In school we had an assignment to do a "system analysis" of a real world system. We scheduled 1/2 hr interviews with real world experts/workers on the system which we tape recorded. Then we would spend up to 2-3 hours reviewing the tape, integrating the new information with previously collected info and planning questions for the next interview.
I worked for a large company that had a world class development system in place (I didn't recognize how good it was until I worked elsewhere!) As well as IT analysts, we had business analysts who came from the business side and were dedicated to working with IT for 3-4 years. It took time to "train" them, but by the middle of their term they were asking good IT based questions as well as business questions. They couldn't program but they knew enough of both sides, IT and Business, that they were a real asset to producing quality software. Part of their job was final testing of our work, but they worked with us setting up the test data.
I think it boils down to a good partnership between the business side and IT. We have to learn a little of each other's work so we can do our separate jobs better.
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