Business Analyst role in IT projects

Is it the role of the analyst to run test-cases, should the Analyst manage user-expectations or is the role just intended to document business-processes and user-requirements.

In my opinion the Analyst is the cog in t wheel of the IT project he is the star of the team he gets to be the Customer Advocate and also help the Developer better the code..

There is a lot a good analyst can give a project provided his role is defined and is not just restricted to running test cases...........

Manage user requirements

How does one manage user requirements in the UAT phase of a project when the "bugs" that the users "identify" are new feature requests............

And the wheel turns....

As "recession" kicks companies go back to monitor churn and employ the customer insight funnel .....when will everyone make it a natural way of doing business instead of just something that you do when in trouble...

I admit that there are companies that do this very nicely employing BI effectively but others just never learn.....