Business Analyst Job Description

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We are recruiting for a Business Analyst to join our company. You will work alongside other business analysts and report directly to the project manager. Your main tasks will include performing requirements analysis, documenting processes, and performing some user acceptance testing. To succeed in this position you should have a natural analytical way of thinking and be able to explain difficult concepts to non-technical users.

Business Analyst Duties and Responsibilities

• Exceptional analytical and conceptual thinking skills.
• The ability to influence stakeholders and work closely with them to determine acceptable solutions.
• Advanced technical skills.
• Excellent documentation skills.
• Fundamental analytical and conceptual thinking skills.
• Experience creating detailed reports and giving presentations.
• Competency in Microsoft applications including Word, Excel, and Outlook.
• A track record of following thru on commitments.
• Excellent planning, organisational, and time management skills.
• Experience leading and developing top performing teams.
• A history of leading and supporting successful projects.
• A bachelor’s degree in business or related field or an MBA.
• A minimum of 5 years experience in business analysis or a related field.

Business Analyst Skills and Requirements

• Evaluating business processes, anticipating requirements, uncovering areas for improvement, and developing and implementing solutions.
• Leading ongoing reviews of business processes and developing optimisation strategies.
• Staying up-to-date on the latest process and IT advancements to automate and modernise systems.
• Conducting meetings and presentations to share findings.
• Performing requirements analysis.
• Documenting and communicating the results of your efforts.
• Effectively communicating your insights and plans to management.
• Gathering critical information from meetings with various stakeholders and producing useful reports.
• Working closely with clients, technicians, and managerial staff.
• Providing leadership, training, coaching, and guidance to junior staff.
• Allocating resources and maintaining cost efficiency.
• Ensuring solutions meet business needs and requirements.
• Performing user acceptance testing.
• Managing projects, developing project plans, and monitoring performance.
• Updating, implementing and maintaining procedures.
• Prioritising initiatives based on business needs and requirements.
• Serving as a liaison between stakeholders and users.
• Managing competing resources and priorities.
• Monitoring deliverables and ensuring timely completion of projects.
• Exceptional analytical and conceptual thinking skills.
• The ability to influence stakeholders and work closely with them to determine acceptable solutions.
• Advanced technical skills.
• Excellent documentation skills.
• Fundamental analytical and conceptual thinking skills.
• Experience creating detailed reports and giving presentations.
• Competency in Microsoft applications including Word, Excel, and Outlook.
• A track record of following thru on commitments.
• Excellent planning, organisational, and time management skills.
• Experience leading and developing top performing teams.
• A history of leading and supporting successful projects.
• A bachelor’s degree in business or related field or an MBA.
• A minimum of 5 years experience in business analysis or a related field.

Summary

Serves as liaison among senior-level stakeholders in order to understand the structure, policies, and operations of an organization, and recommends solutions to enable the organization to achieve its goals. Performs enterprise-level analysis with senior university stakeholders to transform indirect organizational knowledge, unarticulated business needs, and abstract wishes and desires into concrete requirements. Works across university divisions to identify, obtain and translate disorganized information into a form that can drive creation of relevant and practical solutions to enterprise-level organizational problems. Responsible for the execution of high-profile analysis projects as delegated by senior leadership. May coach, mentor, and/or supervise other business analysts.

1. Conducts analysis with senior university stakeholders, plans the execution of business analysis tasks and communication, updates or changes the approach to business analysis as required; assesses effectiveness of and continually improve business analysis practices.
2. Identifies and defines business needs and opportunities for improvement, develops the business case, understands organizational culture and structure, determines solution approach, and defines the solution scope.
3. Develops advanced business analysis within a significant segment of the university where the advice given and decisions made will have a measurable impact on the effectiveness of the organization.
4. Determines requirements using workshops, interviews, document analysis, requirements workshops, surveys, site visits, business process descriptions, user stories, scenarios, task and workflow analysis, prototyping, focus groups, and use cases.
5. Establishes the contribution that technology can make to business objectives, defining strategies, validating and justifying business needs, conducting feasibility studies, producing high-level and detailed business models, preparing business cases, overseeing development and implementation of solutions, taking into account the implications of change on the organization and all stakeholders.
6. Evaluates information gathered from multiple sources, reconciles conflicts, segments high-level information into details, and abstract up from low-level information to a general understanding.
7. Progressively elaborates the stated requirements to sufficient level of detail that accurately defines the business need within the specified solution scope. Validates that requirements meet the business need. Verifies that requirements from other business analysts are of acceptable quality and maintainability.
8. Documents business, task, and workflow processes using industry standard methods including business process descriptions, use cases, scenarios, diagrams, flow charts, etc., ensuring that these deliverables can be used to design a solution to the stated business problem.
9. Assesses solutions to ensure that strategic goals are met and requirements are satisfied, including assessment of RFP responses, internal designs, test cases, test plans, and manual procedures. Defines acceptance criteria, identifies defects, and defines and validates corrective actions. Assesses organizational readiness for the solution. Develops metrics and key performance indicators to align solution with desired business outcome.
10. Confirms that stakeholders have a shared understanding of requirements. Manages conflicts and issues to resolution. Obtains needed approval of solution requirements. Ensures that stakeholders have access to business analysis work products. Uses communication methods appropriate to senior executive stakeholders. Manages requirements traceability and oversees the entire requirements management process.
11. Collaborates with developers and subject matter experts to establish the technical vision and analyzes tradeoffs between usability and performance needs.
12. Serves as liaison and resource to project managers, developers, and other project team members throughout each phase of the process to help clarify and/or resolve issues related to requirement, design, testing and acceptance specifications.
13. Collaborates with project managers in project scoping and planning.
14. Guides senior management towards accepting change brought about through process and organizational change. Serves as a leader to demonstrate the utility of business analysis to the university community and promotes the value of business analyst work.
15. Performs miscellaneous job-related duties as assigned.

What makes a good business analyst?

The most successful people in this role can negotiate, influence, and manage conflict. They can stand up and present to groups of people who are senior to them, and they can mentor staff with less experience and skills.

“Don’t be afraid to ask questions that people don’t want to answer,” says Nick De Voil, IIBA’s UK member experience director. “It’s your job to help the organisation make sense of things by diplomatically challenging the status quo.”

“A good business analyst is aware that they are an analyst,” says Debra Paul, managing director of Assist Knowledge Development. “This is not an admin role where you simply take down requirements. A good BA has a toolkit of skills, is prepared to challenge and suggest solutions. Most importantly, they have a very analytical mind.”

As a general rule, a good business analyst should have “communication, listening, and negotiation skills,” says Devica Jamnadas, business analyst at Experian. “As a BA, you need to negotiate with the business about what’s reasonable, and also with the developers about what’s possible.”

Personalities that suit business analyst jobs

“They’re inquisitive people,” says Nick De Voil, IIBA UK’s president. “They absorb lots of information about new subjects without difficulty. They love to build relationships, and they’re excellent at developing empathy.”

Senior management consultant, Kulvinder Reyatt explains that lots of different types of people would suit a BA role. Especially those who are not afraid to challenge. “Also, if you have extensive negotiation skills, you’ll do well.”

Business analyst work experience

Applying for work experience can be challenging. Especially if you don’t have the relevant qualifications. When writing your application, emphasise why you are passionate about working as a business analyst.

Explain what it is about the role that you’ll be particularly great at. For example, if you’re at university and you’ve taken part in society activities, or have led a debate team, then detail this in your application.

When applying for an internship, it could also be useful to enquire about shadowing a more experienced member of the team. Don’t forget to detail what you’d hope to learn from the experience.

“The most extreme case of retraining I’ve seen is a guy who was working as a vet. He found a job with a management consultancy halfway through studying for his diploma and has gone on to have a fantastic career as a business analyst.”

“Employers look for people who have proved themselves with good communication and technology skills. If you have previous experience in change projects, or you’re an expert in a relevant area of business, then this will help.”

Sources:

https://www.hiringpeople.co.uk/job-descriptions/business-analyst-job-description/
https://jobdescriptions.unm.edu/detail.php?id=A4029
https://www.totaljobs.com/advice/business-analyst-job-description