Business Analysis Foundation (4 Days)

Business Analysis skills are increasingly in demand as organisations grapple with the need to ensure better return on project investment.

Business analysis is there to help businesses do business better.  Business analysts map out obstacles, analyse needs, manage project teams and implement changes that provide a critical role in determining project failure or success. They work as a translator or liaison between stakeholders to help them better understand the organisation’s structure, policies, and operations.

Traditionally, business analysts sat in the IT department – but their skills are now in demand across the board as organisations grapple with the need to ensure better return on project investment.

“More than 70,000 professionals worldwide
have got their Business Analysis skills via BCS”

The Business Analysis Foundation course is the cornerstone of the BCS Business Analysis Curriculum. It is an internationally-recognised qualification relevant to anyone requiring an understanding of Business Analysis including business analysts, business managers and their staff, business change managers, project managers, system developers.

This 4-day course comprehensively covers the BCS syllabus and prepares participants for the Business Analysis Foundation Exam held on the last day of the course.

For more information on Business Analysis Certifications please visit the BCS site.

Learning outcomes

The Foundation Certificate in Business Analysis will help participants to:

• Understand the roles and responsibilities of Business Analysts
• Be familiar with best practices in Business Analysis and Requirements definition
• Attain new skills to successfully develop, manage, and communicate business requirements and be a productive and contributing member of the Organisational team

The certificate covers the broad range of principles and techniques within the sphere of Business Analysis, and consists of 9 modules:

• What is Business Analysis
• Developing the Business Case
• Defining The Business Problem or Opportunity
• Modelling the Future State
• Root Causes of Problems
• Distilling the Requirements from Models
• Solution Vision and Scope
• Requirements Definition and Documentation

Who should attend

The Business Analysis Foundation course is relevant to anyone requiring an understanding of Business Analysis including:

• Business Analysts
• Business Managers
• Business Change Managers
• Project Managers
• System Engineers

The BCS International Diploma in Business Analysis

The Business Analysis Foundation course is also the starting point for anyone who wants to attain the BCS International Diploma in Business Analysis. This is an internationally-recognised qualification designed for business and IT professionals who are serious about business analysis and want to demonstrate they have a detailed understanding of business analysis best practice. To attain the Diploma it is necessary to complete four modules – Foundation plus 3 Practitioner – and to then sit an oral exam. ALC offers the three Practitioner modules needed to satisfy the Diploma requirement. 

Choosing the right course

There are two leading bodies in the world of business analysis – IIBA (International Institute of Business Analysis) and BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT. The two organisations collaborate for the furtherment of the business analysis profession. ALC offers the BCS curriculum on our public schedule and has the IIBA curriculum (CCBA, CBAP) available for in-house presentation. We recommend the BCS Business Analysis Foundation as the more robust starting point for any individual or organisation starting out on business analysis.

Course contents

1. Introduction to Business Analysis

• The origins of business analysis
• The development of business analysis
• The scope of business analysis work
• The role and responsibilities of a business analyst

2. The Competencies of a Business Analyst

• Behavioural skills and personal qualities
• Business knowledge
• Techniques
• Developing competencies
• The Skills Framework for the Information Age

3. Strategy Analysis

• The context for strategy
• The definition of strategy
• Strategy development
• External environment analysis
• Internal Environment analysis
• SWOT analysis

4. The Business Analysis Process Model

• An approach to problem-solving
• The process model
• Investigating the situation
• Considering the perspective
• Analysing the needs
• Evaluating the options
• Defining the requirements

5. Investigation Techniques

• Interviews
• Workshops
• Observation
• Scenarios
• Prototyping
• Quantitative approaches

6. Stakeholder Analysis and Management

• Stakeholder categories and identification
• Analysing stakeholders
• Stakeholder management strategies
• Managing stakeholders

7. Modelling the Business System

• Soft systems methodology
• Documenting business situations
• Business perspective
• Business activity models
• Business events and business rules
• Critical success factors and key performance indicators
• Validating a business activity model
• Use of business activity model in gap analysis

8. Business Process Modelling

• Defining of business process modelling
• The importance of business process modelling
• The business process modelling technique
• Improving business processes
• Planning the business process improvement initiative

9. Requirements Engineering

• Problems with requirements
• The place of requirements engineering in development lifecycles
• A process for requirements engineering
• Actors in requirements engineering
• Requirements elicitation
• Building the requirements list
• Requirements analysis
• Documenting the requirements
• Validating requirements
• Managing changes to requirements

10. Modelling the IT System

• Modelling system functions
• Modelling system data

11. Managing the Information Resource

• Managing data resources
• Support for the systems development lifecycle
• Valuing and classifying data
• Support for business activities
• Data administration
• Data modelling
• Technology for capturing and storing data
• Security, governance and related issues

12. Making a Business and Financial Case

• The business case in the project lifecycle
• Identifying options
• Assessing project feasibility
• Structure of a business case
• Investment appraisal
• Presentation of a business case
• Benefits realisation

13. Managing Business Change

• Introducing a new system
• Emotions and the change process
• The need for change management
• The change process

Course fees

Face-to-face classroom training

Business Analysis™ Foundation Certificate (4 days)

• $2450 + GST

The fee includes:

• Course presentation, accredited by BCS
• Comprehensive ALC course workbook
• Official course textbook: Business Analysis, 3rd edition
• Full catering including sit-down lunch, morning and afternoon tea at quality CBD hotel
• The BCS Business Analysis Foundation Certificate exam

Pre-requisites:

There are no specific pre-requisites for entry to the course or examination.

Exam

The format for the examination is a one hour multiple choice examination. The examination is closed book. Candidates must achieve 26 from 40 questions to pass. Successful candidates are rewarded the BCS Foundation Certificate in Business Analysis.

Course Delivery

The course delivery format comprises theory, practical assignments and examination practice.

ALC Group is accredited by BCS as an Accredited Training Organisation for Business Analysis™ Foundation