We tend to think of the terms “business analyst” and “business systems analyst” as different — yet similar — job titles, the former less technical than the later. Let us stop and think about that for a moment. First, hyphen business and systems to create a new word business-systems then re-add analyst. This new term creates a completely new area of our profession to discover. Let us explore this further.
Defining Business
A business is a legal entity that exists to sell goods and/or services to consumers or other businesses to generate revenue, which may or may not be for profit. In combination with policies, people, processes and usually some technology, a business is a culturally driven entity, which exists to generate revenue in exchange for their goods and or services.
Defining System
A system is a set of interdependent and interrelated organic and or mechanical entities, which come together to form a cohesive whole. Systems have structure, behaviors, and dependencies and must exist in balance with their physical environment. As business analysts, we tend to think of systems as machines; however, a system is an all-encompassing term. Systems may be social, political, a set of tasks forming a process, a set of rules governing a process and even a set of biological procedures. Systems, embedded into other systems, tend to embed into yet other systems, and so on.
Defining Business-System
Simply put, a business-system is the aforementioned set of interdependent and interrelated organic and or mechanical entities, which come together for the express purpose of selling goods and/or services to consumers or other businesses to generate revenue. Some examples are the culture, which drives the organization, the leadership team that drives the culture, the human resources department, the information technology department, the customer care department, the list goes on. Business-systems are a combination of people, process, technology and the policies that govern their operations.
Now that we understand what a business-system is, it is very easy to see that a business analyst is really a business-systems analyst. This is not a technical role, but rather a more accurate description of the nature of our profession.
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