Business Analyst

In today’s solutions-driven business environment, analytical thinking, problem solving and communications skills are key to providing solutions for process improvements, systems development and/or organizational changes. Within an organization, the Business Analyst practitioner works as liaison between the client, stakeholders, and the solutions team.

Global Information Technology’s IIBA endorsed Business Analyst Certificate Program focuses not only on the essential business analysis competencies, techniques and practices required of an effective business analyst but also on other skills such as communication, leadership and the ability to view the big picture. Through hands-on experience and focused classroom work, our expert business analyst training will give you the skills you need to succeed today. This program has been updated with new content released in the 2015, IIBA version 3.0 Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK®). The new content was significant and a new, fifth course was created to ensure the quality and integrity of the program, and the most updated information available as per IIBA standards

Introduction

• Purpose of the BABOK® Guide
• What is Business Analysis?
• Who is a Business Analysis?
• Structure of the BABOK® Guide

Business Analysis Key Concepts

• The Business Analysis Core Concept Model
• Key Terms
• Requirements Classification Schema
• Stakeholders
• Requirements and Designs

Business Analysis Planning and Monitoring

• Plan Business Analysis Approach
• Plan Stakeholder Engagement
• Plana Analysis Governance
• Plan Business Analysis Information Management
• Identify Business Analysis Performance Improvements

Elicitation and Collaboration

• Prepare for Elicitation
• Conduct Elicitation
• Confirm Elicitation Results
• Communicate Business Analysis Information
• Manage Stakeholder Collaboration

Requirements Life Cycle Management

• Trace Requirements
• Maintain Requirements
• Prioritize Requirements
• Assess Requirements Changes
• Approve Requirements

Strategy Analysis

• Analyze Current State
• Define Future State
• Assess Risks
• Define Change Strategy

Requirements Analysis and Design Definition

• Specify and Model Requirements
• Verify Requirements
• Validate Requirements
• Define Requirements Architecture
• Define Design Options
• Analyze Potential Value and Recommend Solution

Solution Evaluation

• Measure Solution Performance
• Analyze Performance Measures
• Asses Solution Limitations
• Assess Enterprise Limitations
• Recommend Actions to Increase Solution Value

Underlying Competencies

• Analytical Thinking and Problem Solving
• Behavioral Characteristics
• Business Knowledge
• Communication Skills
• Interactions Skills
• Tools and Technology

Techniques

• Acceptance and Evaluation Criteria
• Backlog Management
• Balanced Scorecard
• Benchmarking and market Analysis
• Brainstorming
• Business Capability Analysis
• Business Cases
• Business Model Canvas
• Business Rules Analysis
• Collaborative Games
• Concept Modelling
• Data Dictionary
• Data Flow Diagrams
• Data mining
• Data Modelling
• Decision Analysis
• Decision Modelling
• Document Analysis
• Estimation
• Financial Analysis
• Focus Groups
• Functional Decomposition
• Glossary
• Interface Analysis
• Interviews
• Item Tracking
• Lessons Learned
• Metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
• Mind Mapping
• Non-Functional Requirements Analysis
• Observation
• Organizational Modelling
• Prioritization
• Process Analysis
• Process Modelling
• Prototyping
• Reviews
• Risk Analysis and Management
• Roles and Permission Matrix
• Root Cause Analysis
• Scope Modelling
• Sequence Diagrams
• Stakeholder List, Map, or Personas
• State Modelling
• Survey or Questionnaire
• SWOT Analysis
• use Cases and Scenarios
• User Stories
• Vendor Assessment
• Workshops

Perspectives

• The Agile Perspective
• The Business Intelligence Perspective
• The Information Technology Perspective
• The Business Architecture Perspective
• The Business Process Management Perspective

Who will benefit from this course?
This course is aimed to take one to become an intermediate to advanced business analyst. The course is tailored for new business analyst and experienced professionals alike. Most participants are experienced IT personnel seeking a career change and college graduates exploring the career of business analysis. The domain and technology independent discipline of Business Analysis is tutored with the unified methods practiced in the industry. The analysis and documenting of business process using the principles of the UML are taught with relevant practical examples. Students are given individual assignments and group projects to enable them to face the real world with the skills required to perform analysis in the respective domain. Apart from building a strong conceptual knowledge, the course also provides hands-on tools training.

What are the prerequisites for being a Business Analyst?
The prerequisites for being a BA are having intermediate communication skills and intermediate knowledge of MS-Office. As a new business analyst you will be interacting with a number of people in a company, so clearly able to express yourself is key. Also you will be involved with documentation of the requirements so having some knowledge of MS-Word is necessary. Good writing skills are a must. Our recommendation of pre-requisites or background: Its good to have some work experience ( in any capacity ) in a professional company in the last 5 years or a degree in Business, MIS, Engineering or Computers or any IT training such as Java, Oracle or etc. completed in the last 5 years.

How are the jobs for BA in this market / in general? Why should I become a business analyst?
The Business Analyst (BA) works as a liaison among stakeholders to enable improvements that deliver value for the enterprise and its customers. The BA bridges the gap between business users and solution providers, translating business needs into useable requirements. To succeed in this role, an individual must have a broad range of business, technical, and interpersonal skills. Business Analyst jobs are always in demand, we have seen a lot of placements in Detroit. Due to the unique nature of the Business Analyst job, there are exceptional opportunities anywhere in the US, all one needs to do is search for the term “business analyst” in dice.com, monster.com or indeed.com to check the market needs for a business analyst. Every day we see about 3 to 5 BA opportunities that come across our way (these are not positions in Dice or any other Job Sites, they are internal requests, from partners, existing consultants and our industry contacts). What domains will this course cover? How will I get domain specific information? The course introduces students to Healthcare, Insurance, B2B/ B2C, Retail & Web 2.0 domains. Students will gain a good understanding of major areas in these domains, some domain specific knowledge is incorporated in the sessions.

How many weeks is this course?
The course typically lasts 6 weeks; it’s very comprehensive and very hands-on. Also the gap during the week allows the students to fully study and gain a strong understanding and practice what is being taught in the class.

Do I need programming background or knowledge? Is UML another programming language?
Programming knowledge is not a requirement at all. UML, is a short for Unified Modeling Language, is not a programming language but simply an modeling tool that helps you draw models/diagrams that represent a business process.

Does this Program include SQL?
It’s helpful for analyst to have a knowledge of the capabilities of SQL. Hence, Structure Query Language (SQL) is included in our BA course.