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The business process analyst role (BPA) understands the existing state of business processes and workflows of an organization to improve them to achieve growth in the business. They create and manage business process models through systematized usage of modeling software and automation technologies.

Most organizations undergo turbulence in their performance due to inefficient processes consuming more time and resources. In such cases, a business process analyst’s responsibility is to restructure the process models to enable productive business operations.

To compose an outstanding resume that will procure you the essential role of business process analyst, we will provide you with information in the following sections.

Let’s begin with the classification of resume formats.

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Job duties of a business process analyst

A business process analyst has a crucial role in deciding the process improvement methods and strategies the organization’s senior management implements. To obtain successful results in a business, business process analysts have to analyze the current process models and suggest enhanced approaches. The below-mentioned duties account for the role:

  • Analyzing the present process model used for business operations through flow charts, Gantt charts, and business process model and notation (BPMN) techniques.

  • Proposing process improvement solutions with necessary changes to the existing process model.

  • Designing new and automated workflow models to optimize the business processes.

  • Creating and maintaining process documentation, reports, user guides, business specifications for developers and new business requirement documents.

  • Examining the industry trend and building enriched workflows to attain productive results.

  • Executing and testing the processes to detect problems and risks in their outcomes.

  • Providing resolution for issues and track incident management and escalations.

  • Measuring process performance and collecting feedback for future improvements.

  • Managing the rebuilding and automation of process models.

  • Collaborating with business executives and IT departments to make effective decisions on processes and workflows.

  • Performing technical duties to support and assist project teams as needed.

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Business process analyst median salaries

According to the reports on PayScale, the median salary of a business process analyst in the United States as of April 2021 is $66,023 per year. This U.S.-based compensation software organization provides salary information. Based on the performance and experience of the employee, the salary may vary between $48,000 to $94,000.

Top skills for business process analysts

The focus of a business process analyst is on providing process analysis and process re-engineering with an understanding of problems and solutions in a fast-paced environment. Your objective as a BPA is to drive projects that improve operational excellence, grow revenue and improve customer satisfaction. To be an ideal candidate, you must have expertise in the industry you choose, strong analytical and project oversight skills and the ability to communicate effectively with various organization members. Let’s take a deeper look at the skills you’ll need:

  • Project management One of the primary responsibilities of a business process analyst is to manage small to medium size projects throughout their entire life cycle. This means organizing, leading and facilitating cross-functional project teams, breaking down assigned tasks into doable actions and creating a project timeline with milestones and due dates to ensure the project is completed on time. It’ll be your responsibility to identify and resolve any project issues or risks that arise, for which you’ll need strong attention to detail, planning and organization skills to effectively prioritize and manage multiple demands with time requirements while staying calm under pressure. Successfully managing projects requires advanced proficiency in at least one appropriate process methodology, such as Lean, Agile, Six Sigma, ISO and Waterfall, and proficiency in quality management methods, tools and technologies. You can learn these skills by taking a project management certification, such as the ones we discuss in the next section.
  • Process analysis skills You must have excellent analytical skills and a love for analyzing issues and devising efficiencies for this role because you’ll be responsible for complex business process analysis, design and simulation. As a business process analyst, you’ll explore and resolve problems and practices with an emphasis on continual improvement. To successfully do this, you must understand process flows and functional requirements, conduct gap analysis, draw up recommendations and proposals while implementing cost-cutting strategies and unique solutions to impact margin. Your goal will be to recommend and facilitate quality improvement efforts, measure performance against process requirements and align improvements to performance shortfalls.

    The most critical responsibility of a BPA is to create new and refine existing processes, which is why you must be well trained in how to accomplish this. This includes knowing how to optimize processes to increase efficiency and automate much of the daily operations while using tools such as Excel.
  • Interpersonal and communication skills As the role of a business process analyst requires you to be highly collaborative, you must have exceptional verbal and written communication skills to communicate effectively with various audiences. Cross-team collaboration throughout the company is an essential part of the job, for which you must also be able to develop and maintain positive working relationships. Part of the communicative and interpersonal tasks expected of you is to keep all stakeholders updated on project timelines, due dates, and outstanding items and act as a liaison between process improvement and internal clients or co-workers to identify and define project requirements and scope and objectives. You might even be providing training documents and managing the training when needed.
  • Data analysis As part of the analyses a BPA must perform, data plays a significant role. You must have a working knowledge of data structures with the ability to run advanced-level SQL queries. This intends to develop metrics that provide data for process measurement, identify indicators for future improvement opportunities, collect data to identify the root cause of problems and provide data to identify trends and report on your region’s performance. To successfully perform your data analysis tasks, you must know how to use tools such as Power BI for reporting, manage and create BI queries in Cognos, and demonstrate expert Excel skills including pivot tables, complex formulas, advanced queries, etc. You must also know and be curious about the latest trends in the data industry, including evaluating and testing new tools, techniques, and frameworks. If you can execute data transformation, consolidation, and refresh in an automated fashion.

Educational requirements business process analyst

  • Degree

    While not every employer requires candidates to have a bachelor’s degree, they prioritize those who do. So, it’s best to have an undergraduate degree to be considered a top candidate for most open positions. The most commonly sought-after degrees by employers are in Business Administration and other business-related fields. Some universities ranked as the top five institutions for business degrees you can consider are:

    Depending on the company’s industry, degrees in other areas such as tech might be considered but a business degree is a sure way to qualify for any BPA position.

    Depending on the employer’s requirements, you also need two to five years of experience to qualify for the role.

  • Certifications

    For-profit educational platforms: Some companies offer online certifications in partnership with universities or organizations. FutureLearn provides a wide selection of courses and certifications in collaboration with top universities and organizations for data analysis, project management and business strategy. Some of the options they offer are:

    For data analysis: Data-Driven Leadership Skills, Data Analytics for Decision Making, Data Science: Data-Driven Decision Making, Data Analytics Using Python, Data Science Fundamentals on Microsoft Azure, Data Science on Microsoft Azure Using Python Programming, Data Visualization in Excel: Charting, Dashboards, and Pivot Tables, Data Visualization with Python.

    For project management: Practical Project Management, Agile Leadership and Management, Project Management and its Role in Effective Business

    For business strategy: Business Strategy and Decision Making Skills

    For customer relationship management: CRM Fundamentals and Practice Udemy and Coursera are other educational platforms that offer courses and certifications. While they also provide data analysis, project management and business strategy, they also provide more targeted ones.

    You can check out the Business Process Management (BPM) and Business Process Analysis (BPA) courses on Udemy and the SAS certifications in Coursera.

    Universities and colleges: Many universities and colleges have a continued education program to find professional courses and certifications. There are a few programs you can consider for those interested in getting certified in areas relevant to a business process analyst role. At the Boston University Metropolitan College, the University of Texas Extended Campus and the University of Washington, you can get certified in Business Analysis. The University of Toronto offers a Certificate in Business Process Management. Sheridan College has a graduate certificate that targets both Business Analysis and Process Management and Simon Fraser University offers a very targeted course in Business Process Analysis.

    Nonprofit organizations: Object Management Group (OMG) is a nonprofit organization that has a collection of books on useful topics for the role of a business process analyst you can check out, such as The Complete Business Process Handbook, Building the Agile Enterprise, Improving Business Process Performance and more. Also, the Association of Business Process Management Professionals International offers the Certified Business Process Associate (CBPA®) certification, which is ideal for anyone interested in a business process analyst position. They offer more certifications for those who want to continue up the ladder and move up into a higher position later.

    The organization AIIM offers a certification to learn Business Process Management: Digitize Core Business Processes, in which you can learn core skills for the role of business process analyst.

    The BPM Institute is another organization that offers a certification that’s useful to validate your expertise in the field.

Business process analyst resume-writing tips

Your resume is the first introduction of your skills and work experience and accomplishments; it is essential to make it impressive and resourceful. The following section will teach you to prepare a resume that will inspire the recruiters.

  • Highlight your work recognitions. The amount of appreciation or rewards you attained for your efforts display your capability to perform well in an organization. Hence, you must list your achievements from your previous organization or educational institutions offering productive performance. This will entrust the recruiters that you are potent enough for this job role.
  • Mention your adaptable quality. To flourish as a business process analyst, you must show flexibility in teamwork, learning, competency and working time. You need to assure the recruiters that you can adapt to any situation and resolve issues in due time. This is the most crucial aspect that the recruiters look for since a BPA has to be versatile in its work responsibilities.
  • Assurance of defectless performance. Focus on the error-free results you have produced in your previous organizations to stress your efficiency. This is needed for the recruiter to trust your technical knowledge and problem-solving skills. Mentioning your timely resolution of issues and delivery of perfect process models will make your resume stronger in the professional aspect.
  • Point out your aspirations. Every job role has a scope of development and up-gradation through learning and acquisition of advanced skills. Highlighting that you are a consistent learner will be an impressive feature of your resume. Also, you need to express that you are innovative and are planning to implement new ideas for your future company’s development. Learning and development is an essential quality for a business process analyst to keep up with the trends and execute creative methods for process analysis.
  • Enlist your administrative and communication skills. If you are looking for a business process analyst role, you must ensure that your managerial skills are featured in the resume. The recruiters will expect the candidate to be efficient enough to supervise the developers in creating and analyzing effective workflows. Also, your friendly characteristics must be mentioned to ensure that you are a good team player.

FAQ

  • Is a postgraduate degree mandatory for a business process analyst?

    No but just an undergraduate degree will not make your resume stand out among other highly qualified ones. Alternatively, you may need to have an internship or work experience to prove that you have exceptional skills.

  • Is it important to highlight leadership skills in the resume for a business process analyst?

    Yes, a business process analyst has to manage their subordinates in the development of process models and also make crucial business decisions. So it is essential to highlight the administrative/ managerial skills.

  • What are the top companies hiring for a business process analyst role?

    Companies like Cisco Systems, Capgemini, Guardian Life Insurance, JPMorgan Chase Bank and recruiting business process analysts.