Organizations today may find that business analysis

Organizations today may find that business analysis is being performed within
their organization by one or more of these roles:
Agile team members;
Business architects;
Business intelligence analysts;
Business process analysts;
Business subject matter experts;
Data, functional, operational, systems, or user experience analysts;
Enterprise business analysts;
Product managers or product owners;
Project managers;
Requirements, software requirements, systems, or value engineers; and
Requirements managers.
1.6.3 The Relationship Between the Project Manager,
Business Analyst, and Other Roles
The project manager and business analyst serve in critical leadership roles on
programs and projects. When these roles work in partnership and collaborate
effectively together, a project will have a much higher chance of being successful.
Yet the relationship between project managers and business analysts is not always
optimally aligned and, consequently a division between the roles performing these
activities occurs. Instead of building a close partnership, the roles work
independently and at times at odds with one another.
Confusion exists between project managers and business analysts, because there
is a perceived overlap of the work that each is responsible for performing.
Confusion also exists because there are inconsistent definitions and use of the role
across industries, organizations, and departments within the same organization.
Confusion continues to build as the role evolves, and organizations that recognize
the value of business analysis are beginning to employ more business analysts
within their organizations.
This practice guide is intended to clarify these roles through the use of
collaboration points . These visual callouts are intended to emphasize areas where
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collaboration between the project manager and business analyst is important and
critical to project success. This practice guide also explains the areas of perceived
overlap and explains how the work is similar but not the same. Collaboration
points are also used to call out opportunities for business analysts to work together
with other roles in support of programs and projects.
1.6.4 The Need to Build the Relationships
By providing the industry with a greater understanding of the work performed
within business analysis and explaining how it is essential to the overall work of
the project, this practice guide is intended to improve the collaboration between
these critical roles.
When the project manager and business analyst are not in sync, there are tangible
and intangible impacts to project success. When there is a lack of synergy between
project managers and business analysts, there are project inefficiencies, critical
work is overlooked or duplicated, stakeholders are confused, and the project team
fails to operate at an optimum level of efficiency. Taking actionable steps to bridge
the gaps between the roles should provide positive impacts to project performance
and, ultimately, organizational success.