Unfortunately, a business analyst comes with many titles, roles and responsibilities. There is no one common title for a business analyst. This can cause confusion in many people's minds. With such confusions imagine if a person hired a 'market analyst' in a 'software development' project where a 'functional analyst' could be more suitable, or vice versa. This can be chaotic. Of course, unless the same person has the skill-set to conduct both activities then may be - but how do you know? How do you know from the outset which analyst to hire and which analyst will perform the best role? We come across with many people asking for clarifications.
Let's first understand what is 'business analysis' before we get to different titles or roles for business analysts.
What is business analysis?
As per the BABOK v3 guide:
…the practice of enabling change in an enterprise by defining needs and recommending solutions that deliver value to stakeholders. Business analysis enables an enterprise to articulate needs and the rationale for change, and to design and describe solutions that deliver value.
Who is a business analyst?
As per the BABOK v3 guide:
any person who performs business analysis tasks, no matter their job title or organisational role.
In a nutshell, we can assume any person who is helping the 'business' do business better by performing 'analysis' is a business analyst. Analysis can be many things e.g. a person can analyse one or more:
Business ideas
Change analysis
Gap analysis
Market analysis
Network analysis
Process analysis
Product analysis
Requirements (business, stakeholder, solution - functional and non-functional, transition)
Support analysis
System analysis
Technical analysis
and quite literally many more.
Any type of analysis that ultimately provides value to stakeholders is business analysis. Analysis can be performed by anyone. Therefore, we know, business analysts can be anyone with any title. Some common titles are:
Agile analyst
Business analyst (most common)
Business architect
Business consultant
Business intelligence analyst
Business process analyst
Change analyst
Cyber security analyst
Data analyst
Data scientist
Digital analyst
Domain expert
Finance analyst
Functional analyst
Information technology lead / manager
Insights analyst
IT business analyst
IT project coordinator
Managing consultant
Market analyst
Network analyst
Operations analyst / specialist
Process analyst
Process architect
Product analyst / specialist
Product manager
Product owner
Project manager
Subject matter expert
Security architect / analyst
Systems analyst
Systems architect
Technical analyst
Usability analyst
Hope this helps clarify your doubts. If you still have a question please leave a comment and we will try to help clarify further.
Book your next business analysis course with The BA Practice today.