• Who Is A Business Analyst?

• As defined by IIBA(International Institute of

Business Analysis), the business analysis is a
discipline of determining the business needs and
identifying the solutions to business problems.
• Who Is A Business Analytics Professional?
• A business analyst doesn’t work with data and is
mostly concerned about processes and
functions. On the contrary, reporting and data
are the key components of a business analytics
professional’s job.
• mostly concerned about processes and functions. On the contrary,
reporting and data are the key components of a business analytics
professional’s job.
• Analytical Problem Solving Skills
• The business analysts utilize different techniques to analyze the
problem and determine the solution. They conduct thorough analysis
and deconstruct the solution or problem by making use of various
methods. Few examples of this include decision models, business
process models and use cases.
• On the other hand, business analytics executives use logical thinking,
predictive analytics and statistics to solve the business problems.
 Business analytics examples
• Growing sales. In response to inconsistent sales, an online retailer implemented a sales dashboard, hoping to stabilize and
grow its sales. The sales dashboard made it clear that data wasn’t driving sales. This prompted the retailer to reconfigure
its sales strategy and shift its target setting system in response to data. As a result, sales grew by 24 percent.
• Developing marketing strategies. A clothing retailer with early success started to see customer purchases and sales level
off. The retailer decided to install a retail dashboard tailored to demographic information about current and target
customers. With new access to this information, the retailer located areas for improvement and identified where sales
were strongest. The retailer was then able to segment buyers by relevant factors and customize marketing strategies to
each group. By using internal data and interpreting various implications, the retailer could better market to its customers
and grow its customer base.
• Using predictive analytics. A gym chain wanted to reduce customer attrition. The company installed a predictive analytics
model that identified customers likely to cancel their memberships, and then, using historical data, predicted incentives to
offer that could improve customer retention. When at-risk customers arrived at a gym, the system alerted membership
staff so they could discuss incentives and stave off cancellations.
• Improving financial efficiency. A company in the bioscience field turned to business analytics to determine why after
recent growth, it was experiencing a low collection percentage, excessive claims denials and a high balance of money
owed to it. With the help of software that allowed for intuitive online reporting, the company used account-based metrics,
a strategy that increases engagement with targeted accounts, to identify the cause of the excessive claims denials. As a
result of business analytics, the company managed to resolve millions of dollars’ worth of denied claims.
• Increasing productivity through streamlined processes. An online food ordering company wanted new insights that could
boost productivity and streamline commercial operations. The company implemented a dashboard that gave real-time
access to its customers’ life cycles. This produced data that facilitated the streamlining of sales activities and marketing
campaigns, thereby achieving the goal of boosting productivity.
• Data Science:
Data science is basically a field in which information and knowledge are extracted from the data
by using various scientific methods, algorithms, and processes.
• It can thus be defined as a combination of various mathematical tools, algorithms, statistics, and
machine learning techniques which are thus used to find the hidden patterns and insights from
the data which helps in the decision making process.
• Data science deals with both structured as well as unstructured data. It is related to both data
mining and big data. Data science involves studying the historic trends and thus using its
conclusions to redefine present trends and also predict future trends.
• Business Intelligence:
Business intelligence(BI) is basically a set of technologies, applications, and processes that are
used by enterprises for business data analysis.
• It is basically used for the conversion of raw data into meaningful information which is thus used
for business decision making and profitable actions.
• It deals with the analysis of structured and sometimes unstructured data which paves the way for
new and profitable business opportunities.
• It supports decision making based on facts rather than assumption-based decision making. Thus
it has a direct impact on the business decisions of an enterprise.
• Business intelligence tools enhance the chances of an enterprise to enter a new market as well
as help in studying the impact of marketing efforts.
• Using analysis software, BI systems take raw data sets and use them to
inform everything from marketing strategies to planning for possible future
setb Tracking the American diet can be a bizarre business. 
We eat too many calories, but we also have trouble 
finding the time and energy to eat dinner?
• Still, that's exactly what companies in the food and drink sector do. They
collect business intelligence on who eats what, at what hours, during which
seasons. It allows for personalization, and keeps our favorite restaurants
from running out of chicken tikka masala during rush hour. 
• acks.
• Amazon and business intelligence go hand-in-hand
• Last but not least among the companies that use BI is the online 
retail giant Amazon.
• Much like Starbucks, Amazon uses business intelligence technology to
personalize product recommendations and market products, but it also uses
its BI software tools for logistical business decisions. In fact, in-depth data
analysis is what enables Amazon’s massive supply chain to run smoothly.
• From optimizing shipping routes to allocating inventory among warehouses,
data and BI tools influence practically every step of Amazon’s supply
process.
Data science verses business intelligence
• example
• If a continuous stream of loan applications are being received by a particular bank, the business
analytics professional will develop and implement a model to give a recommendation on which
loan applications that bank must lend to.
• From a catalogue launch, if a manufacturer of home-goods wants to predict the expected profits,
a framework will be applied by the business analytics executive to work on the problem and
develop a predictive model to provide recommendation and results.
The main focus of Business Analysis:
Functions and processes.
The main focus for Business Analytics:
Data and reporting.
 Architectural domains for Business Analysis are:
Enterprise architecture
Process architecture
Technology architecture
Organization architecture
Architectural domains for Business Analytics are:
Data architecture
Information architecture
Technology architecture
 Requirements for Business Analysis
Functionality
(This is achieved by software configuration and development)

Requirements for Business Analytics

Reports, dashboards and KPIs
(This is achieved by consolidation and presentation of data)
Project management for Business Analysis: SDLC
Project management for Business Analytics: SDLC/ agile
• Example of Business Analysis
• Defining and standardizing business processes across the different business units for a company which grew by acquisition
• Example of a Business Analytics
• An investigation of support ticket data in a large IT department to find an inconsistent amount of applications support
coming to an application which started as a mini-project.
• More examples of Business Analysis projects are:
• Making a Business Architecture
• Creating a Business Case
• Conducting a risk assessment
• Requirements elicitation
• Analysis of Business Process
• Documentation of Requirements

• More examples of Business Analytics projects are:

• Making a dashboard to track the main performance metrics
• Using a data warehouse to report previous performance
• Relying on statistical methods to predict future sales. This is based on past sales
• Conducting simulations to investigate various scenarios
• Exploring data to find new patterns and relationships
• Explaining why a certain result occurred
• Experimenting to test previous decisions
• Forecasting future results
• What is a data analyst?
• A data analyst’s fundamental job is to tell compelling stories with data that empower organizational leaders to
make better, more informed decisions.
• The responsibilities of a data analyst often include: 
• Designing and maintaining data systems and databases, including troubleshooting potential issues 
• Mining and cleaning data in preparation for analysis 
• Preparing reports which effectively communicate their findings to organizational leadership and key stakeholders  
• To be effective in their roles, data analysts must possess the technical skills necessary for data mining, hygiene,
and analysis, along with strong interpersonal skills to communicate their findings to decision-makers. 
• Some of the most essential skills for data analysts include data visualization and presentation skills, Microsoft
Excel, Structured Query Language (SQL), and R or Python programming knowledge. 
• A bachelor’s degree in a related field is typically required for entry-level data analysts. For senior positions, hiring
managers often require or strongly prefer a graduate degree such as a master’s degree in analytics. 
• What is a business analyst?
• Business analysts are responsible for using data to inform strategic business decisions.
• A business analyst might also hold job titles such as operations research analyst, management analyst, or
business data analyst.
• The duties of a business analyst typically include:
• Evaluating business processes for efficiency, cost, and other valuable metrics 
• Communicating insights with business teams and key stakeholders 
• Preparing strategic recommendations for process adjustments, procedures, and performance improvements
• While data analysts and business analysts both work with data, the main difference lies in what they do with
it. Business analysts use data to help organizations make more effective business decisions. In contrast, data
analysts are more interested in gathering and ana
• lyzing data for the business to evaluate and use to make decisions on their own.

• A business analyst identifies technology solutions to solve oftentimes amorphous business problems. They work
in a variety of industries including healthcare, transportation, manufacturing, finance, banking, software services,
and telecommunications. The International Institute of Business Analysis defines a business analyst as an
“agent of change,” who identifies and executes new opportunities for businesses to capitalize on
technology. Business analysts often specialize in one of the following roles: business systems analyst, systems
analyst, functional analyst, service request analyst, or agile analyst, depending on one’s area of interest. For
example, a functional analyst helps organizations use and integrate their technology with other systems. A service
request analyst handles user inquiries and system enhancements.

• Data analysts, on the other hand, use specialized analysis techniques and tools to determine how
businesses can use data to make more informed decisions. This may sound very similar to the role of
business analyst; however, data analysts work more directly with the data itself. They’re responsible for
identifying important business questions, applying the appropriate statistical techniques to harness structured and
unstructured data, and performing complex data analysis to extract useful information and develop conclusions.
Data analysts are also responsible for protecting an organization’s data and ensuring that all data repositories
produce consistent and reusable data. Data analysts and business analysts work in many of the same industries
and particularly those that rely on technology .
• Although business analysts and data analysts have much in common, they differ in four main ways.
• Overall responsibilities. Business analysts provide the functional specifications that inform IT system design.
Data analysts extract meaning from the data those systems produce and collect. Data scientists can often
automate the business analyst’s tasks and may be able to provide some of the business insights as well.
• Salary. Data analysts earn an average salary of $70,246, according to Indeed.com. Business analysts earn a
slightly higher average annual salary of $75,575. Business analysts tend to make more, but professionals in both
positions are poised to transition to the role of “data scientist” and earn a data science salary—$113,436 on
average.
• Skillsets. Business analysts require data science knowledge as well as skills related to communication, analytical
thinking, negotiation, and management. Data analysts require similar skills with a more in-depth focus on
technical data manipulation.
• User interaction. As project facilitators and managers, business analysts often have more direct interaction with
systems users, customers, system developers, and others than data analysts do. That’s because business
analysts may frequently interview people to learn more about how technology can be improved to help business
processes. They work collaboratively with others throughout the duration of a single project. Although data
analysts may consult initially with internal subject matter experts to identify important data sets, the bulk of their
work is done independently.