What does a sample analyst resume look like?
Analyst resume example
The right sample resume for an analyst
Agapov Konstantin
Desired position: analyst
Desired income level: 70 thousand rubles
Date of birth: 03/22/1984
Accommodation: Moscow, metro station “Slavyansky Boulevard”
Ready for business trips.
Contact information:
Phone: +7 (9хх) ххх-хх-хх
Email: [email protected]
Key knowledge and skills:
- Knowledge of investment analysis methods;
- Knowledge of the basics of inventory flow analysis and planning;
- Skills in MS Office, 1C, Oracle, VBA;
- Skills in writing reports with conclusions and recommendations;
- Ability to work with large volumes of information;
- Responsibility, scrupulousness, attentiveness.
Experience:
07.2011–05.2015 Analyst
LLC "First" (www.first.com), Moscow
Field of activity of the company: wholesale food products
- Analysis of financial and economic activities;
- Strategic management;
- Preparation of weekly reports for procurement planning;
- Analysis of the effectiveness of promotions.
Achievements: automated most types of periodic reports.
04.2006–06.2011 Analyst
Altai-service LLC (www.altai-service.com), Moscow
Field of activity of the company: sale of food products
- Participation in reporting;
- Preparation of data for financial accounting;
- Preparation of technical specifications for development in part 1C.
Achievements: created a developed order planning system.
Education:
2012 Russian Academy national economy And civil service under the President of the Russian Federation, Moscow
MBA, graduate School Financial Management/Corporate Finance, Investment Management, IFRS, Diploma
2006 Moscow Economic University, Moscow
Specialty: “Economics”, higher education, diploma
Additional information:
Foreign languages: English – Advanced, German – Pre-intermediate.
PC knowledge: Confident MS Office user; 1C; SAP.
Recommendations are available upon request.
Last year, a conference of business and systems analysts in software development was held in St. Petersburg. There was a rather interesting report by Minsk residents Maria and Sergei Bondarenko, entitled “Useful skills of analysts. How to become a professional." Below we publish an article based on the report.
Video of the report is also available:
http://video.yandex.ru/users/sqadays/view/8
My topic is useful analytics skills and aims to show you the capabilities of professional development in business analysis.
Briefly about yourself
Maria Bondarenko, director of the Belarusian-German-Russian company GP software for software development in the field of tourism; has worked in IT for more than 10 years
Sergey Bondarenko, works at Itransition (almost 1000 people), is involved in management tasks (including in analytics departments)
Objectives of the report
What I want to show and tell in the report:
For beginners (less than a year of analytics experience) - give a general understanding of the industry, what skills may be needed and what development horizons are available
For experienced analysts: open up unknown horizons that you could not see in the context of your tasks, and also show the power and breadth of the field of business analysis
Where do analysts come from?
To the question “Which of the analysts received vocational education“Only a few of those present at the conference responded positively.
Much more came from testing and development. Some even came from a linguistic university.
In general, the field of business analysis is now quite young.
And not many people receive professional education in this area. And just as it turns out, so it becomes: there is such a vacancy, you decide “why not try?” and now your career as a business analyst begins.
How do analysts develop?
What happens next? Then you start working, performing some tasks and walking around. career ladder within the company. But your range of tasks is usually limited only to those projects that you perform this company. Accordingly, if you come to one company and ask: “There are business analysts here, but what do you do? What is business analysis? Or you come to another company and ask “What is business analysis”, you may get 2 completely different answers.
In order to somehow improve this situation, you try to read books, read information on the Internet and somehow gain this experience, but, nevertheless, again, this all happens quite chaotically. Accordingly, such a hodgepodge happens in your head, you stew in your own juice and lack a complete understanding of the context of business analysis.
What could this lead to?
I’ve seen it many times during interviews when specialists came to me to apply for a job (and in our company it’s a common position in which a project manager and an analyst are combined) and the guys said: “In general, I already know everything in business analysis, now I want to try my hand at areas of management". In general, they come to the conclusion that seeing only some subfield of business analysis, they conclude that this is all that can be. The second possible reaction is that you don’t know where to move next, you feel sad, you are not effective enough on your projects and, perhaps, you don’t even know that there are any means to increase this efficiency in order to increase the context of understanding this area.
We'll get to that next.
Maybe it's better this way?
I would like to show you the possible roles of a business analyst in projects, possible areas of activity and necessary skills, personal characteristics and tools that may be useful to you. Below I will briefly outline what may be needed, because... For each of them, you can arrange a separate report or a separate training, so I further recommend that you independently dive into those areas that you find interesting.
Who is an analyst?
In the process of preparing the report, we were able to identify several areas in which business analysts work:
Requirements Management
Research&Analysis (Research and data analysis)
Processes Engineering
Modeling&Design (IC Design)
Delivery
Consulting
Requirements management
The most obvious thing is requirements management. This is the person who collects the requirements, who analyzes them, manages changes and who makes sure that all project participants are aware of the current requirements, that they are communicated correctly to the development team and that the result of the work corresponds to the wishes that the client originally had . But that's not all.
Data research and analysis
There are about 6 more areas that analysts work on. Next area - data research and analysis: A general data science task. Analyze which systems are already on the market with similar functionality, find these systems, compare them, provide information on which one is better suited to the current tasks of the project. The second aspect of this analyst’s role is the analysis of the system’s operation and the development of certain conclusions. Those. general analytical tasks.
Process Modeling
The next possible role for a project analyst is the area process modeling. Business analysts who work in IT and are directly involved in the development and management of requirements and system design do not always know that, in general, the primary sources of their tasks lie in the area of business processes, in the area of the client’s business. The client somehow performs certain operations now and does not need software now. But in the process of analyzing your current situation, you can come to the conclusion that the processes are not optimal, that they need to be reorganized and, accordingly, the task of developing software appears. So, in fact, who will help the client look at his business processes, describe and transform them into a more optimal state? This is also the task of a business analyst.
IC design
The next area of activity of a business analyst is design information systems . Moreover, design can be different. And depending on the skills of the analysts, you can dig more deeply into this area or less. For example, the simplest level of system design is to sketch out mockups or prototypes of screens and then pass this on to usability specialists or designers so that they can work on it in more detail. On the other hand, if you have a deeper knowledge of these skills, for example, usability, usability, you can combine the role of a usability specialist. Those. in principle, this could be part of the work of a business analyst.
Software implementation
The next possible area of activity for analysts is software implementation, in particular, when a product has already been developed, this product needs to be implemented, it needs to be customized by the client (if we are talking about large systems). This is a field of activity that requires special skills and abilities.
Consulting
AND consulting. The deeper you work in the industry, the better and higher your practical skills, the more complex tasks you can be assigned and the more you can act as an expert in the eyes of the client, and not just a conduit for his requirements to developers. Moreover, consulting may not even be directly related to the implementation of the project. Just client consultation technological issues, on business issues. This is also the area of activity of a business analyst.
Hard & Soft Skills
Given this range of possible tasks, certain skills are highlighted that allow them to be performed more professionally. The classic division of skills is hard and soft. Hard skills are knowledge of tools, technologies, techniques or notations, or what can be learned. Soft skills are personal and interpersonal characteristics that are given to him from birth, but they also develop and can also be trained and there are development methods for them.
Within the framework of these skills and the scope of possible analyst roles on projects, the following dependencies can be identified (see table).
1. Hard skills
For convenience, we divided all the skills from the hard skills group into 7 groups: basic competencies, theory and analysis techniques, business fundamentals, knowledge of IS development, documentation, additional competencies, foreign languages. At the intersections of roles and competencies, it is indicated for which tasks the analyst needs certain skills.
Regarding foreign languages: there are question marks because, in principle, a great analyst can work in the local market and only the Russian language will be enough for him to perform his work. But given that the field of business analysis is quite young and there is not much literature, forums and communities in Russian in which you can find out information, of course, knowledge foreign languages will allow you to develop better and gain more professional knowledge than you know only 1 language.
As for soft skills, they were divided into several groups and criteria were determined for which roles certain soft skills are most important.
Below we will tell you in more detail about all the listed hard and soft skills.
Let us describe hard-skills, which involve purely technical skills. They are the easiest to train and quite important, because... underlie efficient work analytics.
1.1 Basic competencies
What is included in the basic competencies?
These are a number of things that you must learn before you even begin to step into the field of business analysis. They will allow your thoughts to be put into a certain form. These are fairly simple things, but basic ones that no one will teach you separately. The implication is that you must have it.
a. Business ethics
Firstly, general business ethics, telephone communication skills, written correspondence skills. Namely, such tasks as: how to write a letter correctly (start with a greeting, at the end put a final phrase prompting the client to action, and a signature), how to communicate with the client by phone. This, of course, should be known to you in advance. Why am I talking about this - I personally saw situations when analysts came to a project and the letters looked like this: “Can you send us the latest documentation on the project?” Neither “hello” nor “goodbye”. It's just not pretty. This is a basic skill that you should have and doesn't even need to be talked about.
b. Internet skills
The next skill is the ability to work on the Internet, work with instant messengers (Skype, for example, is very popular nowadays). Thanks to them, you reduce the distance and the client can contact you online. In Skype you can create group discussions, involve the entire team in communication with the client and then issues regarding the project are resolved faster. You should also know what screen sharing is, how to transfer files, etc.
c. Collaboration
The next block is skill collaboration. Knowledge of tools such as Google Drive will help you
Goggle Drive is an accessible, free tool through which you can exchange documents with the client and the development team. If your company doesn't have a collaboration tool installed, this is the easiest choice for giving clients access to documents. And what’s also important is that you can work on the same document simultaneously and jointly. We use this technique - together with the client we open a document with requirements and discuss what should be implemented and in what order. You change the priorities in your document and the client sees it on his screen in a couple of seconds.
d. Online conferences
In the same group are tools for online conferences. It is very useful when an analyst not only sends documents to the client, but demonstrates, in particular, intermediate versions of the system’s functionality and shows prototypes. For this you will need some kind of platform. Of course, there is the option that you come to the client if he is in the same country and city. But often we work with Western customers or remote teams. Among these online conferencing tools are GoTo Meeting and GoTo Webinar (this is from the same series), WebEx and others. Moreover, they can be useful not only for presenting results, but also for collecting requirements.
e. Wiki storage
Another tool such as MediaWiki may be useful. This is an online library, like the well-known Wikipedia, which you can deploy locally for your client and the entire team using your administrator. You can keep documentation in it, and the good thing is that you don’t need to save files to storage to track versions, forward them to colleagues, you won’t be able to forget the file - up-to-date content is always available. For example, user manuals or specifications can be written in MediaWiki.
f. Reading and printing speed
Another block of basic competencies of hard skills is speed reading and speed typing (although there may be debate as to whether this can be classified as soft-skills).
An analyst needs to process a lot of information: on the one hand, read a lot (study and comprehend), and on the other, write a lot (record the results), so it will be extremely useful for you in your professional career if you train these 2 skills. For example, you can compare - the average typing skill is 100 characters per minute, I type at a speed of 400 characters per minute. If everything is clear what to write in the document and you only need to record the agreement in words, write a protocol of the agreement with the client, then you can imagine - it takes me 4 times less time than the average specialist. Accordingly, by improving this skill, you make yourself more efficient and save time on your projects.
g. Office tools
Also, as part of basic skills, I would like to note a number of other tools, such as office tools (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Visio), which allow you to present the results of your work in a high-quality and visual manner. If you know how to open a Word document and know how to type text there, but do not know how to customize header and table styles, format notes, use templates and document properties. Or you can open an Excel document and know what a spreadsheet is, but don’t know formulas, macros, conditional formatting, then believe me, you still have room to dig within these tools. Just for the sake of interest, you can open a certificate about the program or some test for this program, and you will learn a lot that, it turns out, you did not know before. Accordingly, there is always room for development here.
h. Visualization
The next tool is MindManager. Enough too useful program, which relates to basic skills and allows you to structure information in the form of a mindmap.
i. Graphic editors
Graphic editors can also be useful for analysts - not only complex Photoshop, but also, for example, classic Paint. There is an even more powerful program - SNAGIT - I recommend it.
j. Multimedia editors
Of course, you can use PowerPoint for presentations, but in the modern environment, the Prezi tool is becoming quite popular. It makes presentations more interesting and interactive. Plus, if you master the creation of video clips, in particular, the Camtasia Studio program, which allows you to record video sequences demonstrating the operation of applications, then this will be useful in the sense that the client cannot always devote time to you now, but you can provide him with a video -file, and the client is more likely to look at it than if he clicks on the system buttons on his own.
1.2 Theories and techniques of business analysis
The next block is the theories and techniques of business analysis. These are the skills that help you become a business analyst directly.
In this context, knowledge and skills in the following areas are considered:
Requirements management
Change management
Development of design artifacts
Related Tools
a. Requirements management
The first block of knowledge is requirements management. Here it is important to know how to identify sources and how to identify requirements, and what to do with them after that: analyze, specify (document), check.
b. Change management
This is a requirements management subblock, but I have taken it out separately to draw your attention to it. The fact is that it is very important to understand traces (there is a separate report on this topic at the conference). It is important to know how to manage the scope of a project.
a. Project artifacts
Next is the ability to describe the Vision, Software Requirements Specification, and prepare a user manual. Sometimes I heard the opinion that an analyst should not write user manuals, that this is the job of a technical writer. I think this is a rather narrow view of the world, because, in general, the task of an analyst is to contribute to the creation of a product that will be successful and useful, and a technical writer is not always allocated to the team. Those. there is no need to “outweigh the dogs” against each other. Most effectively, instructions for working with the system and user documentation can be written by an analyst. Even if he doesn’t write, he should have a general understanding of what user documentation is and how it differs from baseline documentation and specifications.
b. Tools
In the field of theories and analysis techniques, tools for requirements management are also highlighted, such as Enterprise Architect, Borland CaliberRM (a separate stand was presented at the conference, and a report was also read), etc. Non-specialized tools are also used for requirements management - Excel, Jira
1.3 Business Basics
How can you benefit from knowledge of business fundamentals for your development?a. Basics of Economics
You will need to know what TCO (total cost of ownership), ROI (Return on Investment), EBIDAT (Earnings before depreciation and taxes), ABC (Activity-Based Costing), etc. are. These terms should be studied because you, as a business analyst, must contribute to the success of the business, and understanding the basics of economics (understanding why software is made and how the effectiveness of software implementation will be assessed) is extremely important for correct acceptance decisions by an analyst. You need to not only gather and manage requirements, but do so within the constraints of the project (which are often related to economics - resources are not unlimited, and neither is money).
b. Business Process Engineering
Business process development skills can also be useful. Moreover, this also includes the understanding that business processes can be main and auxiliary, and also that their design takes place in the AS IS (as it is now) and TO BE (as recommended or as it should be) paradigms.
I won’t go into more detail, because... For my purposes, it is to identify the points of development of an analyst, and then it is expected to independently study these areas.
c. Process Modeling Notations
To engineer business processes, you will need knowledge of certain notations in which you will describe processes. Of course, they can be described simply in words, but the following business process modeling notations are also quite common: BPML (Business Processes Modeling Language), IDEFx, CFF (cross-functional flowcharts) and regular flowcharts.
d. Tools
The corresponding tools in the field of describing business processes and economic planning (which I have encountered) are BPWin and Business Studio.
1.4 IS development
An analyst who develops information systems must master the techniques and methods of their development.a. Architecture Basics
The first block is the basics of architecture - a general understanding of what an information system is, an understanding of client-server technology and database construction, knowledge of the structure of sites (including understanding of HTML, CMS devices, knowledge of ready-made CMS), as well as an understanding of protocols and data transfer formats (XML, CSV, etc.).
b. Design Notations
Design notations such as UML, DFD, flowcharts may be useful to you.
c. Ergonomics
In addition to general knowledge of IP development, you will need knowledge of ergonomics (usability), and in this regard, pay attention to standards such as web-style guide, mobile-style guide. A IP development for iPhone and Android has a set best practices and requirements standards for how they should be designed mobile applications. In particular, on the AppStore you will certify your application, and if it does not meet the standards, it will not be allowed.
d. Tools
The toolkit allows you to carry out design efficiently and conveniently from the point of view of the project and from the point of view of those for whom this project is being done. In particular, these are prototyping tools (Balsamiq Mockups, Axure, JustInMind - including mobile interfaces). MS Visio is also used for these purposes.
1.5 Documentation
a. Competent language and correct formatting
The next block of skills is documentation. Analysts write documents and they (the documents) must be literate both in terms of language, correct use of technical style, competent writing, and in terms of design. This factor is determined by how pleasant your document is to hold, how neat and uniform it is, and how well it is prepared for printing. By the way, this is very important point- 90% of the documents that external analysts send me, when I try to print them (especially for Excel tables), are displayed on 10 sheets in a chaotic order. Then you have to manually try to assemble them, which is practically impossible. But the fact is that Excel does not format the page for printing by default. Analysts should know that there are special settings for the page structure and view, which set the printing format, page order, and numbering. Pay attention to this - prepare the document, then print it out and see if it is convenient to use or if the document needs to be put in order.
b. Ergonomics
For document preparation, there is also a set of standards in the field of ergonomics (or usability, as it is now more popularly expressed). In particular, among technical writers, the MS Manual of Style is considered one of the proven standards. At the moment there are more than 400 pages and it is very good in terms of how to write English-language technical documentation - what terms to use (for example, “click the button” or “click on the button”), how to properly format and structure it.
c. Tools
And of course, document preparation tools. This could be MS Word, OpenOffice (for Linux). Programs for generating PDF documents (Acrobat) are also required. And Wiki is also useful for documentation. In particular, knowledge of wiki markup (a specific language that can be mastered fairly quickly) will allow you to better understand when to format a document in Word and when to use Wiki.
1.6 Additional competencies
Additional competencies in the field of hard skills that I would like to draw attention to are the following.a. Fundamentals of Management
The analyst, in one way or another, always accompanies the manager on the project and somewhere shares areas of responsibility with him, somewhere he can replace him, somewhere, communicating with the client, he one way or another makes decisions on including requirements in the project. Those. This is, on the one hand, analytics, and on the other, management.
b. Subject knowledge
Here, domain expertise can be very useful (and more often it is fundamental). Whatever project you start doing, check in which domain it will be carried out - it could be finance, insurance, tourism - and carefully familiarize yourself with this subject area. Of course, in terms of overall development, it is not advisable to tackle all areas, because There are a lot of them, and immersing yourself in the domain in which you are running a project can be useful.
c. Applied expertise
Applied expertise is also important as an additional competence. Moreover, different application areas may be important from project to project. For example, if the project is carried out in the field of tourism, then knowledge of the “traveling salesman problem” in graph theory, which is studied in applied mathematics, will be useful. Namely, you need to understand how to transport tourists from the airport to hotels, provided that the group and hotels are located in 10 points of the city. Possessing this expertise, the analyst will be able to offer a more competent solution than if he is not in the know.
d. Business Toolkit
Knowledge of the tools that the business uses, such as ERP systems, CRM systems, etc., can be useful.
We also included the foreign languages mentioned above in the group of additional competencies. In addition, it should be clarified that it is highly recommended to learn English at a decent level - at least because this will allow you to understand a lot of useful literature that is published in English, but, unfortunately, is not always translated into Russian, and also communicate on forums with fellow analysts from other countries.
2. Soft skills
Next, I propose to move on to a review of personal characteristics that develop more complexly and over a longer period of time. Let me remind you that my task is to pay attention to key skills. Tips for development - read relevant literature, attend trainings, try it in practice.
So, among soft skills, the most important are, firstly, basic skills.
2.1 Basic skills
Among them, first of all, are:
independence,
learning ability,
good memory
clarity of information presentation.
a. Independence
Analysts rarely lead a project in large groups. Typically, an analyst either completely manages the project himself, or, even if he works in a team of analysts, each analyst is still responsible for one zone. Accordingly, the analyst must be able to independently manage his entire project.
b. Learning ability
The work of an analyst is always research, i.e. A large amount of information passes through it and it needs to be quickly grasped, processed and transmitted.
c. Good memory
It is needed for the same reasons as learning ability - you have to keep a lot of details in your mind.
d. Clarity of information presentation
When transmitting information to the customer or developer, there should be no misunderstandings. Information must be clearly structured.
2.2 Analytical skills
First of all, this is analytical thinking, which implies the ability to think critically about the situation, the ability to transform what you receive into a data structure, and not directly transmit what is received as input.
The analyst also requires the ability to work with large amounts of information, the ability to work under conditions of uncertainty, and presentation skills.
2.3 Personal skills
a. Activity
It is important for the analyst to be active: when moving the project forward, he must take an active position and clarify the requirements. Also, during the acceptance of the project results, he cannot afford a passive position.
b. Pedantry
Analysts must be detail-oriented and must not overlook any critical things. Those. the phrase “it will do” is not about a real analyst - he must be different in character.
c. Creativity
The fact is that analysts always not only receive information, but also create something: either they determine the reengineering of processes (then they need to come up with the most optimal way to do it), or they come up with new systems (that is, they are creative from scratch).
2.4 Interpersonal skills
a. Communication skills
In the area of interpersonal skills, the most important things for analysts are communication skills, sociability, the ability to ask questions and correctly convey information, and the ability to tune in to the client’s wavelength.
b. Teamwork
It is also important that the analyst knows how to work in a team. Those. Someone who is moody and prefers working with computers rather than people is unlikely to be a good fit for an analyst position. In this case, I would recommend developing your sociability and teamwork skills.
c. Organizational skills And
Self-organization and team organization skills are also quite important for an analyst.
2.5 Business skills
Next, we will explain what should be included in the business skills of an analyst:
Customer focus
Business acumen
Negotiation skills
Stress resistance
In particular, many books have been written on the topic of negotiation skills. It is highly recommended that analysts know how to effectively communicate and persuade (for example, often some features cannot be included in the release, and in such a situation the analyst needs to be a diplomat).
Regarding stress resistance, let me remind you once again - analysts, as a rule, work in conditions of uncertainty and this quality will be very useful.
3. Increase efficiency
How can you improve the efficiency of an analyst? I can give 2 basic tips besides basic tools.3.1 Analyst assistants
Firstly, there are quite good analyst assistants - all kinds of collections (icons, graphic primitives). For example, you found something you like and saved it to disk or asked a designer to draw it. In this case, it will be easier to later prepare documents and draw prototypes using these elements (that is, as development progresses, you will not be looking for where to get it from or where to draw it - the images will look beautiful and neat).
Email templates and functional patterns also help analysts. Where can they come from? After completing previous projects, save the results (best practices) to your knowledge base. Thus, from project to project you will accumulate not only experience in your head, but also good base ready-made developments that can be used in future projects for better efficiency.
Analytical materials (for example, market reviews) are also a good source of knowledge.
3.2 Objective assessment of reality
And the second tip about what can improve your effectiveness is an objective assessment of yourself. You need to understand how well you have certain analytical skills (you can use the above list to test your hard and soft skills). This check will allow you to understand where to move next.
There are a lot of examples in life when people think they are cool, but they are not. Most often, self-esteem is inflated. But when an analyst thinks that he is cool, he cannot work more efficiently. Remember the words of Socrates, “I know that I know nothing,” and their continuation: “But others do not even know this.” If a person believes that he is already at the top, then he cannot climb further. For example, with regards to MS Word, 90% will say that they are “fluent” in it, although they do not know how to use either fields or macros.
4. Development plan
The point is that once you realize the depth of your ignorance, you can develop a development plan. And if you also carry it out honestly, then your effectiveness increases most quickly. This plan allows you to constantly move forward.
Never stand still, because... whoever stands still inevitably slides back. And in modern world this is basically unrealistic.
What can be done?
1. Identify areas of activity that interest you
2. Record your current skill level
3. Form development goals and achievement criteria
4. Identify ways to achieve your goals
It has already been stated above enough large number areas of activity, tools that may be useful to analysts. It’s not a fact that you own it all and that you need it all right now. But, nevertheless, from the list above (and maybe something else - I do not pretend to be complete), determine what is most interesting to you.
1. Identifying areas of interest
At this step, you can write down all the possible skills and tasks of analysts in a table like the one attached (the presentation file is available on the AnalystDays-2012 conference page). Then you should put a weight next to each skill - how important this or that skill is for you (and/or for the company - depends on the level at which the plan is being built). You can use a scale from 0 to 5 or from 0 to 100 (the example uses a scale of 0..5). In principle, this same classification can be used in your career.
Our company uses a gradation into 3 levels of specialists - Junior, Specialist, Expert - and within them there is a division into 3 levels from R1 to R3. For each of these levels, certain criteria have been introduced for what skills they need and at what level of proficiency.
As recommendations: the plan should take into account both broadly applicable skills and highly specialized skills. But everything is worth taking into account. You should also include in the table those additional skills that, although not fundamental in the work of an analyst, nevertheless simplify life and make his work more effective.
Also, when drawing up a plan, the following criteria should be taken into account: individuality, connection to the certification system, specificity, measurability, consistency with management.
As a result, based on this classification, you can not only draw up a personal development plan, but also at the same time determine what career opportunities arise for you when mastering certain skills.
Dilemma of choice
When drawing up such a development plan, the question arises - speaking about analysts and the requirements for them, is it correct to mix analysts involved in various tasks or not? And is it worth scattering yourself on everything or concentrating on some narrow area of activity? The question is quite philosophical, and everyone answers it independently. For example, you have personal preferences for modeling business processes and therefore want to study this area in more depth - no one will stop you from doing this. Or someone might want to explore various areas of business analysis more broadly, which will also be good for your career, because... You will understand where and what methods can be used, and you will be able to flexibly select them depending on the specifics of your project.
And I would like to give a few points about how it might be useful for analysts. wide horizon.
The thing is, with a plan like this, the sky's the limit. Most likely, your entire life will not be enough to master the entire breadth of the topic from start to finish. You will still concentrate on some subset of it. However, the already studied subset is valuable for the market and you just have to go and agree on this with your employer.
Those. a wide horizon of skills is useful, interesting, and profitable.
2. Assess your current skill level
After determining the scales, you should determine what current level of skills and knowledge of technologies and tools you have. One of the fairly convenient assessment methods is analogues of assessing knowledge of foreign languages (from Basic to Intermediate and Advanced). Each of these levels is assigned a score from 0 to 5. You then calculate the total score as the sum of the weighted scores.
3. Definition of development goals
Then you fill out 2 more columns in the plan table - what level of knowledge and skills do you expect to have in a year and in a month. This approach is somewhat close to modern trend unification, when you subordinate your development to numerical measurements (in essence, you accumulate points). There is still room for development here, how this table can be optimized, what “buns” you can give yourself for achieving a particular level.
4. Determining ways to achieve
After that, you determine ways to achieve the goal. For each item that you plan to improve, you identify literature, training, conferences, etc. You must have a clear understanding of what you plan to do in the next month and next year in order to develop in business analysis.
Results
So, business analysts can have many skills and knowledge, they can be different, they can be applied in in different forms on your current projects. But if you feel that you have already reached the ceiling and that you know everything within the framework of the work that you are currently doing right now on projects, do not despair at all - try to remember today’s report, try to look at the world more broadly and think that I still don’t know where else I can develop, where I can move. Definitely, this will be useful for you from a career point of view, and your employer will also appreciate it. Which means you will be more successful professionally in your IT career.
Question 1
What are the criteria for assessing the quality of an analyst’s work? How to objectively evaluate the work of your subordinate analysts?A good place to start is by agreeing with the analytics team to ensure that the quality of work is presented equally across all members. For example, for me, one of the criteria for an analyst’s work (not the main one) is the quality of the documents they provide. At the same time, it is important for me that the document is beautifully designed, meaningfully and logically structured, so that there are no jumps from section to section, etc. Accordingly, we take this specific atomic unit and discuss with the analyst that the quality of the document should be like this, and he answers you that he didn’t even think about it. For example, there is no page numbering and that's fine. He thought that the main thing was to write the text. Thus, having sat down together and discussed these points with him, we come to a common understanding of the quality of the document.
Accordingly, you need to go through all the steps of the analyst’s work and discuss the quality criteria.
Based on the assessment, I can say the following: we undergo periodic certifications (1-2 times a year), the assessment for which consists of several criteria. Analysts are, first of all, communicators, i.e. they receive information from clients and pass it on to developers. A very important evaluation criterion is what the client thinks about the interaction with the analyst: how quickly he responds to requests, how clear and understandable the information he provides to the client and how effective he is in interacting with the client. This questionnaire is filled out by the client. A similar questionnaire is filled out by developers (i.e., the project implementation team): how accessible the analyst is to them, how much they understand the documents provided to them, how comfortable they are working with this analyst on the project.
This is one of the points that analysts evaluate, and it is very important, because he is a translator between the client and the developer, and if there is a weak link at this stage, then no matter how well he designs and writes, he has not achieved his goals.
The second point is the effectiveness of the project. Of course, not only the analyst is taken into account here, but, nevertheless, we evaluate the entire team. But since the analyst was a translator of requirements and, together with the team, formed what this product should do, this is also a fairly important characteristic.
The third point - if possible, is an expert assessment of the documents and requirements that the analyst produces. For example, for six months he wrote requirements, but did not include some of them in the basic requirements or forgot about them. Or in relation to specifications - how clear, specific, and consistent they are. In this way, you can expertly evaluate these documents. This is not always possible. Usually only the customer or the development team can say anything about it.
Why are domain knowledge classified as additional competencies? It seems to me that this is the basic thing: an analyst can draw bad diagrams, but he must understand what he is doing. There are many people who draw beautiful graphs and UML diagrams, and those who do not understand the essence of the work and do stupid things are the majority.
I agree with this position. However, in the process of preparing the presentation, Sergey and I argued quite a lot about grouping skills for the convenience of their presentation and understanding by analysts. The same basic skills are the foundation that does not allow you to become an analyst; it only allows you to start delving into this industry. Therefore, it may not contain domain expertise. Of course, there is absolutely no way to successfully complete projects without it.
Question 2
At one time I was of the same opinion that analysts can write documents, until I met a professional technical writer (from Europe). And I realized that this is a huge area, people even receive special education in this area. And there is a huge difference between what business analysts, salespeople, project managers, developers write, and what technical writers write - in fact, it is an abyss. It seems to me that if there is a possibility (for example, in large companies There is such a practice), outsourcing technical writing to a professional company. They give out public information about a product and they immediately write professional documentation, rather than trying to do it internally.I started my career as a technical writer, so all this is very close to me, I understand very clearly what you are talking about now. Based on my feelings and how I performed my analytical functions, having a technical writing base, and comparing this with analysts who do not have this base, I still believe that analysts should have the skills to write technical documentation. This makes you look more professional.
Regarding the fact that something can be divided and outsourced, my entire report can be broken into pieces and said, for example, that the design of business processes should be left to a specialist in business process modeling (I met such a specialist who did that something none of my business analysts could do). But this is just proof that the better you delve into the areas outlined in the report, the better your result will be and the more you will cause a wow reaction from everyone around you.
P.S.. You can meet Maria and Sergei at future conferences in the series
And again hola to all our amigos!
We continue our series of articles for aspiring analysts, and today we will talk about what steps should be taken if you have already formed a clear and conscious desire to become a business analyst. We remind you that we briefly reviewed the essence of the work of an IT analyst and weighed the main pros and cons of this young and interesting profession.
So, the simplest and most effective way is to find a vacancy for a novice analyst or trainee, send your resume to this company, then successfully pass an interview (by the way, we will talk about preparation for interviews, common selection criteria and the most frequently asked questions in one of the following articles) and voila: you are an aspiring business analyst a.k.a. business analyst trainee (we would like to warn you in advance that the term “business analyst”, as the most common one, is used hereinafter in relation to all types of IT analysts in our companies; the differences between business, systems and requirements analysts have been outlined) . In reality, everything is not as simple as it seems...
And here's why:
1. The IT world requires fewer analysts than programmers, therefore the demand is lower.
2. Training novice analysts is quite expensive due to the fact that:
2.1. ROI (return on investment) is very distant in time and is absolutely not guaranteed.
2.2. Rare people have at the input a combination of all those qualities and skills that are practically mandatory for this position.
Based on this, this ideal option is not available to everyone and depends both on your skills and perseverance, and on a banal case. Let's take a closer look at the options search for vacancies/internships:
1)
Look for advertisements on job search portals such as dev.by, rework.by, rabota.by, etc. (hereinafter, non-Belarusian analysts are asked to make allowances for the northwest wind, i.e., take into account that many pieces of advice are given in the context of Belarus). Send your resumes even to those companies that do not have an analyst vacancy at the moment. Who knows, maybe in a month they will need it or they will organize courses, and your resume will already be in the company database.
2)
Monitor the announcements in the forum section of the website. Our community of analysts is growing every day, and advertisements for vacancies, internships and courses are increasingly appearing in this thread. It is likely that a corresponding section will appear on the site soon.
3)
If you have friends or acquaintances who work in the IT field, ask them to let you know if their company starts internal courses for analysts or recruits for internships. The fact is that not all companies advertise such events, preferring to hire “trusted” people on the recommendation of one of the employees. And some, although they advertise, do not do it very successfully, so you can easily miss them, unless you are a maniac combing even the least logical locations of such advertisements.
4)
There are companies that periodically conduct mass courses on business analysis. These courses, for the most part, are not free, secondly, after completing such courses you are unlikely to become a full-fledged analyst, and thirdly, no one will give you guarantees of employment. But you will definitely gain certain knowledge there, and this will certainly give you an advantage over people who do not have such knowledge, and will increase your chances of getting a job as an analyst in the future. Analyze the value of your investment: paid courses, especially if you are confident in them and about them good reviews, no matter how much they cost, they give you a start in life; even as an intern, you will win them back in a couple of months (this is still not an MBA and their price is unlikely to be exorbitant).
Let us repeat once again that due to the fact that the business analyst profession is quite young and not so widespread in our country, it is much more difficult for a beginning BA to find a job than, for example, a tester or even a programmer/layout designer. And that’s why there is an opinion that if you can’t find a job as an analyst, you can get any other position in IT (“like for starters, and then I’ll grow woohoo”). The authors of the article also agree and fully support this position. To do this, of course, you need to have knowledge of IT and it is very desirable to have the appropriate education (but if you don’t have it, it’s not all that scary, because patience and work... well, you get the idea). Choosing this path is good because this way you will learn the software development process from the inside, learn to work in a team, see with your own eyes the process and results of the work of analysts, gain real knowledge and the opportunity to later retrain as a BA. The main thing is not to miss the chance. And this is where lies main drawback this path, you may not become an analyst. Because you may not have enough strength, time, or desire to read literature on business analysis, study this site and forum; because the opportunity to retrain as a BA may not arise; because even if it appears, you may be afraid to change something and start your BA career from scratch; because you will simply understand that this is not yours (by the way, this is a completely reasonable option), etc. So whether to choose such a long path is left to your discretion. Please keep in mind that based on our personal experience– most good specialists in IT analysis grow up as programmers and testers. Having been in the shoes of those with whom you will have to carefully interact, you will gain + 100 XP to experience and understanding of the software development process :).
Now let’s assume that you have found a company with a desired vacancy or have compiled the TOP 10 companies in which you would like to work/intern. The next step is drawing up resume. Your resume is the first indicator by which an employer evaluates you, so your chances of success depend on how well your resume is written.
Typically a resume contains the following sections:
1) Desired position;
2) Personal data, contact information;
3) Education;
4) Knowledge of languages;
5) Professional skills and knowledge;
6) Work experience;
7) Additional information (personal qualities, recommendations, publications, certificates, additional education).
Main part of the resume for a person with work experience– this, of course, is “Work Experience”, and the corresponding professional knowledge. However, if you are a student and you have nothing to impress the employer, focus on personal qualities, motivation, determination, desire to develop professionally, etc. Just don’t try to fill out the “Work experience” column according to the principle “well, let there be at least something there,” since “4th year student at BSU Mekhmat” - although it’s hard work, this is not what employers expect to see in this column.
Resume templates can be found on the website of any IT company, but we would highly recommend that you make your own template, in which you include exactly those sections in which you can advantageously present yourself. Also, do not under any circumstances send your resume in any company’s template to other companies. You'll be lucky if your resume is read at all after this. There are an endless number of recommendations for writing a resume (at least), so we will not dwell on this issue in detail. We can only advise you to work it out in as much detail and thoroughly as possible. this topic and treat your resume with great care. A couple of useful tips:
1) Think about the structure of your resume and stick to it. Express your thoughts clearly and structuredly.
2) Spelling, punctuation, construction of phrases - all this will allow you to paint a picture of you as a future author project documentation. We hope it goes without saying that these are extremely important aspects of your resume.
3) Humor in a resume is usually not welcome, with the exception of individual readers, whose chance of stumbling upon is not so great.
4) Focus your resume on the target vacancy. Focusing on the fact that you have extensive experience in cross-stitching, focusing on the position of a beginner BA, will only show the employer that you either inattentively read the text of the vacancy, or are sending template resumes to dozens of companies.
5) Show your serious approach to business. Contact mailboxes a la [email protected] or Skype accounts like sexykitty89 (just in case, we apologize to potential victims of a random coincidence :)) are unlikely to add pluses to your piggy bank.
6) If you decide (or are dictated by requirements) to write a resume in English, then check it several times either yourself or with the help of your friends who know English well.
7) Re-read the resume and try to answer the following questions yourself:
a. “Is this person suitable for the position of analyst?”
b. “Would I hire this person to work with me?”
c. “What would attract me to this person?”
d. “What would turn me off?”
e. “What is it about this person that makes him different from other candidates?”
Tweak your resume based on the answers to these questions.
Now let’s turn to people who are already working in IT and have decided to become business analysts. We hasten to assure you that you will look very advantageous against the background of students without experience or people with experience, but not in the IT field. At your disposal is a wealth of knowledge, work experience, desire, connections, colleagues and the same recommendations for finding vacancies. Do not rush to change your place of work: perhaps your company has major project, where analysts work and where you can be hired as an apprentice without interrupting work on your main project. Chat with the resource manager, HR department, analysts in your company - and we are sure that there will be a way to smoothly change your current profession to the profession of an analyst.
And finally, I would like to give a couple more job search recommendations from my own experience:
1) Do not lay out all your cards, in particular not trump cards :). If, for example, you are still a student and cannot work full-time, or you are a young mother, or you do not have knowledge in IT, do not tell this to the HR department employees who call you to invite you for an interview. Any shortcoming can be presented in a more positive light during personal communication with the interviewer. Looking ahead a little, here are a few examples:
a. You can’t work full-time right now, but in a month (two or three) you will be able to, but for now you’ll be able to devote 6 hours a day to work, and this is better than 4.
b. So what if you are a mother, but you are ready to work 8 hours a day, and even overtime, because you have a nanny or grandmother who looks after the child (anything can happen).
c. Just because you don’t have IT knowledge right now doesn’t mean you won’t have it in a week when you get called for an interview. A week is 7 whole days (and nights too), you know how much you can read if you have a desire and a cherished goal.
In general, don’t say too much, but go to the interview and show yourself with the best side, trying to convince the interviewer that your shortcomings are temporary, or easily fixed, or are not shortcomings at all. After all, if the HR department was given dry information about the required candidacy and upon learning that you are a student (and God forbid you will also be assigned), they will immediately lose interest in you, then at the interview you have a real chance - after all, the human factor , the gift of persuasion and personal sympathy has not been canceled. We will talk about the interviews themselves in more detail in one of the following articles.
2) Don't despair. Times are, of course, difficult now, IT specialists are being trained in many universities, and demand on the labor market clearly exceeds supply. But we are sure: whoever seeks finds.
Result: In order to find the door through which you can enter the IT sphere, and pick up the key to this door, you will need perseverance, patience and more perseverance. Convince the company, the interviewer, the guru-analyst and everyone else along the way that you are what they need, that they can and should invest effort and money in you. And they will believe it.
If you have not been actively looking for a job in... last couple years, then your knowledge about the form, design and content of a resume is no longer relevant. Use the guidelines in this article to write a modern resume for the following positions:
- Technologist-analyst
- System Analyst
- Business Analyst
- Preparation
- Search purpose
- Business Analyst Job Profile
- Responsibilities
- Examples of results/Key projects
- Skills
- Professional qualities
- Examples for the “About Me” section
- Download resume templates
1. Preparation
Before looking for a new job, you need to conduct a SWOT analysis professional competencies and based on this case, create a resume that will be adapted to modern labor market requirements for your position/field/specialization. Before you start creating your resume, read this article:
In this publication, you will get acquainted with a case that will help you collect all the necessary information to write a selling resume. A selling resume is created for a specific search purpose, meets the requirements of vacancies for similar positions and contains a specific set of keywords.
2. Purpose of search
Your search objective statement should be located at the beginning of your resume. If you want to apply for a vacancy whose position title is different from your current position, then change it to the one indicated in the vacancy.
List of positions, for which you can use the examples in this article:
First level positions (1):
- Technologist-analyst
- System Analyst
- Junior Analyst
- Business planner
Second level positions (2):
- Business Analyst
- Senior Business Analyst
- Lead Business Analyst
- Project/Direction Manager (analysis and optimization of business processes)
- Project Manager for Business Process Optimization
Third level positions (3):
- Head of Analytics Group
- Project office team leader
- Head of Analytics Department
- Head of Business Analysis Department
- Head of Organizational and Business Processes Department
3. Job profile of a business analyst
Job profile- this is the standard of the ideal candidate, which contains a list of requirements for the knowledge, skills, and qualifications of the candidate necessary for successful performance job responsibilities. Job Description – A short version of the job profile that includes a list of mandatory requirements for the initial selection of candidates based on resumes.
Position profile: Business Analyst
Requirements:
Experience:
- 1 year of experience as a business/systems analyst;
- higher education;
- experience in writing and delivering presentations;
- experience in negotiations;
- Experience with application packages for business process design;
- Experience working in Agile teams;
- experience working with BI tools at the analyst level: SAS, OBIEE, SAP BO software and others;
- Experienced user of MS Word, MS Excel, MS Visio, MS PowerPoint.
Knowledge and skills:
- deep understanding of business processes;
- knowledge of business process modeling notations (EPC, BPMN, UML) and the ability to apply them when describing and modeling processes;
- skills in analyzing and describing business processes As Is and building processes To Be;
- skills in assessing the effectiveness of implemented To Be processes;
- skills in collecting requirements and developing technical specifications for modifying information systems;
- knowledge of the stages of the change management process (ITSM), skills in using ITIL principles in work;
- PC knowledge at the advanced user level (products based on the 1C platform, MS Office);
- knowledge of business processes in manufacturing, commercial, financial, trading companies;
- knowledge of application integration technology.
Tasks:
- Identify, define and manage business requirements using various requirements analysis techniques (interviews, document analysis, requirements workshops) and tools (use cases, user stories).
- Translate high-level business and user requirements into specific feature requirements specified at the appropriate level of detail.
- Analysis of existing business processes in the company, requests for changes, clarification of business requirements.
- Development of proposals for changing processes, their coordination and implementation.
- Calculation of preliminary economic and other effects of the changes being carried out. Tracking the actual effects of implementing changes.
- Analysis of business needs for process automation, preparation of technical specifications, testing, verification of results.
- Critical assessment of requirements from the point of view of the feasibility of their implementation.
- Participation in monitoring compliance of the implemented functionality with the stated requirements.
- Development and implementation effective methods requirements management, including the use and continuous improvement of processes for collecting and formalizing requirements.
- Development of business processes for the accounting system.
- Description of business processes in the AS-IS view.
- Development of business processes in the “TO-BE” view.
- Development practical recommendations to correct errors.
- Audit of error correction results.
- Development of standards and monitoring of their implementation.
- Formation of proposals on opportunities to improve, optimize and automate business processes.
- Development of a business process implementation plan.
- Introduction of business processes into the Company's activities.
- Development of regulations for end business users.
- Organization and training of business process participants.
- Analysis of the impact of changes on the efficiency of business processes.
- Development, implementation and monitoring of KPIs and control procedures.
- Development and approval of employee KPIs.
- Preparation of training materials, training, methodological support and quality control of processes.
- Development of technical documents (TOR, TKP), presentations and computer demonstrations for customers.
- Participation in process audits.
4. Responsibilities
Below are lists of responsibilities for positions at different levels. These are keywords/phrase combinations that HR managers use to select candidates based on resumes. Select from the list provided those that match your experience and distribute them among your places of work.
Technologist-analyst
Analysis, formalization and optimization of existing business processes.
Development and approval of business process models (ARIS) and preparation of proposals for their optimization.
Development regulatory documentation(provisions, regulations, instructions).
Formation and coordination of functional requirements for business processes and systems.
Business Analyst
Analysis and formalization of customer requirements (front office, middle office, risks).
Preparation of specifications and setting development tasks.
Creation of technical documentation (FT, technical specifications, manuals).
Consultations with analysts, developers, testers, sales managers, user training.
Participation in implementation software products: support in the process of integration with other systems, system configuration, error analysis.
Analysis of the mathematical basis for calculating financial instruments with subsequent implementation.
Modeling, analysis, optimization of AS-IS and TO-BE business processes.
Work on automating business processes.
Analysis, development and approval of proposals for improving business processes.
Formalization of requirements for processes and automation.
Formation of functional requirements and technical assignments on automation of business processes in information systems.
Checking the compliance of automation results with the assigned tasks.
Formation of process and functional instructions for the implementation of business processes.
Audit of business process execution (initial and periodic).
Writing business requirements for information systems for process automation and reporting.
Research and analyze market trends to evaluate potential applications within the company.
Business Analyst
Analysis, modeling and description of business processes.
Detailed description of functional requirements.
Calculation of the economic feasibility of the project.
Setting and managing project expectations, identifying risks, benefits and opportunities.
Organization of work on the project (drawing up a project passport, coordinating participants, tracking statuses).
Assessing the impact of failures on business processes and preparing workarounds.
Change management.
Resource planning and task distribution for project implementation.
Head of department
Carrying out diagnostics of business processes.
Estimation of the cost of business processes.
Description of business processes in the “as is” and “as should be” model.
Development of a system of business process indicators to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of business processes.
Planning and implementation of activities for the implementation of the target/transition model of business processes, monitoring the achievement of set goals for changes.
Project manager (analysis and optimization of business processes)
Modeling business processes and developing proposals for their optimization.
Preparation of methodological support for the creation, development and operation of automated information systems.
Work with regulations, standards and other documentation that defines the Customer’s activities.
Development of analytical reports and notes.
Planning and monitoring of project implementation, including: planning the project budget, drawing up a detailed work schedule, taking into account the workload of the performers.
Collection of requirements from the Customer and development of technical specifications.
Interaction with analysts, co-executors, coordination of their activities.
Interaction with Customer representatives.
Preparation, delivery and presentation of project results to the Customer.
Project Manager
Analysis and technological examination of requirements structural divisions Companies that automate business processes in the area of back-up when implementing third-party systems.
Participation in the collection, development and coordination of business requirements, setting tasks for the refinement/implementation/integration of information systems, preparation of business cases (testing methods).
Interaction with business and IT departments to develop optimal solutions according to automation requirements.
Assessing the consequences of changes in processes, technologies, and information systems based on the systems being implemented.
Project management (planning, protection, control of implementation deadlines, interaction with departments regarding project implementation).
Project budget management.
Managing risks and changes within the project.
Development and implementation of project methodology in the bank when implementing projects.
Head of Business Analysis Department
Organization and management project activities Business support block (directions: Customer service, administration, document flow, HR, etc.).
Grade economic efficiency business processes, construction financial models.
Optimization of business processes - creation of “as is” process models and “to be” process models, development and approval of regulatory documentation.
Automation of processes, preparation of technical specifications and functional requirements.
Development of business analysis methodology, necessary instructions, patterns and processes.
Process improvement.
Training and development of a team of analysts.
Maintaining a knowledge base.
Effectively interact with other participants in project or operational activities (including internal team or external contractor).
Identifying customer needs.
Drawing up product requirements.
Analysis, optimization and design of business processes.
Analysis, formalization various types requirements.
Analysis of problem areas and suggestions for improvement.
Collection, systematization and formalization of development requirements (with detail down to the level of design of business processes, interfaces and database models).
Requirements management (processing change requests, analyzing and describing the impact on existing processes).
Head of Back Office Process Organization Department
Development, coordination, implementation, support and optimization of business processes and internal regulatory documents.
Business analytics during the implementation of intrabank projects to assess the impact of the introduction of new products and processes on the efficiency of the Bank’s activities.
Optimization of projects in order to maximize the effect of their implementation.
Development of measurable business process metrics in accordance with strategic goals Bank, determination of KPIs of main business processes.
Implementation of projects for the technological development of the Bank.
Formation of business requirements, technological development of applications for modification of banking products/services and related software, preparation technological maps processes, implementation of new functionality.
Head of Process Office/Head of Business Analysis Department
Consistent implementation of a process approach to management in the company.
Creation and management of a process office.
Creation of a system for managing process and organizational changes and innovations.
Portfolio management (monitoring the compliance of projects with the strategy of the organization/division, ensuring the formation of a portfolio of projects, its balancing and monitoring).
Carrying out a full cycle of analysis, optimization and implementation of changes in the company’s existing business processes.
Development of a methodology for analysis and modeling of processes.
Creation and organization of maintaining a unified database of processes and regulations.
Development and implementation of standards for describing requirements and setting tasks in terms of business processes.
Implementation of process modeling tools.
Organizing work on continuous optimization of business processes in the company, independently managing a number of projects.
Consulting and organizing training for company employees on process management issues and as part of changing business processes.
Active participation in the development of KPIs for various departments of the company.
Selection and implementation of software for organizing the work of the department.
Business process modeling.
Formation of a register of projects and summary reporting on projects.
Participation in planning and monitoring the implementation of individual projects upon request or on on an ongoing basis.
Knowledge management in the field of project management (collection, analysis, synthesis and dissemination of knowledge between participants in project activities).
4. Examples of achievements/key projects for a business analyst resume
The main points of attraction in a resume are achievements. Provide specific examples of what you did in your current/previous jobs. Use the examples below as a basis for creating your own results. They should reflect the main KPIs of your work, taking into account the tasks of the position for which you are currently applying.
Business Analyst Key Performance Indicators
Economic and financial indicators for each business process adopted by the Company.
% completed key indicators efficiency of the department/division.
Key performance indicators of project management
Project profitability (ROI)
Increasing project profitability
The size of deviations from the project plan and budget
Compliance with project deadlines
Customer/client/user satisfaction
Number of complaints from customers
Reducing time to market
Improved resource loading during project implementation
Examples of results
- Launching a process office from scratch to form a common approach to managing processes and aligning them with the Company’s strategy, goals and objectives.
- Creation of a centralized back office: the number of personnel was reduced by 20%, 90% of operations were standardized.
- Creation of a middle office for retail credit products in branches: key labor-intensive processes were automated, staff reduction was carried out by 50%, the budget was reduced by 40%.
- Implementation of an Internet banking system based on ABC. The project has moved into the functional testing phase.
- Creating a matrix for normalizing working time for the front office - optimizing the number of employees up to 12%.
- Comprehensive automation of business processes and accounting procedures in 1C:
Launch of the “Sales” and “Accounting and Tax Accounting” modules in one system.
Implementation of a new order processing management algorithm. Labor productivity increased by 40%.
Optimization of business processes “Logistics and warehouse”. Implemented plans to improve product delivery performance by 30%: reducing delivery time by 2 times, costs by 35%, and the volume of raw materials and supplies by 20%. - Reengineering of the “Sales” business process finished products" Increased the speed of shipment of finished products to customers by 2 times.
- Implementation of an ERP system X. Increased the speed of receiving orders by 2 times.
Key projects
- Having successfully completed projects as a business analyst with personal participation.
- Development of business processes for the “Voice Assistant” project (use of artificial intelligence in the Bank’s contact center). Optimization of current business processes in the voice channel for departments: customer service, collection and sales.
- Participation in projects with the following information systems:
1. Task delivery system;
2. System for working with documentation;
3. System for working with software versions (version control system);
4. System for recording requirements for business processes and automation tools. - Integration of production development and testing systems.
- Participation in projects to implement own solutions as an analyst and task setter.
- Automation of procurement activities of the Government of the Moscow Region.
- Comprehensive automation of construction processes in the Moscow Region (budgetary, shared, extra-budgetary construction).
- Automation of processes of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Moscow Region (solid waste control system, construction and reclamation projects for landfills).
- Implementation of information and analytical BI systems (112, MFC, Procurement, Departmental BI systems).
- Implementation of systems project management.
- Portal and integration solutions.
- Participation in implementation strategic projects using tools Production system(Lean/lean manufacturing). Independently perform the following project tasks:
— description of the As Is process and modeling of To Be;
— visualization of the As Is and To Be processes;
— identification of process problems;
— development of proposals to eliminate process problems;
— generation of non-standard solutions to complex problems. - Work on a process automation project as an industrial analyst.
- Examination of electronic digital data and customer projects.
- Participation in projects to minimize fraudulent transactions together with the bank's security department.
- Design of custom solutions based on the Directum RX system.
- Implementation of electronic document management systems.
- Project management for the implementation of automated information systems:
— business process analysis;
— development of project documentation, implementation plan;
— development of methodological materials for implementation and operation;
— carrying out technical work by installation ( full cycle);
— organizing and conducting training courses;
— organization and control of improvements (collection of user expectations, drawing up a description of the business process, implementation of improvements). - Development and implementation of an insurance accounting system.
- Analysis and technological examination of the requirements of structural units for automating business processes in the back-up area when implementing third-party systems.
- Setting up the process for developing new/modifying existing processes. Reducing product development and implementation time to 2 weeks, reducing product testing time to 3 days.
- Transfer of operational processes to the EDI system: development of a new process for accounting and processing of incoming and outgoing documents of the Company.
- Development and automation of a new process for providing services to the Client. Ensured the formation and receipt of documents for obtaining tax deduction within 4 days.
- Application of online cash registers (54-FZ): setting up the acceptance of insurance payments in accordance with 54-FZ. Development of a new process for accepting insurance payments, taking into account the use of online cash registers.
- Optimization of the process of accepting regular payments, including increasing the share of receipt of regular payments to 50%.
- Comprehensive monitoring system financial market for X. The system was developed jointly with companies Z and Y (2017-2018). What was done:
— conducting research on the analysis of key approaches to organizing monitoring systems for financial and stock markets;
— development of methodological recommendations for the implementation of financial market monitoring indicators (including in terms of non-standard transactions);
— development of reporting templates for monitoring indicators. - Boxed solutions “Forecast. Credit risk" and "Forecast. Loan portfolio management" (2016-2017). Results:
— development of methodological recommendations for the implementation of economic models (in terms of assessing the credit risk of legal entities and resident banks) in software products;
— implementation of basic settings for out-of-the-box solutions (downloading reports, setting up algorithms for calculating risk factors, clarifying algorithms for calculating econometric models for determining the probability of borrower default, etc.);
— organizing and conducting demonstration and training seminars on working with software products;
- Preparation marketing research market of specialized software products: analysis target audience, competitor product analysis, SWOT analysis, etc. - Data processing and analysis system (ALVIS, ALMPro) – creation of a unified data warehouse for bank transactions for the purpose of preparing management reporting for the division as a whole (managerial balance sheet, profit and loss account), according to Treasury performance indicators. Main objectives of the project:
— development and writing commercial offers;
— development and writing of technical specifications for software developers;
— implementation of basic system settings in accordance with the requirements;
— examination of software products for errors and malfunctions;
— training customers to work with software products — writing user instructions, telephone consultation, training in the customer’s office;
— writing a user manual, including a description of the calculation methodology. - Analysis of regulatory documents of regulatory authorities with subsequent application in the company's products.
- Implementation of software products: support in the process of integration with other systems, system configuration, error analysis.
- Formation of requirements for the new banking system.
6. Key skills of a business analyst
Analysis of business indicators
Statistical analysis
Data Analysis
Economic modeling
Analytical research
Business process analysis
Business Process Optimization
Business process modeling
Risk analysis
Business modeling
Project management
Business process reengineering
Making presentations
Negotiation
Integration automated systems
Business requirements development
Formation of functional requirements
Development of technical specifications
Setting tasks for developers
Development and implementation of policies and procedures
Writing regulations
XML, XSD, WSDL
1C
CRM
ERP systems
VisualBasic for App
MS Project
MS Word
MS Power Point
MS Excel
MS Access
MS Dynamics
MS SharePoint
MS Visio
MS DAX
Agile Project Management
Scrum
Kanban
Waterfall
PMI
PMBOK
PRINCE 2
PME
CBT
Lean
CCPM
ARIS
Diasoft software
UML
ARIS
Redmine
Atlassian Jira
VBA
MindManager
Trello
SAS
Oracle
SQL
OBIEE
SAP BO
ETL tools (SAS DIS, Informatica PowerCenter)
Business Studio
7. Professional qualities of a business analyst
List personal qualities that are required for the required level of performance of official duties. Select 3-4 qualities that you possess and include in your resume/cover letter as you see fit. This is an optional section of your resume to complete.
Analytical mind.
Communication skills.
Attentiveness.
Non-conflict, ability to find compromises.
Result-oriented, desire to see things through to the end, to “push through”, including in conditions of uncertainty.
Positive thinking is focusing on what can be achieved rather than what cannot be achieved.
Structure.
Strategic thinking.
Systems thinking.
Ability to think outside the box in difficult situations.
Ability to analyze large volumes of information in a short time.
Ability to switch between diverse tasks.
Ability to analyze, structure and systematize information.
The ability to see the automated process as a whole and justify the proposed solution.
The ability to divide a task into parts convenient for monitoring its implementation.
Ability to manage economic indicators project and evaluate labor costs taking into account approaches to project implementation, limitations and risks.
Ability to quickly understand new application areas.
The ability to clearly express your thoughts in the form of presentations, diagrams, tables.
Ability to interact with other departments within the organization within the framework of tasks.
Ability to get to the root of problems.
The ability to get things done.
8. Examples for the “About Me” section for a business analyst resume
Section "About Me" - general description your professional background. It can be formatted as a short paragraph of 1-4 sentences or a bulleted list. Indicate those aspects of your qualifications that are integral components of the vacancy, such as areas of activity, areas of specialization, core competencies, technical skills, licenses, certificates additional education. For example:
- Significant experience in participation in projects to describe, reorganize and optimize business processes, including projects to implement and improve the management system. Expert knowledge of flexible development and project management approaches (Agile, Scrum) and traditional project management methodologies (Waterfall). I am able to creatively use integrated and mixed methodologies.
- 5+ experience in analyzing, modeling and describing business processes and IT system requirements. I am able to manage customer expectations, manage product and project requirements, and adequately communicate them to the development team, as well as prevent any difficult situations. I have a good command of the following tools: VisualBasic for App, MS Excel (analysis tools, writing routines in VBA), MS Access (building databases, programming calculation algorithms in VBA based on SQL queries). I am proficient in project management technologies (PMI, TOC, lean and CCPM).
- Experience in the banking sector in the following areas: business process management, methodology and banking technologies. There are 10 employees directly subordinate, 60 functional employees, including those with experience remote control. I have practical experience in successfully implementing projects and organizing business processes operational management from scratch".
- Practical experience in participation in projects for the implementation of information systems and software for business (CRM, ERP systems, etc.). Deep knowledge of the methodology of analysis, description, optimization and automation of business processes (sales processes, accounting and sales support). I have experience in conducting internal negotiations and balancing conflicting demands from different departments.
- I own professional knowledge and skills: methods of analysis, modeling, optimization of business processes, notations for describing business processes (IDEFo, BPMN). I have experience in developing requirements for automating business processes, drawing up process and functional instructions for performers. Experience with Business Intelligence tools.
- Experience working as a business analyst financial projects(Treasury, EPS). Deep knowledge of financial fundamentals, management accounting and budgeting, integration of banking systems and processes.
- Experience in the field of optimization of business management processes for more than 3 years. Setting up a process management system and creating a process office from scratch. I have the skills to describe a wide variety of business processes. Experience in developing performance indicators for various types of activities, regulations, regulations, standards and their successful implementation. Experience leading cross-functional organizational change projects.
- More than 3 years of experience working with tasks in the field of business analysis. Experience in successful implementation of a project in the field of optimization and automation of business processes. Skills in working with specialized software (Aris/Visio). Knowledge of the internal processes of the Bank, understanding of the principles of operation of banking products.
- I have expert knowledge of systems/programs/techniques/standards in the field of automated systems design and basic concepts in the field of relational databases, normalization requirements and basic SQL constructs. I am well versed in the methodology of modeling complex systems: UML2.0, BPMN, IDEF (IDEF0, IDEF3, DFD standards) and can read UML 2.0 diagrams and descriptions of business processes in BPMN and IDEF0 notations, tmForum.org organization models (ETOM, SID and TAM). I have modern tools for managing requirements, modeling business processes and describing IT solutions, as well as basic programming skills (SQL, VBA, JavaScript, C#).
- Experience as an IT/e-commerce analyst for 5 years. Knowledge of relational database theory, BPMN, UML; principles of project management (Waterfall | Agile). I have interviewing skills and business correspondence. Experience in IT project management systems (Redmine | Jira | Trello).
- More than 6 years of experience as a business/systems analyst of software products and information systems. Experience leading a team of analysts. Experience in describing and designing business logic in the context of automation cases and the logic of information exchange between components of different systems and data sources. Understanding of the basics of traditional and flexible software development methodologies. Coach for job search and career building. The only trainer-interviewer in Russia who prepares for all types of interviews. Resume writing expert. Author of the books: “I’m Afraid of Interviews!”, “Destroying #Resume,” “Destroying #CoverLetter.”