A recent survey examined the strategic, day-to-day contributions of
BAs. It identified BAs as seasoned professionals who juggle multiple
tasks (above and beyond just asking question and writing
documentation) and BA's help create IT projects that directly impact
business success. The survey also demonstrated that the BA enjoys
substantial job security, which is particularly important during a
period of high outsourcing.

"The business analyst position is one of the most in-demand jobs in
all of IT," said Paul Melde, Vice President of Technology of
Dice. "Companies are beginning to realize that business analysis is
an essential internal function of an organization and plays a
critical role in achieving business and product development goals."

The Compuware-RQNG survey characterized the BA's role as increasingly
strategic:

#1. More than 75 percent of the time, business analysts are assigned
to projects at or before project initiation, signaling that they are
key influencers on strategic technology decisions.


#2. Business analysts are experienced, seasoned professionals with a
median of seven-plus years in this role, with fully 35 percent having
more than 10 years' experience.


#3. Slightly more than half (50.3 percent) of business analysts earn
$75,000 or more.

Visit www.b2ttraining.com and www.theIIBA.org to explore BA careers!

“It’s clear that business analysts have an increasingly important role in
helping the IT organization bridge the gap between the business and IT,” said
Mike Burba, Director of Marketing for Application Delivery Management at
Compuware. “At Compuware, we are committed to helping BAs capture better
requirements and collaborate with their stakeholders more effectively.”

Compuware Optimal Trace is Compuware’s solution for business requirements
management. It enables business analysts to capture “structured requirements”
use cases, which is a unique and easy-to-use approach that enables BAs to
capture business requirements from the perspective of the user, complete with
visual storyboards and traceable relationships to business needs.

Complete results from the survey The New Business Analyst: A Strategic Role in
the Enterprise can be found at http://www.compuware.com/thenewstrategicBA.

Requirements Networking Group
RQNG is a community website specifically devoted to the discipline of “IT
requirements management,” targeting business analysts, systems analysts, project
managers, testers and others with requirements gathering and related
disciplines. RQNG focuses on requirements, tools, methodologies and education.
For more information, please

visit http://www.requirementsnetwork.com.