The Business Analyst and the Solution Team
Steven P. Blais · 2012
This chapter discusses the relationship between the business analyst and members of the solution team, starting with the project manager. Systems analysts and business analysts have a continuing battle over where the business analyst's job of defining business requirements ends and the systems analyst's job of defining system requirements begins, especially when the business analyst is a former systems analyst. The project manager focuses on the project and the business analyst focuses on the product produced by the project. The project manager and business analyst have the same overall purpose: a high-quality product delivered by a successful project. The business community and the solution team are clear who to refer to in every situation. The project manager is responsible for the success of the project; the business analyst for the success of the project's product. The business analyst has to establish the level of equality necessary to get balance in the project. The more the business analyst can relay to the process workers and business management about the difficulty of creating systems from nothing more than vaguely described issues and the more the business analyst can work with the business community to clearly define the issues, problems, and expected solutions, the more communication will flow between the problem and solution domains.