Underlying Competencies of a Business Analyst
In short The knowledge areas describe what an analyst does; underlying competencies describe how well they can do it. The BABOK® Guide groups them into six categories. Use them as a self-assessment map and pick one or two to work on at a time.
Based on: IIBA, BABOK® Guide v3, section 9; D. Paul, D. Yeates, J. Cadle (eds.), Business Analysis (BCS), 2nd ed., ch. 2; K. Wiegers, J. Beatty, Software Requirements, 3rd ed., ch. 4.
On this page
Key ideas#
The six categories in the BABOK Guide#
Section 9 of the BABOK Guide describes behaviors, knowledge and personal qualities that support effective analysis. For each competency it gives a purpose, a definition and signs of effectiveness. In summary:
| Category | Competencies it includes | What it looks like at work |
|---|---|---|
| Analytical thinking and problem solving | Creative thinking, decision making, learning, problem solving, systems thinking, conceptual thinking, visual thinking | You absorb varied information quickly, question assumptions, see how parts interact (a customer return touches stock, finance and staff training), and explain complex ideas with diagrams. |
| Behavioral characteristics | Ethics, personal accountability, trustworthiness, organization and time management, adaptability | You treat stakeholder groups fairly and explain decisions, follow issues through, escalate risks, keep commitments, and adjust your style to the audience. |
| Business knowledge | Business acumen, industry knowledge, organization knowledge, solution knowledge, methodology knowledge | You know how the company makes money, who its regulators and competitors are, how decisions really get made, which systems exist, and what delivery approach is in use. |
| Communication skills | Verbal, non-verbal and written communication; listening | You plan what the audience already knows, choose a fitting format, notice when body language contradicts words, and confirm understanding by summarizing back. |
| Interaction skills | Facilitation, leadership and influencing, teamwork, negotiation and conflict resolution, teaching | You run neutral, focused discussions, separate stated positions from real interests, and check that people have understood what you taught. |
| Tools and technology | Office productivity, business analysis tools, communication tools | You use modeling, diagramming, requirements management and prototyping tools, and choose the right channel for each conversation. |
Two practical details from the BABOK Guide are worth remembering. On learning, people absorb information visually, by listening or by doing, and most learn best from a mix. On facilitation, the facilitator should make clear that they are neutral: not the decision maker and not the owner of the topic.
Other views of the same skills#
The BCS book uses three groups instead of six: behavioral skills and personal qualities (communication, relationship building, influencing, teamwork, political awareness, analytical and critical thinking, attention to detail, leadership, self-belief), business knowledge (finance and economics, business cases, domain knowledge, IT principles, organization design, supplier management) and techniques (from stakeholder analysis and requirements engineering to modeling and facilitation). It stresses political awareness: knowing what is acceptable in your organization.
Wiegers and Beatty list thirteen skills with a strong interpersonal slant, including listening, interviewing and questioning, thinking on your feet, analytical and systems thinking, learning a new domain quickly, facilitation, observation, writing and modeling. They add creativity: a good analyst proposes capabilities customers had not thought of, but offers them for approval rather than building them quietly.
Which competencies are hard to build#
In a 2020 survey of business analysts in Ukraine by DataArt (Gobov and Huchenko), respondents rated interaction skills and business knowledge as the hardest categories to develop, and named lack of practice and lack of mentoring as the main obstacles. See What Business Analysts Actually Do.
How to apply it#
- Rate yourself. For each of the six categories, score yourself 1-5 and write one piece of evidence from recent work.
- Get one outside view. Ask a colleague or manager to score the same categories. Big gaps between scores are the most useful finding.
- Pick one or two targets. Choose competencies that block your current project, not the longest list.
- Plan practice, not just reading. Interaction skills grow through doing: volunteer to facilitate a workshop, lead a requirements review, or mediate a disagreement.
- Close the loop. After each attempt, hold a short personal lessons learned review: what worked, what to change.
A simple template:
| Category | Self (1-5) | Peer (1-5) | Evidence | Next practice step | By when |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Analytical thinking and problem solving | | | | | |
| Behavioral characteristics | | | | | |
| Business knowledge | | | | | |
| Communication skills | | | | | |
| Interaction skills | | | | | |
| Tools and technology | | | | | |
Example#
The analyst at The Workshop, a fictional chain of 12 bike-repair workshops, scores high on tools and analytical thinking but low on interaction skills and industry knowledge. Two targets for the next quarter:
- Facilitation: run the joint session between mechanics and front-desk staff on how status updates should work, with explicit ground rules and a neutral stance.
- Industry knowledge: spend a Saturday morning at the busiest workshop, and list the seasonal patterns, supplier lead times and competitor services that affect bookings.
Pitfalls#
- Treating competencies as personality traits. They are skills; they improve with deliberate practice.
- Working only on strengths. It feels productive, but weak interaction skills often limit an analyst more than weak modeling.
- Ignoring business knowledge. Technical analysts sometimes skip it; without it you cannot judge which requirements matter.
Sources and further reading#
- IIBA. A Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK® Guide), version 3. International Institute of Business Analysis, 2015. Section 9 (underlying competencies, 9.1-9.6).
- D. Paul, D. Yeates, J. Cadle (eds.). Business Analysis, 2nd ed. BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, 2010. Ch. 2 (competencies of a business analyst).
- K. Wiegers, J. Beatty. Software Requirements, 3rd ed. Microsoft Press, 2013. Ch. 4 (analyst skills).
- D. Gobov, I. Huchenko. State of Business Analysis in Ukraine 2020. DataArt, 2020.