Crafts in Business System Analysis

Recently, I wrote a paper on the general state of craft that was more geared towards public consumption as opposed to any specific industry. To my mind, craft is a universal concept that touches on all industries, whether related to products or services. This resulted in a mishap of emails to me questioning how it relates to specific types of work, including Business Systems Analysis (BSA), which is of course applicable, but I question whether we have really realized the craftsmanship of this area.

From the outset, let me say unequivocally that BSA is not a new concept and has been with us for a long time, in fact, ahead of the modern computer age of the 20th century. Prior to this, companies had formal “Systems & Procedures” divisions with analysts focused on streamlining business processes and primarily using paper and manual procedures. When tabulation and other office equipment emerged, they were responsible for their integration into the business. But when computers were introduced, a new feature was devised that greatly influenced the future of analysts, namely programmers. Slowly but surely, analysts were replaced by programmers. By the end of Structured Programming / CASE mania of the 1980s and 90s, BSA was phased out almost to the point of extinction. In other words, companies were more preoccupied with programming as opposed to struggling with the entire business. Consequently, systems were attacked piecemeal, usually one program at a time, resulting in fragmented and incoherent systems, erroneous information, and redundancy in terms of data resources and work performance. Slowly, companies began to realize that a higher-level person needed to understand the business and be able to construct integrated systems to operate it. Therefore, the rebirth of Business Systems Analyst as we understand it today.

Several of today's BSAs came through the programming ranks and are actually programmers in sheep's clothing and tend to only see things from a math standpoint. However, there are many others whose roots can be traced to today's business schools. I consider a true Business Systems Analyst as the middleman between the end users and the programming staff. This means that they have the ability to understand both business and technical concepts and communicate them effectively with both end users and programmers. In other words, one of the key roles played by the analyst is business promotion page.

ACTION MAN'S ROLES

In my article I defined crafts as ...

"The Practice and Pursuit of Expertise in Building / Delivering Superior Work Products by Workers."

By this definition, craftsmanship and quality are not synonymous. While quality is primarily about zero defects, craftsmanship involves a human trait in "pursuit of excellent character." To better describe the concept, I came up with the following formula:

"Craft = (knowledge + experience + attitude) X success"

This specifies the variables associated with craftsmanship. Before discussing "knowledge", let's first consider the others. "Experience" means that the worker has been able to apply the knowledge he / she has learned, not only once, but repeatedly. "Attitude" addresses the person's sense of professionalism and dedication to his / her craft, that they possess an intellectual curiosity and continuously strive for improvement. And "success" means that the worker has demonstrated that he / she can make products satisfied with both the client and the company he / she works for, not just once, but routinely. Regardless of the person's knowledge, experience and attitude, if the worker cannot successfully deliver the work product, it is for naught.