From my personal experience and observation during my career as a Business Analyst, I can say that a Business Analyst will go through number of roles and responsibilities during his career. Now, in the initial days as a fresher when a BA start the job, his role will vary from a senior business analyst who has spent more than 10 years. I will explain it from IT standpoint where a System Integrator (IT Company) is working on a project for a client organization. The other scenario could be a Business Analyst who is working within the customer organization (we are not taking about the business analyst role).

Phase 1

This is the time when a fresher joins as a business analyst. The BA has probably done a business analyst training (not certification). His job role will be –

1. Understand the client requirements from reading a number of documents (RFP, Scope, SOW etc.)
2. He will have regular meetings with the Senior BA to understand the project requirements and also to validate himself
3. He will undergo some technical training to understand the tool that is being used in the current project
4. He will prepare questionnaire to gather requirements and send it to his senior
5. He will document high level requirements in BRD based on his understanding
6. He will co-ordinate with development and testing team members

Phase 2

This is when the junior business analyst has gained some experience and can work independently. His role will be –

1. To work closely with the client on the requirements
2. To work with the technical team and guide them
3. Ensure the documentations are done properly (BRD, FRD, RTM)
4. Ensure the testing team understands what functionalities need to be tested and how to go about it
5. Build confidence with the customer so that the project continues and they are satisfied

Phase 3

This is when the business analyst has more than a decade experience and he implemented various solutions. He is BABOK certified. Here the BA role will be vast –

1. Bring domain knowledge on the table (Insurance, Banking, Healthcare, Telecom, Real-estate etc.)
2. Help the customer to define the requirements
3. Consult and recommend the customer to benchmark the solution with peers
4. Bring in best practices during the project and also in the solution
5. Help junior business analysts to gear up
6. Help the sales team to close deals (pre-sales) or be the business consultant for new customer acquisition

The role of business analyst will change based on the location, industry, his capability also.

How Capability of the Business Analyst matter?

I have seen many business analyst who can also design the solution. So they are technically aligned with the team.

Similarly there will be business analysts who can also work as a Project Manager or Program Manager. However this will add too much of job load on a single person and either of the role may be impacted