Business analysis starts the solution development process by discovering what a customer needs from a solution. A business analyst collaborates with stakeholders, people who have a stake in the operation, management and development of the solution. The business analyst collaborates with stakeholders to discover, evaluate and confirm customer needs, typically known as requirements. They can also create models and diagrams to clarify what the customer expects from the solution. The business analyst provides this information to an architect, who designs the solution. In smaller organizations, an architect may play the role of business analyst, perhaps jointly with a business manager.

Systems to Success offers services at the intersection of Salesforce and business analysis, including individual coaching and events.

Elements.cloud offers business analysis training, providing a good introduction to the role. They also provide Catalyst, a nice suite of tools for gathering requirements, creating process flow diagrams and documenting Salesforce metadata.

Bridging the Gap has a free business analysis quick start course, as well as other courses. They also feature many good articles and other business analysis resources.

Process Impact also has many good articles about business analysis and project management. They also offer training courses and books.

The International Institute of Business Analysts (IIBA) offers professional business analyst certifications. They publishes the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK) Guide, a comprehensive source of business analysis information.

First consider what motivates your interest in becoming a business analyst. Perhaps you’re looking for something more or different from your job. Determine what that is. For example, do you want to work in a broader context? Are you curious about how a business works with information technology such as Salesforce? Would you rather work with people in a diverse set of roles? How confident do you feel about that? How about dealing with ambiguity, with people uncertain about what they want? Would you rather create documents for customers and architects than code or metadata?

If you have developed code and metadata using requirements or user stories directly from business managers, you have some idea about the business analyst role. If you have also worked from an architect’s specifications, I recommend you take a deep dive into software design and architecture before considering a career in business analysis. The architect role sits between business analyst and development. The architect takes requirements, models and other documents from the business analyst to design a solution. You should have a good idea of what an architect needs from a business analyst before taking on the business analyst role.

Let’s say you develop an aptitude for the architect role. You pass the Salesforce Architect certification exams and become a Certified Technical Architect (CTA). You work as an architect and find that you mesh well with business analysts, developers, Salesforce administrators and customers. You should have a more comprehensive view of the software development life cycle and where you fit in. If you decide that you want to move from an architect to a business analyst role, see the Business Analysis Path on this page.

If you want to learn about Salesforce, the best place to start is Trailhead. It includes a Salesforce User Basics module for a fresh introduction to Salesforce.

If you know about Salesforce and want to find a path for you, choose Careers from the Trailhead home page.

If you have decided on your career and want specific Salesforce skills, choose Skills from the Trailhead home page.

Once you have found your area of interest in Salesforce, you should join a Trailblazer community around that interest. Each Trailblazer community provides a forum for answering questions, sharing ideas and celebrating milestones such as certification.