Sr. Business Systems Analyst

blueStone Executive Search has a distinct focus on recruiting IT professionals with an emphasis on the areas of leadership, business transformation and enterprise.

The senior business analyst is the individual who has the primary responsibility to elicit, analyze, validate, specify, verify, and manage the real needs of the project stakeholders, including customers and end users.  Serves as the conduit between the customer community and the systems team through which requirements flow.
A senior business analyst is involved at some level throughout the entire system or software development life cycle.  Upon establishment of the requirements baseline, the focus is shifted towards the management of the requirements specification, verification of all requirements, and in some cases may involve configuration of the system to support the requirements.  Duties may include working on the application system analysis with a complete understanding of the application development methodology and project management life cycle methodology.
This person may analyze various business processes to see if they are truly effective in the current paradigm for current business objectives.  In this area, particular business processes may be re-engineered to meet objectives.  The business analyst focuses on identifying areas for improvements to eliminate risks\weaknesses by incorporating the present business practices\objectives with newer systems and efficient processes.

Analysis / Communication:

• Analyze information and recommend plan of action to IT and business project team.

• Analyze and solve complex business problems.

• Perform or assist in the research and fact-finding to develop or modify application programs.

• Prepare project reports and Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) documentation as appropriate.

• Develop the functional and system design specifications.

• Reviews and edits requirements, specifications, and recommendations related to a proposed solution.

• Participate on the team that works with the business user(s) to identify required changes.

• Communicate needed changes to the project team.

• Assist in the enforcement of deadlines and schedules, by reviewing project/task plan.  Communicate issues/concerns to project manager.

• Business Process Engineering:

• Design and document new business processes with business unit partners.

• Understand, document, and assess changes needed for the business processes.

• Document the technology requirements of new or re-engineered business processes.

• Plan the introduction of the new business processes, the development and implementation of related information systems\services, and the start-up of the new business processes.

• Testing:

• Direct efforts in the creation of user acceptance test cases

• Conduct and review trial runs of programs and software applications to be sure they will produce the desired information and that the instructions are correct.

• Direct the analysis of user acceptance testing results and recommend defect resolutions in conjunction with requirements/development team.  Participate in user acceptance testing, when applicable.

• Ensure issues are identified, tracked, reported on and resolved in a timely manner. 

• Production Support:

• Assist business users with complex system problems.
• Assist in identifying issues and inconsistencies with data quality to overcome system deficiencies.

• Bachelor's degree and/or equivalent experience.

• Five to seven years of related experience.

• Experienced in applications programming, project management, Quality Assurance and Analytics.

• Experienced in technology based solutions or working in technology related positions.

• Important Decisions/Judments:

• Interprets situations not outlined in procedures; escalates policy related issues.

• Relies upon data, own experiences, other’s perspectives, and a clear process when evaluating course of action and making recommendations and decisions.

• Role requires associate to recognize and adopt cost-saving ideas, quantify and address scope changes, seeks efficient ways to structure and accomplish work; coaches others on the financial impact of their role.

• Additional Qualifications:

• Possesses and applies a broad knowledge of principles, practices, and procedures of particular field.

• Possesses working knowledge of specialized PC applications including: Visio, Ms Project.
• Experienced in performing functions in enterprise software packages, such as: financial packages, ERP, HRIS, Order Management, Warehouse, and Supply Chain.