Knowing how a business operation functions is crucial to successfully enhancing or implementing a system. At this point, you are probably thinking “Yadda, yadda, yadda.” Of course, the folks in charge know how the business process is supposed to work. However, the reality is that many business processes are not documented, rarely communicated to users and, if these aspects are neglected during system implementations or upgrades, can lead users to have the negative perception that the *!~#*@! system doesn’t work well.

Enter the fearless business analyst, whose role is to work closely with business owners to ensure that the system is implemented or changed in the way that best supports their business. Here’s an example: the business process to hire an employee must include a vendor notification so that benefits eligibility is triggered. The business analyst works with the business owners to look at options and make a determination on how to accomplish that notification -- perhaps with an interface to the vendor or perhaps with a report, etc. The business analyst consults with technical staff to determine the best approach and identify a solution. Then, the scope of work is documented and the new or changed-business process also gets documented before system changes begin.

A clear, well-documented business process helps system users be more effective, as they understand where the system steps fall within the context of the larger business process. To communicate to system users, a detailed business process flowchart is typically created once the new or changed process is approved by the business owner. For one large ERP implementation project, I created more than 20 flowcharts to articulate previously undocumented processes, and each flowchart had at least 10 drafts and was reviewed ad nauseam (truly, it was sickening, they were reviewed so much) by a committee before being completed. No doubt, you have to love flowcharting to do this job!
 
In another example: a company using a time reporting system has one group of employees who must pay union dues after they work a certain number of hours. The system users must run frequent reports to see the hours worked, manually notify the employees and the union, and then complete a request to the payroll department to initiate the deduction. A delay in the process typically results in two months worth of dues being deducted on one paycheck, a hardship to the employee. The business owner in payroll smartly wants the system to be configured to give a warning to the employee that he/she has reached the specified number of hours, and also trigger a payroll deduction to be made on the employee’s next paycheck for the appropriate amount of dues.

The business analyst works with the business owner to fully detail the business need and then may need to meet with programmers, system analysts, infrastructure, security staff, and reporting analysts to determine if the configuration can be made, identify the full scope of work and make projections about cost, timing, and deliverables. Once a decision is made to move forward, the business analyst may need to create a change request document; work with the business owner to document the warning and deduction processes, while ensuring the system changes are done on time, within budget and to the satisfaction of the business partner.

Business analysts need sharp communication skills, proven project-management skills and critical-thinking skills. They also need to have a willingness to be objective about a business process without downgrading the current process (or lack thereof) and should be adept at problem solving. Effective partnering, with business owners or other subject matter experts as well as with technical staff who make needed system changes, is paramount.

Expertise in business process design is useful. Visio is one tool used to create flowchart. There’s nothing like a compelling visual to make a (sometimes boring) process come alive, and several iterations are typically done until the business owner signs off that the process is accurately charted. A comprehensive business process report may also be created to document all the details associated with each step in the process that a flowchart doesn’t show.

To work as a business analyst, you need to develop your listening skills, learn how to create flowcharts, gain experience planning and managing projects, and be objective in determining the problem the business owner is trying to solve when they ask for a system change. Business analysts get to work in two worlds -- gaining an in-depth knowledge of business operations as well as having lots of savvy about the system that supports the business. As a result, you’ll be extremely mobile and valuable to the organization.