The BA Alchemist

It's probably as difficult as turning lead into gold and perhaps as valuable. A business analyst turns information into knowledge. Yes, the business and the users will tell us what information to collect, what order to display it, when to report it, and what calculation to use on it. However, the users don't always know the whole scope of the information that is available to them: information collected elsewhere in the company, information available floating around the internet, information that is collected ancillary to other tasks. The business analyst adds value to the organization each time he or she suggests a new way to turn raw information into knowledge. After all knowledge is the fuel of business nowadays.