RE: What if any special characteristics are there for a Business

IMO, programming is still a strong requirement, but knowing how the software
works/is designed to work, and business processes (purchasing/ receiving/
invoicing process, receiving/put-away, etc) is becoming more important. A
strict P/A is shifting more toward the analysis side.

Where I work, our previous IT manager came through the programming ranks,
and viewed everything through a programmer's eyes. When we implemented our
current manufacturing software in 1992, there were lots of customizations
made to the system to make it work like we wanted. As we applied software
releases, nobody went back to see if the software did things we "programmed
around". So we have a lot of customization that is probably handled in the
software.

I started here in 1998, and our manager left in 2000. Our new IT manager is
not a programmer, and is more of a business manager. Today, when we receive
requests for reports or modifications to the software, our first objective
is to determine if the system provides any of the needed resources (report,
processes, application control settings, etc.) to satisfy the request. Talk
to the software vendor to see if we can make the request work in the
software, with a little rule bending, but not breaking. Only as a last
resort do we program new development. 

We still have lots of customization, but we are reducing a bit of it as we
try to align business processes around the software design. This sounds
counterintuitive, because we want the software to conform to our needs.
However, the time it takes to stay current on software releases (and we're 2
releases behind) becomes prohibitive.

After all that, I'd say first an understanding of general business flow and
processes, then knowledge of how JDE (in your case) expects business
processes to work, then technical ability. For us, less development is done
"just because", and more to align IT with company business direction.

HTH,
Loyd


-----Original Message-----
From: Rob Phillips [mailto:niceguy420l@xxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2003 15:13
To: Midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: What if any special characteristics are there for a Business
Analyst

What if any special characteristics are there for a Business Analyst
on the AS/400 using say J.D. Edwards software. Does the BA need to be very
strong in RPG ILE for example, or any of the traditionals like DDS. If
anyone can shed any light on this subject please do so, off line is fine if
you are more comf.
THANKS!
Rob