Summary

Business Analysis Foundations

Whether you are new to business analysis, or are experienced and want a more formal approach, it’s essential to know and practice the “basics.” This course provides you with the foundational skills you need to deliver value to your stakeholders and organization. You will learn how to help your business clients articulate their business problem or opportunity, plan business analysis activities, as well as learn the basics of eliciting, analyzing, documenting, managing, and communicating requirements through the life cycle of the project. By grasping these foundational skills, you can contribute significantly to the success of your organization’s projects.

Note: This course has been approved by PMI for 14 PDUs and IIBA for 14 CDUs.

Introduction

Who Should Attend:
New business analysts, people that have project experience but have not had formal business analysis training, or experienced BAs and project managers who want a more formal and industry-standard business analysis approach will gain new skills and methods from this course.

Course Objectives
– Articulate the key activities and artifacts of a business analyst
– Increase project success by better defining the business need
– Plan the requirements effort to ensure optimal productivity
– Identify and analyze stakeholders and learn to optimize stakeholder communication
– Reduce rework by eliciting and discovering requirements correctly the first time
– Document “good” requirements by writing them clearly, concisely, and completely using simple templates
– Learn how to trace and prioritize requirements to ensure they link to business value
– Manage the requirements throughout the project

Outline

  • Business Analysis Overview

    • Business analysis defined
    • Requirements & business rules defined
    • Requirements vs. business rules
  • Define the Business Need

    • Capture the business need (problem or opportunity)
    • Determine the business requirements (business goals and objectives)
    • Document the business need, goals & objectives
  • Plan for Business Analysis

    • Plan BA approach
    • Plan for stakeholder engagement
    • Communication tips
  • Elicit Requirements

    • Elicitation framework
    • Common elicitation techniques
    • Types of questions
    • Conduct elicitation and document results
  • Analyze and Document Requirements

    • Characteristics of a good requirement
    • Document good requirements
    • Validate & verify requirements
    • COTS considerations
  • Manage Requirements

    • Trace & prioritize requirements
    • Review & approve requirements
    • Assess requirement changes
    • Maintain req. documentation
  • Evaluate Solution or Solution Component

    • Evaluate solution overview

Course Schedule

*Indicates a course that spans over multiple days.

**Indicates a course that is only a half day.