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Business Analysis Essentials

Who Should Attend

This course is designed for Business Analysts and those desiring to become Business Analysts, as well as Project Managers desiring to implement Business Analyst techniques in their PM roles.

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Introduction

In today's complex projects, there is no more critical function than the function performed by business analysts. Business analysts serve as the link between the business interests served by the project and the technology that will be employed to deliver the functionality required by it. They are responsible for translating business needs into language that systems analysts can turn into a solution, for framing the problem and identifying the most appropriate solution. They keep the project focused on the needs for which it was initiated. They are often charged with gathering, documenting and tracking requirements, especially in software development and implementation projects.

This 3-day workshop provides a fast-paced and rapid introduction to the essential skills and techniques necessary for effective business analysis and provides a gateway to further study by those in the business analysis role. It is designed for those who already have some experience in business analysis but need to develop a better grounding in best practices and methods and for those who are in need of a quick introduction to those methods and skills that they need to apply to current or upcoming projects.

This workshop is intended to be compliant with the standards for business analysis and requirements definition, the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (hereafter described as the BABOK), which is being prepared by the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA). This workshop has been constructed to be BABOK compliant because the BABOK represents the best thinking about business analysis, because it will become the standard for business analysis, and because some participants may wish to achieve IIBA certification as a business analyst. Because the BABOK is evolving and is not in its final form, this course is based on the frameworks established by the BABOK and its current form. This workshop will be updated as that standard becomes closer to finalization.

At Course Completion

Upon course completion students will have an understanding of how to:

• Understand the importance of the role of the BA
• Gain an understanding of the basic methods for business analysis and project requirements elicitation and management
• Apply the concepts they have learned in the workshop
• Prepare students for further learning in business analysis
• Provide participants with tools and methods that they can immediately apply to their projects

Course Format

This course is 50 percent lecture and 50 percent workshop.

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Certifications

Certification as a Certified Business Analysis Professional is based on the material presented in this course. However, Those seeking the IIBA's Certified Business Analysis Professional are required to demonstrate 35 hours of training to qualify to take the exam. Alternative 5 Day courses for consideration are the BAB-607, Business Analysis Theory and Practice; or Course BAB-609, which is related to preparation for the CBAP exam.

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Prerequisites

None

The course materials, lectures, and lab exercises are in English. To benefit fully from our instruction, students need an understanding of the English language and completion of the prerequisites.

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Course Outline

Day 1

• Define BA Roles and responsibilities
• Describe the emerging BA profession including the IIBA certification program
• Describe the difference between business analysis versus systems analysis
• Describe the challenges of business analysis
• Describe the interface between business analysis and project management
• Understand scope and configuration management
• Describe and apply the BABOK Knowledge areas, Fundamental Skill areas and Technical Skills
• Apply enterprise analysis skills in
  • Organizational aspirations and measurement of financial performance
  • Strategic planning
  • Organizational architecture
  • Building the business case (feasibility, opportunities, risk, benefits/costs and analysis)
  • Detailing and documenting the business case (selecting and prioritizing projects)
  • Problem solving
• Describe requirements planning and management (roles, responsibilities, stakeholder needs, interests and conflict management

Day 2

• Build the requirements development project plan, including
  • Identification of deliverables and activities
  • Identification of the schedule and milestones for requirements development
  • Management of the scope of the requirements project
  • Reporting on requirements progress and performance
• Exercises in requirements planning
• Apply requirements gathering techniques for collection of requirements, including
  • Brainstorming
  • Identification of scenarios
  • Document analysis
  • Focus groups
  • Interface analysis
  • Interviews
  • Job shadowing
  • Prototyping
  • Requirements workshop
  • Survey/questionnaires
  • Reverse engineering
  • User task analysis
• Describe requirements analysis and documentation, and attributes of good requirements

Day 3

• Apply techniques for analyzing requirements (data/behavior, process/flow and usage models)
• Demonstrate skills in managing
  • Supplementary requirements
  • Assumptions and constraints
  • Requirements attributes
  • Traceability of requirements
  • Requirements specifications
  • Requirements validation
• Communicate requirements
• Identify requirements format (target audience, presentation requirements, preferences and tools)
• Describe the creation of the requirements package
• Describe requirements presentation
• Describe the management of requirements review and signoff
• Exercise in requirements communication and presentation
• Describe requirements implementation including issues such as
  • Alternative solutions
  • Technology options
  • Facilitation of solution selection
  • Usability of the solution
  • Quality assurance