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.      

Students pursuing a university-recognized and/or accredited certificate in Canada or continuing education units in the US must attend at least 90% of class time, participate in class exercises and section-knowledge checks, and score at least 70% on an end-of-class, multiple-choice assessment.

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Course Obective

• 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

• Introduction to Business Analysis
• Importance of Effective Business Analysis
• Role of the BA
• Standardization and Adaptability 
• Requirements Planning
• Role of the BA in Requirements Planning
• Vision and Scope Document
• Types of Requirements
• Stakeholders
• Business Analysis Plan 
• 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 
• 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 
• Requirements DocumentationFormal 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 
• 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 
• 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 
• 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 
• 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
• BA Fundamentals
• Communication Skills
• Leadership Skills
• Problem-Solving Skills
• Business Knowledge
• IT Knowledge 
• Case Studies
• Exercises