Core Competencies of a Business Analyst

A business analyst must possess certain core competencies in order to effectively lead enterprise analysis projects. These include the abilities to:

1. Create and maintain business architecture. To perform this, an analyst must be able to research and discern where a business is and where it should be.
2. Conduct feasibility studies. A feasibility study looks at the options that are proposed and examines whether they are technically possible within the organization and whether they will meet the organization’s goals.
3. Perform opportunity identification and analysis. This is the practice of identifying and analysing “new business opportunities to perform organizational performance. This is typically done in consultation with subject matter experts.
4. Prepare and maintain the business case. For this competency, an analyst must be able to identify the cost in time, money and resources that the proposed solution will consume and weighs that against the tangible benefits that the solution will offer.
5. Understand and perform risk management. For this skill, an analyst must understand the risks (technical, financial, business, and so on) of implementing the proposed solution and weigh those against the risk of not implementing the solution.