Course Overview

In this training you’ll learn the vocabulary standards and business analysis practices through the use of the IIBA A Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK Guide). You’ll understand the business analyst’s role and responsibilities in a successful project. In this introductory course, you’ll delve into the role and responsibilities of the business analyst (BA)- the communication link between all business areas and a critical player in project success. Learn techniques for ensuring project success every step of the way-from identifying and analyzing potential projects to making sure that the final project product meets the requirements you identified. Through hands-on exercises, you’ll learn to define the scope of work and master requirements-gathering techniques that will work for a variety of projects and audiences. You’ll consider the unique needs of customers, stakeholders, and the IT department as you work toward building, documenting, communicating, and managing requirements.

Course Objectives

What You’ll Learn

• Role and importance of the BA
• Vocabulary standards and business analysis practices through the use of the IIBA A Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK Guide)
• Plan BA requirements activities
• Elicit requirements from stakeholders, with an emphasis on interviews
• Analyze stated requirements, with an overview of modeling techniques
• Document requirements for different types of projects
• Verify and validate requirements
• Elements of requirements management and communication and the BA’s role in them
• Elements of solution verification and validation and possible BA roles
• Enterprise analysis: choosing appropriate projects
• Necessary competencies and best practices of BAs
• Waterfall, incremental, and agile lifecycles and how they change BA practices

Course Content

1. Introduction to Business Analysis

• Importance of Effective Business Analysis
• Role of the BA
• Standardization and Adaptability

2. Requirements Planning

• Role of the BA in Requirements Planning
• Vision and Scope Document
• Types of Requirements
• Stakeholders
• Business Analysis Plan

3. Requirements Elicitation

• Role of the BA in Requirements Elicitation
  • Investigative approach
  • Iterative approach
• Techniques
  • Interviews
  • Focus groups
  • Requirements workshop: Requirements meeting
  • Requirements workshop: JAD session
  • Brainstorming
  • Observation
  • Survey
  • Prototype
  • Document analysis
  • Business rules analysis
  • Reverse engineering
  • Product trials

4. Requirements Analysis

• Need for Analysis
• Using Analysis to get Stakeholder Feedback and Verify and Validate Developing Requirements
• Value of Modeling Techniques in Analysis
• Modeling Techniques
  • Organizational model
  • Location model
  • Process/flow models
  • Use case models
  • Data models
  • State model
• Types of Requirements
• Business Rules Analysis
• Prioritizing Requirements
• Verifying and Validating Requirements

5. Requirements Documentation

• Formal and Informal Documentation and the, Level of Detail Required
• Writing for Usability and Comprehension
• Common Requirements Document Defects
• Components of a Formal Requirements Document
• Requirements Verification and Validation
• Requirements Sign-Off

6. Requirements Management and Communication

• Throughout the Project and to Decommission
• Change Management
  • Define a baseline
  • Define a change management process
  • Identify the Change Authority
• Traceability and Its Uses
• Requirements Attributes
• Requirements Communication

7. Solution Validation and Acceptance

• Testing and Non-Testing Methods
• Purposes of Validation
  • Find defects
  • Prove compliance to requirements
• Test Cases and Test Suites
• Challenges in Testing
• Structured Testing
• Role of the BA in Solution Validation: the V Model
• Solution Acceptance and Project Close-Out

8. Enterprise Analysis

• Definition and Causes
• Role of the BA on the Enterprise Analysis Team
• Steps in Enterprise Analysis
  • Define the business need
    • Techniques for root cause analysis
  • Assess capability gaps
    • SWOT analysis
  • Determine the solution approach
  • Define the solution scope
  • Define the business case
    • Contents of business case
    • Who does what?: the BA’s limited role in developing a business case

9. Competencies, Best Practices, and Life Cycle Models

• Competency Proficiency
• BA Necessary Competencies
  • Analytical thinking and problem solving
  • Behavioral characteristics
  • Business knowledge
  • Communication skills
  • Interaction skills
  • Software application knowledge
• Best Practices
  • Use iterative analysis
  • Focus on process improvement
  • Apply progressive elaboration
  • Check as you go
  • Use the investigative approach
  • Adopt traceability
  • Formalize business analysis through standardization
  • Improve communication through modeling
• Life Cycle Models
  • Waterfall
  • Incremental
  • Agile
  • Effects on business analysis

10. BA Fundamentals

• Communication Skills
• Leadership Skills
• Problem-Solving Skills
• Business Knowledge
• IT Knowledge

11. Case Studies

12. Exercises

Course Overview

This 4-day Big Data Scientist course is a continuation of the Big Data Fundamentals (BDF) course and consists of 4 modules. After each module the participant can take the corresponding exam. If all exams are passed, the participant will be Certified Big Data Scientist. The course is scheduled in 4 blocks of 1 day, spread over approximately 4 weeks.

The modules are part of the Big Data Science Certified Professional (BDSCP) curriculum of Arcitura Education. The Big Data Science Certified Professional (BDSCP) program from Arcitura is dedicated to excellence in the fields of Big Data science, analysis, analytics, business intelligence, and technology architecture, as well as design, development, and governance.

Course Content

Module 1: Big Data Analysis & Technology Concepts         

• Big Data Analysis Lifecycle (from business case evaluation to data analysis and visualization)
• A/B Testing, Correlation
• Regression, Heat Maps
• Time Series Analysis
• Network Analysis
• Spatial Data Analysis
• Classification, Clustering
• Outlier Detection
• Filtering (including collaborative filtering & content-based filtering)
• Natural Language Processing
• Sentiment Analysis, Text Analytics
• File Systems & Distributed File Systems, NoSQL
• Distributed & Parallel Data Processing,
• Processing Workloads, Clusters
• Cloud Computing & Big Data
• Foundational Big Data Technology Mechanisms

Module 2: Fundamentals Big Data Analysis & Science       

• Data Science, Data Mining & Data Modeling
• Big Data Dataset Categories
• Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) (including numerical summaries, rules & data reduction)
• EDA analysis types (including univariate, bivariate & multivariate)
• Essential Statistics (including variable categories & relevant mathematics)
• Statistics Analysis (including descriptive, inferential, correlation, covariance & hypothesis testing)
• Data Munging & Machine Learning
• Variables & Basic Mathematical Notations
• Statistical Measures & Statistical Inference
• Distributions & Data Processing Techniques
• Data Discretization, Binning, Clustering
• Visualization Techniques & Numerical Summaries
• Correlation for Big Data
• Time Series Analysis for Big Data

Module 3: Advanced Big Data Analysis & Science    

• Statistical Models, Model Evaluation Measures (including cross-validation, bias-variance, confusion matrix & f-score)
• Machine Learning Algorithms, Pattern Identification (including association rules & apriori algorithm)
• Advanced Statistical Techniques (including parametric vs. non-parametric, clustering vs. non-clustering distance-based, supervised vs. semi-supervised)
• Linear Regression & Logistic Regression for Big Data
• Decision Trees for Big Data
• Classification Rules for Big Data
• K Nearest Neighbor (kNN) for Big Data
• Naïve Bayes for Big Data
• Association Rules for Big Data
• K-means for Big Data
• Text Analytics for Big Data
• Outlier Detection for Big Data

Module 4: Big Data Analysis & Science lab

This course module covers a series of exercises and problems designed to test the participant’s ability to apply knowledge of topics covered previously in course modules 4 and 5. Completing this lab will help highlight areas that require further attention, and will further prove hands-on proficiency in Big Data analysis and science practices as they are applied and combined to solve real-world problems.

As a hands-on lab, this course incorporates a set of detailed exercises that require participants to solve various inter-related problems, with the goal of fostering a comprehensive understanding of how different data analysis techniques can be applied to solve problems in Big Data environments and used to make significant, relevant predictions that offer increased business value.

Course Overview

This 1-day Fundamental Big Data course is the first module in Arcitura Education’s Big Data Science Certified Professional (BDSCP) curriculum. This foundational course provides a high-level overview of essential Big Data topic areas. A basic understanding of Big Data from business and technology perspectives is provided, along with an overview of common benefits, challenges, and adoption issues. The course content is divided into a series of modular sections, each of which is accompanied by one or more hands-on exercises.

Course Content

Module 1: Big Data Fundamentals

• Understanding Big Data
• Fundamental Terminology & Concepts
• Big Data Business & Technology Drivers
• Traditional Enterprise Technologies Related to Big Data
• Characteristics of Data in Big Data Environments
• Dataset Types in Big Data Environments
• Fundamental Analysis and Analytics
• Machine Learning Types
• Business Intelligence & Big Data
• Data Visualization & Big Data
• Big Data Adoption & Planning Considerations

Course Overview

Master a proven set of modelling techniques using UML. Topics covered on the Systems Modelling Techniques course include use case diagrams, analysis class diagrams and state machines. A Specialist Practitioner module on the internationally recognised BCS Diploma in Business Analysis.

Course Objectives

Systems modelling helps clarify the charactristics of a system and specify the requirements to be met. Learn a proven set of modelling techniques for specifying IT systems, using selected models from the Unified Modeling Language (UML), a standard for systems specification. Topics covered on the Systems Modelling Techniques course include use case diagrams, analysis class diagrams and state machines. 

When combined with our Systems Development Essentials course, this module provides you with the core tools and techniques you’ll need to become an effective systems analyst.

Presented to you by one of the expert training consultants pictured below. Each member of our Systems Modelling Techniques training team brings substantial experience of systems modelling and UML to the programme.

Course Content

During this course, you will cover:

Systems modelling

• The importance of modelling and modelling standards
• Models of the Unified Modeling Language (UML)
• Interaction of selected UML models

Modelling functionality

• Use cases diagrams
• Actors and the system boundary
• Modelling functional scope
• Use case descriptions – structure and contents
• Use case descriptions – defining the main and alternative flows
• The <<include>> and <<extend>> constructs
• Activity diagrams – notation
• Using activity diagrams to model use case descriptions
• Using activity diagrams to model processing

Static data modelling

• Objects and classes
• Class diagrams and object diagrams
• Representing classes – name, attributes and operations
• Defining attributes – adornments
• Abstraction and Encapsulation
• Associations – structural, association and aggregation
• Defining multiplicities
• Generalisation and inheritance
• Understanding polymorphism

Dynamic modelling

• Cross-referencing models with CRUD
• State machine diagrams modelling object lifecycles
• Realising use cases with interaction models
• Sequence and communication diagrams
• Interaction fragments, including opt, alt and loop
• How interaction models populate class operations during design

Modelling in context

• Phases and workflows of the Unified Process
• Models in the Unified Process
• The bridge to design, software package selection and development

Course Overview

At the end of this course you’ll not only have a good understanding of the models and methods used in system design, but you’ll also be able to apply them confidently to a multitude of project situations.

For that reason, this course is for all the system designers and software architects, including those working on system enhancements, who want to gain some hands-on knowledge of the best practice techniques to use when designing software solutions that meet business requirements. We’ll look at how requirements specified in a set of deliverables produced by business and system analysts can be achieved using models from the Unified Modeling Language (UML) and supported by more traditional approaches, like data normalisation. On top of that, the course will cover areas such as interface between analysis and design, logical process design and system controls and security.

Presented to you by one of the expert training consultants pictured below, each member of our Systems Design Techniques training team bring their substantial experience of software development and systems design to the programme.

Course Content

Introduction

• Objectives and constraints of design
• The place of design in the systems development life cycle
• Using the products of analysis to drive systems design
• The work of the designer
• The scope of design
• Design methodologies
• Architectural issues in design
• Introduction to design patterns

User interface (UI) design

• Objectives of UI design
• Design of input and output interfaces
• Dialogue types
• Usability and style guides
• Prototyping the interface
• Modelling the user interface

Component-based design

• Introduction to components & software architectures
• Component design principles: cohesion, coupling, responsibility and reusability
• Using analysis models (use case diagram and class diagram) to create a logical component architecture
• Use case realisation with UML interaction diagrams
• Defining component interfaces
• Component engineering
• MVC (Model, View, Controller), choreography and orchestration design patterns

Logical data design (normalisation)

• Notation and conventions of relational data analysis (normalisation)
• Principles of progressive normalisation through first, second and third normal forms
• Rationalising results from normalisation of multiple data sources
• Building the normalised (Third Normal Form) data model
• Defining the final logical data design using Entity-Relationship Diagrams

Logical process design

• Activity Diagrams (UML)
• Structured English / pseudocode
• Data Navigation Diagrams

Physical design

• Optimising the logical design
• Principles of physical data design
• Principles of physical process design
• Design and architecture
• Packaging the design for delivery using Deployment Diagrams (UML)

System controls

• Risk in systems development
• Verification and validation of data
• Object controls
• Data controls & self-checking codes
• Function and state controls
• Visibility and encapsulation in object-oriented design (UML class diagrams)
• Audit trails
• Output controls
• Clerical controls
• Access controls, physical and logical security
• Backup and recovery
• Business continuity and disaster planning
• Legal requirements of the designer

Course Overview

The Stakeholder Engagement course is a game-changer for business analysts, project managers and IS consultants who want to build positive and productive relationships with stakeholders. Invaluable as a stand-alone course, it also counts towards the BCS (ISEB) Advanced International Diploma in Business Analysis.

Course Objectives

Being able to engage with and manage your stakeholders effectively is a vital skill for anyone in business, but especially for business analysts, project managers and IS consultants

Our Stakeholder Engagement course covers all the essential frameworks and principles you’ll need to develop positive and productive relationships with your stakeholders. This includes working with stakeholder groups, creative problem solving, managing conflict and much more.

Presented to you by one of the expert training consultants pictured below. Each member of our Stakeholder Engagement training team brings substantial practical experience to the programme.

Course Content

During this course, you will cover:

Understanding stakeholders

• Analysing stakeholders
• Stakeholder planning
• Stakeholder perspectives

Communication

• The communication process
• Barriers to communication
• Active listening

Working with stakeholder groups

• Group development process
• Learning styles

Facilitated workshops – introduction

• The benefits of facilitated workshops
• Main workshop roles – facilitator, scribe, participants, sponsor
• Stages of a workshop
• Workshop preparation
• Conduct of the workshop
• Facilitation techniques
• Adaptability in the workshop

Rapport

• Rapport defined
• Making an impact
• Building rapport
• Body language

Creative problem solving

• A model for creative problem solving
• Techniques for generating ideas
• Rich pictures
• Mind-maps
• Fishbone diagrams
• Stimulating creative thinking
• Edward de Bono’s ‘Six Thinking Hats’

Managing expectations

• Sources of expectations
• Controllable expectation creators
• Uncontrollable expectation creators
• Process for managing expectations

Negotiation

• Negotiating positions
• Principled negotiation approach
• The people problem
• Principled negotiation stages – interests, options, criteria
• Blocks to creative options in negotiation
• Integrative and distributive negotiation

Managing conflict

• The difference between negotiation and conflict situations
• Root causes of conflict – goals, judgements, values
• Options for conflict resolution
• Conflict resolution process
• Handling conflict

Course Overview

This 3-day BCS Requirements Engineering Practice training + exam covers the range of concepts, approaches and techniques that are applicable to the Practitioner Certificate in Requirements Engineering. It is relevant to anyone working within a business or information systems domain, who requires an understanding of the nature, definition and use of good quality requirements.

Course Objectives

You’ll learn how to take a systematic approach to eliciting, analysing, validating, documenting and managing requirements. The certificate includes:

• An introduction to the requirements engineering process
• The hierarchy of requirements
• How to identify stakeholders in the requirements process
• How to elicit requirements
• Modelling, designing and analysing requirements
• Requirements management

Course Content

1. Introduction to Requirements Engineering 5%
Candidates will be able to:
1.1 Define the term ‘requirements’ and the characteristics of a requirement.
1.2 Explain the rationale for Requirements Engineering and the application of the
Requirements Engineering framework.
1.3 Explain the rationale of requirements planning and estimating.
1.4 Describe the elements that should be considered as the contents of a project
initiation document, terms of reference or project charter:
1.4.1 Business objectives.
1.4.2 Project objectives.
1.4.3 Scope.
1.4.4 Constraints (budget, timescale, standards).
1.4.5 Authority or sponsor.
1.4.6 Resources.
1.4.7 Assumptions.

2 Hierarchy of Requirements 10%
Candidates will be able to:
2.1 Show understanding of the rationale for the requirements hierarchy and describe how
it is applied in Requirements Engineering.
2.2 Explain the categories within the hierarchy:
2.2.1 Business policy (general) requirements.
2.2.2 Technical policy requirements.
2.2.3 Functional requirements.
2.2.4 Non-functional requirements.

3 Stakeholders in the Requirements Process 5%
Candidates will be able to:
3.1 Define the term stakeholder.
3.2 Explain the key roles of the following project stakeholders during Requirements
Engineering:
3.2.1 Project Manager.
3.2.2 Developer.
3.2.3 Tester.
3.2.4 Solution Architect.
3.3 Explain the key roles of the following business stakeholders during Requirements
Engineering:
3.3.1 Project Sponsor.
3.3.2 Subject Matter Expert.
3.3.3 End User.
3.3.4 Business Manager.
3.4 Interpret a given scenario, identify stakeholders and describe their contribution to
Requirements Engineering.

4 Requirements Elicitation 20%
Candidates will be able to:
4.1 Explain different knowledge types:
4.1.1 Tacit / Non-tacit (explicit).
4.1.2 Individual / Corporate.
4.2 Interpret a given scenario to identify different knowledge types.
4.3 Interpret a given scenario to identify relevant elicitation techniques from the following
list:
4.3.1 Interviews.
4.3.2 Workshops.
4.3.3 Observation.
4.3.4 Focus groups.
4.3.5 Prototyping.
4.3.6 Scenario analysis.
4.3.7 Document analysis.
4.3.8 Surveys.
4.3.9 Record searching.
4.3.10 Special purpose records.
4.3.11 Activity sampling.
4.4 Describe the principles and application of the elicitation techniques (listed in 4.3).
4.5 List the advantages and disadvantages of the elicitation techniques (listed in 4.3).
4.6 Discuss the suitability of the elicitation techniques (listed in 4.3) for Agile and linear
development approaches.

5 Use of Models in Requirements Engineering 10%
Candidates will be able to:
5.1 Explain the rationale for modelling the functional requirements (processing and data)
of an information system and describe how models help the analyst to:
5.1.1 Generate questions in order to clarify a requirement and remove ambiguity.
5.1.2 Define business rules.
5.1.3 Cross-check requirements for consistency and completeness.
5.2 Interpret a given scenario to develop a context diagram.
5.3 Interpret a given scenario to identify the different types of event that can initiate
processing (external, time based, internal).
5.4 Understand how to construct a UML use case diagram for a given scenario to
represent the functional requirements for an information system, including the
following notational elements:
5.4.1 System boundary.
5.4.2 Actors (user role, another system and time).
5.4.3 Use cases.
5.4.4 Communication relationships (associations) between actors and use cases.
– It should be noted that there is no requirement to understand include and extend
constructs.
5.5 Interpret a UML Class diagram (comprising of classes, attributes, associations and
multiplicities) that represents the data requirements for a given scenario, and
describe the business rules that are represented.
– It should be noted that there is no requirement to understand operations,
association classes, generalisation (and associated concepts of inheritance and
polymorphism), aggregation and composition.
5.6 Explain the benefits to be derived from cross-referencing models and illustrate how
this can be achieved by using a CRUD matrix (of function or event against data).

6 Requirements Documentation 15%
Candidates will be able to:
6.1 Explain the rationale for creating a requirements document and for documenting
requirements at different levels of definition, relating to:
6.1.1 The nature of the solution.
6.1.2 The level of priority.
6.1.3 The delivery approach.
6.2 Understand how to construct requirements documentation for a given scenario, using
the following specified styles:
6.2.1 User story.
6.2.2 Use case.
6.2.3 Requirements list.
6.2.4 Requirements catalogue.
6.3 Describe a requirement in terms of its characteristics or attributes and explain why
each of the following may be needed:
6.3.1 Identifier.
6.3.2 Name.
6.3.3 Description.
6.3.4 Source.
6.3.5 Owner.
6.3.6 Author.
6.3.7 Type (general, technical, functional, non-functional).
6.3.8 Priority.
6.3.9 Business area.
6.3.10 Stakeholders.
6.3.11 Associated non-functional requirements.
6.3.12 Acceptance criteria.
6.3.13 Related requirements.
6.3.14 Related documents.
6.3.15 Comments.
6.3.16 Rationale.
6.3.17 Resolution.
6.3.18 Version history.
6.4 Describe the structure and contents of the requirements document:
6.4.1 Introduction and background.
6.4.2 Business process models.
6.4.3 Function model (use case diagram) of defined requirements.
6.4.4 Data model (class model) of defined requirements.
6.4.5 Requirements (defined using the selected documentation style).
6.4.6 Glossary.

7 Requirements Analysis 20%
Candidates will be able to:
7.1 Explain the rationale for prioritising requirements, using the MoSCoW prioritisation
technique.
7.2 Interpret a given scenario and apply the MoSCoW prioritisation technique.
7.3 Examine individual requirements; apply filters and quality criteria to assess that they
are well defined.
7.4 Use requirements for a given scenario to check for technical, business and financial
feasibility.
7.5 Assign a requirement type to an individual requirement.
7.6 Organise the requirements for a given scenario by requirement type and functional
area.
7.7 Within a given requirement set:
7.7.1 Identify and resolve duplicate requirements.
7.7.2 Identify and reconcile overlapping requirements.
7.7.3 Identify conflicting requirements and explain how requirements negotiation
could be applied to resolve these conflicts.
7.7.4 Identify ambiguous requirements and aspects to be defined to remove
ambiguity.
7.8 Explain the use of prototyping to elaborate requirements.

8 Requirements Validation 5%
Candidates will be able to:
8.1 Describe the rationale for the following approaches to requirements validation:
8.1.1 Informal reviews.
8.1.2 Formal reviews:
8.1.2.1 Structured walkthrough.
8.1.2.2 Prototype reviews.
8.2 Explain the steps to be followed in the validation process for requirements artefacts:
8.2.1 Plan review.
8.2.2 Conduct review of artefacts.
8.2.3 Collect comments.
8.2.4 Undertake actions.
8.2.5 Revise artefacts.
8.2.6 Obtain approval.

9 Requirements Management 10%
Candidates will be able to:
9.1 Explain the rationale for requirements management.
9.2 Define the elements of requirements management and the links between them.
9.3 Explain the structure and elements of a change control process.
9.4 Explain the structure and elements of version control.
9.5 Define two forms of traceability and how projects benefit from each of them:
9.5.1 Horizontal (forwards from origin to delivery and backwards from delivery to
origin).
9.5.2 Vertical (to business objectives).
9.6 Explain the rationale and the approach to achieving requirements traceability..

Course Overview

This 3-day BCS Certificate in Business Analysis Practice training covers the range of concepts, approaches and techniques that are applicable to the Practitioner Certificate in Business Analysis Practice and is relevant to anyone requiring a broad understanding of the subject. The certificate’s focus is on using a holistic approach to the investigation and improvement of business situations, with a view to developing effective, feasible business solutions.

Course Objectives

Candidates should be able to demonstrate knowledge, understanding and application of
Business Analysis Practice principles and techniques in the following areas:

1. The breadth of the role of a Business Analyst (BA), the value of the role to organisations
   and the skills required of a BA to support successful business change.
2. The processes and techniques of strategy analysis.
3. Investigation of an organisation’s business systems in order to uncover the problems
   and issues occurring within them.
4. The importance of, and techniques used within, stakeholder management and the need
   for analysing perspectives.
5. Conceptual modelling through the use of business activity models.
6. Recommendations for business improvements and how they may be identified through
   gap analysis between desired and current business models.
7. The role of a business case within the business change lifecycle, including the contents
   of a business case for the development and implementation of business changes.

Course Content

Learning Objectives

1. Rationale for Business Analysis 5%
Candidates will be able to:
1.1 Explain the role of the BA throughout the stages of the business change lifecycle.
1.2 Understand the scope of the BA role within the context of the range of analysis
activities: strategic analysis and definition; business analysis; IT systems analysis.
1.3 Identify that there are three areas of competency for a BA: personal qualities,
business knowledge and professional techniques.

2. Understanding the Strategic Context 15%
Candidates will be able to:
2.1 Apply the MOST technique to analyse the internal environment of an organisation.
2.2 Apply the resource audit technique to analyse the internal environment of an
organisation.
2.3 Apply the PESTLE technique to analyse the external environment of an organisation.
2.4 Apply Porter’s Five Forces technique to analyse the external environment of an
organisation.
2.5 Explain the purpose of a SWOT analysis.
2.6 Identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for a given scenario.
2.7 Define and explain the relationship between the following terms:
2.7.1 Critical Success Factor.
2.7.2 Key Performance Indicator.
2.7.3 Performance Target.
2.8 Define the elements of the balanced business scorecard and describe how it may be
used to identify critical success factors and key performance indicators.

3. Understanding the Current Situation 15%
Candidates will be able to:
3.1 Identify the generic stakeholder categories defined in the stakeholder wheel.
3.2 Identify relevant investigation techniques for a given scenario, including:
3.2.1 Interviews.
3.2.2 Workshops.
3.2.3 Observation.
3.2.4 Document analysis.
3.2.5 Scenario analysis.
3.2.6 Surveys or questionnaires.
3.3 Explain the rationale for taking a holistic view when investigating a business situation.
3.4 Interpret the business situation represented in: rich pictures; mind maps and fishbone
diagrams.

4. Stakeholder Analysis and Management 20%
Candidates will be able to:
4.1 In a given scenario, describe stakeholders in terms of their power/influence and level
of interest.
4.2 Select an appropriate stakeholder management strategy based on the position on the
Power/Interest Grid.
4.3 Apply the CATWOE technique to explore stakeholder business perspectives.
4.4 Explain different stakeholder business perspectives based on elements of CATWOE
to identify similarities and differences in their worldviews.

5. Analysing and Modelling Business Activities 25%
Candidates will be able to:
5.1 Explain the rationale for building conceptual models of a business situation.
5.2 Understand how to construct a conceptual business activity model, based on a given
scenario.
5.3 Show understanding of how the five types of high level activity within a business
activity model (and the dependencies between them) represent a stakeholder’s
business perspective.
5.4 Explain the role of the planning activities in determining performance targets for a
business system represented in the business activity model.
5.5 Explain the role of the enabling activities, in acquiring and replenishing resources for
a business system represented in the business activity model.
5.6 Explain the role of the doing activities in conducting the work of the transformation, as
defined in the stakeholder’s CATWOE.
5.7 Explain the role of monitoring and control activities, in regulating a business system
represented in the business activity model.
5.8 Explain the three types of business events:
5.8.1 External.
5.8.2 Internal.
5.8.3 Time based.
5.9 In a given business activity model, identify the business events that will be handled
by a particular business activity.
5.10 Explain the rationale for the consensus business activity model.

6. Identifying Potential Solutions 10%
Candidates will be able to:
6.1 In a given business scenario, distinguish between the different categories of business
rule:
6.1.1 External constraints.
6.1.2 Internal policies.
6.1.3 Internal procedures.
6.2 Describe the process for carrying out gap analysis, through comparison of the
conceptual business activity model and existing business situation.
6.3 Define the components of a new business model:
6.3.1 Process.
6.3.2 Organisation.
6.3.3 People.
6.3.4 Information.
6.3.5 Technology.

7. Building the Business Case 10%
Candidates will be able to:
7.1 Explain the rationale for the development of a business case.
7.2 Describe the contents of a business case, including:
7.2.1 Background description.
7.2.2 Options and their descriptions.
7.2.3 Costs, including:
7.2.3.1 Areas of cost.
7.2.3.2 Tangible and intangible costs.
7.2.3.3 Quantifying costs.
7.2.4 Benefits, including:
7.2.4.1 Areas of business benefit.
7.2.4.2 Tangible and intangible benefits.
7.2.4.3 Quantifying benefits.
7.2.5 Cost/benefit analysis using investment appraisal techniques.
7.2.6 Risks, including:
7.2.6.1 Areas of risk.
7.2.6.2 Types of risk.
7.2.6.3 Risk analysis.
7.2.7 Impacts.
7.2.8 Recommendations – the preferred option.
7.3 Interpret a scenario in order to identify the following:
7.3.1 Tangible and intangible costs.
7.3.2 Tangible and intangible benefits.
7.3.3 Risks.
7.3.4 Impacts.
7.4 Understand the rationale for the development of the financial case and the following
appraisal techniques:
7.4.1 Payback.
7.4.2 Discounted cash flow.
7.4.3 Internal rate of return.
7.5 Explain where a business case sits within the business change lifecycle and the
rationale for reviewing it at each stage.

Course Overview

This 3-day BCS Foundation course covers the range of concepts, approaches and techniques that are applicable to Business Analysis. Candidates are required to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of these aspects of Business Analysis.

The BCS Foundation Certificate in Business Analysis certification provides a foundation for the range of specialist BCS modular certificates in the areas of Business Analysis, IS Consultancy and Business Change. The certification can also be used as the knowledge-based specialist module for the International Diploma in Business Analysis. In addition, the certification provides foundation-level Business Analysis knowledge for specialists in other disciplines, particularly Project Managers and System Developers. The syllabus is based on the BCS publication Business Analysis, 3rd edition, and it is recommended that this text is studied by those preparing to take this examination. The headings listed in the syllabus relate to the relevant chapter headings, section headings and text included in this publication.

Course Objectives

After you complete this course you will be able to demonstrate:

• Knowledge and understanding of business analysis principles and techniques
• The role and competencies of a business analyst
• Strategy analysis
• Business system and business process modelling
• Stakeholder analysis
• Investigation and modelling techniques
• Requirements engineering
• Business case development

Course Content

1. What is Business Analysis

• The origins of business analysis
• The development of business analysis
• The impact of outsourcing
• Competitive advantage of using IT
• Successful business change
• The importance of the business analyst
• Business analysts as internal consultants
• The scope of business analysis work
• The range of analysis activities
• Strategic analysis and definition
• IT systems analysis
• Business analysis
• Taking a holistic approach
• The role and responsibilities of a business analyst
• Definition of the business analyst role
• Further aspects of the business analyst role

2. The Competencies of a Business Analyst

• Personal qualities
• Business knowledge
• Professional techniques
• The development of competencies

3. Strategy Analysis

• The context for strategy
• The definition of strategy (Johnson, Scholes and Whittington 2008)
• Strategy development
• External environment analysis
• PESTLE analysis
• Porter’s five forces model
• Internal environment analysis
• MOST analysis
• Resource Audit
• Boston Box
• SWOT analysis
• Executing strategy
• The McKinsey 7-S model
• The Balanced Business Scorecard
• Critical Success Factors and Key Performance Indicators

4. The Business Analysis Process Model

• An approach to problem-solving
• Stages of the business analysis process model
• Investigate the situation
• Consider the perspectives
• Analyse the needs
• Evaluate the options
• Define the requirements
• Objectives of the process model stages
• Procedure for each process model stage
• Techniques used within each process model stage

5. Investigation techniques

• Interviews
• Advantages and disadvantages of interviewing
• Preparing for interviewing
• Conducting the interview
• Following up the interview
• Observation
• Advantages and disadvantages of observation
• Formal observation
• Protocol analysis
• Shadowing
• Ethnographic studies
• Workshops
• Advantages and disadvantages of workshops
• Preparing for the workshop
• Facilitating the workshop
• Techniques
• Following the workshop
• Scenarios
• Advantages and disadvantages of scenarios
• Process for developing scenarios
• Documenting scenarios
• Prototyping
• Advantages and disadvantages of prototyping
• Quantitative approaches
• Surveys or Questionnaires
• Special Purpose Records
• Activity Sampling
• Document Analysis
• Documenting the current situation
• Rich Pictures
• Mind Maps

6. Stakeholder Analysis and Management

• Stakeholder categories and identification
• Customers
• Partners
• Suppliers
• Competitors
• Regulators
• Owners
• Employees
• Managers
• Analysing stakeholders
• The Power/Interest Grid
• Stakeholder management strategies
• No or low interest and no or low power/influence
• Some or high interest but no or low power/influence
• No or low to high interest but some power/influence
• No or low interest but high power/influence
• Some interest and high power/influence
• High interest and high power/influence
• Managing stakeholders
• Stakeholder plan/assessment
• Understanding stakeholder perspectives
• Soft Systems Methodology
• Analysing the perspectives
• CATWOE
• Business activity models
• Creating a business activity model
• Types of activities – Plan, Enable, Do, Monitor, Control
• Developing a consensus model

7. Modelling Business Processes

• Organisational context
• Functional view of an organisation
• An alternative view of an organisation
• The organisational view of business processes
• Value propositions
• Process models
• Business events
• Developing the business process model
• Analysing the as-is process model
• Improving business processes (to-be business process)
• Business rules
• Simplify the process
• Remove bottlenecks
• Change the sequence of tasks
• Redefine process boundary
• Automate the processing
• Redesign the process

8. Defining the solution

• Gap analysis
• Identifying areas of concern
• Framework for gap analysis (elements of POPIT model)
• Formulating options
• Introduction to Business Architecture
• Definition of Business Architecture
• Business Architecture techniques
• Definition of a capability model
• Definition of a value stream

9. Making a Business and Financial Case

• The business case in the project lifecycle
• Identifying options
• Assessing project feasibility
• Business feasibility
• Technical feasibility
• Financial feasibility
• Structure of a business case
• Contents of a business case
• Categories of costs and benefits
• Impact assessment
• Risk assessment
• Investment appraisal
• Payback
• Discounted cash flow and Internal rate of return

10. Establishing the Requirements

• A framework for requirements engineering
• Actors in requirements engineering
• The business representatives
• The project team
• Requirements elicitation
• Tacit and explicit knowledge
• Requirements elicitation techniques
• Requirements analysis
• Requirements filters
• SMART requirements
• Requirements validation

11. Documenting and Managing Requirements

• The requirements document
• Structure
• Content of the requirements document
• The requirements catalogue
• Types of requirements; general, technical, functional and non-functional
• Hierarchy of requirements
• Documenting a requirement
• Managing requirements
• Elements of requirements management

12. Modelling Requirements

• Modelling system functions
• Use case diagrams
• Modelling system data
• Entity Relationship Diagrams
• Entities, attributes and relationships
• Types of relationships
• Class Models
• Objects and classes
• Attributes
• Associations

13. Delivering the Requirements

• Delivering the solution
• Context
• Lifecycles
• The waterfall lifecycle
• The ‘V’ model lifecycle
• Incremental lifecycle
• Iterative systems development lifecycle

14. Delivering the Business Solution

• BA role in the business change lifecycle
• Design stage
• Information and Technology
• Development
• Testing
• Design
• Implementation stage
• SARAH model
• Realisation stage
• Contents of the benefits plan

Course Overview

Deepen your understanding of data through analysis class modelling and data normalisation. The course has now been updated to include data analytics. Data Analysis is an Analytical Skills module for the BCS (ISEB) Advanced International Diploma in Business Analysis.

Course Objectives

The Data Analysis course offers a deep dive into two key approaches to analysing and modelling data – analysis class modelling and data normalisation.

The course has recently been updated to include a module on data analytics, the interrogating and interpreting of data for the purpose of business decision making. The data analytics component looks at how data can be analysed with a business focus, offering critical insights which can drive decision making and pinpoint why some projects succeed and others fail. Techniques used to validate data against stated requirements are also explored.

Presented to you by one of the expert training consultants pictured below. Each member of our Data Analysis training team brings substantial data analysis, data modelling and data analytics experience to the programme.

Course Content

During this course, you will cover:

Introduction to Business Information and Data

• Initial concepts and terminology

– Information versus data

– Data analysis versus data analytics

• Data modelling and data models

– Conceptual, logical and physical data models

– Static and dynamic views of data

• Structured and unstructured data
• The Data Lifecycle

Modelling Data Using Class Diagrams

• Classifying elements of substance and their attributes
• Classes and objects
• Attributes
• Associations and multiplicity

– Types of relationships (one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-many)

– Resolving many-to-many relationships

– Showing multiple roles

• Aggregation and composition
• Generalisation
• Naming conventions
• Class diagrams

Defining Data Requirements

• Defining data
• Metadata (structural, descriptive and statistical metadata)
• Data definitions
• Domain definitions
• Relational data theory

– Two-dimensional structures

– Using keys to identify data (primary, foreign, concatenated, compound and hierarchic keys)

• Normalisation

– The normalisation process

– Un-normalised form, first normal form, second normal form, third normal form

– Relations

– TNF (Third Normal Form) model

• Aspects of data quality

Obtaining and Recording Data

• Identifying sources of data
• Validating data models using a CRUD matrix
• Data navigation paths and Data Navigation Diagrams

Analysis for Decision Making

• A process for data analytics
• Sourcing datasets

– Data lineage

• Validating and cleansing datasets

– Confirmation bias

– Sampling

– Outliers

– Consistency

• Dataset calculations

– Counting

– Totalling

– Averaging (mean, median, mode)

– Maximum and minimum

– Probability

– NULL values

• Identifying meaningful relationships

– Regression analysis

– Correlation and causation

– Time-series analysis and forecasting

• Interpreting results

Protecting Data

• The imperative for protecting data
• CIA (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability)
• Data protection principles
• Data ethics

– Data ethics principles

• Online data