A true business analyst is someone who can help put together a full set of requirements, that is, a complete business model covering all aspects (factors) of the target area. The test for such a model is that you must be able to transform it (with a lot more work, of course) into a workable system design. The assumption here, by the way, is that at least some of the design is likely to be automated.

This leads me back to the earlier point about why business problem solver fails to capture entirely what true business analysts are about. Certainly, they do fix business problems. Business analysts, however, must be equipped to develop solutions in terms of better infrastructure, not just in terms of direct fixes (even detailed ones) for the immediate problem at hand. Better infrastructure in turn implies longer, multifaceted projects. It also requires a structured approach to business analysis—that is, to the development of the comprehensive requirements necessary to create a workable “to be” world. That set of comprehensive requirements, of course, represents a business model.

Ronald G. Ross, Principles of the Business Rules Approach

Ross’s definition of a business analyst is actually also really good:

A business professional responsible for the creation and revision of business capacities. A business analyst contributes to the development of business models for these business capacities by developing business requirements in a structured manner.

Kevin Brennan, CBAP
VP, Body of Knowledge