There have been lot of discussion on whether a Business Analyst is an extension of a System Analyst profile.
Since I have carried out tasks under both these profiles, the major difference that I found was in the orientation of these two profiles.
A Business Analyst is required to understand the business needs from business users and should also have an understanding of how IT can provide solutions that cater to business requirements.
A System Analyst is a person into System Architecture, Configurations, fitment and even into troubleshooting of programs.
The major difference is that the Business Analyst interfaces with Business Users while interface with the Software System is secondary while System Analyst's primary interface is with the Software System and may not have direct interaction with the business users.
There are cases where in there are profile interfaces between the System Analyst and Business Analyst, in some organizations they are represented as IT analyst.
The below statement shows the profile orientation of both the profiles.
Business Users <-- Business Analyst <----> System Analyst -----> System.
Business Analysis will require skills like Analytical Capability, Knowledge of Business domain/Business Scenarios, Documentation capabilities(usage of relevant tools like MS Visio, RUP models), Capturing of Latent business needs.
System Analysis will require a technical skill set in terms of expertise in technology platforms, Programming Languages, Understanding Program Codes and System Architectures.
Both these elements play a critical role in translation of business needs into IT needs, facilitating the implementation of an ideal IT Solution framework for your business problems.
Chetan Savalgi
Working as a Business Analyst in India. Been part of Enterprise Business Applications domain for the past 5 years and actively involved in proposing solution frameworks for various business organizations. A Computer science graduate with Masters in Business Administration along with diplomas in Advance Computing (DAC) and Computer Applications (PG DCA).
Source: www.a1articles.com
