Business Analysis: Essentials + exam

Course Overview

In this training you'll learn the vocabulary standards and business analysis practices through the use of the IIBA A Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK Guide). You'll understand the business analyst's role and responsibilities in a successful project. In this introductory course, you'll delve into the role and responsibilities of the business analyst (BA)- the communication link between all business areas and a critical player in project success. Learn techniques for ensuring project success every step of the way-from identifying and analyzing potential projects to making sure that the final project product meets the requirements you identified. Through hands-on exercises, you'll learn to define the scope of work and master requirements-gathering techniques that will work for a variety of projects and audiences. You'll consider the unique needs of customers, stakeholders, and the IT department as you work toward building, documenting, communicating, and managing requirements.

Target Audience

• Systems analysts
• Business analysts
• Requirements analysts
• Developers
• Software engineers
• IT project managers
• Project managers
• Project analysts
• Project leaders,
• Senior project managers
• Team leaders
• Program managers
• Testers
• QA specialists

Course Objectives

• Role and importance of the BA
• Vocabulary standards and business analysis practices through the use of the IIBA A Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK Guide)
• Plan BA requirements activities
• Elicit requirements from stakeholders, with an emphasis on interviews
• Analyze stated requirements, with an overview of modeling techniques
• Document requirements for different types of projects
• Verify and validate requirements
• Elements of requirements management and communication and the BA's role in them
• Elements of solution verification and validation and possible BA roles
• Enterprise analysis: choosing appropriate projects
• Necessary competencies and best practices of BAs
• Waterfall, incremental, and agile lifecycles and how they change BA practices

Course Content

1. Introduction to Business Analysis

• Importance of Effective Business Analysis
• Role of the BA
• Standardization and Adaptability

2. Requirements Planning

• Role of the BA in Requirements Planning
• Vision and Scope Document
• Types of Requirements
• Stakeholders
• Business Analysis Plan

3. Requirements Elicitation

• Role of the BA in Requirements Elicitation
  • Investigative approach
  • Iterative approach
• Techniques
  • Interviews
  • Focus groups
  • Requirements workshop: Requirements meeting
  • Requirements workshop: JAD session
  • Brainstorming
  • Observation
  • Survey
  • Prototype
  • Document analysis
  • Business rules analysis
  • Reverse engineering
  • Product trials

4. Requirements Analysis

• Need for Analysis
• Using Analysis to get Stakeholder Feedback and Verify and Validate Developing Requirements
• Value of Modeling Techniques in Analysis
• Modeling Techniques
  • Organizational model
  • Location model
  • Process/flow models
  • Use case models
  • Data models
  • State model
• Types of Requirements
• Business Rules Analysis
• Prioritizing Requirements
• Verifying and Validating Requirements

5. Requirements Documentation

• Formal and Informal Documentation and the, Level of Detail Required
• Writing for Usability and Comprehension
• Common Requirements Document Defects
• Components of a Formal Requirements Document
• Requirements Verification and Validation
• Requirements Sign-Off

6. Requirements Management and Communication

• Throughout the Project and to Decommission
• Change Management
  • Define a baseline
  • Define a change management process
  • Identify the Change Authority
• Traceability and Its Uses
• Requirements Attributes
• Requirements Communication

7. Solution Validation and Acceptance

• Testing and Non-Testing Methods
• Purposes of Validation
  • Find defects
  • Prove compliance to requirements
• Test Cases and Test Suites
• Challenges in Testing
• Structured Testing
• Role of the BA in Solution Validation: the V Model
• Solution Acceptance and Project Close-Out

8. Enterprise Analysis

• Definition and Causes
• Role of the BA on the Enterprise Analysis Team
• Steps in Enterprise Analysis
  • Define the business need
    • Techniques for root cause analysis
  • Assess capability gaps
    • SWOT analysis
  • Determine the solution approach
  • Define the solution scope
  • Define the business case
    • Contents of business case
    • Who does what?: the BA's limited role in developing a business case

9. Competencies, Best Practices, and Life Cycle Models

• Competency Proficiency
• BA Necessary Competencies
  • Analytical thinking and problem solving
  • Behavioral characteristics
  • Business knowledge
  • Communication skills
  • Interaction skills
  • Software application knowledge
• Best Practices
  • Use iterative analysis
  • Focus on process improvement
  • Apply progressive elaboration
  • Check as you go
  • Use the investigative approach
  • Adopt traceability
  • Formalize business analysis through standardization
  • Improve communication through modeling
• Life Cycle Models
  • Waterfall
  • Incremental
  • Agile
  • Effects on business analysis

10. BA Fundamentals

• Communication Skills
• Leadership Skills
• Problem-Solving Skills
• Business Knowledge
• IT Knowledge

11. Case Studies

12. Exercises

Course Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for this course.

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Follow on Courses

GK2964, Business Analysis: Requirements Development, Documentation and Management