The business analyst has traditionally operated as a liaison among stakeholders in order to elicit, analyse, communicate and validate requirements for changes to business processes, policies and information systems. The business analyst was usually confined to a very technical role within information technology working on specifications, functionality and even quality testing related to one or more project life cycles. Today, however, the role has become much more strategic in focus at both the organisational and project levels.

Now, with organisations becoming more project-oriented, the business analyst (BA) must have wide skill sets, encompassing many general management competencies. Most importantly, in mbh's view, the BA should primarily be concerned with identifying and developing ideas to cultivate organisational value. This includes making sure that any projects in which the BA is involved realise tangible benefits.

With the greater focus at the project level to generate value, the BA role must transform to accommodate this new paradigm. Also, this shift in the business analyst's priorities from internal liaison to more a strategic value generator can cause challenges in organisations' structure and culture. Some of the most prominent include: broken or disjointed cross-functional communication channels; uncertainty around roles and responsibilities within the project structure and other areas; quality issues at the point of project delivery; distorted scope statements and, thus, implementation plans from an early-stage breakdown; and overall loss of productivity on project teams from lack of continuity and methods.

mbh's business analysts possess a solid grounding in the best practices in project management, change management and benefit realisation that is required by today's more strategic BA role.  Also, mbh's business analysts understand how to generate value and project benefits. They are well versed in established project portfolio management evaluation methods, such as Discounted Cash Flow and Real Option Pricing. Our business analysts are also well trained in the project-focused business management philosophy managing by project, which ensures that projects successfully implement vision and strategy, so benefit realisation occurs.