The course provides students a clear understanding and total immersion into all of the facets of the business analyst role, including a thorough walkthrough of the various domain/knowledge areas that comprise the business analysis profession. Students are provided an opportunity to try their hand at several business analysis techniques for eliciting, analyzing, and modeling requirements. The business analysis work performed in strategy analysis and solution evaluation, which is most often the least familiar to business analysts, is thoroughly presented and explored. Students completing this course will be well equipped with new skills and knowledge that can be immediately applied on current and future projects. This course is aligned to and satisfies the professional development hours required to take the Entry Certificate in Business Analysis (ECBA) certification. This course may earn a Credly Badge.

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* Actual course outline may vary depending on offering center. Contact your sales representative for more information.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

Obtain a thorough understanding of the core responsibilities of the business analyst
Understand the main professional associations and standards supporting business analysts in the industry
Discuss and explore the components of each of the domains/knowledge areas that comprise the work of business analysis
Recognize the importance of properly defining the business need prior to engaging in requirements activities
Formulate a strong understanding of the concepts that comprise strategy analysis
Obtain knowledge of and experience with the important work of stakeholder analysis
Decipher between project and product scope and successfully use models to communicate scope
Thoroughly understand and identify the various requirements categories and be able to recognize requirements of various types
Develop interviewing skills and explore ways to plan and structure interviews
Examine different forms of requirements documentation
Explore elements of communication, conflict, and issue management
Obtain a solid understanding of the concepts and activities involved in solution evaluation
Obtain hands-on experience with a number of business analysis techniques for eliciting, analyzing, and modeling requirements

1

  • Introduction to Business Analysis

  • What is Business Analysis?
    Benefiting from business analysis
    Business analysis and project success
    Challenges of business analysis
    Discussions- Who performs business analysis functions in your organization? Exploring solutions options and your biggest challenges on past projects
2

  • A Closer Look at the Business Analyst Role

  • Definition of business analyst
    Responsibilities of a business analyst
    The BA/PM roles
    IIBA/PMI and the goals of a professional association
    Purpose for having a BA standard
    IIBA's BABOK Guide and PMI's Practice Guide in Business Analysis
    Business analysis core concepts
    Business analysis perspectives
    IIBA and PMI certifications for business analysts
    Workshop- Introduction to Case Study
3

  • Strategy Analysis and Change

  • Define Strategy Analysis
    When to perform Strategy Analysis
    Business models
    Defining the business need
    Root cause analysis
    5 Whys
    Fishbone diagram
    Defining business requirements?
    Discussions- Who is involved in strategy analysis in your organization?
    Workshops- Create a Business Model, Define the Business Need, Create a Fishbone Diagram, and Write Business Requirements
4

  • Defining a Change Strategy

  • Define change strategy
    Gap analysis
    Determining solution options
    Enterprise readiness
    Cultural fit
    Operational and functional analysis
    Impact analysis
    Transitioning to the future state
5

  • Stakeholder Analysis

  • What is a stakeholder?
    The importance of stakeholder analysis
    Stakeholder identification
    Stakeholder types
    Tips/techniques for identifying analyzing stakeholders
    Keeping track of stakeholders
    Workshop- Identify Stakeholders
6

  • Understanding & Defining Solution Scope

  • Defining solution scope
    Techniques to use
    Project scope versus product scope
    Finding solution boundaries
    What is a feature?
    Identifying key features
    Discussion- Identifying Solution Scope
    Workshops- Draw a Context Diagram & Defining Scope with Features
7

  • Understanding Requirements

  • Project roles involved in requirements activities
    Requirements types
    Assumptions and constraints
    Business rules
    Decision tables and inference rules
    Requirements vs. business rules
    Requirements vs. specifications
    Discussions- Requirements and business rules
    Workshops- Define a Business Rule and write requirements
8

  • Business Process Modeling

  • Why do we model processes?
    What is Business Process Management?
    Using a modeling notation
    'As Is' vs. 'To Be' modeling
    Why use BPMN?
    Basic BPM notation
    Developing a business process model
    Using a facilitated session
    Business Process Modeling - A case study
    Developing a Business Process Model
    Workshop- Create a Business Process Model
9

  • Preparing for Requirements Elicitation

  • Types of elicitation techniques
    Interviewing - what and why?
    Preparing for an effective interview
    Selecting the right interviewees
    Types of questions to ask
    Sequencing of questions
    Discussion- Elicitation Techniques You Have Used
    Workshop- Planning for an Interview
10

  • Elicitation using Interviews and Workshops

  • Conduct the Interview
    Establishing rapport with stakeholders
    Active listening and listening styles
    Workshops and getting the right people
    The role of the facilitator
    The brainstorming technique
    Decision rules and reaching consensus
    Avoiding Groupthink
    Encouraging participation
    Managing meetings and conflict
    Workshop- Conduct an Interview
11

  • Confirming Elicitation Results

  • Defining requirements analysis
    Prioritizing requirements (MoSCoW, Timeboxing, Voting, etc.)
    Documenting requirements
    Other uses for specifications and models
    Unified Modeling Language (UML )
    Explaining user stories
    The traceability matrix
    Communicating requirements
    Workshop- Analyzing Requirements, Identifying User Stories, Tracing Requirements, and Obtaining Approval
12

  • Analyzing Requirements with Use Cases

  • What is an actor?
    Types of actors
    Defining actors
    Locating use cases
    Use case diagrams
    Use case tips
    Defining and identifying scenarios
    Parts of a use case
    Defining primary, secondary actors and pre and post conditions
    Best practices for writing use cases
    Template- Use Case Specification
    Workshop- Drawing a Use Case Diagram and writing the Main Success Scenario
    Scenarios and flows
    Alternate and exception flows
    Alternate scenario post conditions
    Guidelines for Alternate flows
    Examples of alternate and exception flows
    Workshop- Writing Alternate and Exception Flows
13

  • Documenting Requirements

  • How requirements relate to use cases
    Writing Non-Functional requirements
    User Interface Requirements
    Reporting requirements
    Data requirements
    Data accessibility requirements
    Business requirements document (BRD)
    BRD vs the Functional Requirements
    Verifying Requirements
    Quality attributes
    Purpose of the requirements package
    BA Deliverables across knowledge areas/domains
    Planning BA deliverables
    Workshops- Develop a User Interface and Verifying Requirements
14

  • Managing and Communicating Business Analysis Information

  • Business analysis communication
    The business analyst's role in communication
    Forms of communication
    7Cs of communication
    Symptoms of information overload
    Information mapping
    Presentation and common elements
    Requirements walkthroughs
    Conflict and issue management
    Conflict resolution techniques
15

  • Evaluating the Solution

  • Understanding solution evaluation
    Verification vs. validation
    Timing of solution evaluation
    Planning solution evaluation
    Performing solution evaluation
    Using existing metrics
    Evaluating long term performance
    Qualitative vs. Quantitative measures
    Tools and techniques used in solution evaluation
    Comparing expected vs. actuals
    When variances occur
    Proposing recommendations to address variances
    Communicating evaluation results
16

  • Additional Resources

  • Helpful links for obtaining additional business analysis information

Audience

This course is intended for beginner to intermediate Business Analysts who are looking to improve their skills by learning best practices and techniques for eliciting, analyzing, documenting, validating, and communicating requirements.

Language

English

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for this course. This course is suitable for both beginner and intermediate Business Analysts who would like to increase their skills in order to elicit, write and effectively manage requirements for their projects.

$2,925

Length: 4.0 days (32 hours)

Level:

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