At a glance
Australia
5 days
AUD $2860 inc GST
to run this course in-house.
Business Systems Analysis
Fundamental skills and knowledge for business and systems analysts
On this 5-day course, participants learn to use a structured, disciplined approach to understanding business systems, eliciting, analysing, documenting and validating business system requirements. Particular emphasis is placed on identifying the need for information systems within the business, and ensuring that the resulting, engineered systems provide benefit to the business in meeting defined goals and objectives.
The course focuses on the skills required by the business systems analyst to identify and analyse user requirements using a number of investigation techniques; to ensure the consistency, completeness and accuracy of the requirements using verification techniques; to identify potential solutions and to make recommendations using problem solving and presentation techniques.
The involvement of end users in all aspects of the analysis process is emphasised throughout the course.
A structured approach to business analysis is used to assist with the understanding of the business system, the analysis of requirements, and communication with the end users and other stakeholders of the documented requirements.
Entity modeling, data normalisation, use cases, process mapping and logic tools are taught as the basis of the modeling techniques used on the course.
Participants learn how to plan and conduct an analysis investigation and present the results in a format that is usable to team members in subsequent project phases.
This course is endorsed by the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA™). It provides material and skills relevant to four Business Analysis Body of Knowledge™(BABOK™) knowledge areas.
"Would highly recommend it. Relevant, detailed, very well structured. Instructor’s experience and style really made it effective. Very well paced."
Peter Bourke, MJ Software Pty Ltd
Intended For
- New business analysts and others starting to work as systems analysts.
- Experienced analysts who wish to formalise their training.
- Non-information systems people and users who work with systems analysts.
- User managers who have to sponsor and are responsible for the introduction of new computer based information systems.
Prerequisites
Participants are expected to have some understanding of basic business practice, and to have been exposed to the capabilities and limitations of computer systems.
Learning outcomes
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Apply a structured, disciplined approach to understanding business systems and solving business problems
- Produce effective requirements
- Understand the different stakeholder viewpoints that must be considered and interpreted by the analyst
- Plan, conduct, and follow up a structured investigative interview
- Produce a process model of an end-to-end business process
- Produce a use case diagram and a detailed use case description
- Produce an entity relationship diagram showing the relationship between informational elements in a business system
- Build decision trees and decision tables to represent and clarify business rules
- Use critical appraisal techniques to refine and improve a system specification
- List the desirable contents of a business requirements specification
- Prepare and deliver a management presentation.
Content
The Role of the Business Analyst
The course starts with a discussion of the role of business analysis in the context of the system development lifecycle, and the value brought by business analysts and systems analysts to both a project and to an organisation.
Project Scope and Planning the Analysis
The importance of communication is discussed with the aid of practical exercises. A number of tools and techniques are examined for identifying and understanding Project and Product Scope, along with some tools to be used when starting analysis. A rule-of-thumb planning technique is presented for answering that difficult question "how long will this take?".
Effective Requirements
The value of effective requirements is discussed, looking at the different levels and types of requirements, as are some international good practice standards for representing these requirements at a level that is appropriate to both the project and the organisation.
Understanding the Business Environment
The course examines the five "B's" that the business analyst needs to understand in depth - Business Objectives, Business Actors, Business Events, Business Processes and Business Objects.
Investigation Techniques
The course then focuses on the practical skills a business analyst needs to effectively and efficiently conduct an analysis investigation. A number of investigative techniques are examined:
- Planning, conducting and following up a structured investigative interview
- Workshops and Brainstorming
- Observation
- Searching records
- Questionnaires
- Random Sampling
Participants are then given the opportunity to apply the theory of these investigative techniques using the structured interview as the primary investigation tool.
Tools and Techniques for Modeling the System
This module looks at the core techniques of data modeling used when identifying the informational requirements of business systems. This includes the following techniques, all with a clear focus on why each is important when conducting analysis:
- Business process modeling
- Use cases
- Entity modeling / Class diagramming
- Normalisation
- Logic tools
Structured Walkthroughs and Critical Appraisal
The course then provides an introduction to documentation structures, a practical guide for requirements documentation, and an examination of templates, reviews, structured walkthroughs and the concept of critical appraisal.
Delivering a Presentation
The presentation can be the key factor in the success or failure of a project. Presentation techniques are discussed, covering the planning of the presentation, use of presentation notes, visual aids, and tips for presentation delivery.
The final challenge of the course is for participants to use some of the new tools and techniques discussed during the course in the delivery of a formal presentation.
Tools and Templates
The course concludes with a set of tools and templates that assist participants in being immediately productive back in their workplace.
Method Used
Lecturing is kept to the minimum necessary. A participative approach is used to enable learning by discovery. The course contains a comprehensive case study that the participants work through over the five days, applying all the techniques learned to build a complete understanding of the subject.
Documentation
Course notes, including guides, templates and checklists. References to websites and further reading.
Business Analysis Body of Knowledge™
This course is designed to, and provides material and skills relevant to, the following International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA™) BABOK™ knowledge areas:
- Requirements Planning & Management
- Requirements Elicitation
- Requirements Analysis & Documentation
- Requirements Communications
For more details on the IIBA™ and the BABOK™ see www.theiiba.org
