1. Introduction

• The Business Analysts in the Organization
• Defining the role and tasks of a Business Analyst
• Defining the essential skills needed
• The relationship between projects and processes
• Creating and adopting formal business analysis
• Business Analysis through Life Cycles
• Grooming the Business Analyst

2. General Functions of Business Analyst

• Strategic Planning
• Enterprise Analysis
• Requirements Elicitation
• Requirements Analysis and Specification
• Requirements Documentation, Validation, and Management
• Business Solution Delivery, Operation, and Maintenance

3. Business Analysts Communication Skills

• Conducting a communication assessment
• Communicating with users and technical team
• Improve listening skills by decreasing common barriers to listening
• Improve ability to develop in-depth, detailed questions for business area experts
• Communicating upwards
• Workshop - Conduct an interview

4. Project Management

• Project Management methodologies and their relationship to the Business Analyst
• Learn which models are used in each methodology
• Waterfall
• Information Engineering
• RAD
• Iterative
• BPMN
• Object Oriented - UML
• Spiral/RUP
• Describe the role of the Project Manager and the importance of this position to project success
• Working with the PMO

5. Preparing for Requirements Analysis and Specification

• Introduction to Requirements Analysis
• Setting Up the Infrastructure
• Transitioning from Elicitation
• Preparing for Requirements Management
• Analyzing Scope
• Specifying Requirements

6. Conducting the Requirements Review

• Who participates
• The required steps
• How to conduct sessions
• The common challenges
• Conducting facilitated information gathering sessions
• Reviewing approaches to group decision making
• Managing group discussions, managing group participation and managing group conflict

7. Documenting Requirements

• Identifying and describing key project documents
• The importance to gathering and documenting business requirements
• Describing the relationships between the documents
• Describing the contribution of the Business Analyst for the documentation set

8. Process Modeling

• Explaining the importance of capturing the state of the business
• Identifying different modeling technologies related to business processes
• Creating Use Case Diagrams
• Creating Use Case Scenarios
• Understanding the interdependence between business rules and data modeling

9. Validating the Requirements

• Importance of Validation
• The primary objective of testing
• Verifying business requirements are complete by identifying test cases

10. Fundamentals of Testing

• Positioning testing within the overall process of Quality Management
• Defining and stating the goals of testing
• The principles of structured testing
• Using testing terms correctly
• Describing the stages of testing
• Creating a Testing Strategy document
• Creating a Test Case and Test Plan Template

11. Fundamentals of Object-Oriented Analysis

• The principles of Object-Oriented Analysis
• The impact of Object-Oriented Analysis on the role of the Business Analyst
• Communicating with System Analysts

12. The Evolving Role of the Business Analyst in Portfolio Management

• Architecting the Enterprise
• Determining the Business Solution
• Preparing the Decision Package
• Managing Projects for Value
• Evolving from Business Analyst to Business Strategist

13. The Business Analysts Toolbox

• The Business Analyst Maturity Model
• Selecting the Right Requirements Analysis Techniques
• Analysis Best Practices to Use at Work