Foundation of Business Analysis

Why do more than 50% of projects fail to meet their original objectives? Why do we continue to see the number of troubled and canceled projects on the rise? According to PMI’s 2014 Pulse of the Profession® In-Depth Report, 47% of failed projects fail to meet goals due to poor requirements management. With a strong correlation between poor requirements practices, failed projects, and wasted dollars; organizations can no longer afford to accept mediocre business analysis skills from those fulfilling the business analysis role.

This 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 currentand future projects.

Course Objectives:
This course intends to provide beginner and intermediate students a total immersion into the business analyst role by exposing attendees to the various aspects of the business analysis profession and numerous techniques to allow them to improve elicitation, analysis, and documentation of requirements.

This course is compliant with IIBA’s Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK® Guide) version 3 and is aligned with and upholds the practices as discussed in PMI’s Business Analysis for Practitioners: A Practice Guide.

Intended 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.

Learning Objectives:

• 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

Workshop Objectives:
Throughout the course, students work together in small groups on a pre-determined project. Each exercise allows students to apply their learnings throughout the course.

Prerequisites:
No prerequisites - 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.