Business Analyst - Information and Communication Systems

Role Overview

Bridge the gap between business stakeholders and technology teams by facilitating effective business analysis, translating business needs into clear and actionable technology requirements, analysing business processes and data, and contributing to fit-for-purpose digital solutions and process enhancements. Apply sufficient technical understanding to engage with software development, data, integration and technology teams and assess the feasibility, impact and implications of proposed solutions.

Duties and Responsibilities

Business Analysis, Technical Business Analysis and Project Management

• Collaborate with stakeholders to understand objectives, challenges, needs and desired outcomes.
• Elicit, document, analyse and prioritise business requirements.
• Analyse and model current and future-state business processes and identify opportunities for optimisation and automation.
• Conduct data analysis to support evidence-based requirements and fit-for-purpose solutions.
• Translate requirements into functional requirements, user stories, acceptance criteria, business rules, data requirements and solution documentation.
• Analyse dependencies, constraints, data requirements, architectural implications and integration implications.
• Understand applications, databases, APIs, integrations and system interfaces sufficiently to engage with technical teams.
• Identify when an API or other integration mechanism is required and document the systems, data and business requirements.
• Define data sources, data elements, relationships, validation rules, quality requirements and expected outputs.
• Use SQL, suitable data sources and visualisation tools to interrogate, validate and present data.
• Analyse the impact of proposed changes on applications, integrations, processes, data and upstream or downstream dependencies.
• Collaborate with developers, systems integrators, database administrators, testers and technical specialists to translate requirements into implementable solutions.
• Assist with project planning, estimation, monitoring, issue resolution and scope management.

Stakeholder Management

• Facilitate communication between business stakeholders and technical teams.
• Build and sustain professional relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Organise and lead workshops, interviews and requirements sessions.
• Translate technical concepts into clear business language and business needs into clear technical requirements.
• Develop training materials, user communications and change-support information.

Quality Assurance, Risk and Governance

• Provide input into solutions-delivery strategy based on industry trends, best practices and business insights.
• Maintain and contribute to business-analysis frameworks, standards and templates.
• Identify and manage risks relating to requirements, data, integrations and solution dependencies.
• Participate in solution testing and User Acceptance Testing.
• Develop and validate test scenarios and acceptance criteria.
• Validate delivered functionality and data outcomes against approved requirements and business rules.
• Apply secure-by-design and privacy-by-design principles.
• Adhere to approved governance, change-management and quality standards.
• Identify opportunities for process optimisation, automation, data-driven improvement and innovation.

Business Analysis Practice and Advisory Services

• Keep abreast of industry trends and best practices in business analysis.
• Provide expert guidance to business and delivery teams.
• Recommend improvements to business-analysis standards, methodologies and processes.

Experience and Qualifications

• NQF Level 7 qualification in Business Administration, Information Technology, Business Analysis or equivalent.
• Five to eight years' experience in business analysis, including requirements elicitation, process analysis, data analysis and solution design.
• Experience working with technology teams delivering software applications, integrations, data-driven solutions or digital process automation.
• Knowledge of Agile software-development lifecycle methodologies.
• Working knowledge of CI/CD concepts and tools such as Microsoft Azure DevOps.
• Knowledge and practical use of process-modelling tools and techniques.
• Working knowledge of relational databases and SQL, with the ability to perform basic queries.
• Working knowledge of APIs, web services, data exchange, system interfaces and integration dependencies.
• Ability to translate requirements into functional, data and integration requirements.
• Competence in requirements elicitation, analysis, modelling and traceability; process modelling; data quality analysis; user stories; acceptance criteria; functional specifications; business rules; Agile SDLC; UAT; root-cause analysis; security and privacy awareness.
• Strong communication, collaboration, influencing and project-management skills.
• Analytical, innovative, results-driven and quality-focused approach with attention to detail and ability to adapt to changing priorities.