Synopsis

Many people are unaware of the discipline of business analysis; many people become business analysts or begin doing business analysis almost by accident, and have never thought of it as a disciplined set of knowledge, skills and techniques.  And managers and SMEs who work with those accidental BAs often have no idea that there is a discipline, or that it can provide so much value to work regardless of title.

Fundamentals of Business Analysis addresses the entire scope of business analysis:  before, during and after a solution to a business problem is implemented, and also includes enterprise business analysis. It is an broad and shallow overview to allow an understanding of the value that business analysis delivers in terms of executing strategy – both doing the right work and doing the right work right.  

This foundational course looks at the whole organization and how business analysis is applied in articulating and prioritizing business needs, identifying and assessing solution options, making recommendations, defining solution scope, requirements management within a project, supporting a solution once it is in place, making sure the business objectives are met and continuously improving the solution to increase its business value.  

Managers, business subject matter experts, developers, project managers, junior business analysts, and anyone else who is responsible for delivering value through project- and program-based work might be interested in taking this course.

Learn

• Describe the discipline of business analysis
• Explain major functions in the scope of business analysis:
  • Defining business needs
  • Requirements management
  • Benefits management
  • Enterprise analysis
• Describe how business analysis can contribute to your organization and your individual work and responsibilities

Topics

• The Basics of Business Analysis

  What is business analysis?

  Who does business analysis?

  Scope of business analysis

  Contexts for business analysis

  Asking the right questions: Who, what, where, when why and how?

  It’s more than just requirements:  Business analysis information

  Modeling

  Requirements classification and traceability

• Defining the Business Need

  Types of business needs

  Writing effective goals and objectives

  Stakeholder analysis

  Current and future state analysis

  Feasibility assessment

  Business risk

  Alternatives assessment

  Business cases

  Solution scope recommendation

• Requirements Management

  Business analysis planning

  The BA approach

  Elicitation techniques and challenges

  Communicating requirements with models

  Acceptance criteria

  Traceability

  Supporting testing and implementation

• Benefits Management

  Goals of benefits management

  Benefits and value

  The benefits management lifecycle

  Solution evaluation and refinement

  Organizational change management

  Continuous process improvement

  Process analysis and design

• Enterprise Analysis

  The business ecosystem

  Enterprise analysis models

  Customer value analysis

  Strategy mapping

  Organization mapping

  Business capabilities

  Value streams

  Selecting a portfolio of projects

  Business architecture