Business Analysis and Systems Analysis together are the key to successful IT projects. If a system is developed without a clear understanding of business requirements or technical constraints, the result may be inefficient or unusable for end users.
On this page, you will find:
What is Business Analysis?
Business Analysis helps identify and understand business needs and determine which capabilities need to be developed in IT systems. This includes:
- Goal setting and risk analysis
- Understanding and documenting stakeholder needs
- Mapping and optimizing business processes
- Mapping the data used
In business analysis, IT systems are treated as a black box – what happens inside is not examined in detail, but only at the level of needs, requirements, and capabilities. Some sources, however, consider user interface analysis also belonging under Business Analysis – this is the aspect of Systems Analysis that deals with the part of the system visible to the user.
Business analysis can be performed by various roles depending on the company’s division of labor, ranging from different managers who do it alongside their other tasks, to:
- Product Owner
- Business Analyst
- Service Designer
- Analyst
- IT Analyst
- Consultant
Systems Analysis
Once the business needs are mapped, system analysis is used to define how the IT solution will be technically built. Systems Analysis includes:
- Designing the system architecture
- Modeling data and its flow
- Analyzing and describing system interactions (integrations and APIs)
This is often referred to as software analysis.
Systems analysis can be performed by various roles depending on the company’s division of labor:
- Product Owner
- System Analyst
- Analyst
- IT Analyst
- Solution Architect
- Developer
- IT Architect
IT Analysis
IT analysis largely encompasses both business analysis and systems analysis, with a stronger focus on systems analysis. This term is primarily used for the analysis aimed at reaching an IT solution. Business Analysis, on the other hand, may remain focused solely on processes and objectives, without defining specific solutions. These terms can sometimes be used interchangeably; “IT” is added as a clarification to distinguish it from, for example, market analysis or financial analysis.
Do you want to learn business and systems analysis and develop your IT analyst skills?
If you want to learn more about the skills an IT analyst needs and how to develop your career, check out the IT Analyst career development topic page.
Articles on Business and Systems Analysis
If you want to dive deeper into how business analysis and systems analysis work in IT projects, read these articles: