Business Analyst Job Description & Profile

Job Description for Business Analysts

A business analyst’s (BA for short) role is to review, examine, and test various metrics related to a company’s business activities. The areas of responsibility are not restricted to one business vertical. They can cover the entire gamut of corporate actions and functions. BAs have a wide area of responsibility. They need various skills and qualifications to execute their roles. See the article Business Analyst Qualifications, Skills and Requirements.

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Here are some examples of what a BA’s job description might look like:

Monitoring Special Projects

It would be crucial to compile all the necessary data. Then, arrange and check it to determine whether the project is progressing according to the goals and budget. Special projects are ad-hoc assignments; thus, studying them is more complicated too. The initial effort might be to define measurable goals for the project. It also involves creating milestones and specific tasks within the project’s scope.

BAs might have to develop special matrices and creative ways to judge the progress of such projects. The goal of the entire exercise is to ensure that the project is a success, and BAs are the ones who help management track the progress of such tasks.

Analysing the Performance of Routine Business Activities

Many departments and field offices may contribute to this broad task. For instance, a BA can create a thorough workflow diagram of the functions moving forward in a specific department. An awareness of how that department operates and how its many parts interact with one another is necessary. It also calls for the ability to follow a job from start to completion.

Another example may be studying operational objectives for a specific department. You can measure their throughput. It also involves identifying bottlenecks. It involves designing modifications to remove them. And it involves recommending workflow enhancements.

Market Analysis

At the end of the day, a business operates to meet the market’s needs. Companies spend billions on market research to understand what their consumers want. They do this so that they can design and market products and services to fulfil those needs. Market research agencies often do the fieldwork and gather the raw data. Business analysts often make sense of such data from other agencies or the company’s sources.

BAs must collect and analyse market trends and consumer preferences. This information helps them develop an in-depth business strategy.

Financial and operational effectiveness. BAs might spend a lot of time working with financial numbers. This could mean budgeting and estimates for various departments. They may also analyse weekly, monthly, or quarterly performance results. They tabulate such data and present it to management for review.

Besides financial metrics, operational data might require a similar treatment from BAs. For example, review the procurement figures. Analysing throughput efficiency. Tracking exceptions or error rates, etc.

A Day in the Life of a Business Analyst

The role of a business analyst is to gather information and then use that information to maximise the efficiency of a business. To achieve this goal, a BA will spend roughly a third of her day in meetings, making calls, or writing emails to get all the information that she needs. This data is only sometimes available, especially for special projects. Thus, one must get it.

The next part of the job is using that data to perform the analysis and make recommendations. Thus, the BA may spend the rest of her day pouring over spreadsheets. She communicates with people to understand any discrepancies or trends. She polishes that data to make it presentable to senior management, etc.

Like many business roles, business analysts (BAs) must spend most of their day communicating. They also analyse data, understand trends, make presentations, and track the progress of others. Extroverts and analytical individuals are suited for this role. They love learning about all business verticals’ inner workings.

Search other articles to learn more about business analyst careers:

Salary & Pay, Qualifications, Skills & Requirements, CV Template & Examples etc.

Interested in applying to business analyst roles? Search Jobs for the available job openings here.

See also the Operations Manager Job Description & Profile.