What are the day-to-day factors that are preventing business analysts from effective business analysis?

This industrial experience paper reports the results of a survey of business analysts to understand the barriers that they perceive are inhibiting effective requirements work in business-oriented projects. The survey was designed to investigate a mismatch between requirements education, training and practice that, we conjecture, was inhibiting effective requirements work by business analysts. Results revealed that, in spite of the education and training undertaken by many business analysts, their involvement in requirement projects appears to be often ad hoc and ineffective. This paper reports factors that business analysts cited as preventing them from applying their requirements analysis knowledge in practice and becoming effective professionals engaged in business analysis and associated systems engineering activities. Findings have implications not only for requirements education and training but also more effective use of requirements resources in projects.