Audience
This course is designed for business and systems analysts, developers, business users, team leaders and project managers.
Prerequisites
Those attending should have some basic knowledge of the information systems development process and information technology.
Duration
5 days. Lecture-based with examples and a practical case study.
This course is available on site only. Please call for details.
Course Objectives
Business Analysis is about identifying and understanding business requirements so that information systems will meet business needs. Many IT development projects fail to deliver because not enough effort is spent on analysing and prioritising business requirements.
This course uses the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) Body of Knowledge (BABOK) Guide as a framework for introducing the main techniques used in business analysis. The IIBA is a leading worldwide professional association for business analysts and the Guide is a framework that describes the business analysis tasks that must be performed in order to understand how a solution will deliver value to an organisation. The course uses the latest version of the BABOK guide and techniques are covered within relevant parts of the Knowledge Areas.
The course is practical and interactive delivered using a mixture of lectures, examples, discussions and case study exercises. Participants will learn how to elicit, analyse and document user requirements, develop appropriate models and identify where and how these would fit in to their own business analysis or system development lifecycle.
At the end of the course, participants will be able to:
- Identify relevant techniques used in business analysis and where they are best used in their organisation's development life cycle.
- Provide a significant input to the planning of business analysis activities within a project.
- Scope the business area of investigation and identify how requirements will be managed and communicated to stakeholders.
- Elicit business requirements using traditional fact-finding methods and techniques.
- Analyse, document and validate business requirements using a variety of techniques including data, process and use case modelling.
- Carry out a basic cost-benefit analysis using financial techniques and tools.
Course Content
Introduction to Business Analysis
What is Business Analysis.
Scope of Business Analysis Work.
Role & Responsibilities of Business Analyst.
The IIBA.
IIBA Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK).
BABOK Knowledge Areas.
Techniques Used in Knowledge Areas.
Development Processes
Waterfall.
Incremental.
Extended 'V' Model.
Spiral Model.
Rapid Application Development.
Rational Unified Process.
Agile Approaches.
Business Analysis Process.
Business Case.
Business Analysis Planning and Monitoring
Planning the Business Analysis Approach.
Conducting Stakeholder Analysis:
• RACI Matrix.
• Stakeholder Maps.
Planning Business Analysis Activities.
Planning Business Analysis Communication.
Planning the Requirements Management Process.
Managing Business Analysis Performance.
Elicitation
Prepare for Elicitation.
Conduct Elicitation Activity:
• Document Analysis.
• Interviews.
• Requirements Workshops.
• Brainstorming.
• Prototyping.
• Observation.
• Questionnaires and Surveys.
Document Elicitation Results.
Confirm Elicitation Results.
Requirements Management and Communication
Manage Solution Scope & Requirements.
Manage Requirements Traceability:
• Coverage Matrix.
Maintain Requirements for Re-use.
Prepare Requirements Package.
Requirements Documentation.
Communicate Requirements.
Structured Walkthroughs.
Enterprise Analysis
Define Business Need:
• Root Cause Analysis.
Assess Capability Gaps:
• SWOT Analysis.
Determine Solution Approach:
• Feasibility Analysis.
Define Solution Scope:
• Functional Decomposition.
• Context Diagrams.
Define Business Case:
• Cost Benefit Analysis.
Requirements Analysis
Prioritise Requirements:
• Risk Analysis.
• MoSCoW Analysis.
Organise Requirements:
• Data Flow Diagrams.
• Data Models.
• User Stories.
Specify and Model Requirements:
• Non-functional Requirements Analysis.
• Use Cases.
• Process Modelling.
Define Assumptions and Constraints.
Verify Requirements.
Validate Requirements.
Solution Assessment and Validation
Assess Proposed Solution:
• Vendor Assessment.
Allocate Requirements.
Assess Organisational Readiness.
Define Transition Requirements.
Validate Solution.
Evaluate Solution Performance.
Underlying Competencies
Analytical Thinking and Problem Solving.
Behavioural Characteristics.
Business Knowledge.
Communication Skills:
• Written Communication.
• Oral Communication.
Interaction Skills.
Software Applications:
• CASE Tools.