Slides from a presentation given to IIBA UK by Rita Arafa on 19 August 2020

1. IIBA UK North Branch
Virtual Event – 19th August 2020
Andrew Precious
Business Architecture Manager and Head of BA
Practice
Volunteer - IIBA UK Chapter - North Branch
@UKIIBA
#UKIIBA
IIBA UK North Branch LinkedIn group
https://www.linkedin.com/groups/5
168049/
IIBA UK LinkedIn group
https://www.linkedin.com/groups/
55932/
United Kingdom
Chapter

2. FROM DENTAL NURSE TO
BA, AN UNPLANNED
JOURNEY
IIBA UK North West
Rita Arafa
19th August 2020

3. IN THE BEGINNING
 Born in the 1950’s, the daughter of German immigrants.
 Very happy childhood, but no expectation of going into higher
education
 Failed my 11 plus, attended Cheadle Kingsway Secondary Modern
School for Girls
 not possible to stay beyond aged 16
 not possible to do “O” levels, only “CSEs”
 expected to get a vocational job for a couple of years then get married and
have children
 At 16, left school with 6 CSEs and went to work at the family’s
dentist as a Dental Nurse and Receptionist
 Went to night school to qualify as a Dental Surgery Assistant (not

4. INTRODUCED TO A WIDE WORLD
 Got married to a Chemical Engineer, also not originally from the UK
but who came from an academic family
 1970’s was boom time for engineers to work as ex-pats in far flung
part of the world
 Spent a few months in Kuwait, 18 months in Algeria, 1 year in
Germany and 5 years in France
 Had two children (one pregnancy in Germany, came back to the UK
for the birth, second pregnancy and birth in France)
 Returned permanently to the UK in 1986 and started thinking about
going back to work

5. BACK IN THE UK
 Started working at my daughter’s playgroup part-time but without
a recognised qualification, I couldn’t continue
 Considered the government’s fast-track Teacher training degrees
for mature students but was knocked back due to my lack of
appropriate formal education
 Was encouraged to do a non-teaching degree, which was more
portable but that could still be use to become a teacher
 Got the prospectuses from all the higher education establishments
within a commutable distance from home
 Picked the courses I like the sound of and rang the Uni’s to see if
there was a place available

6. RETURNING TO EDUCATION
 Began a four year, BSc in Information Systems at Staffordshire
Polytechnic (which became Staffordshire University in my second
year)
 Massive life change – commuting daily 50 miles each way,
adjusting to a learning environment, returning to my family each
evening where I had two school age children waiting for me but
still had to complete my assignments
 Ratio of about 1 female in 10 male students, and even less were
mature students
 Quickly realised I was never going to be a programmer, but loved
SAD
 Struggled to find a suitable placement for my 3rd year in industry

7. NOT QUITE A BUSINESS ANALYST
YET
 Business Analyst was not yet recognised as a competency in its
own right
 One year placement in IT dept in Macclesfield East Cheshire NHS
Hospital
 Returned on a three month rolling contract after I graduated
 1st permanent job as a Business Support Analyst in the IT dept of a
finance house
Analyst Programmer? Business Support Analyst?Programmer Analyst?

8. THE SCOPE OF A BA’S ROLE
 Titles for job roles vary – and can mean different things in different
organisations
 Lead v Senior BA
 Principal BA
 BA’s found in almost every industry
 Can be very techie through to not techie at all
 Not in my job description?
 Career progression
 Other types of Analysts:
 Data Analyst
 Technical Business Analyst
 System Analyst
 Business Consultant
 Product Manager

9. NOT JUST AN OFFICE JOB
 Interacting with stakeholders
 Building a rapport with them
 Understanding what they do, what they need and what the want
 Managing their expectations
 Being able to adapt communications to suit the stakeholder- techie,
non-techie, Senior, junior and everything in-between
 Being able to communicate clearly and unambiguously (written &
spoken)
 Being able to be part of a team and to lead when required
 Opportunities for home working
 Opportunities for site visits

10. SECTORS EMPLOYING BA’S ARE
VARIED
Analyst
Programmer
Senior Business Analyst
Senior Business Analyst

11. WHAT MADE ME A GOOD BA?
I like to get into the detailBeing empathetic, I’m a good listenerxperience of getting on with people
I’m the bridge between the technical
and the non-technical
I’m a good communicator I try to be clear and
unambiguous

12. ANY QUESTIONS?
Rita Arafa | mail@ritaarafa.co.uk | https://www.linkedin.com/in/ritaarafa