Course Taxonomy: Business Analysis & Requirements

Business Analysis in Agile Projects (ICP-APO)

Posted on October 17, 2020 by -

Part 1: Getting Started

As we get started we will get to know each other and understand the objectives of the course. We will introduce the importance of Conversation in the Agile environment and how the Conversation can be managed for better communication and results. We will model the creation of Working Agreements that contribute to building trust on a team.

  1. Introductions
  2. Course Objectives
  3. Impact of other Domains on Agile Beginnings
  4. The Agile Conversation
  5. Working Agreements

Part 2: Agile Overview

You’ve heard it all before: “Agile means developing software without any documentation. Agile means developers decide on a product’s features. Agile is the same thing as Scrum.” Perhaps you’ve heard the most misleading concept of all: “Agile means we don’t do business analysis anymore.” Nothing could be more false.

Learn what Agile really is, what the variations and hybrids of Agile are, and how business analysis is critical to project success.

  1. Lean Beginnings
  2. Why Agile?
  3. Agile Manifesto & Principles
  4. Agile Practices

Part 3: Building an Agile Team

In Agile the Business Analyst has various possible roles from Voice of the Customer or Product Owner, member of the Customer side team, or member of the Development side team. In this section, we will explore how to create an effective Agile team with an Agile mindset and then see how the Business Analyst fits into this team framework and provides value.

  1. The Team as a System
  2. The Business Analyst

Part 4: Project Initiation

Agile follows an Adaptive, Just-in-Time planning model. In this section, we will learn how Adaptive Planning can better meet the customer’s needs and provide them more value with fewer resources by only elaborating requirements Just-in-Time.

  1. Five Levels of Planning
  2. Vision
  3. Themes & Roadmap
  4. User Roles and Personas

Part 5: Backlog Planning

The Agile vehicle of communicating requirements is the User Story. The Business Analyst is central in the process of writing and elaborating User Stories. This section will help the Business Analyst learn about User Stories and how to write and elaborate good User Stories.

  1. The Product Backlog
  2. Writing User Stories
  3. Guidelines for Good Stories
  4. Acceptance Criteria

Part 6: Managing the Backlog

After User Stories are written, they need to be prioritized and estimated. As part of the Customer side team, the BA has a major role in prioritization. As a member of the Development side team, the BA will contribute to User Story estimation. Both of these come with low cost, low waste techniques that allow us to do this quickly and get on to the important work of implementing requirements.

  1. Prioritization
  2. Estimating

Part 7: Release Planning

The Business needs to know when they will receive product deliverables. In this section, the Business Analyst will learn how milestones are set and how deliverables will be slated for a release with high confidence in meeting dates.

Part 8: Backlog Refinement

Backlog Refinement is where the Business Analyst is really worth their weight in gold. User Stories represent very thin statements of Customer wants and needs but they don’t contain the details until the development team is close to working on them. As the time to work on them approaches, the details need to be filled in and the Business Analyst is the central figure in requirements elaboration.

  1. Agile Documentation
  2. Requirements Elaboration

Part 9: The Iteration

When Requirements are ready to go – ready to go does not mean mountains of documentation. Much of the details are maintained as tacit knowledge with the Business Analyst and the others who have been involved with the Conversation. Continued collaboration is essential to turning what we’ve learned about the needs of the customer into working software. The Business Analyst is always there involved in answering real-time questions from the team.

  1. Iteration Planning
  2. Iteration Execution

Part 10: Inspect and Adapt

Agile is an Empirical Process for developing complex software. Essential to an Empirical Process is feedback loops. Feedback loops can be both formal and more informal. In this section, we will learn about the formal feedback loops that are built into the end-of-iteration timeframe for driving continuous improvement back into the process.

  1. The Iteration Review
  2. The Demo
  3. The Retrospective

Part 11: Agile Adoption

So you want to drive these concepts into your organization as you leave the class and go back to your work. This section will help you do that effectively.

PMI-PBA Boot Camp

Posted on October 17, 2020 by -

Part 1: Introduction and Foundation of the Certification

The field of business analysis is rich with terms, concepts, tools, techniques, and processes. This beginning section sets the foundation of key terms to know in order to prepare you for the five domain areas and forty knowledge and skills areas that are part of the exam:

  1. The value of business analysis
  2. Common vocabulary
  3. Foundational elements
  4. Business Analysis Processes
  5. Business Analysis Process Groups
  6. Business Analysis Knowledge Areas
  7. Business Analysis Tailoring 

Practice sessions:

Participants will define key terms in order to understand the foundations of the business analysis profession and practice answering questions similar to the exam. 

Part 2: Business Analysis Environment

The profession of business analysis is influenced by the environment and organization in which it is performed. This section focuses on the two major categories of influence, both internally and externally.

  1. Enterprise environmental factors (EEFs)
  2. Organizational process assets (OPAs)

Practice sessions:

Participants will review their understanding of EEFs and OPAs with concept review questions.

Part 3: Role of the Business Analyst

Even though business analysis has been performed for decades, there is much confusion about the role and who performs the work of business analysis. This section provides context for the role of the business analyst, background and support of the role, and the essential competencies to succeed in business analysis.  

  1. Definition of a Business Analyst
  2. The business analysts’ influence
  3. Key competencies for business analysts

Practice sessions:

Participants will review their understanding of the role of the business analyst with concept review questions. Participants will reflect on the evolution of the business analyst role and the relationship between the business analyst and project manager.

Part 4: Needs Assessment

The first Business Analysis Knowledge Area of the exam is where people begin their requirements process and the activities that lead to project success. Emphasis is placed on the business analysis processes used to define the business problem or opportunity and perform needs assessment. Needs assessment encompasses 18 percent of the exam. In this section we review how to effectively perform these seven business analysis processes:

  1. Identify problem or opportunity
  2. Assess current state
  3. Determine future state
  4. Determine viable options and provide recommendation
  5. Facilitate product roadmap development
  6. Assemble business case
  7. Support charter development

Practice sessions:

Participants will review their understanding of the Needs Assessment Knowledge Area with concept review questions. Participants will reflect on the seven Needs Assessment business analysis processes and discuss why Needs Assessment is important.

Part 5: Stakeholder Engagement

This Business Analysis Knowledge area focuses on the identification and analysis of people who have an interest in the solution outcome. Emphasis is placed on how to collaborate and communicate with stakeholders to keep them engaged in the project, program, and/or portfolio. In this section we review how to effectively perform these seven business analysis processes:

  1. Identify stakeholders
  2. Conduct stakeholder analysis
  3. Determine stakeholder engagement and communication approach
  4. Conduct business analysis planning
  5. Prepare for transition to future state
  6. Manage stakeholder engagement and communication
  7. Assess business analysis performance

Practice sessions:

Participants will review their understanding of the Stakeholder Engagement Knowledge Area with concept review questions. Participants will reflect on the seven Stakeholder Engagement business analysis processes and discuss why Stakeholder Engagement is important.

Part 6: Elicitation

This section emphasizes how a business analysis professional plans and prepares for elicitation, conducts elicitation and confirms elicitation results from the sources used to obtain information for the project, program, and/or portfolio.  In this section we review how to effectively perform these four business analysis processes:

  1. Determine the elicitation approach
  2. Prepare for elicitation
  3. Conduct elicitation
  4. Confirm elicitation results

Practice sessions:

Participants will review their understanding of the Elicitation Knowledge Area with concept review questions. Participants will reflect on the four Elicitation business analysis processes and discuss why Elicitation is important.

Part 7: Analysis

Analysis of the requirements involves making sense of what has been revealed during Elicitation. This Knowledge Area includes performing the following requirements activities: analyzing, decomposing, accepting, verifying, validating, prioritizing, and assessing product design options. The Analysis domain contains 35 percent of the exam (which also includes the Elicitation Knowledge Area – Section VI). In this section we'll cover the following nine business analysis processes:

  1. Determine analysis approach
  2. Create and analyze models
  3. Define and elaborate requirements
  4. Define acceptance criteria
  5. Verify requirements
  6. Validate requirements
  7. Prioritize requirements and other product information
  8. Identify and analyze product risks
  9. Assess product design options

Practice sessions:

Participants will review their understanding of the Analysis Knowledge Area with concept review questions. Participants will reflect on the nine Analysis business analysis processes and discuss why Analysis is important.

Part 8: Traceability and Monitoring

Identifying the status of requirements throughout the lifecycle of the project and communicating critical information related to requirements is an important factor for project success. This Knowledge Area is concerned with managing, examining, and sharing requirements information with the project stakeholders. Traceability and Monitoring comprise 15 percent of the exam. This Knowledge Area includes the following four business analysis processes:

  1. Determine the traceability and monitoring approach
  2. Establish relationships and dependencies
  3. Select and approve requirements
  4. Manage changes to requirements and other product information

Practice sessions:

Participants will review their understanding of the Traceability and Monitoring Knowledge Area with concept review questions. Participants will reflect on the four Traceability and Monitoring business analysis processes and discuss why Traceability and Monitoring are important.

Part 9: Solution Evaluation

The final Knowledge Area examines if the delivered solution achieves the business need and satisfies the requirements. These activities could include evaluating solution performance, acceptance results, defects, and solution acceptance. Solution Evaluation comprises 10 percent of the exam. In this section we will explore the following four business analysis processes:

  1. Evaluate solution performance
  2. Determine the solution evaluation approach
  3. Evaluate acceptance results and address defects
  4. Obtain solution acceptance for release

Practice sessions:

Participants will review their understanding of the Solution Evaluation Knowledge Area with concept review questions. Participants will reflect on the four Solution Evaluation business analysis processes and discuss why Solution Evaluation is important.

Part 10: Business Analyst Competencies

To effectively perform business analysis, it is critical to possess specific skills, knowledge, and abilities. In this section we will examine the following six major categories of competencies:

  1. Analytical skills
  2. Expert judgment
  3. Communication skills
  4. Personal skills
  5. Leadership skills
  6. Tool knowledge

Practice sessions:

Participants will review their understanding of the six major categories of competencies with concept review questions. Participants will reflect on why competencies are critical when performing business analysis.

Part 11: What to Expect on the Exam

Now that you know the content expectations for the exam it's important to realize how to prepare for the exam and what to expect as you go through the application process. To ensure you successfully pass the first time, this section will cover:

  1. The PMI Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA®) Application
  2. Exam requirements
  3. Exam overview
  4. Preparing for the exam
  5. Understanding the questions
  6. Taking the exam
  7. General tips to help you through the process