll also need to be able to approach people to ask questions, to challenge what they're doing (i.e. to identify weaknesses in processes, etc.) and then make recommendations for change - across every level and aspect of a business.

It'll stand you in good stead if you ever get bored of it, as you'll know so much of the business that you'll be a boon for any area, and you'll be able to pick somewhere that you know what they do, and whether you like it or not. Also, it's (apparently) a great way to learn how to become a consultant, as that is in effect what you're doing.

Hope that this helps - drop me a mail if you want to discuss further!

(On preview, as jacquilynne says, you are more or less going to "translate" between the different areas of the business...
I'm also a bit of a technical BA, understanding code, etc. but that's by no means a pre-requisite - and it often helps if you don't just jump straight in with an IT solution to everything...)
posted by Chunder at 7:50 AM on August 31, 2005

Response by poster: Thank you, Jacquilynne. I guess my request was broad so I will try to re-define, but I think you re-iterated what the Sr. BA at my company said, working with people. Communicating the lines between user and developer and so forth.

I will be doing Cognos reporting, gathering high-level requirements for different projects, doing presentations on these projects and communicating between the Director of Enrollment and VP of marketing to the IT team. Fortunately, as well, I have a background in IT/IS and have worked in the enrollment/marketing division for seven months so I have a decent knowledge of our specifics.

Another question what salary calculation and negotiation?

I did research for my area on 4 different sites and came up with a suprisingly high figure. While my experience in this exact role is limited, I am coming in with high recommendations and a good background in e-commerce (which is what our business is in a certain respect).
posted by mic stand at 7:56 AM on August 31, 2005

Response by poster: and (on preview) thank you Chunder!
posted by mic stand at 7:59 AM on August 31, 2005

It actually sounds like what you would be doing is very, very close to what I do, as my primary responsibilities have always been in business reporting and decision support tools - for example the design / test / roll-out of a new financial reporting tool for our Project Managers. I did various things, starting with mocking up the proposed solution, then interviewing the target audience about it's strengths and weaknesses, tweaking the requirements and external design for the project, testing it at the end of the project, conducting a user pilot, and then designing and conducting the education for the full user audience at the end.

In terms of salary, there's not much help I can offer you, as my employer distinguishes employee salaries on the basis of levels of responsibility rather than specific jobs, and BAs where I work earn anywhere from 50K - 100K CAD. It's a lateral salary move from developer/programmer.
posted by jacquilynne at 9:06 AM on August 31, 2005

Salary here sounds very similar to Jacquilynne's - from 20k GBP upwards, generally depending on experience and responsibility (i.e. team management, etc.)

But then again, I live on a tax haven, so perhaps the general salary elsewhere should be lower?
posted by Chunder at 9:22 AM on August 31, 2005

I also turned to AskMe when considering a move to a BA position.
posted by Otis at 9:29 AM on August 31, 2005

Otis - did you get the job, then? If so, how have you found it?
posted by Chunder at 1:20 AM on September 1, 2005

(Sorry for the late reply). I didn't get the job, so I can't offer any insight there. I think they were looking for a specific IT skillset that I didn't have.
posted by Otis at 6:03 PM on September 1, 2005