Foundations of Business Analysis

Why do more than 50% of projects fail to meet their original objectives? Why do we continue to see the number of troubled and canceled projects on the rise?  According to PMI’s 2014 Pulse of the Profession® In-Depth Report, 47% of failed projects fail to meet goals due to poor requirements management [1].  With a strong correlation between poor requirements practices, failed projects, and wasted dollars; organizations can no longer afford to accept mediocre business analysis skills from those fulfilling the business analysis role. This course provides students a clear understanding and total immersion into all of the facets of the business analyst role, including a thorough walkthrough of the various domain/knowledge areas that comprise the business analysis profession. Students are provided an opportunity to try their hand at several business analysis techniques for eliciting, analyzing, and modeling requirements. The business analysis work performed in strategy analysis and solution evaluation, which is most often the least familiar to business analysts, is thoroughly presented and explored. Students completing this course will be well equipped with new skills and knowledge that can be immediately applied on current and future projects.

  • Price: $2,925.00
  • Duration: 4 days
  • Delivery Methods: Virtual
Date Time Price Option
02/18/2025 09:00 AM - 05:00 PM CT $2,925.00
06/23/2025 08:00 AM - 04:00 PM CT $2,925.00
For questions call: (469) 721-6100
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1 – Introduction to Business Analysis

  • What is Business Analysis?
  • Benefiting from business analysis
  • Business analysis and project success
  • Challenges of business analysis
  • Discussions:
  • Who performs business analysis functions in your organization?
  • Exploring solutions options
  • Your biggest challenges on past projects

2 – A Closer Look at the Business Analyst Role

  • Definition of business analyst
  • Responsibilities of a business analyst
  • The BA/PM roles
  • IIBA/PMI and the goals of a professional association
  • Purpose for having a BA standard
  • IIBA’s BABOK® Guide and PMI’s Practice Guide in Business Analysis
  • Business analysis core concepts
  • Business analysis perspectives
  • IIBA and PMI certifications for business analysts
  • Workshop: Introduction to Case Study

3 – Strategy Analysis and Change

  • Define Strategy Analysis
  • When to perform Strategy Analysis
  • Business models
  • Defining the business need
  • Root cause analysis
  • 5 Whys
  • Fishbone diagram
  • Defining business requirements
  • Discussions:
  • Who is involved in strategy analysis in your organization?
  • Workshops:
  • Create a Business Model
  • Define the Business Need
  • Create a Fishbone Diagram
  • Write Business Requirements

4 – Defining a Change Strategy

  • Define change strategy
  • Gap analysis
  • Determining solution options
  • Enterprise readiness
  • Cultural fit
  • Operational and functional analysis
  • Impact analysis
  • Transitioning to the future state

5 – Stakeholder Analysis

  • What is a stakeholder?
  • The importance of stakeholder analysis
  • Stakeholder identification
  • Stakeholder types
  • Tips/techniques for identifying analyzing stakeholders
  • Keeping track of stakeholders
  • Workshop: Identify Stakeholders

6 – Understanding & Defining Solution Scope

  • Defining solution scope
  • Techniques to use
  • Project scope versus product scope
  • Finding solution boundaries
  • What is a feature?
  • Identifying key features
  • Discussion: Identifying Solution Scope
  • Workshops:
  • Draw a Context Diagram
  • Defining Scope with Features

7 – Understanding Requirements

  • What is a requirement (IEEE and IIBA definitions)
  • Project roles involved in requirements activities
  • Requirements types
  • Assumptions and constraints
  • Business rules
  • Decision tables and inference rules
  • Requirements vs. business rules
  • Requirements vs. specifications
  • Discussions:
  • Requirements
  • Business rules
  • Workshops:
  • Define a Business Rule
  • Write Requirements

8 – Business Process Modeling

  • Why do we model processes?
  • What is Business Process Management?
  • Using a modeling notation
  • “As Is” vs. “To Be” modeling
  • Why use BPMN?
  • Basic BPM notation
  • Developing a business process model
  • Using a facilitated session
  • Business Process Modeling – A case study
  • Developing a Business Process Model
  • Workshop: Create a Business Process Model

9 – Preparing for Requirements Elicitation

  • Types of elicitation techniques
  • Interviewing – what and why?
  • Preparing for an effective interview
  • Selecting the right interviewees
  • Types of questions to ask
  • Sequencing of questions
  • Discussion: Elicitation Techniques You Have Used
  • Workshop: Planning for an Interview

10 – Elicitation using Interviews and Workshops

  • Conduct the Interview
  • Establishing rapport with stakeholders
  • Active listening and listening styles
  • Workshops and getting the right people
  • The role of the facilitator
  • The brainstorming technique
  • Decision rules and reaching consensus
  • Avoiding Groupthink
  • Encouraging participation
  • Managing meetings and conflict
  • Workshop: Conduct an Interview

11 – Confirming Elicitation Results

  • Defining requirements analysis
  • Prioritizing requirements (MoSCoW, Timeboxing, Voting, etc.)
  • Documenting requirements
  • Other uses for specifications and models
  • Unified Modeling Language (UML®)
  • Explaining user stories
  • The traceability matrix
  • Communicating requirements
  • Workshop:
  • Analyzing Requirements
  • Identifying User Stories
  • Tracing Requirements
  • Obtaining Approval

12 – Analyzing Requirements with Use Cases

  • What is an actor?
  • Types of actors
  • Defining actors
  • Locating use cases
  • Use case diagrams
  • Use case tips
  • Defining and identifying scenarios
  • Parts of a use case
  • Defining primary, secondary actors and pre and post conditions
  • Best practices for writing use cases
  • Template: Use Case Specification
  • Workshop:
  • Drawing a Use Case Diagram
  • Write the Main Success Scenario
  • Documenting Requirements
  • Scenarios and flows
  • Alternate and exception flows
  • Alternate scenario post conditions
  • Guidelines for Alternate flows
  • Examples of alternate and exception flows
  • Workshop: Writing Alternate and Exception Flows

13 – Documenting Requirements

  • How requirements relate to use cases
  • Writing Non-Functional requirements
  • User Interface Requirements
  • Reporting requirements
  • Data requirements
  • Data accessibility requirements
  • Business requirements document (BRD)
  • BRD vs the Functional Requirements
  • Verifying Requirements
  • Quality attributes
  • Purpose of the requirements package
  • BA Deliverables across knowledge areas/domains
  • Planning BA deliverables
  • Workshops:
  • Develop a User Interface
  • Verifying Requirements

14 – Managing and Communicating Business Analysis Information

  • Business analysis communication
  • The business analyst’s role in communication
  • Forms of communication
  • 7Cs of communication
  • Symptoms of information overload
  • Information mapping
  • Presentation and common elements
  • Requirements walkthroughs
  • Conflict and issue management
  • Conflict resolution techniques

15 – Evaluating the Solution

  • Understanding solution evaluation
  • Verification vs. validation
  • Timing of solution evaluation
  • Planning solution evaluation
  • Performing solution evaluation
  • Using existing metrics
  • Evaluating long term performance
  • Qualitative vs. Quantitative measures
  • Tools and techniques used in solution evaluation
  • Comparing expected vs. actuals
  • When variances occur
  • Proposing recommendations to address variances
  • Communicating evaluation results

16 – Additional Resources

  • Helpful links for obtaining additional business analysis information

This course intends to provide beginner and intermediate students a total immersion into the business analyst role by exposing attendees to the various aspects of the business analysis profession and numerous techniques to allow them to improve elicitation, analysis, and documentation of requirements.

This course is compliant with IIBA’s Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK® Guide) version 3 and is aligned with and upholds the practices as discussed in PMI’s Business Analysis for Practitioners: A Practice Guide.

Full Student Guide and supplement student workbook of templates and exercises

No special prerequisites for this course provided. If you are unsure whether you might need to take another course first, please contact us to discuss.

Ten (10) business days’ notice is required to reschedule a class with no additional fees. Notify TOPTALENT LEARNING as soon as possible at 469-721-6100 or by written notification to info@toptalentlearning.com to avoid rescheduling penalties.

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You will receive a ‘Certificate of Completion’ once you complete the class. If you purchased an exam voucher for the class, a team member from TOPTALENT LEARNING will reach out to discuss your readiness for the voucher and make arrangements to send it.