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Comparative Analysis of Business Analysis and Business Process Management Capabilities

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A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF BUSINESS ANALYSIS
(BA) AND BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT (BPM)
CAPABILITIES
Paul Mathiesen, Faculty of Science and Technology, Queensland University of Technology,
Brisbane, Australia, p.mathiesen@connect.qut.edu.au
Wasana Bandara, Faculty of Science and Technology, Queensland University of Technology,
Brisbane, Australia, w.bandara@qut.edu.au
Houra Delavari, Faculty of Science and Technology, Queensland University of Technology,
Brisbane, Australia, h.delavari@qut.edu.au
Paul Harmon, Business Process Trends, 1819 Polk Street #334, S an Francisco, CA 94109,
USA, pharmon@sbcglobal.net
Kevin Brennan, International Institute of Business Analysis, 3605 Sandy Plains Road, Suite
240-193, Marietta, GA 30066, …show more content…

To make matters even more confusing, there are those within the Business Analyst community who have begun to distinguish between business analysts who focus on defining software requirements and those business analysts who are focused on improving business processes. SAP, for example, has set up a website1 for Business Process eXperts (BPXs), a group of analysts with more extensive business process capabilities.
This vagueness between BA and BPM roles creates confusion in practice and academia, which impacts on role designs, skills assessment, human resource development, recruitment and professional development. The impact of such was made clear at a Leonardo Process Days 2010 conference panel where BA and BPM role differentiation was reviewed. An outcome of this discussion was a consensus that i) Practitioners struggle to recognise and articulate the skills required (BA, BPM or both?) for various organisational initiatives and how to locate appropriate talent to fill these roles ii)
Academics fail to position BA and BPM as separate professions and often bundle them as the same in their course descriptions and marketing iii) Students and prospective candidates for employment vacancies therefore remain confused about the specific skill sets required of a BPM professional a nd/ or a Business Analyst.
Both the BA and BPM professions have made attempts

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