Course Description

Business Analysts (BAs) investigate business needs and propose solutions to business problems. In order to succeed in this, BAs require a unique combination of people, business and technical skills. This course is designed to develop the essential BA knowledge and skills required for success.

The course is based on the real-world experience and lessons learnt by practising business analysts, delivering successful outcomes, for real projects. It has recently been updated with advice for BAs working in agile environments.

Participants leave the course with a clear understanding of what is expected from a business analyst in both traditional and agile environments together with the knowledge and skills required to meet those expectations.

Course Features

  • Includes material from the certification syllabus of International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA), Project Management Institute (PMI) and British Computer Socienty (BCS)
  • Distills the vast body of BA best practice into a proven, lean approach to business analysis that is easy to understand and follow.
  • Includes a clear mapping of course topics to IIBA’s BABOK together with new content describing a BA’s role in agile teams and the BA’s relationship to Product Owners.
  • Provides a wealth of supplementary course material offering advice on workflow modelling, describing software features, the correct way to draw use case diagrams, how to create a glossary of terms and how to populate a product backlog. The material also includes a number of mind map templates and feasibility checklists.
  • Suitable for graduates, business staff, software developers, test analysts and others moving into a BA role for the first time, as well as experienced business analysts who need to update their skills, attend a refresher or simply get some new ideas.

Participant Benefits

  • Develops the essential knowledge and skills required to investigate business systems, identify business needs and specify the software requirements.
  • Improves planning and execution of BA tasks through an understanding of a proven, lean approach to business analysis.
  • Provides BAs with the knowledge and skill required for a successful transition to an agile environment.
  • Instills in BAs the need to better aligning IT with the organisation’s business needs.

Pre-requisites

Familiarity with business environments and business information systems.

Who is this course for?

  • Those acting (or planning to act) in the role of Business Analyst, Business Systems Analyst, Systems Analyst, Functional Analyst or Business Consultant.
  • Those who need to understand what business analysts do such as, Product Owners, Product Managers, Project Managers, Scrum Masters, Software Development Managers, Program Managers, Software Developers, Software Engineers, Solution Architects or Test Analysts.
  • Those who participate (or planning to participate) in business analysis projects and teams such as, Project Stakeholders, Subject Matter Experts, End-User Representatives or Project Sponsors.

Course content

Introduction to Business Analysis
  • The Business Analyst’s Roles and Responsibilities
  • The Business Analyst’s Skill Set
  • The Holistic Approach to Business Analyst
  • Business Analysis and Projects
    • Project Roles
    • Project Deliverables
    • Project vs. Product Focus
  • Requirements at Different Levels
    • Business Needs, Solution Features and Requirements
    • Requirements and the Traditional Software Development Life Cycle
    • Requirements and Agile Software Development
    • Agile Software Development and the Role of the Business Analyst
Business Analysis Process Model
  • Business Analysis Standards and Certification
    • International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) – BABOK
    • Project Management Institute (PMI) – PMI-PBA
    • British Computer Society (BCS)
  • The Business Analysis Process Model
    • Investigate the Situation to Discover Why We Need This
    • Consider Perspectives to Discover Who Is Involved and What They Do
    • Analyse Needs to Discover What They Need
    • Evaluate Options to Discover How They Could Use Software As a Tool
    • Define Requirements to Specify the Solution
  • Modelling and Business Analysis
    • Hard vs. Soft Systems
    • Classifying Business Analysis Models
      • Logical vs. Physical
      • As-is vs. To-be
    • Modelling Workflows
    • Modeling Software Solutions
  • Roles and the Business Analysis Process Model
    • Traditional Software Development Life Cycle
    • Agile Software Development
Investigating the Situation
  • Defining Initial Scope
    • Traditional vs. Modern Business Structure
    • Defining the Business Areas
    • Software Applications vs. Solutions
    • Defining Initial Scope
      • Business Area
      • Software Solutions
  • Identifying Business Requirements
    • Defining Business Needs
    • Strategic vs. Operational Business Needs
    • PESTLE Analysis of the Business Environment
    • PROMPT Analysis of the Business Area
    • SWOT Analysis
    • Identifying Business Requirements
Considering Perspectives
  • Stakeholder Analysis
    • Identifying Stakeholders With MACROSCOPE
    • Analysing Stakeholdera
    • Developing Stakeholder Strategies
    • Considering Stakeholder Attitudes
    • Stakeholders and Scope
      • Fuzzy Boundaries
      • Different Stakeholder Perspectives
  • Modelling Business Area Scope
    • Defining Activities
      • The Verb-Noun Template
      • Examples of Strong, Active Verbs
      • Investigating Activity Outcomes
    • Activities and Tools
    • Software as a Tool
    • Functional Decomposition
      • Defining the Business Area Mission
      • Identifying Tasks
      • Grouping Tasks Into Functions
      • Knowing When to Stop Decomposing
  • Modelling Initial Solution Scope
    • Context Diagrams
    • Actors
    • Information Flows
  • Business System Scope = Business Area + Solution Scope
Modelling Workflows
  • Activity Diagrams
    • Representing Activities
    • Sequential Activities
    • Parallel Activities
    • Decisions
    • Events
    • Functional Decomposition
  • Workflow Models
    • Defining Business Processes
    • Classifying Workflow Models
      • Logical vs. Physical
      • As-is vs. To-be
    • Example of a Physical As-Is Workflow
    • Example of a Logical Workflow
    • Example of a Physical To-Be Workflow
Modelling Software Solutions
  • Classifying Software Solution Models
    • Logical vs. Physical
    • As-is vs. To-be
  • Modelling Components
    • Components
    • Required Services
    • Provided Services
    • Component Diagram
  • Modelling Features
    • Business Needs vs. Software Features
    • Activities and Software Features
    • What Are Software Features?
      • External User Capabilities
      • Internal System Capbilities
      • Constraints
    • Describing Capabilities
    • Describing Constraints
      • Capabilities
      • Solution wide
    • Defining a Glossary
    • Summary of Naming Features
  • Modelling Features With Use Case Diagrams
  • Grouping Features Into Functional Areas
    • What Is a Functional Area?
    • Why Group Requirements Into Functional Areas?
    • Comparing Components and Functional Areas
  • Describing Solution Features With User Stories
    • User Story Cards
    • Capturing Requirements On the Back Of the Story Card
    • User Stories and the Three C’s
Analysing Needs
  • Why Model the Current Business System?
  • POEM Analysis to Identify Operational Business Needs
  • Information Analysis
    • What are Information Requirements?
    • Information Analysis Steps
    • Identify Information Flows and Data Stores
      • Current Applications
      • Informal Applications
      • Gaps
    • Reorganising Data Elements Into Concepts
    • Grouping Concepts Into Subject Areas
    • Subject Areas vs. Functional Areas
  • Business Rule Analysis
    • What Are Business Rules?
    • The Business Rules Mantra
    • Business Rule Analysis Steps
    • Identifying Business Rules
      • Current Applications
      • Informal Applications
      • Gaps
    • Creating a Glossary of Terms
    • Describing Facts
    • Defining Buisness Rules
  • Gap Analysis
    • Comparing As-Is and To-Be
    • Identifying Gaps
Evaluating Options
  • Comparing Traditional and Agile Approaches
  • Defining Solution Options
  • Why Model the Proposed Business System?
  • Modelling Solution Components
  • Modelling Solution Features
  • Evaluating Solution Feasibility With TESCO
  • Developing a Traditional Stakeholder Requirements Document
  • Populating Agile Product Backlog
Defining Requirements
  • Comparing Traditional and Agile Approaches
  • Describing Software Requirements
    • What Are Software Requirements?
    • Adding Subject and Obligation To Capabilities
    • Describing Functional Requirements
    • Describing Constraints
      • Capability constraints
      • Solution wide constraints
    • Requirements Attributes
    • Interface Requirements and Wire Frames
    • The Data Dictionary
    • Requirements vs. Business Rules
    • Requirements Traceability
  • Developing a Traditional Solution Requirements Document
  • Working With an Agile Sprint Backlog
  • Identifying Transition Requirements