Business Analyst vs Business Systems Analyst, part 2

In my previous post, I referred to an article by Vongsavanh and Campbell discussing the differences between Business Analysts and Systems Analysts, and I stated that Business Systems Analysts (BSA's) possessed both sets of skills.  In this post, I want to look at the specific skills required by each type of analyst.

Vongsavanh and Campbell's research produced the following list of skills for business and systems analysts:

• Elicitation
• Presentation
• Leadership
• Communication
• Business Knowledge
• Creative Thinking
• Problem Solving
• Technical

The top of the list represents those skills most common to business analysts, and the bottom those skills most common to systems analysts.  There is no explanation for how they arrived at this particular list or how they determined the ordering.  In the diagram in their article, Communication is shown as the skill closest to the middle.

The first thing that appears strange in the ordering of these skills is that Business Knowledge is on the Systems end of the scale.  While some of these skills could be debated exactly where they should fit on the list, Business Knowledge should clearly be shown in the realm of Business Analysts.  Systems Analysts need to understand the systems, and Business Analysts need at least a general familiarity with the business functions.

Since Presentation is separate from Communication, it appears the authors intended Communication to mean documentation or one-on-one verbal communication.  That is a strength required by both Business and Systems Analysts, but Presentation would be more important for the Business Analysts.  The order looks appropriate, but any analysts who are only mediocre in their documentation skills will never excel in their jobs.

Data analysis is missing from the skills list, but it probably fits under Technical or Problem Solving.  From my experience, when the business and technical experts disagree on some detail, it is the analyst's job to find some relevant facts to clarify and focus the discussion, and data analysis is a means to discover those facts.  "One accurate measurement is worth a thousand expert opinions."  -- Admiral Grace Hopper (1906-1992)

Research ability is another skill missing from the list.  If the organization is mature and system documentation exists, it is the analyst's responsibility to understand whatever relevant information is contained in that documentation.  If little documentation exists, then data analysis will have to compensate for that gap.  Sometimes the documentation is out-of-date, so it must be validated with data analysis.  Research and data analysis go hand in hand.

Leadership is helpful in any role, but leadership implies some people skills that often come in handy when working with the business staff, so I agree with placing that on the Business half of the scale.

I cannot guess the difference between Creative Thinking and Problem Solving.  Both have to do with Solution Design, but if you have no creativity, you will solve very few problems.  I would consider those skills as one.

My revised list of skills is diagrammed below.  

Of course, one of the essential skills not mentioned is flexibility.  Every client and project is different, and analysts need to be able to adapt and respond to the unique needs of the situation at hand.  That just means that it should be easy to find a situation that doesn't fit the skills list above.

Such is life for a BSA!