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About David Stephensen
Expertise
I can answer questions about all aspects of designing and producing procedures manuals for small and medium sized businesses, including managing the documentation project, the analysis that leads to the design of the manual, business writing, publishing the business manual, educating the staff about continuous improvement and using ISO 9001.
Experience
I am a professional technical writer of 20 years experience, combining this with business analysis over the last 10 years. I have produced procedures manuals for businesses and software user manuals that reflect business processes. I also provide internal quality auditing services. I have created a template for small and medium business operations manuals.
Awards and Honors
Merit Award in the Society for Technical Communication Australia Chapter On-line Communications Competition, 2006, for the CPA Australia Event Scheduling Application User Manual
Merit Award in the Society for Technical Communication Australia Chapter On-line Communications Competition, 2005 for the Lensworth Customer Relationship Management User Manual
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You are here: Experts > Business > Small Business: Canada > Managing a Business > Business Process Analyst
Expert: David Stephensen - 10/21/2009
Question
How is a business process analyst different to a business analyst.
Answer
Hi Rachel
To tell the truth, the profession of Business Analyst is a little vague. People call themselves whatever they want. I can only give you my viewpoint.
Business Analysts (BA) analyse how a business operates so that somebody can create something in the business, such as a database or a software package or a defined workflow. They may or may not be interested in human dynamics. They could well just be interested in the flow of product or data.
A Business Process Analyst focuses more on the flows of communication amongst people. They certainly take account of product and data, but they want to know what the people do with it.
I found a definition in http://www.modernanalyst.com/TheProfession/Roles/BusinessProcessAnalyst/tabid/18... It was a little different to my idea, but the common thread was of invention and development.
I call myself a business process analyst. When I go into a business I often formally define for the first time what people have been doing instinctively or habitually, passing on their method by word of mouth. If they don't have a system then I help them to create one. I invent ways to describe the business, and help management to clarify muddy areas of their system.
A BA, I suspect, would expect that the business already knew what they wanted and that it was their job to express the system in a form that a software or database developer could use. In an organisation I worked in recently, the BAs were quite junior.
I'd be interested to hear other viewpoints on this.
Cheers
David
QDT Management Consultants
http://www.qdt.com.au
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