Technology Project Program Management

Technology Project Management Best Practices

Project Managers, Business and System Analysts have Different Responsibilities

Recently their have been job descriptions requesting a Project Manager/Business Analyst (PM/BA). A Business Analyst and Systems Analyst (SA) have different roles and responsibilities. A BA relates to the Business side and gathers requirements and specifies/documents business requirements and SA relates to the Technical side and analyses is problems, supports the determination of solutions and business requirements to create and specify functional and non-functional requirements.

That's why is it important to understand the differences and that anyone applying for a BA or SA position must pay particular attention to the responsibilities and skills sets/qualifications required. The PM, BA, and SA have different roles and extensive responsibilities. With a small project you may have a PM doing some BA work but don’t kid yourself. For intermediate and large scale projects and programs they have full time responsibilities. Many IT Project Managers manage multiple projects but the responsibilities are basically the same.