BCS Foundation Certificate in Business Analysis + Exam

Course Overview

This 3-day BCS Foundation course covers the range of concepts, approaches and techniques that are applicable to Business Analysis. Candidates are required to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of these aspects of Business Analysis.

The BCS Foundation Certificate in Business Analysis certification provides a foundation for the range of specialist BCS modular certificates in the areas of Business Analysis, IS Consultancy and Business Change. The certification can also be used as the knowledge-based specialist module for the International Diploma in Business Analysis. In addition, the certification provides foundation-level Business Analysis knowledge for specialists in other disciplines, particularly Project Managers and System Developers. The syllabus is based on the BCS publication Business Analysis, 3rd edition, and it is recommended that this text is studied by those preparing to take this examination. The headings listed in the syllabus relate to the relevant chapter headings, section headings and text included in this publication.

Target Audience

The certificate is relevant to anyone requiring an understanding of Business Analysis

Including

• Business analysts
• Business managers and their staff
• Business change managers
• Project managers

Course Objectives

Candidates should be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of business analysis principles and techniques.

Key areas are:

• the role and competencies of a business analyst
• strategy analysis
• business system and business process modelling
• stakeholder analysis
• investigation and modelling techniques
• requirements engineering
• business case development

Course Content

1. What is Business Analysis

• The origins of business analysis
• The development of business analysis

- The impact of outsourcing
- Competitive advantage of using IT
- Successful business change
- The importance of the business analyst
- Business analysts as internal consultants

• The scope of business analysis work

- The range of analysis activities
- Strategic analysis and definition
- IT systems analysis
- Business analysis

• Taking a holistic approach
• The role and responsibilities of a business analyst
  

- Definition of the business analyst role
- Further aspects of the business analyst role

2. The Competencies of a Business Analyst

• Personal qualities
• Business knowledge
• Professional techniques
• The development of competencies

3. Strategy Analysis

• The context for strategy
• The definition of strategy (Johnson, Scholes and Whittington 2008)
• Strategy development
• External environment analysis

- PESTLE analysis
- Porter’s five forces model

• Internal environment analysis

- MOST analysis
- Resource Audit
- Boston Box

• SWOT analysis
• Executing strategy

- The McKinsey 7-S model
- The Balanced Business Scorecard
- Critical Success Factors and Key Performance Indicators

4. The Business Analysis Process Model

• An approach to problem-solving
• Stages of the business analysis process model

- Investigate the situation
- Consider the perspectives
- Analyse the needs
- Evaluate the options
- Define the requirements

• Objectives of the process model stages
• Procedure for each process model stage
• Techniques used within each process model stage

5. Investigation techniques

• Interviews

- Advantages and disadvantages of interviewing
- Preparing for interviewing
- Conducting the interview
- Following up the interview

• Observation

- Advantages and disadvantages of observation
- Formal observation
- Protocol analysis
- Shadowing
- Ethnographic studies

• Workshops

- Advantages and disadvantages of workshops
- Preparing for the workshop
- Facilitating the workshop
- Techniques
- Following the workshop

• Scenarios

- Advantages and disadvantages of scenarios
- Process for developing scenarios
- Documenting scenarios

• Prototyping

- Advantages and disadvantages of prototyping

• Quantitative approaches

- Surveys or Questionnaires
- Special Purpose Records
- Activity Sampling
- Document Analysis

• Documenting the current situation

- Rich Pictures
- Mind Maps

6. Stakeholder Analysis and Management

• Stakeholder categories and identification

- Customers
- Partners
- Suppliers
- Competitors
- Regulators
- Owners
- Employees
- Managers

• Analysing stakeholders

- The Power/Interest Grid

• Stakeholder management strategies

- No or low interest and no or low power/influence
- Some or high interest but no or low power/influence
- No or low to high interest but some power/influence
- No or low interest but high power/influence
- Some interest and high power/influence
- High interest and high power/influence

• Managing stakeholders

- Stakeholder plan/assessment

• Understanding stakeholder perspectives

- Soft Systems Methodology
- Analysing the perspectives
- CATWOE

• Business activity models

- Creating a business activity model
- Types of activities – Plan, Enable, Do, Monitor, Control
- Developing a consensus model

7. Modelling Business Processes

• Organisational context

- Functional view of an organisation

• An alternative view of an organisation
• The organisational view of business processes
• Value propositions
• Process models

- Business events
- Developing the business process model

• Analysing the as-is process model
• Improving business processes (to-be business process)

- Business rules
- Simplify the process
- Remove bottlenecks
- Change the sequence of tasks
- Redefine process boundary
- Automate the processing
- Redesign the process

8. Defining the solution

• Gap analysis

- Identifying areas of concern
- Framework for gap analysis (elements of POPIT model)
- Formulating options

• Introduction to Business Architecture
• Definition of Business Architecture
• Business Architecture techniques

- Definition of a capability model
- Definition of a value stream

9. Making a Business and Financial Case

• The business case in the project lifecycle
• Identifying options
• Assessing project feasibility

- Business feasibility
- Technical feasibility
- Financial feasibility

• Structure of a business case

- Contents of a business case
- Categories of costs and benefits
- Impact assessment
- Risk assessment

• Investment appraisal

- Payback
- Discounted cash flow and Internal rate of return

10. Establishing the Requirements

• A framework for requirements engineering
• Actors in requirements engineering

- The business representatives
- The project team

• Requirements elicitation

- Tacit and explicit knowledge
- Requirements elicitation techniques

• Requirements analysis

- Requirements filters
- SMART requirements

• Requirements validation

11. Documenting and Managing Requirements

• The requirements document

- Structure
- Content of the requirements document

• The requirements catalogue

- Types of requirements; general, technical, functional and non-functional
- Hierarchy of requirements
- Documenting a requirement

• Managing requirements

- Elements of requirements management

12. Modelling Requirements

• Modelling system functions

- Use case diagrams

• Modelling system data

- Entity Relationship Diagrams
o Entities, attributes and relationships
o Types of relationships
- Class Models
o Objects and classes
o Attributes
o Associations

13. Delivering the Requirements

• Delivering the solution
•  Context
• Lifecycles

- The waterfall lifecycle
- The ‘V’ model lifecycle
- Incremental lifecycle
- Iterative systems development lifecycle

14. Delivering the Business Solution

• BA role in the business change lifecycle
• Design stage

- Information and Technology
o Development
o Testing
o Design

• Implementation stage

- SARAH model

• Realisation stage

- Contents of the benefits plan

Course Prerequisites

Test Certification

Examination Details

• Examination type: Multiple-choice
• Questions Number of questions: 40
• Pass mark: 65%
• Open book/notes: No
• Electronic equipment/aides permitted: No
• Exam duration: 60 minutes

The Rules and Regulations for EXIN’s examinations apply to this exam.

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